This is a study of government in England – of politics and especially of administration – in the years following the civil war between King Stephen and the Angevins. The period was one of both restoration and reform: on the one hand, the restoration of property, of orderly government and – it was claimed – of the customs of Henry I's reign, and on the other, administrative reform, particularly in the judicial system, prior to the more famous measures in and after 1166. The manner in which the kingdom was governed under Stephen is given close attention, as essential to an understanding of the subsequent period, but the focus is on recovery and reconstruction in the aftermath of war. The year of the peace settlement at Winchester, 1153, is an obvious starting-date, but cases could be made for continuing the work to 1163, 1170 or 1173–74. The date of 1165 has been chosen because by the following year – the year when the Assize of Clarendon and an assize concerning disseisins are known to have been operational, and when the barons had to submit lists of knights' fees – the king was clearly enlarging the scope of royal justice and seeking new sources of revenue, rather than merely regaining what had been lost under Stephen. It could be argued that 1163 would be a better terminal date.