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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_I_of_England

He had 2 wives,
Eadgyth of Scotland who changed her name to Matilda mother of Euphemia (unconfirmed), Matilda & William
and Adelisa de Louvain who married William d'Aubigny on Henry's death

He also had many mistresses (or concubines) as follows:
1 Unknown woman from Caen mother of Robert de Caen aka Robert FitzRoy, Earl of Gloucester
2 Edith Unknown mother of Mathilde w/o Routrou de Perche
3 Ansfride widow of Anskill mother of Richard, Juliane & Foulques
4 Unknown mother of Sybil Queen of Scotland & William
5 Sibyl Corbet married Herbert FitzHerbert mother of Renaud de Dunstanville, William, & Gundred, Rohese
6 Edith FitzForne d/o Forn Sigurdson Lord of Greystoke, Cumberland married Robert De Oilly of Hook Norton mother of Robert FitzEdith
7 - 12 All Unknown. Mothers to: Maud (m. Conan III Duke of Brittany),
Alix (m. MATHIEU [I] de Montmorency)
Constance (Mathilde) (m ROSCELIN Vicomte de Beaumont)
Mathilde abbess of Montvilliers
Gilbert
William de Tracy
13 Nest of South Wales wife of Gerald FitzWalter of Windsor d/o Rhys apTewdwr Prince of South Wales and Gwladus mother of Henry
14 Unknown mother of unknown daughter (m GUILLAUME [III] Goët de Montmirail)
15 Isabelle de Beaumont d/o Robert de Beaumont Comte de Meulan, Earl of Leicester and Isabelle de Vermandois and wife of Gilbert FitzGilbert de Clare Earl of Pembroke mother of Isabel

Please do not merge Named Mistresses as Unknown Mistresses

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_I_of_England
the fourth son of William I the Conqueror the first King of England after the Norman Conquest of 1066.
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Henry I 'Beauclerc', King of England gained the title of Lord of Domfront in 1092. He gained the title of Comte de Coutances in 1096. He gained the title of Comte de Bayeaux in 1096. He succeeded to the title of King Henry I of England on 2 August 1100. He was crowned King of England on 5 August 1100 in Westminster Abbey, Westminster, London, and styled 'Dei Gratiâ Rex Anglorum.' He fought in the Battle of Tinchebrai on 28 September 1106.2 He succeeded to the title of 9th Duc de Normandie on 28 September 1106, after defeating his brother Robert in battle.
Strangely, at the time William 'Rufus' was shot in the New Forest, Henry was also hunting there and this may or may not be coincidence. Henry was in turn in some danger from his brother Robert who claimed the throne for himself. Robert was captured at the battle of Tinchebrai in 1106 and Henry imprisoned him in Cardiff Castle for the rest of his life. Henry was successful in keeping the peace in England despite spending much time in Normandy. He developed the English system of justice and organised the civil service of the time, particularly the taxation department. He was unpopular with the church leaders. He had only one legitimate son, William and a legitimate daughter Matilda, but over twenty illegitimate children. His sons William and Richard were drowned in 1120 aboard his personal vessel the 'White Ship' when it struck a rock off the Normandy coast. He wanted his successor to be his daughter Matilda whom the English called Maud. He has an extensive biographical entry in the Dictionary of National Biography.

All detailed biographical entries are extracted from:

1. [S18] Dictionary of National Biography; and
2. [S23] Dictionary of New Zealand National Biography

