Stephen, King of England succession. Stephen's new Anglo-Norman kingdom had been shaped by the Norman conquest of England in 1066, followed by the Norman expansion into south Wales over the coming years. Both the kingdom and duchy were dominated by a small number of major barons who owned lands on both sides of the English Channel, with the lesser barons beneath them usually having more localised holdings. The extent to which lands and positions should be passed down through hereditary right or by the gift of the king was still uncertain, and tensions concerning this issue had grown during the reign of Henry I.
The Last of England (painting) family. Although Ford Madox Brown was never a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, "The Last of England", like many of his paintings, exhibits all the characteristics of the movement. The painting depicts a man and his wife seeing England for the last time. The two main figures, based on Brown and his wife, Emma, stare ahead, stony-faced, ignoring the white cliffs of Dover which can be seen disappearing behind them in the top right of the picture. The family's clothing indicates that they are middle class, and so they are not leaving for the reasons that would force the emigration