Stephen

Timeline

1. 1096–1125Blois · Loire ValleyBorn into the Blois royal family, son of Adela, sister of King Henry I of England. He went on crusade in 1125, was rumored to have fled during the siege of Antioch, yet still enjoyed the trust of the Norman and English courts on his return.
2. 1135–1140Winchester · HampshireAfter Henry I's death in 1135, Stephen raced back to England and was crowned at Winchester and London. He secured the throne with church and baronial support but failed to fully control the Welsh Marches and Normandy; Matilda's faction quickly organized resistance and full-scale civil war erupted.
3. 1141Lincoln · LincolnshireIn the Battle of Lincoln in February 1141, Stephen led his forces in the snow against Robert of Gloucester and Welsh allies, was defeated and captured. Matilda's faction briefly controlled the situation; Stephen was imprisoned in Bristol and royal authority fell into an unprecedented crisis.
4. 1142–1147Oxford · OxfordshireAfter his defeat at Winchester in 1141 Stephen was released and restored. Over the following years the two sides seesawed around Oxford, Wiltshire, and elsewhere; after Matilda escaped Oxford Castle in 1142 the war gradually stalemated. Stephen still held London and the southeast but could not defeat the opposition outright.
5. 1148–1154London · Greater LondonAfter Matilda left England in 1148, Stephen's son Eustace and Henry Plantagenet became the focus of the succession struggle. Henry attempted an invasion across the Channel in 1149–1150 without success; the Treaty of Wallingford in 1153 recognized Henry as heir. In his later years Stephen worked to stabilize finances and church relations, dying of illness at Dover in 1154.