Gilbert Foliot II. It opened on 4 April 1139, and among other matters heard an appeal from the Empress Matilda concerning her claim to the throne of England. Matilda was the daughter and only surviving legitimate child of King Henry I, but following her father's death in late 1135 her cousin Stephen, the son of Henry's sister, had seized the crown. By 1139 Matilda had gathered supporters and was contesting Stephen's right to the throne. In about 1143 Foliot wrote an account of the proceedings of the council in a letter to one of Matilda's supporters. No action was taken on her
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