Stephen of Blois in the context of "Henry II of England"

Empress Matilda (c. 7 February 1102 – 10 September 1167), also known as Empress Maud, was Holy Roman Empress as the consort of Emperor Henry V from 1110 until his death in 1125, and was subsequently a claimant to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. Following the death of her father, King Henry I of England, she asserted her right to the English throne as his only surviving legitimate child and styled herself Lady of the English. However, her cousin Stephen of Blois was crowned king in her place.

Matilda was the only daughter and eldest child of Henry I, king of England and ruler of Normandy, by his first wife Matilda of Scotland, to survive to adulthood. As a child, she went to Germany where she was married to the future Henry V. She travelled with the emperor to Italy in 1116, was controversially crowned empress in St Peter's Basilica, and acted as the imperial regent in Italy. Matilda and Henry V had no children, and when he died in 1125, the imperial crown was claimed by his rival Lothair of Supplinburg.

The Treaty of Wallingford, also known as the Treaty of Winchester or the Treaty of Westminster, was an agreement reached in England in the summer of 1153. It effectively ended a civil war known as the Anarchy (1135–54), caused by a dispute over the English crown between King Stephen and Empress Matilda. The Treaty of Wallingford allowed Stephen to keep the throne until his death (which was to come in October 1154), but ensured that he would be succeeded by Matilda's son Henry II.

Robert FitzRoy, 1st Earl of Gloucester (c. 1090 – 31 October 1147), was an illegitimate son of King Henry I. He was the half-brother of the Empress Matilda, and her chief military supporter during the civil war known as the Anarchy, in which she vied with Stephen of Blois for the throne of England.

Henry II ( (1133-March-05) (1189-July-06)5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189) was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189. During his reign he controlled England, substantial parts of Wales and Ireland, and much of France (including Normandy, Anjou, and Aquitaine), an area that was later called the Angevin Empire, and also held power over Scotland for a time and the Duchy of Brittany.

Henry was the eldest son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, and Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England. By the age of fourteen, he became politically and militarily involved in his mother's efforts to claim the English throne, at that time held by her cousin Stephen of Blois. Henry's father made him Duke of Normandy in 1150, and upon his father's death in 1151, Henry inherited Anjou, Maine and Touraine. His marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine brought him control of the Duchy of Aquitaine. Thus, he controlled most of France. Henry's military expedition to England in 1153 resulted in King Stephen agreeing, by the Treaty of Wallingford, to leave England to Henry; he inherited the kingdom at Stephen's death a year later.