Treaty of Wallingford

November 6, 1153

King Stephen and Henry of Anjou, both exhausted by eighteen years of the Anarchy, met near the Thames and agreed Henry would succeed Stephen on his death. The king's own son Eustace had conveniently died that summer. Henry waited less than a year. The treaty ended the most destructive period in English history since the Viking invasions, and its terms ensured a peaceful transition to the Plantagenet dynasty.