the tax knowm as the Danegeld or Heregeld, and thus deprived himself of large part of the supplies out of which a fleet could be maintained; yet in 1137 he was able to invade Normandy[1] with an army and a considerable squadron, and in spite of the resistance of Geoffrey of Anjou, to temporarily restore the province to the English crown.
But his success was short lived. The Empress Maud, accompanied by her bastard brother Robert, Earl of Gloucester,[2] invaded England; and for several years afterwards the country, owing to the varying fortunes of the combatants, was in a complete state of anarchy, during which the navy was almost entirely neglected. From 1145 to 1152 the empress withdrew, and left Stephen master of England; but in the latter year the war was renewed by Maud's son Henry, then an able and popular lad of nineteen. The struggle was terminated in 1153 by the treaty which, though known as that of Wallingford, was actually concluded at Westminster, and which stipulated that Stephen should retain the kingdom during his lifetime, and should then be succeeded by Henry. Stephen profited little by this arrangement, dying on October 8th in the following year.