Henry I 1068-1135, king, fourth son of William the Conqueror and Matilda, was born, it is said, at Selby in Yorkshire (Monasticon, iii. 485; Freeman, Norman Conquest, iv. 231, 791), in the latter half of 1068, his mother having been crowned queen on the previous Whitsunday (Orderic, p. 510). As the son of a crowned king and queen of England he was regarded by the English as naturally qualified to become their king; he was an English ætheling, and is spoken of as clito, which was used as an equivalent title (ib. p. 689; Brevis Relatio, p. 9; comp. Gesta Regum, v. 390). He was brought up in England (Cont. William of Jumièges, viii. 10), and received an unusually good education, of which he took advantage, for he was studious and did not in after life forget what he had learnt (Orderic, p. 665; Gesta Regum, u. s.). The idea that he understood Greek and translated Æsop's Fables into English is founded solely on a line in the Ysopet of Marie de France, who lived in England in the reign of Henry III, but it is extremely unlikely, and there is so much uncertainty as to what Marie really wrote or meant in the passage in question that it is useless to build any theory upon it (Poésies de Marie de France, par B. de Roquefort, i. 33-44, ii. 401; Professor Freeman seems to think that the idea is fairly tenable, Norman Conquest, iv. 229, 792-4). It is certain that he understood Latin (Orderic, p. 812), and could speak English easily (William Rufus, i. pref. viii). At least as early as the thirteenth century he was called clerk, the origin of the name Beauclerc (Wykes, iv. 11; Norman Conquest, iv. 792). While he was with his father at Laigle in Normandy, in 1077, when the Conqueror was on bad terms with his eldest son Robert, he and his brother, William Rufus, went across to Robert's lodgings in the castle, played dice with their followers in an upper room, made a great noise, and threw water on Robert and his men who were below. Robert ran up with Alberic and Ivo of Grantmesnil to avenge the insult, a disturbance followed, and the Conqueror had to interfere to make peace (Orderic, p. 545). His mother at her death in 1083 left Henry heir of all her possessions in England, but it is evident that he did not receive anything until his father's death (ib. p. 510). The next year, when his father and brothers were in Normandy, he spent Easter by his father's order at the monastery of Abingdon, the expenses of the festival being borne by Robert of Oily (Chron. de Abingdon, ii. 12). At the Whitsuntide assembly of 1086 his father dubbed him knight at Westminster, and he was armed by Archbishop Lanfranc. He was with his father when the Conqueror lay dying the next year at Rouen, and, on hearing his father's commands and wishes about his dominions and possessions, asked what there was for him. I give thee 5,000l., was the answer. But what, he said, can I do with the money if I have no place to live in? The Conqueror bade him be patient and wait his turn, for the time would come when he should be richer and greater than his brothers. The money thus left had been his mother's, and he went off at once to secure the treasure. He returned for his father's funeral at Caen
Robert of Normandy, who was in want of money, asked Henry for some of his treasure; Henry refused, and the duke then offered to sell or pledge him some part of his dominions. He accordingly bought the Avranchin and the Côtentin, along with Mont St. Michel, for 3,000l., and ruled his new territory well and vigorously (Orderic, p. 665). In 1088 he went over to England, and requested Rufus to hand over to him his mother's lands. Rufus received him graciously, and granted him seisin of the lands, but when he left the country granted them to another. Henry returned to Normandy in the autumn in the company of Robert of Bellême, and the duke, acting on the advice of his uncle, Bishop Odo, seized him and shut him up in prison at Bayeux, where he remained for six months, for Odo made the duke believe that Henry was plotting with Rufus to injure him (ib. p. 673). In the spring of the following year the duke released him at the request of the Norman nobles, and he went back to his county, which Robert seems to have occupied during his imprisonment, at enmity with both his brothers. He employed himself in strengthening the defences of his towns, and attached a number of his nobles to himself, among whom were Hugh of Chester, the lord of Avranches, Richard of Redvers, and the lords of the Côtentin generally. When the citizens of Rouen revolted against their duke in favour of Rufus in November 1090, Henry came to Robert's help, not so much probably for Robert's sake, as because he was indignant at seeing a city rise against its lord (William Rufus, i. 248). He joined Robert in the castle, and headed the nobles who gathered to suppress the movement. The rebellious party among the citizens was routed, and Conan, its leader, was taken prisoner. Henry made him come with him to the top of the tower, and in bitter mockery bade him look out and see how fair a land it was which he had striven to subject to himself. Conan confessed his disloyalty and prayed for mercy; all his treasure should be given for his life. Henry bade him prepare for speedy death. Conan pleaded for a confessor. Henry's anger was roused, and with both hands he pushed Conan through the window, so he fell from the tower and perished (Orderic, p. 690; Gesta Regum, v. 392). In the early part of the next year Robert and William made peace, and agreed that Cherbourg and Mont St. Michel, which both belonged to Henry, should pass to the English king, and the rest of his dominions to the Norman duke. Up to this time Henry had been enabled to keep his position mainly by the mutual animosity of William and Robert. Now both his brothers attacked him at once. He no longer held the balance between them in Normandy, and the lords of his party fell away from him. He shut himself up in Mont St. Michel, and held it against his brothers, who laid siege to it about the middle of Lent, each occupying a position on either side of the bay. The besieged garrison engaged in several skirmishes on the mainland (Flor. Worc.). Their water was exhausted, and Henry sent to the duke representing his necessity, and bidding him decide their quarrel by arms and not by keeping him from water. Robert allowed the besieged to have water. After fifteen days Henry offered to surrender if he and his men might march out freely. He was accordingly allowed to evacuate the place honourably (Orderic, p. 697)
The surrender of Mont St. Michel left Henry landless and friendless, and for some months he wandered about, taking shelter first in Brittany and then in the Vexin. In August he accompanied his two brothers to England, and apparently joined in the expedition against Malcolm of Scotland (Gesta Regum, iv. 310; HistoriæDunelm. Scriptores Tres, p. xxii; William Rufus, ii. 535-8). Then he probably resumed his wandering life, travelling about attended only by a clerk, a knight, and three armed followers. Apparently at the end of 1092 he received a message from the men of Domfront inviting him to become their lord. He was received at Domfront by Archard, the chief man of the town, who had instigated his fellow-townsmen to revolt against Robert of Bellême, their former lord. Henry promised that he would never give up the town to any other lord, and would never change its laws and customs (Orderic, pp. 698, 788). Domfront, situated on the Varenne, dominated part of the border of Normandy towards Maine; lies not far to the east of Henry's old county, and was a place of great strength (for geographical description see William Rufus, i. 319). The interests of Henry and Rufus were now one; both alike desired to win all the parts of Normandy they could from the duke. Henry from his new fortress carried on constant war against the duke and Robert of Bellême; before long he regained a large part of his old territory in the west (ib. p. 321), and in doing so certainly acted with the goodwill of Rufus, though there appear to have been some hostilities between them (Orderic, p. 706; too much weight must not be given to this passage; in the first place it is rather vague and may apply to an earlier period, and in the second a war such as that which Henry was carrying on, consisting of attacks on single towns and castles, was certain to lead to quarrels with others besides those immediately concerned). Some places in his old county yielded to him out of affection, for, as the people of Domfront had discerned, he was a good lord, others he took by force of arms, and his old friends and followers again joined him. In 1094 he received an invitation from Rufus, who was then carrying on open war against Robert in Normandy, to meet him with Hugh of Chester at Eu, and because the duchy was in too disturbed a state for them to pass through it safely, Rufus sent ships to bring them (A.-S. Chron. sub an.). They sailed, however, to Southampton, and waited at London for the king, who met them there shortly after Christmas. Henry stayed with Rufus until Lent, and then returned to Normandy with a large supply of money, and carried on war against Robert with constant success (ib. an. 1095). When Normandy passed into the possession of Rufus in 1096, Henry joined him and remained with him, receiving from him the counties of Coutances and Bayeux, with the exception of the city of Bayeux and the town of Caen, and having further committed to his charge the castle of Gisors, which Rufus built on the frontier against France (Cont. William of Jumièges, viii. 7).
On 2 Aug. 1100 Henry was hunting in the New Forest, when men came hastening to him one after another telling him of the death of Rufus. According to popular belief he had shortly before gone into a hut to mend his bowstring, and an old woman had declared that she had learnt by augury that he would soon become king. When he heard of his brother's death, it is said that he grieved much, and went to where his body lay (Wace, ll. 10105-38). In reality he spurred at once to Winchester, where the royal treasure was kept, and demanded the keys of the treasury from the guards (Orderic, p. 782). William of Breteuil refused to deliver them, declaring that, as Robert was his father's first-born, he was the rightful heir. The dispute waxed hot, and men came running to the spot, and took the count's part (Professor Freeman's assumption that these men were Englishmen as opposed to Normans seems unwarranted). Henry clapped his hand on his sword, drew it, and declared that no one should stand between him and his father's sceptre. Friends and nobles gathered round him, and the treasury was delivered over to him. The next day such of the witan as were at hand met in council, and after some opposition chose Henry as king, chiefly owing to the influence of Henry Beaumont, earl of Warwick (Gesta Regum, v. 393). As king-elect he bestowed the see of Winchester, which Rufus had kept vacant since January 1098, on William Giffard [q.v.]; he then rode to London, and was crowned at Westminster on Sunday, 5 Aug., by Maurice, bishop of London, for Archbishop Anselm [q.v.] was then in exile. Thomas, archbishop of York, hastened from the north to perform the ceremony, but came too late. When he complained of this as an infringement of his right, the king and the bishops told him that it was necessary to hasten the coronation for the sake of the peace of the kingdom (Hugh the Chantor, ii. 107). At his coronation he swore to give peace to the church and people, to do justice, and to establish good law. On the same day he published a charter in which, after declaring that he had been made king by the ‘common concent of the barons,’ he forbade the evil customs introduced during the last reign. The church was to be free, its offices and revenues neither sold nor farmed, and the feudal incidents of relief, marriage, and wardship were no longer to be abused by the king as instruments of oppression. As he did by his tenants-in-chief so were they to do by their tenants, a provision which may be said to have been founded on the law of his father that all men, of what lord soever they held, owed the king allegiance, a provision wholly contrary to the feudal idea. The coinage was to be reformed, and justice done on those who made or kept bad money. Wills of personalty were permitted. Men who incurred forfeiture were no longer to be forced to be at the king's mercy. Knights who held by knight-service were to have their demesne lands free of tax, and were to be ready both with horses and arms to serve the king and defend his realm. Good peace was to be kept throughout the kingdom, and the ‘law of King Edward,’ with the amendments of the Conqueror, was restored. The forests were, with the common consent of the barons, to remain as they were in the days of the king's father (Select Charters, pp. 95-8). This charter was taken by the barons in the reign of John as the basis of their demands. Henry also wrote a letter to Anselm inviting him to return, and declaring that he committed himself to the counsel of the archbishop and of those others whose right it was to advise him (Epp. iii. 41). There was great joy among the people at his accession, and they shouted loudly at his coronation, for they believed that good times were at last come again, and saw in their new king the ‘Lion of Justice’ of Merlin's prophecy (Gesta Regum, v. 393; Orderic, pp. 783, 887).
Henry was thirty-two at his accession. He was of middle height, broad-chested, strong, stoutly built, and in his later years decidedly fat (Orderic, p. 901). His hair was black and lay thickly above his forehead, and his eyes had a calm and soft look. On fitting occasions his talk was mirthful, and no press of business robbed him of his cheerfulness. Caring little what he ate or drank, he was temperate, and blamed excess in others (Gesta Regum, v. 412). He was, however, exceedingly licentious, and was the father of a large number of natural children by many mistresses. At the same time he was free from the abominable vices which Rufus had practised, and, sensual as he was, his accession was at once followed by a reform in the habits of the court (ib. p. 393). In common with all his house he was devoted to hunting, and one of his lords who quarrelled with him gave him the nickname of ‘Pie-de-Cerf,’ because of his love of slaying deer (Wace, l. 10566). From the studies of his youth he acquired an abiding taste for books. He formed a collection of wild beasts at Woodstock, where he often resided (Gesta Regum, v. 409; Henry of Huntingdon, pp. 244, 300). He was an active, industrious king, and when in England constantly moved about, visiting different places in the southern and central parts of the kingdom, though he seems very seldom to have gone north of the Humber. In his progresses the arrangements of his court were orderly, for he was a man of method; there were no sudden changes of plan, and people brought their goods to the places on his route, certain that the court would arrive and stay as had been announced, and that they would find a market. The morning he gave to affairs of state and to hearing causes; the rest of his day to amusement (De Nugis Curialium, p. 210). He was not without religion. Reading Abbey he founded (ib. p. 209; Gesta Regum, v. 413; Monasticon, iv. 28); he completed the foundation of the abbey of Austin canons at Carlisle; he formed the see of Carlisle (Creighton, Carlisle, pp. 31-5; John of Hexham, col. 257; Waverley Annals, ap. Annales Monast. ii. 223); Cirencester Abbey, and Dunstable (Dunstable Annals, ib. iii. 15) and Southwyke priories, all for Austin canons, were founded by him (Monasticon, vi. 175, 238, 243), together with some other houses. He was a benefactor to some older English foundations, and rebuilt many churches in Normandy which suffered during his wars. He was liberal to pilgrims and to the military orders in Palestine (Cont. William of Jumièges, viii. 32), and seems to have treated clergy of holy life with respect. Contemporaries were much impressed by his wisdom; he did not love war, and preferred to gain his ends by craft. An unforgiving enemy, he was said to be an equally steadfast friend. He was, however, such a thorough dissembler that no one could be sure of his favour; and Robert Bloet [q.v.], bishop of Lincoln, declared that when he praised any one he was sure to be plotting that person's destruction (De Contemptu Mundi). He was cruel, and his cruelties proceeded from a cold-hearted disregard of human suffering. Policy rather than feeling guided his actions. Without being miserly, he was avaricious, and the people suffered much from his exactions, which, though apparently not exorbitant in amount, were levied with pitiless regularity alike in times of scarcity and plenty. His justice was stern. Unlike his father, he caused thieves, robbers, and other malefactors to be hanged, and sometimes inflicted such sweeping punishments that the innocent must have suffered along with the guilty. Criminals were constantly blinded and mutilated, though in his later years he often substituted heavy fines for these punishments. He strictly enforced the forest laws; no one was allowed, except as a special privilege, to hunt on his own land or to diminish the size of his woods; all dogs in the neighbourhood of a forest were maimed, and little difference was made between the slayer of a deer and of a man (Orderic, p. 813; William of Newburgh, i. c. 3). On the whole, however, Henry's harsh administration of justice was good for the country; while it brought suffering to the few, it gave peace and security to the many. His despotism was strong as well as stern; no offender was too powerful to be reached by the law. Private war he put down peremptorily, and peace and order were enforced everywhere. He exalted the royal authority, and kept the barons well under control, both by taking sharp measures against those who offended him, and by choosing his counsellors and chief officers from a lower rank, raising up a number of new men, whom he enriched and ennobled in order to make them a counterpoise to the power of the great houses of the Conquest (Orderic, p. 805). Although he kept a large number of stipendiary soldiers, to whom he was a liberal master (Cont. William of Jumièges, viii. 22), he was persuaded by Anselm to sharply restrain them from injuring the people, as they had done in his brother's time, and as they did in the earlier years of his own reign (Eadmer, Historia Novorum, iv. col. 470). Trade was benefited by his restoration of the coinage, and the severity with which he punished those who issued bad money or used false measures; he is said to have made the length of his own arm the standard of measure throughout the kingdom (Gesta Regum, v. 411). The peace and order which he established were highly valued by the people, and the native chronicler, though he makes many moans over his exactions, yet, writing after his death, and looking back in a time of disorder to the strong government of the late reign, says of him: ‘Good man he was, and great awe there was of him. No one durst misdo another in his time. Peace he made for man and deer. Whoso bare his burden of gold and silver no man durst say to him aught but good’ (Anglo-Saxon Chron. sub an. 1135; for Henry's character, both as a man and as a king, see more at large in Norman Conquest, v. 153-61, 839-45, where full references are given; also Stubbs, Constitutional History, vol. i. secs. 110-12).
In the first days of his reign Henry imprisoned, in the Tower of London, Ranulf Flambard [q.v.], bishop of Durham, the evil minister of Rufus, and began to appoint abbots to the abbeys which his brother had kept vacant in order to enjoy their revenues. He met Anselm at Salisbury, on his return to England about Michaelmas, and required him to do homage as his predecessor had done, and receive back from him the temporalities of the see, which were then in the king's hands. Anselm refused, and Henry, who could not afford to quarrel with him, and would probably in any case have been unwilling to do so, agreed to delay the matter, in order that the pope might be consulted whether he could so far change his decrees as to bring them into accordance with the ancient custom of the kingdom. In this dispute as to the question of investiture [for which see under Anselm] Henry took his stand on the rights of his crown as handed down by his predecessors, and on the undoubted usages of his realm. He made no new demand; the innovation was introduced by Anselm, who, in obedience to papal instructions, refused to accept the temporalities from Henry, as he had accepted them from Rufus, and as former archbishops had accepted them from former kings. Nor did Henry make the quarrel a personal matter; he did not persecute the archbishop, or thwart him in the exercise of his office, as Rufus had done. He behaved throughout with a due regard to law, and on the whole acted fairly, though he naturally availed himself of every lawful means to gain his point. He was urged by his counsellors, and especially by the bishops, to marry and reform his life. He had for some time been in love with Eadygyth (Edith) or Matilda [q.v.], daughter of Malcolm Canmore, king of Scotland, by Margaret, daughter of Edward the Exile, son of Edmund Ironside [q.v.]. Matilda had been brought up in the convent at Romsey, and many people declared that she had taken the veil. Anselm, however, pronounced that she was not a nun, and married her to the king, and crowned her queen in Westminster Abbey on 11 Nov. 1100. The English were delighted to see their king take a wife of ‘England's right kingly kin’ (A.-S. Chronicle, a. 1100). Before long, his example was followed by others, and intermarriages between Normans and English became common. They were encouraged by Henry, who by this and other means did all he could to promote the amalgamation of the two races within his kingdom (De Nugis Curialium, p. 209). His efforts were so successful that he has been called the ‘refounder of the English nation’ (William Rufus, ii. 455). For a while he devoted himself to his queen, but before long returned to his old mode of life. His marriage was not pleasing to the Norman nobles, who knew his early misfortunes, and as yet held him in little respect; they sneered at the domestic life of the king and queen, calling them by the English names Godric and Godgifu (Godiva). Henry heard their sneers but said nothing (Gesta Regum, v. 394; Henry of Huntingdon, p. 236). Already they were plotting against him in favour of Robert, who had returned from the crusade, and had again resumed his government, such as it was, of Normandy, though Henry kept the castles which he held in virtue of his grant from Rufus. Some hostilities were carried on in Normandy between his men and the duke's. At Christmas the king held his court at Westminster, and there received Louis, who had lately been made joint king of France by his father, Philip. While Louis was with him a letter came from Bertrada, Philip's adulterous wife, purporting to have been sent by Philip, and requesting Henry to keep Louis in lifelong imprisonment. Henry, however, sent his guest home with many presents (Symeon of Durham, ii. 232; Orderic, p. 813, places this visit under 1103. Symeon's date seems better; comp. Recueil des Historiens, xii. 878, 956). At Christmastide Flambard escaped from the Tower and fled to Normandy, where he stirred up Robert against his brother. During the spring of 1101 the conspiracy of the Norman nobles against the king spread rapidly, and when the Whitsun assembly met it was known that Robert was about to make an invasion. A large number both of nobles and of the people generally came to the assembly to profess their loyalty. Henry and the nobles met with mutual suspicions. Among the nobles only Robert FitzHamon, Richard of Redvers, Roger Bigot, Robert of Meulan, and his brother Henry, earl of Warwick, were steadfast to him; all the rest were more or less on Robert's side. The English people and the bishops were loyal, and by the advice of Anselm Henry renewed his promises of good government (Gesta Regum, v. 394; Eadmer, Historia Novorum, iii. col. 430). He gathered a large army, and was joined by Anselm in person. With him he went to Pevensey, and sent a fleet to intercept the invaders. Some of the seamen were persuaded to join the duke, who landed near Portsmouth on 20 July. Henry advanced to meet him, and though some of his lords, and among them Robert of Bellême, now earl of Shrewsbury, deserted him, many were kept from following their example by the influence of Anselm. The king and the duke met at Alton in Hampshire (Wace, l. 10393). Henry's army was largely composed of Englishmen. He rode round their battalions, telling them how to meet the shock of a cavalry charge, and they called to him to let them engage the Normans. No battle took place; for the brothers had an interview, were reconciled, and came to terms. Henry agreed to give up all he held in Normandy except Domfront, which he kept according to his promise to the townsmen, to restore the lands in England which Robert's adherents had forfeited, and to pay the duke three thousand marks a year. Robert renounced his claim on England and on homage from Henry, and both agreed that if either should die without leaving an heir born in wedlock the other should succeed to his dominions (A.-S. Chronicle, sub an.; Orderic, p. 788). The duke went back to Normandy, and Henry bided his time to take vengeance on the lords who had risen against him. By degrees one after another at various times and by various means he brought them to judgment and punished them (ib. p. 804). One of them, Ivo of Grantmesnil, began to carry on war in England on his own account, was cited before the king's court, and was forced to part with his lands for the benefit of the king's counsellor, Robert of Meulan, and to go on a crusade.
Henry now prepared to deal with Robert of Bellême, the most powerful noble in his kingdom, and his enemy alike in England and in Normandy. He knew that while Robert remained lord of so many strong fortresses, and held an almost independent position in the Severn country, where he could easily find Welsh allies, it was hopeless to attempt to carry out his design of enforcing order and of humbling the great feudatories. His war with the earl [for particulars see Bellême, Robert of] was the principal crisis in his reign. Not only did Robert's wealth and dominions make him a dangerous foe, but the chief men in Henry's army also sympathised with him. Henry depended on the loyalty of men of lower degree. In fighting out his own quarrel he was also fighting against the foremost representative of a feudal nobility, which would, if triumphant, have trampled alike on the crown, the lesser landholders, and the nation generally. The shouts which were raised on the surrender of Shrewsbury, the earl's last stronghold in England, and the song which celebrated his banishment, show that the people knew that the king's victory insured safety for his subjects. During the early part of the war the earl received help from the Welsh under Jorwerth and his two brothers, who ruled as Robert's vassals in Powys and the present Cardigan. The king won Jorwerth over to his side by promising him large territories free of homage, and he persuaded his countrymen to desert the earl and uphold the king. When, however, he claimed the fulfilment of Henry's promise, it was refused, and in 1103 he was brought to trial at Shrewsbury and imprisoned.
It is characteristic of the spirit in which Henry carried on his dispute with Anselm that while in 1102 he allowed the archbishop to hold his synod at Westminster, he in 1103 banished William Giffard [q.v.], the bishop-elect of Winchester, for refusing to receive consecration from Gerard [q.v.] of York. He was anxious for a settlement of the question, and willingly gave Anselm license to go to Rome. Henry was relieved from some anxiety by the death of Magnus Barefoot, king of Norway, who was slain while invading Ireland, and he enriched himself by seizing on 20,000l. deposited by the Norwegian king with a citizen of Lincoln. Some interference in the affairs of Normandy was forced on the king by the attacks made on his son-in-law, Eustace of Pacy, lord of Breteuil, the husband of his natural daughter, Juliana. Robert of Meulan was sent to threaten the duke and his lords with the king's displeasure unless they helped Eustace, and his mission was successful (Orderic, p. 811). Duke Robert came over to England, and was persuaded by the queen to give up the pension of three thousand marks which the king had agreed to pay him (Flor. Wig. ii. 52; Gesta Regum, v. 395). Normandy was in a state of confusion. Henry's enemies, and above all Robert of Bellême, who was now in alliance with the duke, were active, and were joined by William of Mortain, one of the king's bitterest foes, who claimed the earldom of Kent as heir of Bishop Odo. Since the overthrow of Robert of Bellême the king had become too strong for the nobles. William was tried in 1104 and sentenced to banishment. He went over to Normandy and attacked some of the castles belonging to men of the king's party. Henry himself crossed with a considerable fleet, and visited Domfront and other towns, apparently those held by the lords who also had English estates. In an interview with Robert he complained of his alliance with Robert of Bellême and of his general misgovernment. Robert purchased peace by ceding to him the lordship of the county of Evreux. Henry's lords seem to have fought with some success. The king returned before Christmas. It was a time of trouble in England; for he was determined to invade Normandy, and accordingly taxed his subjects to raise funds for his expedition. He was collecting an army, and, as he had not yet made his decree against military wrongdoing, his soldiers oppressed the people, plundering, burning, and slaying (A.-S. Chron. sub an.). He held his Christmas court at Windsor, and in Lent 1105 left England with a large force. He landed at Barfleur, and spent Easter day at Carentan. Thither came Serlo, bishop of Seez, who had been driven out of his see by Robert of Bellême, and prepared to celebrate mass. The king and his lords were sitting at the bottom of the church, among the goods and utensils which the country-folk had placed there to preserve them from plunder. Serlo called on the king to look at these signs of the misery of the people, and exhorted him to deliver them and the church from those who oppressed them. He wound up by inveighing against the custom of wearing long hair which prevailed among the men of the English court, and spoke to such good effect that the king allowed him then and there to shear off his locks, and the courtiers followed the king's example (Orderic, p. 816). Geoffrey, count of Anjou, and Elias, count of Maine, came to his help; Bayeux, with its churches, was burnt, and Caen, where the treasure of the duchy was kept, was bribed to surrender. On 22 July Henry met Anselm at Laigle. There was some talk of a possible excommunication, which would have damaged his position. The interview was amicable, and terms were almost arranged. Although he won many of the Norman barons over by gifts, he failed to take Falaise, and found it impossible to complete the conquest of the duchy that year. He returned to England in August. (For this expedition see ib. pp. 816-18; Henry of Huntingdon, p. 235; Versus Serlonis, Recueil des Historiens, xix. præf. xcj; Norgate, Angevin Kings, i. 11.)
On his return he laid a tax on the clergy, who kept their wives in disobedience to Anselm's canon, and, finding that it brought in little, extended it to all the secular clergy alike. A large number appeared before him at London in vestments and with bare feet, but he drove them from his presence. Then they laid their griefs before the queen, who burst into tears and said she dared not interfere (Eadmer, iv. col. 457). Robert of Bellême came over to endeavour to obtain the king's pardon, and was sent back indignant at his failure. Duke Robert also came early in 1106 and found the king at Northampton; he failed to persuade the king to give up his conquests and make peace. Contrary to his usual custom, Henry held no court at Easter or Whitsuntide, and spent the one feast at Bath and the other at Salisbury. In July he again went over to Normandy. On 15 Aug. he had a satisfactory interview with Anselm at Bec, and the archbishop returned to England. At Caen he received a visit from Robert of Estouteville, one of the duke's party, who offered to surrender the town of Dives to him, proposing that he should go thither with only a few men. Henry did so, and found that a trap had been laid for him, for he was attacked by a large number. Nevertheless, his men routed their assailants and burnt both castle and monastery (Orderic, p. 819). He raised a fort outside Tinchebray, a town between Vire and Flers, belonging to the Count of Mortain, and stationed one of his lords there to blockade the place. As the count succeeded in introducing men and stores, and the siege made no progress, Henry appeared before the town in person. Robert and his army found him there on 2 Sept. Henry's army, which comprised allies from Anjou, Maine, and Brittany, had the larger number of knights, while Robert had more foot-soldiers. The clergy urged the king not to fight with his brother. Henry listened to their exhortations, and sent to Robert, representing that he was not actuated by greed or by a desire to deprive him of his dukedom, but by compassion for the people who were suffering from anarchy, and offering to be content with half the duchy, the strong places, and the government of the whole, while Robert should enjoy the revenues of the other half in idleness. Robert refused. Both armies fought on foot, with the exception of the duke's first line, and Henry's Breton and Cenomannian cavalry, which he placed at some little distance from his main body under the command of Count Elias. The Count of Mortain, who led the first line of the ducal army, charged the king's first line under Ranulf of Bayeux and shook without routing it. Then Elias with his cavalry fell on the flank of the duke's second line of foot, and cut down 225. Thereupon Robert of Bellême, who commanded the rear of the army, fled, and the whole of the duke's forces were scattered (ib. p. 821; Henry of Huntingdon, p. 235). The duke, the Count of Mortain, Robert of Estouteville, and other lords were made prisoners, and the battle completed the conquest of the duchy. It was regarded as an English victory, and a reversal of the battle of Hastings, fought almost on the same day forty years before, for it made Normandy a dependency of the English crown (Will. of Malm. v. 398; Norman Conquest, v. 176). The war in Normandy helped on Henry's work of consolidating the Norman and English races in England, and this process was still further forwarded by his later wars with France. His subjects in England of either race were counted Englishmen as opposed to Normans or Frenchmen (Angevin Kings, i. 23, 24). Duke Robert was kept a prisoner until his death in 1134; there is no ground for the story current in the thirteenth century (Ann. Monast. ii. 50, iv. 15, 378) that he was blinded (Orderic, p. 823). Henry caused William of Mortain to be blinded, and kept him in prison until he died. In the middle of October he held a council of the Norman lords at Lisieux, in which he resumed the grants made by his brother, and ordered the destruction of all ‘adulterine’ or unlicensed castles, and at the same time held a council of the Norman church. In order to accustom the Norman lords to his rule he held a court at Falaise the following January, and it was there probably that he caused Robert of Montfort sur Risle to be tried for disloyalty and banished by legal process. In March he again held a council at Lisieux, and settled the affairs of the duchy, where he pursued the same policy as in England, depressing the baronage and protecting the lower classes from tyranny and violence (ib.).
