Henry, duke of Normandy, arrived in England within the octave of the Epiphany 1153, and came to church to pray the mass ‘after the manner of military men’. The clerk intoned the introit, ‘Ecce advenit dominator Dominus: et regnum in manu eius, et potestas, et imperium (See he comes, our Lord and Ruler, armed with royal power and dominion.)’, and again: ‘Grant to the king, O God, your own skill in judgement; to the inheritor of a throne, may he be just, as you are just.’ Within the octave of the Epiphany a year later, ‘King Stephen and his new son’ (as Henry had now become) met at Oxford, by which time ‘the duke had already spent almost a year in the conquest, or rather the resuscitation, of England. There, at the king's command, the English magnates paid to the duke the homage and fealty due to their lord, but they were to maintain the honour and faith due to the king while he lived.’ During these twelve months the accession of Henry II was settled; settled on terms that Stephen was prepared to accept; settled on terms that the political community of England was also prepared to accept. A conquest it was not.

This was not what Henry had wanted, nor was it what most political commentators had expected. It was remarkable, said Ralph de Diceto, that the conflict was not settled by force of arms. Twice in 1153 a confrontation was set up. The first occasion was at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, perhaps in late February, when both king and duke had their key supporters with them.