Editing The Anarchy (section)

===Transition and reconstruction (1154–1165)===
[[File:Henry2 paris.jpg|thumb|Archbishop of Canterbury [[Theobald of Bec]] crowning [[Henry II of England|Henry II]] in 1154]]
Stephen's decision to recognise Henry as his heir was, at the time, not necessarily a final solution to the civil war.<ref name=BradburyHoltP306>Bradbury, p.211; Holt, p.306.</ref> Despite the issuing of new currency and administrative reforms, Stephen might potentially have lived for many more years, whilst Henry's position on the continent was far from secure.<ref name=BradburyHoltP306/> Although Stephen's son William was young and unprepared to challenge Henry for the throne in 1153, the situation could well have shifted in subsequent years—there were widespread rumours during 1154 that William planned to assassinate Henry, for example.<ref name="Crouch 2002, p.277">Crouch (2002), p.277.</ref> Historian Graham White describes the treaty of Winchester as a "precarious peace", capturing the judgement of most modern historians that the situation in late 1153 was still uncertain and unpredictable.<ref>White (1990), p.12, cited Bradbury, p.211.</ref> Nonetheless, Stephen burst into activity in early 1154, travelling around the kingdom extensively.<ref>Amt, p.19.</ref> He began issuing royal [[writ]]s for the south-west of England once again and travelled to [[York]] where he held a major court in an attempt to impress upon the northern barons that royal authority was being reasserted.<ref name="Crouch 2002, p.277"/> In 1154, Stephen travelled to [[Dover]] to meet the [[Thierry, Count of Flanders|Count of Flanders]]; some historians believe that the king was already ill and preparing to settle his family affairs.<ref name=King2010P300>King (2010), p.300.</ref> Stephen fell ill with a [[stomach disorder]] and died on 25 October.<ref name=King2010P300/>

Henry did not feel it necessary to hurry back to England immediately. On landing on 8 December 1154, Henry quickly took oaths of loyalty from some of the barons and was then crowned alongside Eleanor at [[Westminster Abbey|Westminster]].<ref name=White2000P5>White (2000), p.5.</ref> The royal court was gathered in April 1155, where the barons swore fealty to the king and his sons.<ref name=White2000P5/> Henry presented himself as the legitimate heir to Henry I and commenced rebuilding the kingdom in his image.<ref>White (2000), p.2.</ref> Although Stephen had tried to continue Henry I's method of government during the war, the new government characterised the 19 years of Stephen's reign as a chaotic and troubled period, with all these problems resulting from Stephen's usurpation of the throne.<ref>White (2000), pp.2–3.</ref> Henry was also careful to show that, unlike his mother the Empress, he would listen to the advice and counsel of others.<ref>King (2007), pp.42–43.</ref> Various measures were immediately carried out, although, since Henry spent six and a half of the first eight years of his reign in France, much work had to be done at a distance.<ref>White (2000), p.8.</ref>

England had suffered extensively during the war. The ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' recorded how "there was nothing but disturbance and wickedness and robbery".<ref>Huscroft, p.76.</ref> Certainly in many parts of the country, such as the South-West, the [[Thames Valley]] and [[East Anglia]], the fighting and raiding had caused serious devastation.<ref name=BarlowP181>Barlow, p.181.</ref> The previously centralised royal coinage system was fragmented, with Stephen, the Empress and local lords all minting their own coins.<ref name=BarlowP181/> The royal [[Royal forest#Forest law|forest law]] had collapsed in large parts of the country.<ref>Carpenter, p.197.</ref> Some parts of the country, though, were barely touched by the conflict—for example, Stephen's lands in the south-east and the Angevin heartlands around Gloucester and Bristol were largely unaffected, and David I ruled his territories in the north of England effectively.<ref name=BarlowP181/> The king's overall income from his estates declined seriously during the conflict, particularly after 1141, and royal control over the [[Mint (coin)|minting]] of new coins remained limited outside of the south-east and East Anglia.<ref>White (1998), p.43; Blackburn, p.199.</ref> With Stephen often based in the south-east, increasingly [[Westminster]], rather than the older site of [[Winchester]], was used as the centre of royal government.<ref>Green, pp.110–111, cited White (2008), p.132.</ref>

Among Henry's first measures was to expel the remaining foreign mercenaries and continue the process of demolishing the unauthorised castles.<ref name=AmtP44>Amt, p.44.</ref>{{#tag:ref|Recent research has shown that Stephen had begun the programme of castle destruction before his death and that Henry's contribution was less substantial than once thought, although Henry did take much of the credit for this programme of work.<ref name=AmtP44/>|group="nb"}} Robert of Torigni recorded that 375 were destroyed, without giving the details behind the figure; recent studies of selected regions have suggested that fewer castles were probably destroyed than once thought and that many may simply have been abandoned at the end of the conflict.<ref name=AmtP44/> Henry also gave a high priority to restoring the royal finances, reviving Henry I's financial processes and attempting to improve the standard of the accounts.<ref>White (2000), pp.130, 159.</ref> By the 1160s, this process of financial recovery was essentially complete.<ref>Barratt, p.249.</ref>

The post-war period also saw a surge of activity around the English borders. The king of Scotland and local Welsh rulers had taken advantage of the long civil war in England to seize disputed lands; Henry set about reversing this trend.<ref>Warren (2000), p.161.</ref> In 1157 pressure from Henry resulted in the young [[Malcolm IV of Scotland]] returning the lands in the north of England he had taken during the war; Henry promptly began to refortify the northern frontier.<ref>White (2000), p.7; Carpenter, p.211.</ref> Restoring Anglo-Norman supremacy in Wales proved harder, and Henry had to fight two campaigns in [[North Wales|north]] and [[south Wales]] in 1157 and 1158 before the Welsh princes [[Owain Gwynedd]] and [[Rhys ap Gruffydd]] submitted to his rule, agreeing to the pre-civil war division of lands.<ref>White (2000), p.7; Huscroft, p.140; Carpenter, p.214.</ref>