lf off as soon as he learned that the king's
son had been drowned, and perished in the water. It is said that no
man dared to tell Henry that his son was drowned, and that at last a
little child was sent to inform him of his misfortune.

11. =The Last Years of Henry I.=--Henry had many illegitimate
children, but after William's death the only lawful child left to him
was Matilda. She had been married as a child to the Emperor Henry V.,
but her husband had died before she was grown up, and she then
returned to her father, as the Empress Matilda. There had never been a
queen in England, and it would have been very hard for a woman to rule
in those times of constant war and bloodshed. Yet Henry persuaded the
barons to swear to accept her as their future sovereign. He then
married her to Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, who came of a brave and
active race, and whose lands, which lay to the south of Normandy,
would enlarge the French possessions of Henry's descendants. In =1135=
Henry died. The great merit of his English government was that he
forsook his brother's evil ways of violence, and maintained peace by
erecting a regular administrative system, which kept down the outrages
of the barons. One of the English chroniclers in recording his death
prayed that God might give him the peace that he loved.[9]

[Footnote 9: Genealogy of the Conqueror's sons and grandchildren:--

WILLIAM I. = Matilda of Flanders
1066-1087 |
+------------+--------+---+---------+
| | | |
Robert, Duke of WILLIAM II. HENRY I. Adela = Stephen of Blois
Normandy 1087-1100 1100-1135 |
| | |
| | | STEPHEN
William Clito William | 1135-1154
|
(1) The Emperor Henry V. = Matilda = (2) Geoffrey Plantagenet
|
HENRY II.
1154-1189]

[Illustration: Keep of Rochester Castle. Built between 1126 and 1139.]

12. =Stephen's Accession. 1135.=--Among the barons who had sworn to
obey Matilda was Stephen of Blois, a son of the Conqueror's daughter
Adela, and a nephew of Henry I. As soon as Henry's death was known
Stephen made his wa