Eustace fitz John construction of fortifications at Tickhill and Knaresborough in Yorkshire are also recorded in this pipe roll. This and evidence of royal writs show that Eustace and Walter Espec had justiciar responsibility for the counties of Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham, and Yorkshire, a role that involved hearing pleas and conveying instructions from central government. The death of Henry I on 1 December 1135 led to the accession of Stephen de Blois, to whom Eustace submitted. Stephen's seizure of the throne was contested by Henry I's daughter, the Empress Matilda, who had been Henry's designated heir. The "Gesta Stephani" claimed that certain "very
History of the English line of succession the crown in 1376. On his death, on 21 June 1377, the line of succession to the English throne was: The throne passed smoothly to the first person in line, who became Richard II. On the day of Richard II's abdication, 29 September 1399, the line of succession to the English throne was as follows (following primogeniture, according to Richard II's entail in 1399): However, upon Richard's abdication the throne was taken by Henry Bolingbroke as Henry IV. Henry had justified his usurpation by emphasizing his descent in the male line. Thus, the Lancastrian line of succession is agnatic, similar