Stephen of Blois meeting with Prince Henry (future King Henry II of England), at the siege of Wallingford, July 1153. A brokered truce, discussing a potential end to the war, led to the Treaty of Winchester a peace treaty to end the anarchy
Illustration from Cassell's illustrated history of England published circa 1896. Info from wiki: The fall of Wallingford appeared imminent and Henry marched south to relieve the siege, arriving with a small army and placing Stephen's besieging forces under siege themselves.[62] Upon news of this, Stephen returned with a large army, and the two sides confronted each other across the River Thames at Wallingford in July.[62] By this point in the war, the barons on both sides were eager to avoid an open battle,[63] so members of the clergy brokered a truce, to the annoyance of both Henry and Stephen.[63] Henry and Stephen took the opportunity to speak together privately about a potential end to the war; conveniently for Henry, Stephen's son Eustace fell ill and died shortly afterwards.[64] This removed the most obvious other claimant to the throne, as while Stephen had another son, William, he was only a second son and appeared unenthusiastic about making a plausible claim on the throne.[65] Fighting continued after Wallingford, but in a rather half-hearted fashion, while the English Church attempted to broker a permanent peace between the two sides
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