He returned to England in Lent, and according to his custom held courts at Easter and Whitsuntide, the first at Windsor, the second at Westminster. On 1 Aug. he held a council at Westminster, at which the terms of the compromise between the crown and the papacy were finally settled [see under Anselm]. The issue of the struggle was that the church was freed from the feudal character which had gradually, and especially in the reign of Rufus, been imposed upon it, and that the king tacitly recognised a limitation of secular authority. On the other hand, Henry surrendered a shadow and kept the substance of power; for the appointment of bishops remained as much as before in the king's hands. At this council five vacant sees were filled by the consecration of bishops, some of whom had been elected long before. One of the new bishops, Roger, consecrated to the see of Salisbury, formerly the king's chancellor, was now made justiciar. Henry used the revenues and offices of the church as a means of rewarding his ministers, whom he chose from the clergy rather than from the baronial class. He employed Bishop Roger to develope a system of judicial and fiscal administration. The curia regis, or king's court, became specially active in judicial matters, and while the three solemn courts were regularly held, at which the king came to decisions on more important judicial cases in the presence, and theoretically by the advice, of his counsellors, the permanent court of which he, or in his absence his justiciar, was the head, and which was composed of the great officers of the household and any others whom he might select, gained greater distinctness; the king further sent out justices to go on circuit to transact judicial business and to settle and enforce the rights of the crown. The court of exchequer was organised for the purpose of royal finance; it seems to have consisted of the justiciar and the other ordinary members of the curia regis, and to have been the body which received the royal revenue from the various officers appointed to collect it. Its business was recorded, and the earliest exchequer roll known to be in existence is that of the thirty-first year of Henry I. From this it appears that the royal revenue was then fully 66,000l. The ordinary direct taxes were the danegeld, the ferm, or composition paid by the shires, and certain fixed amounts paid by towns. Besides these sources of revenue there were, among others, the feudal incidents, the sale of offices, and the profits of the royal jurisdiction (see Constitutional History, i. 376-91; Angevin Kings, i. 25-7). In July 1108 Henry again crossed over to Normandy, where trouble was beginning. He had given Robert's son William, called ‘Clito,’ into the charge of Elias of Saint-Saen, and now, by the advice of his courtiers, wanted to get hold of the lad. An attempt to seize him in the absence of Elias failed, and his guardian refused to give him up, and when Henry took his castle from him, went from one lord to another asking help for his young charge. Many of the Norman nobles were ready to uphold their old duke's son, and his cause was favoured by several of the great French feudatories, and by Louis VI, who, after his father's death, was crowned king on 3 Aug. (Orderic, pp. 837, 838). During all the earlier part of 1109 Henry remained in Normandy, and in the course of the next year a quarrel broke out between him and Louis about the border fortress of Gisors. According to the French statement an agreement had been made between them, when Henry conquered the duchy, that Gisors should be a kind of neutral ground, and should belong to neither of them. Henry, however, turned out the castellan and made it his own. Louis gathered a large army and marched to meet him at the town of Neauffles; the Epte flowed between the two armies, and could only be crossed by a crazy bridge. Messengers came to Henry from Louis asserting his grievance and offering to decide the matter by combat. Henry would not hear of this. After some altercation Louis offered to fight the matter out if Henry would allow the French army to cross over the river, but Henry answered that if Louis came over to the Norman side he would find him ready to defend his land. The two armies retired each to its own quarters. This was the beginning of a long border warfare between the Normans and the French, during which Louis did much harm to the castles and lands on the Norman march (Suger, Vita Ludovici Grossi, ap. Recueil, xii. 27, 28). About 1111 Theobald, count of Blois, Henry's nephew, relying on his uncle's help, began to make war on Louis on his own account (ib. p. 35). Meanwhile Henry continued his work of repressing the baronage, and in 1110 banished from England Philip of Braiose, William Malet, and William Bainard, and confiscated their lands. While he was fighting in Normandy he kept England at peace. In 1111 Fulk V of Anjou joined Louis against him, for Fulk had married the daughter and heiress of Elias of Maine, and on the death of his father-in-law revived the old claim of his house on Maine; the war increased in importance, and Henry remained in Normandy for about two years. He seems to have acted warily, to have trusted much to good management and bribes, and to have avoided actual fighting as much as possible. He caught his old enemy, Robert of Bellême, sent him over to an English prison, and captured his town of Alençon. The Norman barons were not universally faithful, and Henry banished the Count of Evreux and William Crispin. By the beginning of 1113 the war seems to have died out. Henry spent the festival of the Purification (2 Feb.) at the monastery of Evroul, and early in Lent met Fulk at Pierre-Pécoulée, near Alençon, and there made peace with him, for, as he had by gifts won over to his side many of the nobles of Maine, the count was not unwilling to come to terms; he did homage to Henry for Maine, and promised to give his daughter in marriage to Henry's son William. Henry pardoned the Count of Evreux and some other banished lords. Shortly afterwards Henry and Louis made peace at Gisors. The amount of Henry's success may be gauged by the concessions of the French king, who acknowledged his right to Bellême, Maine, and all Brittany. He received the homage of the Count of Brittany, subdued the forces which held out in Bellême, and then returned to England.
During Henry's reign the English power in Wales was strengthened by colonisation and conquest. The English regarded with dislike the large number of Flemish which had settled in their country since the Conquest, and Henry in 1111 settled them in the southern part of Dyfed or Pembrokeshire, where they formed a vigorous Teutonic colony, held their ground against the Welsh, and converted a land originally Welsh into an outlying English district, ‘Little England beyond Wales’ (Gesta Regum, iv. 311, v. 401; Flor. Wig. ii. 64; Orderic, p. 900; Ann. Cambriæ, an. 1106; Freeman, English Towns and Districts, pp. 33-9). Barnard, an English bishop of Norman race, was appointed to the see of St. David's, and professed obedience to Canterbury (Councils and Eccl. Docs. i. 307); obedience was likewise professed by the Bishop of Llandaff, who was consecrated by Anselm in 1107. Owen, the prince of Powys, caused a good deal of trouble, and carried on constant wars against the Normans and Flemings until he was slain in 1116. After one of his raids Henry granted the present Cardiganshire to Gilbert of Clare, who subdued the district in 1111. After his return from Normandy, Henry, in the summer of 1114, led a large army into Wales against Gruffyd of North Wales and Owen. On his approach the Welsh made peace with him, and after ordering castles to be built he returned, and on 21 Sept. embarked at Portsmouth for Normandy, where he remained until the following July. His relations with Scotland, where three of his wife's brothers reigned in succession, were uniformly peaceful. David I [q.v.], the queen's youngest brother, passed his youth at the English court, and Henry gave him an English wife and an English earldom. At the same time he was careful to strengthen the borders against the Scots as well as against the Welsh. The eastern border he gave in charge to Ranulf Flambard, bishop of Durham, whom he reinstated in his see in 1107 (Orderic, p. 833); over the western border he first set an earl of Carlisle, and on his death divided the district of Carlisle into baronies, and gave it a county organisation. He also carried on the work begun by his brother of making Carlisle an English city by completing the monastery of Austin canons, and making it the cathedral church of a bishop of Carlisle. In 1114 he sent his daughter Matilda over to Germany to be the wife of the Emperor Henry V; at the time of her betrothal in 1110 he had levied an aid which the English chronicler says was specially burdensome because it came in a year of scarcity. When he was in Normandy in 1115 he made all the barons do homage and swear fealty to his son William as heir to the duchy, and on 19 March 1116 he caused the prelates, nobles, and barons throughout the whole of England to do the like at an assembly which he held at Salisbury (Anglo-Saxon Chron. a. 1115; Flor. Wig. ii. 69; Eadmer, Historia Novorum, v. col. 496; Dr. Stubbs considers this to have been a general muster of landowners, Constitutional History, i. 358; and William of Malmesbury says that the oath was taken by all freemen of every degree in England and Normandy, Gesta Regum, v. 419. In the face of the English chronicler and Florence this may perhaps be put down as merely rhetorical).
After Easter Henry again visited Normandy, and, taking up the quarrel of his nephew Theobald with Louis VI, sent forces into France, took the castle of St. Clair, and did much damage. Provoked by this invasion, Louis adopted the cause of Robert's son William, and attacked Normandy, and, as he knew that the dukes had thoroughly fortified the border, seized by a clever stratagem a little town called Gue Nichaise, where there was a bridge across the Epte. Henry tried to blockade him by building two forts against his quarters, but Louis called them ‘Malassis’ and ‘hare's-form’ (trulla leporis), stormed Malassis, and carried on a desultory warfare (Suger, p. 43; Orderic, p. 842). The French king was joined by Baldwin of Flanders and Fulk of Anjou, who combined with him to place William Clito in possession of Normandy. Many of the Norman barons revolted, and Amaury of Montfort, who claimed Evreux, the fief of his uncle William, was active in gaining fresh adherents to the league against Henry. During 1117 Henry remained in Normandy, and in the following year matters became serious. While Count Baldwin was mortally wounded at Eu, and the king did not suffer any important defeat, the defection of his lords still continued. On 1 May of this year his queen, Matilda, died, and he also lost his faithful counsellor, Robert of Meulan. To this time also is to be referred a conspiracy which was made by one of his chamberlains to assassinate him. The plot was discovered, and the traitor punished by mutilation. It is said to have had a considerable effect on the king; he increased his guards, often changed his sleeping-place, and would not sleep without having a shield and sword close at hand (Suger, p. 44; Gesta Regum, v. 411). Hearing that Richer of Laigle had admitted the French into his town, he marched against it, but was stopped by William of Tancarville, who brought him false news that Hugh of Gournay, Stephen of Albemarle, and others of his rebellious lords were at Rouen. When he found that they were not there, he attacked Hugh of Gournay's castle, la Ferté, but heavy rain forced him to abandon the siege. Having laid waste the country he attacked and burnt Neubourg. In September he seized Henry of Eu and Hugh of Gournay at Rouen, imprisoned them, and reduced their castles. He held a council at Rouen in October, and endeavoured to make peace with his lords. While he was there Amaury of Montfort made himself master of Evreux. About the middle of November he attacked Laigle, and was hit on the head by a stone sent from the castle by the French garrison; his helmet, however, protected him. In December Alençon rebelled against his nephews Theobald and Stephen, and was occupied by Fulk of Anjou. Henry had caused Eustace de Pacy, the husband of his natural daughter Juliana and lord of Breteuil, to send him his two little daughters as hostages for his good faith, and had put a castellan, Ralph Harenc, in charge of his tower of Ivry, making him send his son as a hostage to Eustace. By the advice of Amaury of Montfort, Eustace, who was on the rebels' side, put out the boy's eyes. On this Henry, in great wrath, sent his two grand-daughters to Harenc that he might serve them in the same way. Harenc tore out their eyes, and cut off the tips of their noses. Their parents then fortified all their castles against Henry, and Juliana gathered a force, and shut herself in the castle of Breteuil. The townsmen who were loyal sent to Henry, and he appeared before the castle in February 1119. Juliana tried to kill her father by a shot from an engine. She failed, and was forced to offer to surrender. Her father would not allow her to leave the castle except by letting herself down into the moat and wading through the icy water (Orderic, p. 848; De Contemptu Mundi, p. 311; Lingard, ii. 12). During the early months of the year the war went on much as in the year before; the Norman lords still remained disloyal, Louis took Andelys, which was held by the king's natural son Richard, by surprise, and the French became masters of all the neighbouring country. Henry was losing ground, and Amaury of Montfort scornfully rejected his offer of reconciliation.
In May 1120 Henry joyfully received his son William, who came over to him from England. The object of his coming was shown by the despatch of messengers to Count Fulk to propose that the marriage contract between William and Fulk's daughter Matilda should be fulfilled. Fulk agreed and made peace with Henry, offering to end the ancient dispute between the houses of Normandy and Anjou by settling Maine upon his daughter, and to give up Alençon provided that the king would restore it to William Talvas, son of Robert of Bellême, and heir of its ancient lords (Orderic, p. 851; Suger, p. 45; Gesta Regum, v. 419). This marriage, which was celebrated in June at Lisieux, changed the aspect of the war, for the alliance with Count Fulk enabled Henry to devote all his energies to repelling Louis and punishing his rebellious vassals. In the summer he made a terrible raid on the disloyal lords; he laid siege to Evreux, and finding it well defended called the Bishop Audoin to him, for Audoin, in common with the bishops and clergy of the duchy generally, was loyal to Henry, and asked him whether it would not be well for him to fire the town provided that if the churches were burnt he would rebuild them. As the bishop hesitated to give an answer, the king set fire to the town and burnt it, churches and all, he and his nobles giving the bishop ample pledges that he would rebuild the churches, which he afterwards did. When Amaury heard that his town was burnt, he sent to Louis for help. On 20 Aug. Henry, who had heard mass that morning at Noyon, was riding towards Andelys to make war, with five hundred of his best knights, when his scouts told him that the French king, who had ridden out from Andelys with four hundred knights, was close at hand. The two bands met on the plain of Brenneville. Besides William the Ætheling two of Henry's natural sons, Robert and Richard, fought in their father's company; Richard with a hundred knights remained mounted, the rest of Henry's knights fought on foot. Among the knights of Louis fought William of Normandy. Louis neglected to marshal his force; William Crispin, a rebel Norman, charged Henry's forces with eighty horse. He and his men were surrounded, but he made his way to the king and struck him a deadly blow on the head, but Henry's headpiece saved him, though it was broken by the blow, and wounded his head so that the blood flowed. All the eighty knights were taken. A body of knights from the Vexin for a moment shook the Norman lines, but was quickly repulsed. When Louis saw that William Crispin and the knights whom he led did not return from their charge, he and his men took flight, and the Normans pursued some of the fugitives as far as Andelys. Henry's men took 140 prisoners and the banner of the French king. Henry returned this banner to Louis together with his charger, and William the Ætheling sent back the charger of his cousin William of Normandy. Henry also sent back without ransom some knights who owed allegiance to Louis as well as to himself. Only three knights were slain out of the nine hundred engaged in the fight; for all were clad in complete armour, and on both sides there was a feeling of knightly comradeship which prevented any sanguinary conflict; indeed the aim of both sides was rather to make prisoners than to slay the enemy. The whole affair was more like a great tournament than a battle (Orderic, pp. 853-5; Suger, p. 45; Henry of Huntingdon, p. 241, where some details are probably untrustworthy). Louis raised a large force and overran part of Normandy and Chartres, gaining nothing by his raid, while Henry organised his army. In October Louis, who evidently felt himself overmatched, appeared before Calixtus II at the Council of Rheims, and made his complaints against the English king. Geoffrey, archbishop of Rouen, rose to reply to the charges brought against his lord, but the council would not hear him. The pope, however, was anxious to make peace with the emperor, and did not care to offend the father of the empress. Meanwhile Henry received the submission of several rebel lords, and was reconciled to Amaury of Montfort, Eustace, and Juliana, Hugh of Gournay, and others, who agreed, though against their wills, to let William Clito and Elias of St.-Saen remain in exile. In November he met the pope at Gisors, and replied in person to the charges brought against him by Louis of usurping the inheritance of his brother and nephew, declaring that he had offered to make William earl of three counties in England, and to bring him up with his own son. His answers on these and other points thoroughly satisfied the pope, by whose intercession a peace was arranged in 1120 between Henry and Louis and the Count of Flanders; all conquests were to be restored, captives liberated, and offences pardoned, and Louis accepted the homage of Henry's son, and thus gave a pledge that he should succeed to his father's fiefs (Orderic, p. 866; Norman Conquest, v. 193). Henry thus passed safely and honourably through the most dangerous crisis of his reign. After devoting some time to settling the affairs of the duchy, he embarked at Barfleur on 25 Nov. to return to England, from which he had been absent for four years. His only legitimate son, William, was to follow him, with his half-brother Richard, his half-sister the Countess of Perche, many young lords and ladies, and the king's treasure, in the White Ship. The ship foundered, and all were drowned except a butcher of Rouen. Although Henry's lords were mourning their own losses, they concealed the disaster from the king for a day after the news had come, for they feared to tell him. At last the young son of Count Theobald knelt before him and told him of his loss. Henry fell senseless to the ground, and though in a few days he restrained his grief, and applied himself to his kingly business, he was deeply affected by his son's death (Orderic, pp. 868 sq.; Gesta Regum, v. 419; Henry of Huntingdon, p. 242; Symeon, ii. 259; Wace, ll. 10203-10288; Benoit, ll. 41039-41152).
The disaster ruined his schemes at the very moment when their success appeared certain, and when it seemed as though nothing could prevent his son from inheriting both his kingdom and duchy. All his dominions would now naturally pass at his death to his enemy, William Clito. By the advice of his counsellors he married again, taking to wife, on 29 Jan. 1121, Adela, or Adelaide, daughter of Godfrey VII, count of Louvain, in the hope of having a son by her, and also, it is said, to keep himself from disgraceful conduct (Gesta Regum, v. 419; Eadmer, col. 517). Unfortunately the marriage proved barren. After Whitsuntide Henry led an army into Wales, where the natives had taken advantage of the death of the Earl of Chester to rise in revolt. He marched as far as Snowdon (Symeon, ii. 264), and received the submission of the Welsh nobles, who gave him their sons as hostages, and paid him tribute, so that he is said to have fully subdued the land (Giraldus Cambrensis, iii. 152). While on this expedition, and as the army was passing through English territory, he was hit by an arrow which was shot at him secretly. His armour saved him from harm. The man who made the attempt was not discovered, and Henry swore ‘by God's death,’ his favourite oath, that he was no Welshman, but one of his own subjects (Gesta Regum, v. 401). Shortly before this time Henry brought to a close a quarrel with Thurstan, archbishop of York. His rule was as despotic in ecclesiastical as in civil matters, and in both alike he maintained the principle of holding to the hereditary rights of the crown. After the death of Anselm in 1109, he broke the promise of his coronation charter by keeping the see of Canterbury vacant until 1114, when he summoned the suffragan bishops and the monks of Christ Church to Windsor, and allowed the election of Ralph, bishop of Rochester, to the archbishopric. This election led to a dispute with Pope Paschal II, who in 1115 wrote to Henry, complaining that his legates were shut out from the kingdom, and that he translated bishops without papal license. On the other hand, the king informed the bishops that the pope had infringed the privileges enjoyed by his father and brother. He commanded Thurstan, the archbishop-elect of York, to make profession to Archbishop Ralph. Thurstan refused, and was upheld in his refusal by Pope Paschal and his successors, Gelasius II and Calixtus II. A long quarrel ensued, in which Henry upheld the rights of Canterbury. He allowed Thurstan to attend the pope's council at Rheims in 1119, on his promising that he would not receive consecration from the pope, and so evade the profession, and allowed the English prelates to go thither also, warning them that, as he intended to abide by the ancient customs and privileges of his realm, they had better not bring back any idle innovations. Finding that Thurstan, in spite of his promise, was trying to obtain consecration from Calixtus, he charged the bishops to prevent it. They were too late, and the pope consecrated Thurstan, whereupon the king forbade him to enter England, and seized the estates of his see. Nor would Henry at Gisors assent to the pope's demand for his restoration. Thurstan, however, did Henry a service by forwarding the negotiations with Louis, and Henry allowed him to return, and gave him the temporalities (Eadmer, v. col. 499 sq.; Hugh the Chantor, pp. 129 sq.).
Although Henry sent the young widow of his son back to her father against his own will¾for, besides her importance as a kind of hostage for Count Fulk's conduct, he seems to have been fond of her (Orderic, p. 875)¾he did not return the money which formed part of her dower, nor would he satisfy the envoys from the count who came to his court, probably on this matter, at Christmas 1122. The settlement of the county of Maine, however, was broken by William's death, and Fulk was induced, partly by his anger at the retention of the dower, and partly by the persuasions of Louis of France and Amaury of Montfort, count of Evreux, to give the county to William Clito, to whom he betrothed his second daughter Sibyl. At the same time in 1123 a revolt was excited among the Norman lords, chiefly through the instrumentality of Amaury and of Waleran of Meulan, the son of Henry's late counsellor. Henry heard of the movement, and crossed over from Portsmouth immediately after Whitsuntide, leaving his kingdom under the care of his justiciar, Roger, bishop of Salisbury, who was at this period, after the king himself, all powerful both in church and state. In September the rebels met at Croix-St. Leuffroy, and arranged their plans. As soon as Henry knew of their meeting, he gathered his forces at Rouen, and took the field in October. His promptitude would have taken them by surprise had they not received timely warning from Hugh of Montfort, of whom the king required the surrender of his castle. Henry burnt Montfort, and forced the garrison to surrender the fortress, and then laid siege to Pont Audemer, the town of Waleran. The town was burnt, but the castle was held by a strong garrison, partly composed of men who had pretended to be on Henry's side, while some, the poet Luke de Barré among them, were fierce and valiant warriors. In spite of his age Henry was as active during this siege as the youngest soldier of his army, superintending everything himself, teaching the carpenters how to build a tower against the castle, scolding bad workmen, and praising the industrious, and urging them on to do more. At last, after a siege of six weeks, the castle was surrendered. On the other hand Gisors was taken by a treacherous stratagem. Henry at once hastened thither, and the rebels evacuated the town on his approach. In returning he seized Evreux. Heavy rains compelled him for a time to forbear further operations. While his rebellious lords seem to have been no match for him, their attempts gained importance from the fact that they were upheld by Louis, who was ready, if matters went ill with Henry, to take a prominent part in the war. In order to prevent this, Henry's son-in-law, the emperor, threatened France with an invasion, but did not advance further than Metz (Suger, pp. 49, 50; Otto of Freising, vii. 16). A decisive blow was struck on 25 March 1124, when Ranulf of Bayeux, who held Evreux for the king, defeated a large force led by Waleran, and took him and many others captive at Bourgthéroulde. This battle virtually ended the war, and after Easter Henry pronounced sentence on the rebel prisoners at Rouen. Many were imprisoned, Hugh of Montfort being confined miserably at Gloucester. Waleran, whose sister was one of the king's mistresses, was kept in prison in England until 1129, and then pardoned and received into favour. Two rebels who had forsworn themselves were condemned to lose their eyes. A like doom was pronounced against the warrior poet, Luke de Barré, for he had mortally offended the king by his satirical verses, as well as by his repeated attacks upon him. Charles, count of Flanders, who chanced to be at the court, and many nobles remonstrated at this, for, as they pleaded, Luke was not one of Henry's men, and was taken while fighting for his own lord. Henry acknowledged this, but would not remit his sentence, for he said that Luke had made his enemies laugh at him. Luke escaped his doom by dashing out his own brains (Orderic, pp. 880, 881). The king's success was crowned by the publication of a papal decree, obtained by his persuasion, annulling the marriage contract between William Clito and the daughter of the Count of Anjou, on account of consanguinity (ib. p. 838; D'Achery, Spicilegium, iii. 497). The war cost much money, and Englishmen moaned over the burdens which were laid upon them; ‘those who had goods,’ the chronicler writes, ‘were bereft of them by strong gelds and strong motes; he who had none starved with hunger.’ The law was enforced vigorously, and sometimes probably unjustly; at Huncote in Leicestershire the king's justices at one time hanged forty-four men as thieves, and mutilated six others, some of whom, it was generally believed, were innocent. At the end of the year Henry sent from Normandy, commanding that severe measures should be taken against debasers of the coin, which had deteriorated so much that it was said that a pound was not worth a penny in the market. The offenders were punished with mutilation.
On the death of his son-in-law the emperor in 1125, Henry sent for his daughter Matilda, who went back to him, and in September 1126 he returned to England with his queen, his daughter, and his prisoners. Finding that it was unlikely that his queen would have children, he determined to secure the succession for his daughter, and at the following Christmas assembly at Westminster caused the prelates and barons to swear that if he died without a male heir they would receive Matilda as Lady both of England and Normandy. Among those who took this oath were David, king of Scots, who had come to the English court at Michaelmas, and Stephen, count of Boulogne, the king's nephew, and the brother of Count Theobald (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, sub an. 1127; William of Malmesbury, Historia Novella, i. 2, 3; Symeon, ii. 281; Cont. William of Jumièges, viii. 25). It was afterwards asserted by Bishop Roger of Salisbury that this oath was taken on the king's promise that he would not give his daughter in marriage to any one out of the kingdom without the advice of his chief men; this assertion was probably untrue. Henry's move must have seemed strange to the men of his time, for no woman had hitherto reigned in her own right either over England or Normandy; it was meant to put an end to the hopes of the party which supported William Clito, and so to give stability to Henry's position during the rest of his reign, as well as to secure the succession after his death. By way of answer to this oath of succession, Louis again took up the cause of William, who, since the papal decree against his marriage had been finally enforced, had been forsaken by his friends, gave him to wife Jane of Montferrat, the half-sister of his queen, and invested him with the grant of the French Vexin. Moreover, when Charles, count of Flanders, died on 1 March 1127, he gave the county to William as the heir of Baldwin V. Henry was himself one of the claimants, and sent his nephew Stephen, whose county of Boulogne was a Flemish fief, to press his claim. Stephen was unsuccessful, and the favour shown to William by the French king and the rapid rise in his nephew's fortunes forced him to take measures to prevent another combination being formed against him. Accordingly he made alliance with Fulk of Anjou, and at Whitsuntide sent his daughter and heiress to Normandy, under the charge of her half-brother, Robert, earl of Gloucester, to become the wife of Fulk's son Geoffrey. He also made alliance with Theodoric of Alsace, who claimed to succeed to the county, and with a strong party among the Flemings against William and the French king. In August he crossed over to Normandy, and in order to prevent Louis from giving help to William upheld Amaury of Montfort in a quarrel with the French king (Suger, p. 56); invaded France, though probably without any idea of making conquests; encamped for a week at Epernon, one of Amaury's chief possessions, without being attacked (Henry of Huntingdon, p. 247), and by this means kept Louis from marching into Flanders. At Whitsuntide 1128 he knighted Geoffrey with much ceremony at Rouen, and then proceeded with him and Matilda to Le Mans, where on the octave of the feast Geoffrey and Matilda were married in his presence in the cathedral (Historia Gaufredi ap. Recueil, xii. 520, 521; for date see Angevin Kings, i. 258). The marriage was unpopular in England, Normandy, and Maine; the English were not pleased at the heiress to the crown marrying out of the country, while the people of both Normandy and Maine had a long-standing hatred for the Angevin house. It promised, however, to turn the most dangerous of Henry's enemies into an assured friend, to put an end to the designs of the counts of Anjou on Maine, and to add Anjou to the inheritance of his descendants. In the last days of July he heard that his nephew was dead, and received a letter from him, asking his pardon, and praying that he would be gracious to such of his friends as might come to him. He agreed to this request, released some of his nephew's adherents from prison, and allowed them and others to have their lands again. William's death relieved him from all further attempts on the part of Louis to shake his power, and robbed the nobles of Normandy of the weapon which they had so often used against him.
His good fortune was soon chequered, for shortly after he landed in England, in July 1129, he heard that Geoffrey had quarrelled with his wife, and that she had returned to Rouen (Symeon, ii. 283). Towards the end of the year he scandalised the English bishops by a trick to raise money. With his concurrence William of Corbeuil, archbishop of Canterbury, held a synod at Michaelmas 1127, at which it was ordered that married priests should put away their wives. Nevertheless after his return the king allowed the clergy to keep their wives by paying him a fine (Henry of Huntingdon, p. 251). On 4 May following, the repairs of Christ Church, Canterbury, being finished, he attended the consecration, and there is a story that when the anthem ‘Terribilis est locus’ was sung with a trumpet accompaniment, he was so much moved that he swore aloud that by God's death the place was indeed awful (Oseney Annals, p. 19). Four days later he went to Rochester, where another monastic and cathedral church was to be dedicated, and while he was there the city was almost destroyed by fire. At Michaelmas he went to Normandy to his daughter. Innocent II was then in France, having been forced to leave Rome by the supporters of his rival Anaclete. Henry was urged to take the side of Anaclete, who was, it is said, favoured by the English bishops. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, persuaded him otherwise, and he left his own dominions and came to Chartres to meet Innocent, promised him his support, and afterwards received him at Rouen with much honour, and used all his influence on his behalf (Henry of Huntingdon, p. 251; Historia Novella, i. 6; Arnulf of Seez ap. Muratori, iii. 436; Acta SS., Mabillon, ii., Vita S. Bernardi, ii. 4). He returned to England with Matilda in July 1131, and soon received a message from Geoffrey asking that his wife should come back to him. By the advice of a great council held at Northampton on 8 Sept., it was decided that his request should be granted, and Henry again required all the nobles who were present to swear fealty to Matilda as his successor. During 1132 he remained in England, and at Christmas lay sick at Windsor. The following Easter he kept at Oxford at the ‘new hall,’ which he had just completed; this was Beaumont Palace, outside the north gate of the city (Wood, City of Oxford, p. 366; Boase, Oxford, pp. 28, 62; the suggestion in Henry of Huntingdon, ed. Arnold, p. 253 n., that it was Oxford Castle is erroneous). The birth of his grandson, afterwards Henry II, on 5 March, seemed to secure the success of his policy, and in August he embarked, for the last time, for Normandy, to see the child. An eclipse of the sun which took place during his voyage was afterwards held to have been ominous (Anglo-Saxon Chron. a. 1135; Historia Novella, i. 8). Matilda joined him at Rouen, and there, at Whitsuntide 1134, bore a second son named Geoffrey. He took much delight in his little grandchildren, and stayed at Rouen contentedly until, in 1135, he heard that the Welsh had made an insurrection and had burnt a castle belonging to Pain Fitzjohn [q.v.]. In great wrath he bade his men prepare to return to England, and was thrice on the point of embarking, but was prevented by fresh troubles. His son-in-law claimed certain castles in Normandy, which he asserted had been promised to him at the time of his marriage; and, according to a later story (Robert of Torigni, a. 1135, which receives some confirmation from Orderic, p. 900; see Angevin Kings, i. 269), seems to have demanded to receive fealty for all Henry's strong places in England and Normandy. Henry indignantly declared that so long as he lived he would make no one his master or his equal in his own house. Geoffrey destroyed the castle of the viscount of Beaumont, the husband of one of Henry's natural daughters, and behaved so insultingly towards him that he threatened to take Matilda back with him to England. But he was unable to leave Normandy, for some of the nobles were disaffected and held with the count. Chief among these were William Talvas and Roger of Toesny. He kept Roger quiet by sending a garrison to Conches, and when Talvas, after disregarding several summonses, fled to Angers, he made an expedition into his country and compelled the surrender of his castles. Matilda made frequent attempts to persuade him to pardon Talvas, and when Henry refused quarrelled with her father, and went off to Angers to her husband (Cont. William of Jumièges, viii. 34).
Henry's health, which had now been failing for some time, was further impaired by the agitation brought on by these quarrels, and he fell sick while hunting in the forest of Lyons towards the end of November, his illness, it is said, being brought on by eating lampreys contrary to the orders of his physician (Henry of Huntingdon, p. 254). He became feverish, and, feeling that his end was near, sent for Hugh, archbishop of Rouen, by whose directions he remitted all sentences of forfeiture and banishment. To his son Robert, earl of Gloucester, the only one of his children who was with him, he gave 6,000l. from his treasury at Falaise, ordered that wages and gifts should be distributed among his household and mercenary soldiers (Orderic, p. 901), and declared Matilda heiress of all his dominions (Historia Novella, i. 8). He received absolution and the last sacrament, and died in peace (ib. c. 9), after a week's illness, on the night of 1 Dec., at the age of sixty-seven. It was afterwards asserted that he had on his deathbed repented of having caused his lords to swear to receive Matilda as his successor (Gesta Stephani, p. 7), and that he had on one occasion absolved them from their oath (Gervase, i. 94).
His corpse was carried to Rouen, and was followed thither by twenty thousand men. There it was roughly embalmed, and his bowels having been buried in the church of St. Mary de Pre at Emandreville, near Rouen, which had been begun by his mother and finished by him, his body was taken to Caen, where it lay for a month in the church of St. Stephen, and thence, according to his orders, was brought over to England, and buried, on 4 Jan. 1136, in the church of the monastery which he had founded at Reading (ib. p. 95; Henry of Huntingdon, pp. 256, 257; Orderic, p. 901).
Besides William and Matilda, his two legitimate children by his first wife, he had many natural children (for list see Cont. William of Jumièges, viii. 29; Lappenberg, p. 348).
Of these the most noteworthy was Robert, earl of Gloucester [see Robert, d. 1147], who is said on insufficient grounds to have been the son of Nest or Nesta [q.v.] daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr (d. 1093), king of Deheubarth, one of Henry's mistresses, who afterwards married Gerald of Windsor, constable of Pembroke Castle, by whom she had four children: Robert was probably born at Caen before his father's accession, and was most likely the son of a French mother (Norman Conquest, v. 851). He was the eldest of Henry's sons (Continuat. William of Jumièges, lib. viii. cap. 39).
Of Henry's other natural children, Richard, and Matilda, wife of the Count of Perche, were both drowned in the White Ship; Reginald of Dunstanville, whose mother was Sibil, daughter and (in her issue) co-heir of Robert Corbet of Longden, Shropshire (Eyton, History of Shropshire, vii. 145, 159, 181), was created Earl of Cornwall in 1140, and died 1175 (Gesta Stephani, p. 65; see art. Reginald, Earl of Cornwall, d. 1175); Matilda was wife of Conan III of Brittany (Orderic, p. 544); Juliana, wife of Eustace of Pacy, lord of Breteuil; Constance, wife of Roscelin, viscount of Beaumont (Cont. William of Jumièges, viii. 29; Orderic, p. 900); and Sybilla, born to him by a sister of Waleran, count of Meulan, married Alexander I, king of Scotland, fourth son of Malcolm Canmore and Margaret, grand-niece of Edward the Confessor (ib. p. 702; Skene, Celtic Scotland, i. 448). By his mistress Nest or Nesta he was father of Henry ‘filius regis,’ who was slain in Anglesey in 1157 (Itinerarium Kambriæ, p. 130), and was also father of Meiler Fitzhenry [q.v.] and of Robert Fitzhenry (d. 1180?; Expugnatio Hiberniæ, p. 354).

