ABSTRACT
Norman barons, attempting to settle the succession, had sent for Theobald Count of Blois. The least popular was the official candidate whom Henry had designated and to whom the English barons had sworn allegiance, his daughter the Empress Matilda. Waiting for the death of Henry the author must have been like waiting for the Bomb. When he died, in 1 December 1135, there was a sort of hushed suspense while people listened for the explosion. The feeling is vividly conveyed in the letter which Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny, wrote to Stephen's mother, who of course was also Henry's sister, announcing the news of his death. The self-interest was bound to make them prefer a successor who was already committed to the new order, and they therefore focused their attention on the two men who were both of royal birth and 'new', Robert Earl of Gloucester, the illegitimate son of the king, and Stephen.
