Death of King Stephen

Chronicum Anglicanum by Ralph Coggeshall. 1154. The most pious King Stephen died on the 9th day before the Kalends of November [24th October] and was buried in the church of Faversham, which he himself had founded with his queen, Matilda. He was succeeded in the kingdom by Henry, the son of the Empress, duke of Normandy and count of Aquitaine and Anjou. He was consecrated king at Westminster by Archbishop Theobald in the same year, on the Sunday before Christmas. From his wife Eleanor he begot four sons: William, who died in childhood; Henry, who became king; Richard of Poitou, who also became king; Geoffrey, count of Brittany; and John, king, formerly count of Gloucester and Mortain. He also had by her three daughters: one was given in marriage to William, king of Sicily; another to the king of "Little Spain"¹; the third to Henry, duke of Saxony, who later, rebelling against his uncle the emperor Frederick, lost his duchy, though his son afterward recovered it.

MCLIV. Obiit piissimus rex Stephanus nono calendas Novembris, sepultusque est in ecclesia de Faveresham, quam ipse fundaverat cum regina sua Mathildi. Cui successit in regnum Henricus filius imperatricis, dux Normanniæ et comes Aquitaniæ et Andegaviæ; consecratusque est in regem apud Westmonasterium a Theobaldo archiepiscopo eodem anno, Dominica ante Natale Domini. Qui ex Alienoride conjuge sua genuit quatuor filios, videlicet Willelmum, qui in puerili ætate mortuus est, Henricum regem, Ricardum Pictavinum et regem, Galfridum comitem Britonum, Johannem regem, prius comitem Gloecestriæ, et Moretanniæ. Habuit etiam ex ea tres filias, quarum una tradita est Willelmo regi Siciliæ, alia regi Petit Hispaniæ, tertia Henrico duci Saxoniæ, qui dux postmodum rebellans contra imperatorem Frethericum avunculum suum, ducatum amisit; sed filius ejus postea recuperavit.

Note 1. A reference to Eleanor, 1161-1214, who married Alfonso, King of Castile.