Sources:
For Henry's birth and education, see Freeman's Norman Conquest, iv. 790-5; for his life before his accession and his reign to 1104, Freeman's William Rufus, passim; for his personal character, Norman Conquest, v. 839-45; for sketch of reign, ib. pp. 148-243; for state of England under him, and for his relations with Anjou, Miss Norgate's England under Angevin Kings, i. 1-96, 230-44, 261-71; for reign, especially as regards continental policy, Lappenberg's Norman Kings, pp. 276-356, trans. Thorpe; for constitutional aspect, Stubbs's Constitutional History, i. 303-18, and chap. xi. passim; for summary of events relating to his doings on the continent, index with references to Recueil des Historiens, xii. 934-7 (the chronological sequence is occasionally incorrect, but this is a matter of much doubt and difficulty owing to the confused character of the work of Orderic); William of Jumièges and Orderic, Hist. Norm. Scriptt. (Duchesne); Brevis Relatio (Giles); Anglo-Saxon Chron.; Henry of Huntingdon's Hist., with De Contemptu Mundi, Ann. Cambriæ, Descript. Kambriæap. Girald. Cambr. vol. iii., Annals of Waverley, Wykes, and Oseney ap. Ann. Monast. vols. ii. and iv., Hugh the Chantor ap. Archbishops of York, vol. ii., Symeon of Durham, and Gervase of Cant., all Rolls Ser.; Florence of Worc., William of Malm., Gesta Stephani, and William of Newburgh, all Engl. Hist. Soc.; Eadmer's Hist. Nov. and the Letters of S. Anselm, Patrol. Lat., Migne, vols. clviii. clix.; Map's De Nugis Curialium (Camd. Soc.); Hist. Dunelm. SS. tres (Surtees Soc.); Wace's Roman de Rou, ed. Andresen; Benoˆit, ed. Fr. Michel; John of Hexham, ed. Twysden; Suger's Vita Lud. Grossi, and Hist. Gaufr. Ducis ap. Recueil des Historiens, vol. xii.; Arnulf of Seez, tractatus ap. Rer. Ital. Scriptt. Muratori, vol. iii.; Vita S. Bernardi ap. Acta SS. O.S.B., Mabillon, vol. ii.; for Henry's English foundations, Dugdale's Monasticon, index, and references; Boase's Oxford and Creighton's Carlisle (Hist. Towns Ser.); Wood's City of Oxford (Oxf. Hist. Soc.)

