<P> Norman rule, however, proved unstable; successions to the throne were contested, leading to violent conflicts between the claimants and their noble supporters . William II inherited the throne but faced revolts attempting to replace him with his older brother Robert or his cousin Stephen of Aumale . In 1100, William II died while hunting . Despite Robert's rival claims, his younger brother Henry I immediately seized power . War broke out, ending in Robert's defeat at Tinchebrai and his subsequent life imprisonment . Robert's son Clito remained free, however, and formed the focus for fresh revolts until his death in 1128 . Henry's only legitimate son, William, died aboard the White Ship disaster of 1120, sparking a fresh succession crisis: Henry's nephew, Stephen of Blois, claimed the throne in 1135, but this was disputed by the Empress Matilda, Henry's daughter . Civil war broke out across England and Normandy, resulting in a long period of warfare later termed the Anarchy . Matilda's son, Henry, finally agreed to a peace settlement at Winchester and succeeded as king in 1154 . </P> <P> Henry II was the first of the Angevin rulers of England, so - called because he was also the Count of Anjou in Northern France . Henry had also acquired the huge duchy of Aquitaine by marriage, and England became a key part of a loose - knit assemblage of lands spread across Western Europe, later termed the Angevin Empire . Henry reasserted royal authority and rebuilt the royal finances, intervening to claim power in Ireland and promoting the Anglo - Norman colonisation of the country . Henry strengthened England's borders with Wales and Scotland, and used the country's wealth to fund a long - running war with his rivals in France, but arrangements for his succession once again proved problematic . Several revolts broke out, led by Henry's children who were eager to acquire power and lands, sometimes backed by France, Scotland and the Welsh princes . After a final confrontation with Henry, his son Richard I succeeded to the throne in 1189 . </P> <P> Richard spent his reign focused on protecting his possessions in France and fighting in the Third Crusade; his brother, John, inherited England in 1199 but lost Normandy and most of Aquitaine after several years of war with France . John fought successive, increasingly expensive, campaigns in a bid to regain these possessions . John's efforts to raise revenues, combined with his fractious relationships with many of the English barons, led to confrontation in 1215, an attempt to restore peace through the signing of the Magna Carta, and finally the outbreak of the First Barons' War . John died having fought the rebel barons and their French backers to a stalemate, and royal power was re-established by barons loyal to the young Henry III . England's power structures remained unstable and the outbreak of the Second Barons' War in 1264 resulted in the king's capture by Simon de Montfort . Henry's son, Edward, defeated the rebel factions between 1265 and 1267, restoring his father to power . </P> <P> On becoming king, Edward I rebuilt the status of the monarchy, restoring and extending key castles that had fallen into disrepair . Uprisings by the princes of North Wales led to Edward mobilising a huge army, defeating the native Welsh and undertaking a programme of English colonisation and castle building across the region . Further wars were conducted in Flanders and Aquitaine . Edward also fought campaigns in Scotland, but was unable to achieve strategic victory, and the costs created tensions that nearly led to civil war . Edward II inherited the war with Scotland and faced growing opposition to his rule as a result of his royal favourites and military failures . The Despenser War of 1321--22 was followed by instability and the subsequent overthrow, and possible murder, of Edward in 1327 at the hands of his French wife, Isabella, and a rebel baron, Roger Mortimer . Isabella and Mortimer's regime lasted only a few years before falling to a coup, led by Isabella's son Edward III, in 1330 . </P>

Who ruled england in the early 1200's