Su Shi choice given his gender and his legitimacy Stephen was well liked for his bravery and skill in battle, his easygoing disposition, and his kind nature However instead of Stephen, Henry named his daughter Maude as his heir Henry argued that, despite her gender, Maude held the best hereditary claim to the throne of England In December 1126 Henry insisted that all of his magnates, including Stephen, swear an oath of loyalty to Maude as his heir In 1128 Henry negotiated the widely unpopular marriage of Maude to Geoffrey la Belle, count of Anjou and Maine However Henry was quite pleased with the marriage, and Maude further secured her father’s favor when she produced a son in 1133 The baby was named Henry in the king’s honor Henry I died on December 1, 1135, while in Normandy As soon as word reached Stephen of his uncle’s death, he set sail from Boulogne for England Securing the royal treasury at Winchester, Stephen immediately proclaimed himself king Stephen claimed that upon his deathbed, Henry I had renounced his support of Maude as his heir in favor of Stephen He also asserted that the oaths of loyalty he had pledged to Maude were null and void, as his uncle had forced him to swear fealty under duress On December 26, 1135, Stephen was crowned and anointed by William de Corbeil, archbishop of Canterbury As soon as word reached Maude that Stephen had usurped the English throne, she immediately made plans to fight her cousin for the succession She first appealed to Pope Innocent II for support despite the fact that Innocent had already declared Stephen as the rightful heir to Henry’s throne When the pope failed to grant Maude any political support, she chose to undertake a military solution Between 1139 and 1153 civil war raged in England One monk noted in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that the anarchy of Stephen’s reign was a time when “men said openly that Christ and His angels slept.” Maude initially waged a successful war against Stephen She captured Stephen on February 2, 1141, at the Battle of Lincoln Proclaiming herself Anglorum Domina or “Lady of the English,” Maude made ready to be crowned queen in London However several unpopular political decisions resulted in rebellion against Maude Fighting soon resumed under the command of Stephen’s wife, Matilda of Boulogne In September 1141, Matilda’s forces captured Robert of Gloucester Maude was forced to agree to a prisoner exchange—Stephen for Robert Stephen’s restoration and Maude’s retreat to Robert’s stronghold at Bristol marked the end of the first phase of the civil war The second phase of the civil war began in 1148 Maude left the fighting in England to her eldest son, 377 Henry Known as Henry FitzEmpress, Henry had a rise to power that was amazingly swift He acceded to the dukedom of Normandy in 1151, became count of Anjou and Maine upon his father’s unexpected death later that year, and consolidated his power base by marrying Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152 Eleanor’s wealth provided the money and soldiers that Henry needed if he were going to successfully take up his mother’s claims to the English Crown Fearful of Henry’s growing power, Stephen wished to ensure that his eldest surviving son, Eustace, would succeed him as king of England In 1150 Stephen took steps to solidify Eustace’s position as his heir by having him crowned and consecrated as king during Stephen’s own lifetime Pope Celestine II refused to comply with Stephen’s request On August 17, 1153, Stephen’s main impediment to peace with Duke Henry was removed when Eustace suddenly died Shortly thereafter, Stephen’s leading magnates, tired of the fighting, forced a peace settlement upon Stephen and Duke Henry In the Treaty of Westminster, Henry agreed to allow Stephen to rule as king for the remainder of his lifetime In return, Stephen adopted Henry as his son and named him as heir to the throne of England Sick and worn out from years of fighting, Stephen died on October 25, 1154 He was buried next to his wife, Matilda, at Faversham Abbey in Kent, having ruled as the last of the Norman monarchs in England See also Henry II; Norman Conquest of England; Norman and Plantagenet kings of England Further reading: Appleby, John T The Troubled Reign of Stephen New York: Barnes and Noble, 1970; Bradbury, Jim Stephen and Matilda: The Civil War of 1139–53 Stroud, Gloucestershire: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1996; Crouch, David The Reign of King Stephen, 1135–1154 Essex: Pearson Education, 2000; Davis, R H C King Stephen, 1135–1154 London: Longman, 1990; Matthew, Donald King Stephen London: Hambledon and London, 2002; Stringer, Keith J The Reign of Stephen: Kingship, Warfare, and Government in Twelfth Century England New York: Routledge, 1993 Deborah L Bauer Su Shi (Su Shih) (1037–1101) Chinese poet One of the most famous and easily recognizable voices in China’s 3,000-year-old history, the great poet Su Shi left behind an impressive body of writing that underscores