Contributor: W. H. [William Hunt]

Published: 1891

Henry I was born in the year 1068---a factor he himself regarded as highly significant, for he was the only son of the Conqueror born after the conquest of England, and to Henry this meant he was heir to the throne. He was not an attractive
proposition: he was dissolute to a degree, producing at least a score of bastards; but far worse he was prone to sadistic cruelty---on one occasion, for example, personally punishing a rebellious burgher by throwing him from the walls of his
town.

At the death of William the Conqueror, Henry was left no lands, merely 5,000 pounds of silver. With these he bought lands from his elder brother Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, only to see them taken back again a few years later by Robert, in unholy alliance with his brother William Rufus.

Henry could do little to avenge such treatment, but in England he found numerous barons who were tired of the exactions and ambitions of their king. He formed alliances with some of these, notably with the important de Clare family. He and some of the de Clares were with William Rufus on his last hunting expedition, and it is thought that the king's death was the result of Henry's plotting.

Certainly he moved fast to take advantage of it; leaving Rufus's body unattended in the woods, he swooped down on Winchester to take control of the treasury. Two days later he was in Westminster, being crowned by the Bishop of London. His speed is understandable when one realises that his elder brother, Robert [Curthose], was returning from the crusade, and claimed, with good reason, to be the true heir.

Henry showed great good sense in his first actions as King. He arrested Ranulph Flambard, William's tax-gatherer, and recalled Anselm, the exiled Archbishop. Furthermore, he issued a Charter of Liberties which promised speedy redress of
grievances, and a return to the good government of the Conqueror. Putting aside for the moment his many mistresses, he married the sister of the King of Scots, who was descended from the royal line of Wessex; and lest the Norman barons should
think him too pro-English in this action, he changed her name from Edith to Matilda. No one could claim that he did not aim to please.

In 1101 Robert Curthose invaded, but Henry met him at Alton, and persuaded him to go away again by promising him an annuity of £2,000. He had no intention of keeping up the payments, but the problem was temporarily solved.

He now felt strong enough to move against dissident barons who might give trouble in the future. Chief amongst these was the vicious Robert of Bellême, Earl of Shrewsbury, whom Henry had known for many years as a dangerous troublemaker. He set
up a number of charges against him in the king's court, making it plain that if he appeared for trial he would be convicted and imprisoned. Thus Robert and his colleagues were forced into rebellion at a time not of their own choosing, were
easily defeated and sent scuttling back to Normandy.

In Normandy Robert Curthose began to wreak his wrath on all connected with his brother, thus giving Henry an excellent chance to retaliate with charges of misgovernment and invade. He made two expeditions in 1104-5, before the great expedition of 1106 on which Robert was defeated at the hour-long battle of Tinchebrai, on the anniversary of Hastings. No one had expected such an easy victory, but Henry took advantage of the state of shock resulting from the battle to annex Normandy.

Robert was imprisoned (in some comfort, it be said); he lived on for 28 more years, ending up in Cardiff castle whiling away the long hours learning Welsh. His son William Clito remained a free agent, to plague Henry for most of the rest of his reign.

In England the struggle with Anselm over the homage of bishops ran its course until the settlement of 1107. In matters of secular government life was more simple: Henry had found a brilliant administrator, Roger of Salisbury, to act as Justiciar for him. Roger had an inventive mind, a keen grasp of affairs, and the ability to single out young men of promise. He quickly built up a highly efficient team of administrators, and established new routines and forms of organisation within which they could work. To him we owe the Exchequer and its recording system of the Pipe Rolls, the circuits of royal justiciars spreading the king's peace, and the attempts at codification of law. Henry's good relationships with his barons, and with the burgeoning new towns owed much to skilful administration. Certainly he was able to gain a larger and more reliable revenue this way than by the crude extortion his brother had used.

In 1120 came the tragedy of the White Ship. The court was returning to England, and the finest ship in the land was filled with its young men, including Henry's son and heir William. Riotously drunk, they tried to go faster and faster, when suddenly the ship foundered. All hands except a butcher of Rouen were lost, and England was without an heir.

Henry's only legitimate child was Matilda, but she was married to the Emperor Henry V of Germany, and so could not succeed. But in 1125 her husband died, and Henry brought her home and forced the barons to swear fealty to her---though they did not like the prospect of a woman ruler. Henry then married her to Geoffrey of Anjou, the Normans' traditional enemy, and the barons were less happy---especially when the newly-weds had a terrible row, and Geoffrey ordered her out of his lands.

In 1131 Henry, absolutely determined, forced the barons to swear fealty once more, and the fact that they did so is testimoney of his controlling power. Matilda and Geoffrey were reunited, and in 1133 she produced a son whom she named for his grandfather. If only Henry could live on until his grandson was old enough to rule, all would be well.

But in 1135, against doctor's orders, he ate a hearty meal of lampreys, got acute indigestion, which turned into fever, and died. He was buried at his abbey in Reading---some said in a silver coffin, for which there was an unsuccessful search at the Dissolution. [Source: Who's Who in the Middle Ages, John Fines, Barnes & Noble Books, New York, 1995]

http://www.mindfreedom.net/gen/t-s-p/p1.htm#i8397

See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_I_of_England
--------------------
24th great-grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II

King Henry I (1068-1135)
Born: September 1068
at Selby, Yorkshire West Riding
King of England
Duke of Normandy
Died: 1st December 1135
at St. Denis-le-Fermont, Gisors, Normandy
Henry was the youngest son of William the Conqueror and his only child born in England. He came into the World at Selby, in Yorkshire, while Queen Matilda was accompanying her husband on his expedition to subdue the North. Henry was always his mother’s favourite and, though his father held a life interest, he inherited all her English states upon her death in 1083.

As a boy, Henry received an excellent education at Abingdon Abbey in Berkshire. Though a native speaker of Norman-French, as well as learning the usual Latin, he was taught to read and write in English. He also studied English law, possibly with a view to entering the Church, like so many other younger sons. Henry had a particular interest in natural history and, being far in advance of the times, eventually collected together the first zoo in the country, at his palace in Woodstock (Oxfordshire). His wide-ranging knowledge earned him the epithet of ‘Beauclerc’ meaning ‘Fine Scholar’, a name of which he was extremely proud. In later years, he even declared that ‘an unlettered King was but a crowned ass.’

Knighted by his father at Whitsun 1086, Henry became one of the barons who suffered from divided loyalties after the latter’s death the next year. The Conqueror left Normandy to his eldest son, Robert Curthose, and England to his second son, William Rufus. For nine years, this resulted in many disputes in which men like Henry, with lands in both realms, were obliged to take sides with one overlord while unintentionally antagonizing the other. Eventually, however, Robert renounced Normandy and set off on crusade, leaving Henry and the other barons to serve the monarch of a united kingdom. He was thus attending his brother, William, in the New Forest when he was accidentally (or otherwise) shot dead whilst out hunting on 2nd August 1100. Recognising the need for quick actions, the young prince left his brother’s body on the forest floor and rode straight for Winchester to secure both the treasury and his election as King by a small band of available councilors. He then left for Westminster where Bishop Maurice of crowned him in the Abbey, four days later.

Henry promised to return to the ways of his father and his first act as king was to restore the exiled St. Anselm to the Archdiocese of Canterbury. He then began his search for a suitable wife and quickly decided Princess Edith (later renamed Matilda), the eldest daughter of King Malcolm Canmore of Scots. Her mother was St Margaret, the grandaughter of the penultimate Saxon King of England, Edmund Ironside. So their children united the blood lines of both the old and new ruling houses.

Anselm’s return was not without controversy and the monarch and prelate soon clashed over the question of lay investiture of ecclesiastical estates. Believing he held his estates from the Pope, for years, the Archbishop refused to do homage for them to King Henry, until the frustrated monarch finally forced him to flee into exile once more. The King's sister, the Countess of Blois, eventually suggested a compromise in 1107, by which the bishops paid homage for their lands in return for Henry allowing clerical investiture.

King Henry’s elder brother, Robert, had returned from the Crusade in 1100, but proved such an ineffectual ruler in Normandy that the barons revolted against him and asked Henry, a wise monarch and a skilled diplomat, to take his place. The King crossed the Channel to aid their struggle and Duke Robert was prisoner at Tinchebrai. Disquiet continued to harass Henry’s rule in Normandy over the next few years, and this was not helped by war with France. However, in 1109, his foreign policy was triumphant in arranging the betrothal of his only legitimate daughter, Matilda, to the powerful German Emperor, Henry V. They were married five years later.

Despite his numerous bastard progeny, King Henry had only one other legitimate child, his heir, Prince William, a boisterous young man whom the monarch completely idolized. Tragically, in 1120, the prince was needlessly drowned - along with many of his generation at court - while making a return trip from Normandy in the ‘White Ship’ which ran aground and sank. It is said that Henry never smiled again. His first wife having died in 1118, Henry took a second, Adeliza of Louvain, in 1122. But, despite the lady being many years his junior, the marriage remained childless. So, four years later, while staying for Christmas at Windsor Castle, the King designated as his successor, his widowed daughter, the Empress Matilda; and all the barons swore to uphold her rights after his death. The following May, Henry also found his daughter a new husband, in the person of Geoffrey, the rather young heir to the County of Anjou.

Henry found it expedient to spent an equal amount of time in both his realms but, on 1st August 1135, he left England for the last time. An eclipse the next day was seen as a bad omen and by December, the King was dead. He apparently had a great love of lampreys (eels), despite their disagreeing with him intensely. He had been ordered not to eat them by his physician, but, at his hunting lodge at St Denis-le-Fermont, near Gisors, the monarch decided he fancied some for supper. A severe case of ptomaine poisoning ensued, of which gluttonous King Henry died.

Several Norman monasteries wanted Henry’s body buried within their walls, but it was mummified for transportation back to England and only his bowels, brains, heart, eyes & tongue were interred at Rouen Cathedral. As he had wished, King Henry was laid to rest before the high altar of Reading Abbey, at the time, an incomplete Cluniac house he had founded in 1121. The Dissolution of the Monasteries was severe at Reading and little survives of its walls, let alone any trace of the effigial monument that once marked the Royal grave. Even the King’s vault, below St. Joseph’s School, was broken into in the hope of finding his ‘silver coffin’, and his bones scattered in anger when it was found it be a myth. A large Celtic Cross to his memory now stands on the site of the old west front.

© Nash Ford Publishing 2001. All Rights Reserved.

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Henry's reign is noted for its political opportunism. His succession was confirmed while his brother Robert was away on the First Crusade and the beginning of his reign was occupied by wars with Robert for control of England and Normandy. He successfully reunited the two realms again after their separation on his father's death in 1087. Upon his succession he granted the baronage a Charter of Liberties, which formed a basis for subsequent challenges to rights of kings and presaged Magna Carta, which subjected the King to law.

