Bloisevin Succession

POD: In April 1152 both Theobald V, Count of Blois and Henry II, Duke of Normandy (later OTL King of England) tried to kidnap Eleanor of Aquitaine, the most eligible heiress in the history of France. Unfortunately, the two military bands ambushed each other (a very rare occurence that has only happened three times in the modern era) and Henry of Normandy was killed. The victor, Theobald, also failed to capture his putative bride as she thought him ugly, violent and unhygienic; and she died a happy, rich widow in 1204. How nice!

The upshot was that the partisans of Empress Matilda in the Anarchy, a desultory English civil war, were left without a clear leader, and after several months of wandering around the the Thames Valley they made peace with the ineffectual King Stephen, an uncle of the erstwhile Theobald, at Wallingford. Ironically, the bureaucrats took such a long time drawing up the Treaty of Wallingford that vast numbers of soldiers died of dysentry while waiting - more than would have otherwise died - and among those was Eustace, Count of Boulogne, the King's son and heir.

Thus, when Stephen died in 1154, he was succeeded by his younger son, William III of England, who was a minor at the time, and the whole history of the universe was changed immeasurably...