CLEP Western Civ I

Answer: D - A succession debate regarding the heir to William I’s son, Henry I, resulted in a 19-year period of civil war (called “The Anarchy”) that ended in 1153 with the ascension of Henry of Anjou, England’s King Henry II, the first Plantagenet monarch. Henry I’s only legitimate son died before taking the throne, so Henry tried to make his daughter Matilda his successor. However, that was unsuccessful, and when Henry I died, his nephew Stephen of Blois took the throne. The civil war between Stephen and Matilda’s factions lasted for nearly two decades, until her son Henry of Anjou invaded and negotiated a peace treaty with Stephen that made Henry his heir. When Stephen died the next year, Henry became King Henry II, marking the start of a 331-year Plantagenet dynasty. (Note: Henry II’s wife was Eleanor of Aquitaine and his son was Richard the Lion heart.)