The rest of Henry's reign was filled with judicial and financial reforms. He established the biannual Exchequer
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_I_of_England
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By Stephen Johnson

Henry I is believed to have had over 20 illegitimate children from his many affairs.
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The youngest son of William the Conqueror was born in England. His nickname, Beauclerc, which means "good scholar," was given him because of his fine education. He seized the crown in the year 1100, when his brother King William II was killed in a hunting accident and his brother Robert, Duke of Normandy, who was next in the line of succession, was absent on a crusade.
At his accession, Henry I issued the famous
geni:hair_color Black
henry1beauclerk
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Beauclerc means scholarly interest.
Succeeded his older brother, William II Rufus. He was very disliked by his charges and nobles. He had many male lovers. Ascended the thorne: 1100.
Beauclerc defeated his eldest brother Robert Curthose at the battle of Tinchebroy in Nornamdy 1106
thus becoming King of England as well as of Nornamdy. Died at Saint Dinis of food poisoning.
Source:
Stuart Roderick, W.
Royalty for Commoners, 3rd Edit. Published, Genealogical Publishing Co, Inc. Baltomore, MD. 1998,
ISBN-0-8063-1561-X Text 324-40
Source II
Alison Weir, Britains Royal Family A Complete Genealogy 1999, ppg 41-44
He was so hated by his brothers that they vowed to disinherit him in 1087. He waged several wars to consolidate and expand his possessions. William II Rufus King of England may have been ordered killed by his younger brother Henry. However, there is no proof of such. After William's death while hunting in the New Forest in 1100, his brother Henry I succeeded him to the throne and ruled for 35 years. By 1106 he had captured Normandy. His reign is notable for important legal and administrative reforms. He restrained the growing power of the barons. Though Robert III, Duke of Normandy, invaded England Robert was compelled to recognize Henry as King. Henry in turn invaded Normandy due to Robert's misgovernment. Henry captured Robert and held him prisoner, until Robert died on September 28, 1106. Henry defeated Robert at the battle of Tenchebrai and usurped the Duchy of Normandy. Henry had Robert blinded after capturing him to insure he would never be King. Henry also defeated Louis of France in 1119 at the Bremule. [All.ftw] Henry I was the fourth and most capable son of William the Conqueror and Matilda, born 1068, and nicknamed "Beauclerc" (fine scholar) for his above average education. He married Eadgyth (who later took the name Matilda), daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland, who bore him two sons and a daughter. One son died very early, and the other, William, died in the wreck of the White Ship in November 1120, leaving the daughter, Matilda, as the sole heir. Eadgyth died in 1118, and Henry married Adelaide of Louvain, but the union produced no offspring. Henry also had two fairly significant illegitimate children - Robert de Mellent, Earl of Gloucester, and Sibylla, wife of the Scottish King Alexander I. Henry's was the longest reign of the Norman line, lasting thirty-five years. The first years of Henry's reign were concerned with subduing Normandy. His father divided his kingdoms between Henry's older brothers, leaving England to William and Normandy to Robert. Henry inherited no land, but received £5000 in silver. He played both sides in his brothers' quarrel, leading both to distrust Henry, and sign a mutual accession treaty barring their brother from the crown. Henry's hope arose when Robert went on the First Crusade; should William die, Henry would be the obvious choice. Henry was in the woods hunting on the morning of William's death, August 2, 1100. He moved quickly and was crowned king on August 5, his coronation charter denouncing William's oppressive policies and promising good government. Robert returned to Normandy a few weeks later, butescaped final defeat until 1106, at the Battle of Tinchebrai. Robert was captured and lived the remaining twenty-eight years of his life as Henry's prisoner. Henry was drawn into controversy with theChurch over the lay investiture issue - the practice of selling clergy appoints by the king to gain revenue, heavily opposed by Gregorian reformers in the Church. He ignored the situation until he was threatened with excommunication by Pope Paschal II in 1105, reaching a compromise with the papacy: he would officially denounce lay investiture, but prelates were to continue to do homage for their fiefs. In practice, it changed little - the king still had the deciding voice in appointing ecclesiastical offices - but it a marked a point when kingship was viewed as purely secular, and subservienttothe Church. A solution to the lay investiture controversy and conquest of Normandy were accomplished in 1106, allowing Henry to expand his power. Henry mixed generosity with violence in motivating allegiance to the crown, appointing loyal and gifted men to administrative positions. Roger of Salisbury, the most famous of Henry's servants, was instrumental in organizing a department for collectionof royal revenues, the Exchequer. The Exchequer quickly gained notoriety for sending out court officials to judge local financial disputes, weakening the feudal courts controlled by local lords, and won the title "Lion of Justice". The final years of his reign were concentrated on war with France, and succession concerns upon the death of his son William in 1120. The marriage to Adelaide was fruitless, leaving Matilda his only surviving legitimate heir. She was recalled to Henry's court in 1125 after the death of her husband, Emperor Henry V of Germany; Henry forced the barons to swear they would accept Matilda as Queen upon Henry's death. She was then forced to marry the sixteen-year-old Geoffrey of Anjou (founder of the Plantagenet dynasty) in 1128 to continue the Angevin alliance. Themarriage was unpopular with the Norman barons, but Matilda and Geoffrey produced a male heir, prompting Henry to force another oath from the barons in support of Matilda. In summer 1135, Henry refused to give custody of certain key Norman castles to Geoffrey, as a show of good will, and the pair entered into war. Henry's life ended in this sorry state of affairs - war with his son-in-law - inDecember 1135. Source: www.britannia.com
!Name is; Henry I, "Beauclerc" King Of /ENGLAND/

!From "Ancestral Roots of 60 Colonist" by WEIS, 6th ed, line 121, page 109; " Henry I, Beauclerc, b 1070 d 1 Dec 1135, King of England, 1100-1135; m 11 Nov 1100, Matilda of Scotland (1-23) b 1079 d 1May 1118. (CP V 736, VII 737: SP I 1-2; CCN 494). He had issue by a number of mistresses. See history books. Several more generations are given.
Henry I "Beauclerc" had at least 16 concubines, including thefollowing:
Nest Verch RHYS [a princess of Wales];
Sibyl (or Adela or Lucy) CORBET;
Isabel (Elizabeth) De BEAUMONT;
Edith FITZFORNE;
Gieva De TRACY.
[william little,patterson 0963a cd772.FTW]
[Genealogy.com, LLC WFT Vol. 72, Ed. 1, Tree #0963, Date of Import: May 13, 2002]
King Henry I of England

Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists(7th Ed) by Frederick Lewis Weis, Th.D.; F.A.S.G. (line 1)

He was crowned king on Aug. 6, 1100 at Westminster Abbey. His first marriage was to Edith (renamed Matilda in honor of his mother), the elder daughter of Malcolm III, King of Scots, and St. Margaret, the granddaughter of Edmund Ironside, this reinforcing the strain of Saxon royal blood in the family.
He was well educated, learning to read and write Latin and studying English law. All in all, Henry was a wise ruler and skilled diplomatist.

His only legitimate son, William, was drowned with a large entourage in the wreck of the White Ship crossing the channel from Normandy. The news so grieved the king that it was said he never smiled again.

In 1126 Henry designated his daughter Matilda, widow of the Emperor Henry V, to be his heir and chose a second husband for her in the person of Geoffrey Plantagenet, son of Fulk V, Count of Anjou. Although his only legitimate offspring were William and Matilda, he left a large illegitimate progeny of 21 or more children, among them Robert, Earl of Gloucester, who was to champion his half-sister Matilda in her claim to the throne.

William II (called William Rufus, the "Red King") came to the throne in 1087. He was a harsh ruler and few mourned him when he was killed by an arrow shot by an unknown hand while he was hunting (see William, Kings of England). Robert had gone off on the First Crusade, to recover the Holy Land from the Turks. A third son, Henry I, was therefore able to become king without a struggle, in 1100. When Robert returned, Henry crossed the Channel, defeated him, and gained Normandy also. He gave both England and western France a peaceful, orderly rule (see Henry, Kings of England).
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Excerpted from Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia
Copyright © 1993, 1994 Compton’s NewMedia, Inc.

Henry I exacted a promise from the barons to recognize his daughter Matilda as their ruler. However, when he died, some of the barons broke their promise and instead chose Stephen, a grandson of William the Conqueror. Stephen was a gallant knight but a weak king. Throughout his reign lawless barons fought private wars, each seeking to increase his power. Twice he was challenged by Matilda and her supporters, who nearly defeated him in 1141. When Stephen died (1154), the people were ready to welcome a strong ruler who would restore order.
---------------------------------------------------------
Excerpted from Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia
Copyright © 1993, 1994 Compton’s NewMedia, Inc.

