Editing The Anarchy (section)

===Final phases (1147–1152)===
[[File:Jindra Eleonora.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|alt=A medieval picture of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine|14th-century depiction of [[Henry II of England]] and his wife [[Eleanor of Aquitaine]]]]

The character of the conflict in England gradually began to shift; as historian Frank Barlow suggests, by the late 1140s "the civil war was over", barring the occasional outbreak of fighting.<ref name=BarlowP180>Barlow, p.180.</ref> In 1147 Robert of Gloucester died peacefully, and the next year the Empress Matilda defused an argument with the Church over the ownership of Devizes Castle by returning to Normandy, contributing to reducing the tempo of the war.<ref>Barlow, p.180; Chibnall, pp.148–149.</ref> The [[Second Crusade]] was announced, and many Angevin supporters, including Waleran of Beaumont, joined it, leaving the region for several years.<ref name=BarlowP180/> Many of the barons were making individual peace agreements with each other to secure their lands and war gains.<ref>Davis, pp.111–112.</ref> Geoffrey and Matilda's son, the future King Henry II, mounted a small mercenary invasion of England in 1147 but the expedition failed, not least because Henry lacked the funds to pay his men.<ref name=BarlowP180/> Stephen himself ended up paying their costs, allowing Henry to return home safely; his reasons for doing so are unclear. One potential explanation is his general courtesy to a member of his extended family; another is that he was starting to consider how to end the war peacefully, and saw this as a way of building a relationship with Henry.<ref>King (2010), p.243; Barlow, p.180.</ref>

Many of the most powerful nobles began to make their own truces and disarmament agreements, signing treaties between one another that typically promised an end to bilateral hostilities, limited the building of new castles, or agreed limits to the size of armies sent against one another.<ref>Davis, pp.111–113.</ref> Typically these treaties included clauses that recognised that the nobles might, of course, be forced to fight each other by instruction of their rulers.<ref>Davis, p.112.</ref> A network of treaties had emerged by the 1150s, reducing – but not eliminating – the degree of local fighting in England.<ref>Davis, p.113.</ref>

Matilda remained in Normandy for the rest of the war, focusing on stabilising the duchy and promoting her son's rights to the English throne.<ref>Chibnall, pp.141, 151–152.</ref> The young Henry FitzEmpress returned to England again in 1149, this time planning to form a northern alliance with Ranulf of Chester.<ref>King (2010), p.253.</ref> The Angevin plan involved Ranulf agreeing to give up his claim to [[Carlisle]], held by the Scots, in return for being given the rights to the whole of the Honour of Lancaster; Ranulf would give homage to both David and Henry FitzEmpress, with Henry having seniority.<ref>King (2010), p.254.</ref> Following this peace agreement, Henry and Ranulf agreed to attack [[York]], probably with help from the Scots.<ref>King (2010), p.255.</ref> Stephen marched rapidly north to York and the planned attack disintegrated, leaving Henry to return to Normandy, where he was declared Duke by his father.<ref name=DavidKingP255>Davis, p.107; King (2010), p.255.</ref>{{#tag:ref|Edmund King believes the attack never got close to York; R. Davis believes that it did and was deterred by the presence of Stephen's forces.<ref name=DavidKingP255/>|group="nb"}} Although still young, Henry was increasingly gaining a reputation as an energetic and capable leader. His prestige and power increased further when he unexpectedly married [[Eleanor of Aquitaine]] in 1152; Eleanor was the attractive [[Duchess of Aquitaine]] and the recently divorced wife of [[Louis VII of France]], and the marriage made Henry the future ruler of a huge swathe of territory across France.<ref>Carpenter, p.188.</ref>

In the final years of the war, Stephen too began to focus on the issue of his family and the succession.<ref>King (2010), p.237.</ref> Stephen had given his eldest son [[Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne|Eustace]] the County of Boulogne in 1147, but it remained unclear whether Eustace would inherit England.<ref name=DavisP105>Davis, p.105.</ref> Stephen's preferred option was to have Eustace crowned while he himself was still alive, as was the custom in France, but this was not the normal practice in England, and [[Celestine II]], during his brief tenure as pope between 1143 and 1144, had banned any change to this practice.<ref name=DavisP105/> The only person who could crown Eustace was Archbishop Theobald, who may well have seen the coronation of Eustace only as a guarantee of further civil war after Stephen's death; the Archbishop refused to crown Eustace without agreement from the current pope, Eugene III, and the matter reached an impasse.<ref>Davis,. p.105; Stringer, p.68.</ref> Stephen's situation was made worse by various arguments with members of the Church over rights and privileges.<ref>Davis, pp.100–102.</ref> Stephen made a fresh attempt to have Eustace crowned at Easter 1152, gathering his nobles to swear fealty to Eustace, and then insisting that Theobald and his bishops anoint him king.<ref name=King2010P264>King (2010), p.264.</ref> When Theobald refused yet again, Stephen and Eustace imprisoned both him and the bishops and refused to release them unless they agreed to crown Eustace.<ref name=King2010P264/> Theobald escaped again into temporary exile in [[Flanders]], pursued to the coast by Stephen's knights, marking a low point in Stephen's relationship with the church.<ref name=King2010P264/>