Henry I's barons swore to make his daughter queen, and his nephew Stephen took the crown within weeks of his death

In 1120 the White Ship sank and drowned William Adelin, Henry I's only legitimate son. Henry named his daughter Matilda, the widowed empress of Germany, as heir. In 1127, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says, he made the magnates swear "England and Normandy after his day into the hands of his daughter." Henry died in Normandy in 1135. His nephew Stephen of Blois crossed to England and was crowned in London at midwinter, backed by his brother Henry, bishop of Winchester. The chronicler wrote that "every man that might, soon robbed another." Matilda invaded in 1139 with her half-brother Robert of Gloucester. In 1141 Stephen was captured at Lincoln, but the Londoners drove Matilda out before she could be crowned. Robert was captured at Winchester and exchanged for Stephen. In 1142 Matilda escaped from Oxford Castle across the frozen Thames. The chronicler says men "said openly, that Christ slept, and his saints." She left England in 1148. Stephen's son Eustace died in August 1153. In November 1153 Stephen agreed at Winchester to keep the crown for life and adopt Matilda's son Henry as his heir. Stephen died in October 1154 and was buried at Faversham.