Henry I (of England) (1068-1135), third Norman king of England (1100-1135), fourth son of William the Conqueror. Henry was born in Selby. Because his father, who died in 1087, left him no land, Henry made several unsuccessful attempts to gain territories on the Continent. On the death of his brother William II in 1100, Henry took advantage of the absence of another brother—Robert, who had a prior claim to the throne—to seize the royal treasury and have himself crowned king at Westminster. Henry subsequently secured his position with the nobles and with the church by issuing a charter of liberties that acknowledged the feudal rights of the nobles and the rights of the church. In 1101 Robert, who was duke of Normandy, invaded England, but Henry persuaded him to withdraw by promising him a pension and military aid on the Continent. In 1102 Henry put down a revolt of nobles, who subsequently took refuge in Normandy, where they were aided by Robert. By defeating Robert at Tinchebray, France, in 1106, Henry won Normandy. During the rest of his reign, however, he constantly had to put down uprisings that threatened his rule in Normandy. The conflict between Henry and Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, over the question of lay investiture (the appointment of church officials by the king), was settled in 1107 by a compromise that left the king with substantial control in the matter.
Because he had no surviving male heir, Henry was forced to designate his daughter Matilda as his heiress. After his death on December 1, 1135, at Lyons-la-Fôret, Normandy, however, Henry's nephew, Stephen of Blois, usurped the throne, plunging the country into a protracted civil war that ended only with the accession of Matilda's son, Henry II, in 1154."Henry I (of England)," Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1994 Microsoft Corporation. Copyright (c) 1994 Funk & Wagnall's Corporation.
!SOURCES:
1. Scottish Kings, Scot. 28, p. 1-50
2. Scots Peerage, Scot 2b, v. 1, p. 2
3. Burke's Peerage, Eng. P, 1949, pref. p. 252, 286
4. The Royal Lines of Succession, A16A225, p. 8
5. The Kings of England, Eng. 176, p. 24-33
6. The Royal Daughters of England, Eng. 120, v. 1, p. 39
7. Royal Fam. of Eng., Scot., and Wales, Eng. 260, v. 1, p. 33-46, gen. p. 9-15
8. Plantagenet Ancestry, Eng. 116, p. 6
9. Espolin (GS #12462, pt 1, p. 98)
King 1100-35
King 1100-35
p005111-002246
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p005111-002246
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The Conqueror's youngest son, the only one of his children to be born in England, first saw the light of day at Selby in the autumn of 1068, his mother Queen Matilda having accompanied William on hisexpedition to subjugate the north. Like many youngest sons, he became his mother's favorite and on her death in 1083 she left him her English estates, which, however, he was not allowed to hold during his father's lifetime. Meanwhile he is reputed to have acquire a good education, learning to read and write Latin and also studying English and English law. It might be surmised tht this was undertaken with a view to his entering the Church, often the destiny of youngest sons. His learning was to earn him the sobriquet of 'Beauclerc' ( fine scholar), of which he became very proud, and in later life he was to declare that ' an unlettered King was but a crowned ass.'
Henry was knighted by his father at Westminster on Whitsunday 1086 and after the King's death the following year he became one of those barons who suffered from the Conqueror's decision to leave Normandy to Robert and England to William. Until Robert resigned Normandy to William in 1096, Henry was constantly being forced to choose between his two overlords, and whichever side he came down on, hewas likely to annoy the other.
Once England and Normandy were reunited under William Rufus, Henry was able to serve the King, and he was fortuitously on hand in the New Forest on the day his brother was killed on 2 August 1100. The following day, after Williams's burial at Winchester, such councillors as were at hand elected Henry king and, after securing the treasury, he immediately left for London, where on 6 August he was crowned in Westminster Abbey by Maurice, Bishop of London.
Henry's first act as king was to issue a charter promising a return to his father's ways, and to restore Anselm to the Archbishopric of Canterbury. His next was to seek a wife and his choice very expediently fell upon Edith (renamed Matilda in honour of his mother), the elder daughter of Malcolm Canmore, King of Scots, by St Margaret, who was the granddaughter of Edmund Ironside. He thus reinforced the strain of Saxon blood in the royal family.
The vexed question of lay investiture of ecclesiastical estates threatened relations between Church and State for several years. Anselm refused to do homage to the King for the archiepiscopal estates, claiming he held them from the Pope. The King would not give way and Anselm was deprived of his fiefs and again forced into exile. A compromise was reached in 1107 when the King's sister Adela, Countess of Blois, suggested that the bishops should pay homage for fiefs held of the King, who in his turn would allow clerical investiture.
Henry was a wise ruler, a good judge of men, and a skilled diplomat. The affairs of Normandy occupied the early years of his reign. Robert had returned from the Crusade but proved such an ineffective ruler that his barons revolted and invited Henry to come to their aid. Robert was taken prisoner at Tinchebrai and Normandy passed under Henry's rule. More troubles in Normandy and war with France continued to occupy the next few years. In 1109 Henry's foreign policy triumphed in the betrothal of his only legitimate daughter Matilda to the Emperor Henry V, the marriage taking place in 1114.
In 1120 Henry's only legitimate son, William, was tragically drowned with his entourage in the wreck of the White Ship when returning from Normandy. Henry, it is said, never smiled again. Queen Matilda had died in 1118, and in 1122 Henry took a second wife, Adeliza, daughter of Godfrey, Count of Louvain, but the marriage was to remain childless. At Christmas 1126 he designated his daughter, the widowed Empress Matilda, as his successor and the following May he chose a second husband for her in the person of the young and handsome Geoffrey, son of the Count of Anjou, who was ten years or more her junior.
Henry was continually travelling from England to Normandy and back throughout his reign. He left England for the last time on 1 August 1135. An eclipse the next day was seen as an evil portent and,in the words of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 'men...said that some important event should follow upon this; and so it did, for in that very year the King died in Normandy.' At the end of November Henrywas at his royal hunting-box at St Denis-le-Fermont, near Gisors, where, says Henry of Huntingdon, 'he devoured lampreys which always disagreed with him, though he was excessively fond of them, and when his physicians forbade him to eat them the King did not heed their advice.' A severe case of ptomaine poisoning followed and Henry died on 1 December. He was sixty-seven, a good age for those days, though far short of the eighty years attained by his eldest brother Robert who had ended his days in prison in Cardiff Castle a year earlier.
Henry's body was brought back to England and interred in Reading Abbey, which he had founded. No trace of him tomb remains today, the site being covered by a car park. 'He was', says the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 'a good man, and was held in great awe. In his days no man dared to wrong another. He made peace for man and beast.' The last reference calls to mind the Woodstock menagerie, which Henry brought together, the first English zoo. In his interest in natural history, as ink many other things, he was a man for in advance of his time.
Henry's marriage to Matilda produced only two surviving children, that to Adeliza none, but a number mistresses bore him a large illegitimate progeny, several of whom made a mark in the world, especially Robert, Earl of Gloucester, who was to play such an important part in the next reign.
The only contemporary depictions of Henry are his coins and his great seal. Neither can be said to be in any way a likeness, but they, and a lively imagination, helped to inspire the portrait of Henry engraved by George Vertue in the eighteenth century.
http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Henry_I_of_France
daughter Matilda as his heiress. After his death on December 1, 1135,
at Lyons-la-Furet, Normandy, however, Henry's nephew, Stephen of
the throne-to seize the royal treasury and have himself crowned king
at Westminster. Henry subsequently secured his position with the
acknowledged the feudal rights of the nobles and the rights of the
Henry I (of England) (1068-1135), third Norman king of England (1100-
1135), fourth son of William the Conqueror. Henry was born in Selby.
Because his father, who died in 1087, left him no land, Henry made
several unsuccessful attempts to gain territories on the Continent.
Blois, usurped the throne, plunging the country into a protracted
II, in 1154.
On the death of his brother William IIin 1100, Henry took advantage
of the absence of another brother-Robert, who had a prior claim to
military aid on the Continent. In 1102 Henry put down a revolt of
nobles, who subsequently took refuge in Normandy, where they were
aided by Robert. By defeating Robert at Tinchebray, France, in 1106,
that left the king with substantial control in the matter. Because he
had no surviving male heir, Henry was forced to designate his
but Henry persuaded him to withdrawby promising him a pension and
Normandy. The conflict between Henry and Anselm, archbishop of
Canterbury, over the question of lay investiture (the appointment of
Event: Crowned King of England 08/05/1100 at Westminster.
He was so hated by his brothers that they vowed to disinherit him in 1087. He waged several wars to consolidate and expand his possessions. William II Rufus King of England may have been ordered killed by his younger brother Henry. However, there is no proof of such. After William's death while hunting in the New Forest in 1100, his brother Henry I succeeded him to the throne and ruled for 35 years. By 1106 he had captured Normandy. His reign is notable for important legal and administrative reforms. He restrained the growing power of the barons. Though Robert III, Duke of Normandy, invaded England Robert was compelled to recognize Henry as King. Henry in turn invaded Normandy due to Robert's misgovernment. Henry captured Robert and held him prisoner, until Robert died on September 28, 1106. Henry defeated Robert at the battle of Tenchebrai and usurped the Duchy of Normandy. Henry had Robert blinded after capturing him to insure he would never be King. Henry also defeated Louis of France in 1119 at the Bremule. [All.ftw] Henry I was the fourth and most capable son of William the Conqueror and Matilda, born 1068, and nicknamed "Beauclerc" (fine scholar) for his above average education. He married Eadgyth (who later took the name Matilda), daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland, who bore him two sons and a daughter. One son died very early, and the other, William, died in the wreck of the White Ship in November 1120, leaving the daughter, Matilda, as the sole heir. Eadgyth died in 1118, and Henry married Adelaide of Louvain, but the union produced no offspring. Henry also had two fairly significant illegitimate children - Robert de Mellent, Earl of Gloucester, and Sibylla, wife of the Scottish King Alexander I. Henry's was the longest reign of the Norman line, lasting thirty-five years. The first years of Henry's reign were concerned with subduing Normandy. His father divided his kingdoms between Henry's older brothers, leaving England to William and Normandy to Robert. Henry inherited no land, but received £5000 in silver. He played both sides in his brothers' quarrel, leading both to distrust Henry, and sign a mutual accession treaty barring their brother from the crown. Henry's hope arose when Robert went on the First Crusade; should William die, Henry would be the obvious choice. Henry was in the woods hunting on the morning of William's death, August 2, 1100. He moved quickly and was crowned king on August 5, his coronation charter denouncing William's oppressive policies and promising good government. Robert returned to Normandy a few weeks later, but escaped final defeat until 1106, at the Battle of Tinchebrai. Robert was captured and lived the remaining twenty-eight years of his life as Henry's prisoner. Henry was drawn into controversy with the Church over the lay investiture issue - the practice of selling clergy appoints by the king to gain revenue, heavily opposed by Gregorian reformers in the Church. He ignored the situation until he was threatened with excommunication by Pope Paschal II in 1105, reaching a compromise with the papacy: he would officially denounce lay investiture, but prelates were to continue to do homage for their fiefs. In practice, it changed little - the king still had the deciding voice in appointing ecclesiastical offices - but it a marked a point when kingship was viewed as purely secular, and subservient to the Church. A solution to the lay investiture controversy and conquest of Normandy were accomplished in 1106, allowing Henry to expand his power. Henry mixed generosity with violence in motivating allegiance to the crown, appointing loyal and gifted men to administrative positions. Roger of Salisbury, the most famous of Henry's servants, was instrumental in organizing a department for collection of royal revenues, the Exchequer. The Exchequer quickly gained notoriety for sending out court officials to judge local financial disputes, weakening the feudal courts controlled by local lords, and won the title "Lion of Justice". The final years of his reign were concentrated on war with France, and succession concerns upon the death of his son William in 1120. The marriage to Adelaide was fruitless, leaving Matilda his only surviving legitimate heir. She was recalled to Henry's court in 1125 after the death of her husband, Emperor Henry V of Germany; Henry forced the barons to swear they would accept Matilda as Queen upon Henry's death. She was then forced to marry the sixteen-year-old Geoffrey of Anjou (founder of the Plantagenet dynasty) in 1128 to continue the Angevin alliance. The marriage was unpopular with the Norman barons, but Matilda and Geoffrey produced a male heir, prompting Henry to force another oath from the barons in support of Matilda. In summer 1135, Henry refused to give custody of certain key Norman castles to Geoffrey, as a show of good will, and the pair entered into war. Henry's life ended in this sorry state of affairs - war with his son-in-law - in December 1135. Source: www.britannia.com
He was so hated by his brothers that they vowed to disinherit him in 1087. He waged several wars to consolidate and expand his possessions. William II Rufus King of England may have been ordered killed by his younger brother Henry. However, there is no proof of such. After William's death while hunting in the New Forest in 1100, his brother Henry I succeeded him to the throne and ruled for 35 years. By 1106 he had captured Normandy. His reign is notable for important legal and administrative reforms. He restrained the growing power of the barons. Though Robert III, Duke of Normandy, invaded England Robert was compelled to recognize Henry as King. Henry in turn invaded Normandy due to Robert's misgovernment. Henry captured Robert and held him prisoner, until Robert died on September 28, 1106. Henry defeated Robert at the battle of Tenchebrai and usurped the Duchy of Normandy. Henry had Robert blinded after capturing him to insure he would never be King. Henry also defeated Louis of France in 1119 at the Bremule. [All.ftw] Henry I was the fourth and most capable son of William the Conqueror and Matilda, born 1068, and nicknamed "Beauclerc" (fine scholar) for his above average education. He married Eadgyth (who later took the name Matilda), daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland, who bore him two sons and a daughter. One son died very early, and the other, William, died in the wreck of the White Ship in November 1120, leaving the daughter, Matilda, as the sole heir. Eadgyth died in 1118, and Henry married Adelaide of Louvain, but the union produced no offspring. Henry also had two fairly significant illegitimate children - Robert de Mellent, Earl of Gloucester, and Sibylla, wife of the Scottish King Alexander I. Henry's was the longest reign of the Norman line, lasting thirty-five years. The first years of Henry's reign were concerned with subduing Normandy. His father divided his kingdoms between Henry's older brothers, leaving England to William and Normandy to Robert. Henry inherited no land, but received £5000 in silver. He played both sides in his brothers' quarrel, leading both to distrust Henry, and sign a mutual accession treaty barring their brother from the crown. Henry's hope arose when Robert went on the First Crusade; should William die, Henry would be the obvious choice. Henry was in the woods hunting on the morning of William's death, August 2, 1100. He moved quickly and was crowned king on August 5, his coronation charter denouncing William's oppressive policies and promising good government. Robert returned to Normandy a few weeks later, but escaped final defeat until 1106, at the Battle of Tinchebrai. Robert was captured and lived the remaining twenty-eight years of his life as Henry's prisoner. Henry was drawn into controversy with the Church over the lay investiture issue - the practice of selling clergy appoints by the king to gain revenue, heavily opposed by Gregorian reformers in the Church. He ignored the situation until he was threatened with excommunication by Pope Paschal II in 1105, reaching a compromise with the papacy: he would officially denounce lay investiture, but prelates were to continue to do homage for their fiefs. In practice, it changed little - the king still had the deciding voice in appointing ecclesiastical offices - but it a marked a point when kingship was viewed as purely secular, and subservient to the Church. A solution to the lay investiture controversy and conquest of Normandy were accomplished in 1106, allowing Henry to expand his power. Henry mixed generosity with violence in motivating allegiance to the crown, appointing loyal and gifted men to administrative positions. Roger of Salisbury, the most famous of Henry's servants, was instrumental in organizing a department for collection of royal revenues, the Exchequer. The Exchequer quickly gained notoriety for sending out court officials to judge local financial disputes, weakening the feudal courts controlled by local lords, and won the title "Lion of Justice". The final years of his reign were concentrated on war with France, and succession concerns upon the death of his son William in 1120. The marriage to Adelaide was fruitless, leaving Matilda his only surviving legitimate heir. She was recalled to Henry's court in 1125 after the death of her husband, Emperor Henry V of Germany; Henry forced the barons to swear they would accept Matilda as Queen upon Henry's death. She was then forced to marry the sixteen-year-old Geoffrey of Anjou (founder of the Plantagenet dynasty) in 1128 to continue the Angevin alliance. The marriage was unpopular with the Norman barons, but Matilda and Geoffrey produced a male heir, prompting Henry to force another oath from the barons in support of Matilda. In summer 1135, Henry refused to give custody of certain key Norman castles to Geoffrey, as a show of good will, and the pair entered into war. Henry's life ended in this sorry state of affairs - war with his son-in-law - in December 1135. Source: www.britannia.com
Henry I (1068-1135) was king of England from 1100 to 1135. His reign was dominated by his struggle to conquer and defend Normandy and to make his government in England more efficient and more profitable.

The third surviving son of William I and Matilda of Flanders, Henry I received a good education and could read and write Latin, an accomplishment rare among laymen at that time. On his father's death in 1089, Henry's brothers, Robert and William II, inherited Normandy and England respectively; Henry was left £5,000, with which he bought land in western Normandy. Robert could not govern efficiently, and Henry therefore allied with William, who in 1096 took over Normandy as security for a loan to enable Robert to go on a crusade.

On Aug. 2, 1100, when Robert was on his way home, William was shot, possibly with Henry's connivance, when hunting in the New Forest. Henry seized the royal treasure in nearby Winchester and was hastily crowned on August 5 at Westminster. Here he issued a charter promising reforms, most of which were designed to win support from the great landowners and the Church. He imprisoned William's unpopular minister Ranulf Flambard and recalled the exiled Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury. In November 1100 he married Edith, later called Matilda, daughter of Malcolm III, King of Scots and descendant of the Saxon kings; this marriage secured peace with Scotland and the goodwill of the English. These measures helped him to survive an attack by Duke Robert in 1101. In 1104 and 1105 Henry attacked Normandy and in 1106 finally defeated his brother at Tinchebrai and took over the duchy, keeping Robert a prisoner till his death in 1134.

In 1107 Henry reached a statesmanlike compromise with the Pope and the archbishop of Canterbury in the longstanding dispute about elections of bishops and abbots, which had caused Anselm to retire to a second period of exile. Henry gave up the ancient custom of lay investiture (giving prelates the ring and staff which were the symbols of their spiritual office), while the Pope agreed that prelates should be elected in the King's presence and do homage for their estates before consecration. In this way Henry and his successors retained control of Church appointments, giving up only a formal ceremony.

As well as watching constantly to suppress rebellion in Normandy, Henry made diplomatic moves to protect it from attack. In 1109 his daughter Matilda was promised to the emperor Henry V; in 1113 he agreed that his son and heir William should marry the daughter of Fulk, Count of Anjou. He paid a large pension to the Count of Flanders and gave substantial estates in England and Normandy to his nephew Stephen, brother of another potential ally, the Count of Blois. Thus fortified, he was able to repel several attacks led by Louis VI, King of France, in support of the claim to Normandy of Duke Robert's son, William Clito. Though defeated at Brémule in 1119, Louis continued to support William and made him Count of Flanders in 1127. Fortunately for Henry, William Clito died in 1128.

Though he gave much of his time to Normandy, Henry's reign produced notable developments in the government of England. He increased the number of professional administrators, employing men of comparatively humble origins. Many of these were laymen, but their chief was Roger, Bishop of Salisbury. Roger was the King's right-hand man and was probably responsible for the organization of the Exchequer, the royal accounting office, which had its own staff and its own records, the Domesday Book and the Pipe Rolls, of which the first surviving specimen belongs to the year ending Michaelmas (sept. 29), 1130. In judicial matters more cases were claimed for the King's court, and the King's controlling position was emphasized by sending justices to visit the county courts and by the brutal, but methodical, punishment of criminals.

The great problem of Henry's later years was the succession. He had at least 20 illegitimate children but only one legitimate son, William, and one daughter, Matilda. William's death by drowning in 1120 was a political disaster. Henry, in hope of an heir, married Adeliza, daughter of Godfrey, Duke of Lower Lorraine (another potential ally of France's flank), but the union was childless. Matilda, however, became a widow in 1125; Henry summoned her home and in December 1126 made the nobles swear to accept her as domina (lady) of England and Normandy. He then arranged her marriage to Geoffrey, son of the Count of Anjou. But when Henry died on Dec. 1, 1135, his nephew Stephen ascended the English throne.
!SOURCES:
1. Scottish Kings, Scot. 28, p. 1-50
2. Scots Peerage, Scot 2b, v. 1, p. 2
3. Burke's Peerage, Eng. P, 1949, pref. p. 252, 286
4. The Royal Lines of Succession, A16A225, p. 8
5. The Kings of England, Eng. 176, p. 24-33
6. The Royal Daughters of England, Eng. 120, v. 1, p. 39
7. Royal Fam. of Eng., Scot., and Wales, Eng. 260, v. 1, p. 33-46, gen. p. 9-15
8. Plantagenet Ancestry, Eng. 116, p. 6
9. Espolin (GS #12462, pt 1, p. 98)
GEDCOM line 102466 not recognizable or too long:
1 TITL I, Beauclerc, King of England
Henrik I av England (født ca 1068, død 1. desember 1135) var den femte sønnen til Vilhelm Erobreren og det første barnet som ble født i England etter den normanniske erobringen i 1066. Han etterfulgte sin eldre bror Vilhelm II (Vilhelm Rufus) som konge av England i 1100 og beseiret sin eldste bror hertug Robert Curthose og erobret Normandie i 1106. Henrik ble på 1300-tallet kalt for Beauclerc grunnet sine interesser i boklig kunnskap.

Oversikt

Vilhelm I av England fordelte arven mellom sine sønner, den første fikk Normandie, den andre fikk England, mens Henrik fikk kun sølv.Henriks regime er bemerkelsesverdig for dens politiske opportunisme. Hans plass i rekkefølgen til tronen ble bekreftet mens han bror Robert var unna av vegen på det første korstoget og begynnelsen av hans kongedømme var opptatt med krigføring mot broren for kontroll over både England og Normandie etter deres atskillelse etter farens død i 1087. Da han ble kronet konge signerte han et historisk frihetsbrev som underla kongen loven. Dette frihetsbrevet bebudet Magna Carta.

Henriks kongedømme var fylt med lovmessige og finansielle reformer og han var en dyktig administrator. Han etablerte et system av reisende dommere og et profesjonelt statsbyråkrati, med blant annet en finansminister, exchequer, for å håndtere kronens finansier. På mange måter var Henriks styre den spede begynnelsen på den moderne statsmakten England.

Ulikhetene og motsetningene mellom den engelske og normanniske befolkningene begynte å jevne seg ut i løpet av hans regime. Selv giftet Henrik seg med en datter av det gamle engelske kongehuset, noe som var en stor symbolhandling. Henrik kranglet med Anselm, erkebiskop av Canterbury, som hevdet at kongen ikke hadde rett til å utnevnte biskoper, og for en tid gikk Anselm i landflyktighet, men til slutt måtte Henrik bøye av og inngikk fred med kirken.

Det katastrofale tapet av hans eldste sønn William i skipsforliset til ?Det hvite skipet? førte til et problem for arvefølgen. Hans testamente betinget at han skulle bli etterfulgt av sin datter, keiserinne Maud (Matilda), men likvel ble hans faste og stabile styre etterfulgt av en periode av borgerkrig, karakterisert som Det engelske kaos under Stefan.

