The death of Earl Robert, however, which happen ed in 1146, gave a severe blow to the interests of Ma tilda, and would have been fatal to her cause, had it not been counterbalanced by the imprudence of Ste phen, who alienated the affections of many of his friends, by endeavouring to extort from then the sur render of their castles. About the same time, also, Eugenius III had succeeded to the Papal throne, and had deprived Henry of the legantine commission, which he conferred upon Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbu ry, his enemy and rival; and the king, by refusing to submit to some encroachments of that pontiff, was, with his whole party, laid under an interdict. These circumstances encouraged the adherents of Matilda; and Stephen was obliged to conciliate the aura, by making proper submissions to the Pope. Both sides, however, were so weakened, that a cessation of hosti lities was the consequence; and many of the nobility joined the crusade, which was at this time preached by St Barnard. Matilda had retired to Northandy with her son Henry, to whom she soon after resigned the government of that duchy.
Young Henry Plantagenet had received the honour of knighthood from his grand-uncle David, King of Scotland ; and, while in that country, had displayed such valour, gallantry, and prudence, as raised the hopes of his party in England. By the death of his father Geoffrey, in 1150, he succeeded to the duchies of Anjou and Maine ; and by his marriage with Elea nor, daughter and heiress of William, Duke of G uienne, and Earl of Poictou. who had been divorced from Louis VII. King of France, he got possession of those rich provinces as her dowry. His power, added to his great accomplishments, had such an influence in Eng land, that when Stephen was desirous of securing the crown to his son Eustace, and required Theobald, the • legate, to anoint him his successor, that primate refus ed, and immediately fled to the continent. This event prompted Henry to make an attempt upon England; and having gained some advantages over the royalists at Malmeshury, he proceeded to meet Stephen at Wal lingford. But the chiefs of both parties dreading the renewal of bloodshed, compelled the rival princes to settle their differences by a compromise. A treaty was accordingly concluded, by which it was agreed, that Stephen should enjoy the crown of England during his life ; that Henry should he acknowledged his succes sor; and that William, Stephen's second son Eustace being dead, should inherit Boulogne, and his patrimo nial estates. Stephen survived this transaction only a year ; and his death put his rival in quiet possession of the throne.
Henry II. on his accession to the throne of England, was the most powerful and the ablest sovereign in Eu rope. Besides his English and Norman dominions, he possessed in right of his father, Anjou, Touraine, and Maine ; and in that of his wife, Guienne, Poictou, Xaintonge, Auvergne, Perigord, Angoumois, and the Limousin. To these he soon after annexed Brittany,
and the county of Nantz. He thus was master of above a third of the whole French monarchy, and conse quently became an object of apprehension to the French king, who, though monarch of a rich and fertile terri tory, yet had so little controul over his vassals, that they were accustomed to make war upon each other without his permission, and sometimes to turn their arms against their sovereign. Louis had remarked, with terror, the rising grandeur of the house of Planta genet ; and, in order to retard its progress, had always endeavoured to support the fortunes of Stephen. But he now saw that it would be in vain to attempt any op position to Henry's succession, and considered it more prudent to conciliate, than to irritate, so formidable a neighbour.
The English, tired with bloodshed and depredations, and sensible of the noble qualities of their new monarch, received him with acclamations of joy, and all ranks willingly took the oath of allegiance. Conscious that his title to the throne was supported not only by here ditary right, but by the unanimous voice of the people, Henry began his reign, by resuming those privileges which had been extorted from the weakness of his pre decessor. He restored authority to the laws, by demo lishing all the castles which had been built since the death of Henry 1., except a few which he retained in his own hands, for the protection of the kingdom. He dismissed the mercenary troops ; revoked all the grants made by hisTredecessor ; restored the coin, which had been much adulterated, during the former reign, to its proper value and standard ; and, by a rigorous execu tion of justice, curbed the violence and robberies of the feudal vassals. He gave charters to several towns, by which the citizens held their freedom and privileges from the sovereign himself; and thus, by enlarging the of the people, he diminished that of the nobility, and was enabled to levy armies independent of the ba rons.
So far Henry's schemes of reformation were crowned with success; he attempted to repress the en croachments of the clergy, he found himself surround ed with difficulties, and involved in danger and dis quietude. He had long cherished the design of putting a stop to clerical usurpations, and of maintaining the prerogatives of the crown; but the mild character, and advanced years of Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, prevented him from employing any active measures while that prelate lived. On his death, however, he re solved to exert himself, and, for this purpose, raised to the primacy his chancellor Thomas-a-Becket, on whose fidelity and compliance he thought he could entirely de pend.