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NDER the Angevin kings the navy of England attained at times a splendour and prestige which it had never before approached. In accordance with the stipulations of the Treaty of Wallingford, Henry II. peaceably succeeded Stephen at the latter's death in October, 1154, in spite of the fact that Stephen's son William was living, and that Henry did not arrive in England until six weeks after the late sovereign's demise.

The truth probably is that the country was weary of civil war; for, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the sufferings of the