Henry II crowned King of England

December 19, 1154

Six weeks after Stephen's death, the twenty-one-year-old Henry of Anjou was crowned at Westminster alongside Eleanor. He inherited a kingdom in such disarray that contemporaries said the devil had walked it. Within three years he had pulled down most of the illegally built castles of the Anarchy, restoring royal authority with a speed and thoroughness that announced a new style of energetic, personally driven kingship.