Stephen, King of England

Born in Blois between 1092 and 1096, Stephen was the fourth son of a crusader count and a granddaughter of William the Conqueror. Raised at the court of his uncle Henry I after his father's death, he survived the White Ship disaster in 1120 that drowned the king's heir and opened the succession to dispute. When Henry died in 1135, Stephen raced across the Channel and took the crown, setting aside his earlier vow to support the Empress Matilda's claim. The early years held, but in 1139 Matilda and her half-brother Robert of Gloucester invaded, and the kingdom fractured. Captured at Lincoln in 1141, Stephen lost Normandy and was freed only after his wife traded him for Robert at Winchester. The stalemate ground on for over a decade. By 1153, with the church refusing to crown his son Eustace and Matilda's son Henry landing with an army, Stephen's support crumbled. Eustace died suddenly; Stephen signed the Treaty of Winchester recognising Henry as heir. He died the next year, having held the throne but never the peace.