Kong Henriks tidlige liv
Henrik ble født mellom mai 1068 og mai 1069, sannsynligvis i Selby, Yorkshire i nordøstlige England. Hans mor, dronning Matilda av Flandern, var en etterkommer av Alfred den store, men ikke direkte gjennom den vestsaksiske kongelige linje. Dronning Matilda navnga prins Henrik etter hennes onkel Henrik I av Frankrike. Som den fjerde og yngste sønnen i familien var hans framtidsutsikter å bli biskop og ble derfor gitt en mer omfattende skolegang enn hva som var normalt for en ung adelsmann. Kronikøren William av Malmesbury hevdet at Henrik en gang bemerket at en konge som ikke var lesekyndig var en kronet esel. Han var bestemt den første normanniske konge som snakket engelsk flytende.

William av Malmesbury har gitt følgende samtidsbeskrivelse [1]:

?Han var av middels statur, hans hår var sort, men skrinn nær forhodet; hans øyne var mildt og klart, hans brystkasse kraftig, hans kropp muskuløs. Han var spøkefull i høvelige tider, hverken mangfoldighet i forretninger som fikk ham til å være mindre behagelig når han var blant folk. Ikke utstrakt for personlig bekjempende, han bekreftet et utsagn fra Scipio Africanus, ?Min mor fødte som general, ikke som soldat?; derfor var han ikke mindre i visdom enn til noen annen konge i moderne tid; stridende ved beslutninger heller enn ved sverd. Om han kunne erobret han uten blodsutgytelse; om det ikke var til å unngå, med så lite som mulig?.
I 1086 ble Henrik gjort til ridder av sin far i Westminster, men før den tid er lite kjent om hans liv. Han skal ha vært en favoritt hos sin mor og hun testamenterte flere eiendommer til ham som han dog ikke fikk benytte i sin fars levetid. Vilhelm Erobrerens tredje sønn Rikard døde før sin far ved å bli drept i en jaktulykke i New Forest [2], og ved dennes død i 1087 testamenterte Vilhelm sine herredømmer til sine tre overlevende sønner i følgende orden:

Robert Curthose, den eldste sønnen, mottok Hertugdømmet Normandie og ble hertug Robert II
Vilhelm Rufus mottok kongedømmet England og ble kong Vilhelm II
Henry Beauclerc mottok 5 000 pund i sølv

Da broren Vilhelm Rufus døde under mystisk jaktulykke grep Henrik den engelske tronen.
Tegning av A. de Neuville fra Ridpath's Universal HistoryKronikøren Orderic Vitalis rapporterte, skjønt det er nok en litterær dramatisering, at den gamle kongen hadde erklært til Henrik: ?Du vil i din tid ha alle de herredømmer som jeg har skaffet og bli større enn begge dine brødre i rikdom og makt? [3]

Uten å arve noe landområdet utnyttet Henrik broren Roberts pengevanskeligheter og for en mindre sum fikk han kjøpt distriktet Cotentin i Normandie. Han forhandlet med sin andre bror, Vilhelm Rufus, om å få råde over arven etter sin mor, men det vekket kun hertugens mistenksomhet og som kastet ham i fengsel. I 1090 kunne Henrik vise sin lojalitet ved på vegne av Robert å slå ned et opprør i Rouen (som broren Vilhelm Rufus hadde oppmuntret). Begge de eldre brødrene ble forsont året etter og sammen fikk de Henrik jagd fra Cotentin. Henrik ble tvunget til å svelge denne fornærmelsen og levde i nær to år i den franske delen av Vexin i relativ fattigdom. Han aksepterte deretter fra borgerne i Domfront et tilbud om å forsvare dem mot den anglo-normanniske Robert av Bellême, 3. jarl av Shrewsbury. Det førte til at han igjen kom til en enighet med Vilhelm Rufus, og gikk da med i brorens krig mot den eldste broren Robert.

Henrik forsøkte å spille sine brødre opp mot hverandre, men til slutt, vaktsomme over Henriks manøvreringer, gikk Vilhelm Rufus og Robert sammen og undertegnet en avtale som var ment å forhindre at prins Henrik fikk tilgang til deres riker ved at de gjensidig forpliktet seg til at om enten kong Vilhelm eller hertug Robert døde uten en arving, skulle deres to herredømmer fra deres far igjen bli forent av den overlevende som den andre.

I 1096 dro hertug Robert for å delta i det første korstoget. På den tiden var han ekstremt pengelens og han pantsatte sitt hertugdømme Normandie til sin bror Vilhelm for en sum av 10 000 mark. Henrik var da i Vilhelms tjeneste, og han deltok i det kongelige jaktselskapet på den dagen da Vilhelm døde, den 2. august 1100. Hadde Robert vært i Normandie kunne han ha krevd den engelske tronen etter sin bror, men Robert kom først tilbake til sitt hertugdømme en måned etter Henriks kroning.

Erobringen av den engelske tronen

Et idealisert fantasibilde av Englands dronning Edith (Matilida), 1851Da Vilhelm II ble drept av en pil i det som fremsto som enda en jaktulykke i New Forest hadde hertug Robert ennå ikke kommet tilbake fra Det første korstoget. På denne tiden hadde Vilhelm Rufus nektet å godkjenne Henriks planer om å gifte seg med den halvt angelsaksiske, halvt skotske prinsesse Edith av Skottland. Om Vilhelm Rufus døde av en ?planlagt? ulykke eller ikke har vært et omdiskutert spørsmål, men det kom uansett meget beleilig for hans yngre bror som øyeblikkelig dro i all hast til Winchester i Hampshire og tok hånd om det kongelige skattkammeret.

Den som hadde skutt pilen i brystet på kongen het Walter Tyrel og som øyeblikkelig rømte til Frankrike. Han ble aldri straffet eller sett igjen i England, men hans svogere, Gilbert og Robert av Clare, fikk siden gunst av nye kongen.

Hertug Roberts fravær, sammen med hans dårlige omdømme blant den normanniske adelen gjorde det mulig for prins Henrik å beslaglegge det kongelige skattkammeret. Henrik ble akseptert som konge av de ledende baroner og ble kronet tre dager senere den 5. august ved Westminster Abbey. Han sikret sin posisjon blant adelen ved en forordning om politisk fredeliggjøring: han utsendte Den engelske frihetsbrev av 1100, ?Charter of Liberties?. Denne milepælen i engelsk historie har siden blitt betraktet som en forløper for Magna Carta. Her lovte Henrik å sikre kirken og adels rettigheter og stille kongen inn under loven. Han fengslet den mislikte Ranulf Flambard, Vilhelm Rufus' sjefsminister og fikk således populær støtte blant det engelske folk.

Forsoning med kirken

Erkebiskop Anselm
Et idealisert og uhistorisk portrett av Henrik I, fra Cassell's History of England, utgitt ca 1902.Henrik tilbakekalte også erkebiskop Anselm fra hans landflyktighet og Anselm ga prekener til kongens ære. Til tross for den nye alliansen mellom kirken og kronen kunne ikke Anselm komme tilbake uten bestemte betingelser. Anselm måtte motta fra Henrik, i egen person, innsettingen til hans tidligere posisjon som erkebiskop, noe som var i konflikt med pavens beordring. Henrik nektet å frafalle de privilegier som hans forgjengere hadde sittet med, at kongen hadde retten til å utnevne biskoper. I drakampen mellom Anselm og Henrik førte til at det politiske spørsmålet skulle legges fram for paven. To ambassadører ble sent til Roma og pave Paschalis II med spørsmålet om berettigelsen av Henriks innsettingsrett. Paven dømte til fordel for sin erkebiskop, men Henrik holdt likevel fast på sin rett, og i 1103 dro Anselm selv og utsendinger fra kongen til Roma. Paven bestemte igjen til fordel for kirken, og truet med bannlysing for alle de som forhindret den.

Uten mulighet til å dra tilbake til England dro Anselm til Lyon for å vente på pavens neste handling. I 1105 bannlyste paven den engelske kongen. Henrik ble nå tvunget til å reagere, fikk arrangert et møte med pave Paschalis II og en forsoning ble etablert. I 1106 fikk Anselm tillatelse til å komme tilbake til England og med pavens autoritet for å fjerne bannlysningen. Først i 1107 ble den lange krangelen om innsettingsrett endelig løst med et kompromiss i et konkordat i London [4] hvor Henrik hevdet hans rett til å innsette hans biskoper og abbeder, men uten at disse fulgte sedvanen å gi hyllest for ?temporalities? (landområdene knyttet til bispedømmene), og de gjenstående årene av Anselms liv var da knyttet til hans arbeid ved sitt erkebispesete til han døde i 1109.

Første ekteskap
Den 11. november 1100 giftet Henrik seg med Edith, datter av kong Malcolm III av Skottland. Ettersom Edith også var niese av Edgar Ætheling og oldebarn av Edvard Bekjennerens halvbror på farsiden, Edmund II av England, var ekteskapet en forening av den normanniske slektslinjen med den gammelengelske kongeslekten. Ekteskapet var ikke noe som gledet de normanniske baronene og som en konsesjon av deres følsomhet endret Edith navn til Matilda da hun ble dronning. Den andre siden av den samme saken var at Henrik ble langt mer akseptabel for den angelsaksiske befolkningen.

Edith vise seg som en god og meget respektert dronning. Hun fulgte sin mors eksempel, Den hellige Margaret av Skottland, og henga seg til gode gjerninger, og skal etter sigende ha vasket beina til de fattige. Selv om Henrik var notorisk utro til sin dronning, var deres ekteskap tilsynelatende lykkelig.

Ranulf Flambard, som satt fengslet i Tower of London, gjorde en dristig flykt, kom seg over Den engelske kanal og slo seg sammen med hertug Robert Curthose i Normandie i 1101. Robert, ved å være den eldre bror, betraktet England som hans farsarv og det brøt ut krig over spørsmålet.

Erobringen av Normandie

I 1101 forsøkte Robert Curthose å erobre den engelske kronen fra kong Henrik, egget av Ranulf Flambard og andre anglo-normanniske baroner. I juli samme år gjorde Robert invasjon ved Portsmouth. Robert av Bellême og andre normanniske baroner gikk over til Roberts side, men Vilhelm Rufus' tidligere hoff ledet av Robert de Beaumont, 1. jarl av Leicester, sammen med kirken, støttet den innsatte kong Henrik. Beaumont og broren hadde vært tilstede ved New Forest da Vilhelm Rufus døde under mystiske omstendigheter, men sverget straks troskap til Henrik som belønnet ham med jarledømmet Leicester. Samtidig mistet han sine eiendommer i Normandie ved at disse ble konfiskert av Guillaume av Evreaux og Raoul de Tosny med makt under påskuddet at Beaumont hadde voldt dem skade gjennom sine råd til kongen.

Mot denne makten verget Robert Curthose og hans å møte disse i åpen kamp. Han manglet også populær støtte i England. Isteden ble det forhandlet en fredsavtale, den såkalte Alton-traktaten, hvor de to brødrene signert på at Robert anerkjente Henrik som konge av England i bytte for en årlig utbetaling på 2 000 mark og andre innrømmelser som at den engelske tronen overga sine normanniske landområder. Avtalen avsluttet den den truende krisen midlertidig. Robert og hans hær trakk seg tilbake til Normandie uten at et sverdslag var blitt utvekslet.

For Henrik var avtalen åpenbart kun ment for å skaffe seg et pusterom. I 1105, for å få sluttet på utbetalingene til broren, ledet Henrik en invasjonsstyrke over den engelske kanal. Det var første gangen i historien at England invaderte det som siden skulle bli arvefienden Frankrike. Han erobret først Bayeux og Caen, men ble deretter personlig tvunget til avbryte felttoget grunnet de pressede politiske problemene med erkebiskop Anselm og innsettingsretten (se overfor). Med disse løst var han igjen tilbake i Normandie i løpet av sommeren 1106.

Etter hurtig å ha erobret det befestete klosteret i Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives i nærheten av Falaise vendte Henrik og hæren sørover og beleiret festningen Tinchebray på en høyde overfor byen av samme navn. Tinchebray lå på grensen av fylket Mortain i sørvestlige Normandie, og ble holdt av en av de få betydningsfulle grevene som fortsatt var lojale til hertug Robert.

Se hovedartikkel, Slaget ved Tinchebray
Hertug Robert kom med sine styrker for å bryte Henriks beleiring, og etter noen fånyttige forhandlinger var kamp uunngåelig. Om morgenen den 28. september 1106, nøyaktig 40 år etter at Vilhelm Erobreren invaderte England, sto det avgjørende slaget mellom hans to sønner, Robert Curthose og Henry Beauclerc. Kampen var uventet og uforberedt. Henrik og hans arme kom marsjerende sørover fra Barfleur mot Domfront mens Robert marsjerte Falaise mot Mortain. De møttes ved vegkryssingen ved Tinchebray og slaget strakte seg ut over flere kilometer. Stedet hvor det meste av slaget foregikk er ved landsbyens idrettsplass i dag. Den viktigste delen av kampen i seg selv varte kun en time, og da Henrik lot en skjult reserveavdeling angripe fikk han overtaket. Robert forsøkte å ta til flukten, men ble tatt til fange ved et sted 3 km nord for Tinchebray. En bondegård ved navn ?Prise? står i dag på samme sted ved motervegen D22 og en gravstein dekorert med tre riddere står ikke langt unna ved den samme vegen.

Robert Curthose gravmonument i katedralen i Gloucester som hans sønn fikk opprettet.De fleste i Roberts hær ble tatt til fange eller drept. Foruten Robert Curthose selv ble også følgende tatt til fange: Edgar Ætheling, onkel av Henriks hustru og tidligere krevd Englands trone, og William, greve av Mortain, en uforsonlig fiende av Henrik.

De fleste av fangene ble løslatt, men Robert Curthose og William av Mortain tilbrakte resten av livet i fangenskap. I overmot lot Henrik brorens sønn, William Clito, bli satt i et behagelig forvaring som han senere rømte fra og siden bisto opposisjonen mot den engelske tronen. Robert Curthose ble derimot sittende innesperret resten av livet. Først ble han oppbevart i Tower of London, deretter overført til festningen Devizes Castle i den engelske byen Devizes i Wiltshire i de neste tyve årene før han ble flyttet til Cardiff Castle. Ved Cardiff gjorde han et forsøk på rømme. Mens han var ute og red gjorde han et desperat forsøk på å ri vekk, men hesten ble dratt ned i myr og han ble tatt til fange på nytt. For å forhindre nye rømningsforsøk fikk Henrik sin brors øyne brent ut. Robert døde ved Cardiff i 1134. Han var da i begynnelsen av 80-årene.

Konge av England og hersker av Normandie

Konsolidering: Begynnelsen på Huset Plantagenet

Henrik førte utstrakt diplomatisk aktivitet i Europa for å knytte allianser. Han fikk til slutt giftet sin datter Maud med sønnen til greven av Anjou.Henrik tok hertugdømmet Normandie som en besittelse under kongeriket England og forente således sin fars rike. Selv etter at han hatt tatt kontroll over hertugdømmet verget han seg fra å bruke tittelen hertug. Han styrte det som konge av England. Grunnen var at hertugen av Normandie var formelt en vasall under den franske krone, og den franske kongen presset på for at han skulle gi sin hyllest som vasall. Som konge i sin egen rett var Henrik uvillig til adlyde og fikk isteden sin sønn William Adelin utnevnt, om enn i navnet, som hertug i 1115 og den franske kongen aksepterte til slutt dette i 1120.

I 1131 i et forsøk på å redusere vanskelighetene i Normandie fikk han forlovet sin eldste sønn William Adelin til datteren av Fulko av Jerusalem, greve av Anjou, den gang en bekymringsfull motstander. Ekteskapet ble inngått i 1119. Åtte år senere, etter Williams beklagelige død, ble en langt mer betydningsfull allianse inngått mellom Henriks datter Maud (Matilda) og Fulkos sønn Geoffrey Plantagenet, som til slutt førte til at de to rikene ble forent under av konge Huset Plantagenet.

Henrik var også kjent for å være hardhendt når det var behov for det. Han lot en gang en forrædersk borger ved navn Conan Pilatus bli kastet fra tårnet i Rouen, tårnet har siden blitt kjent som ?Conan's Leap? eller ?Conans sprang? [5]. Ved en annen anledning som skjedde i 1119 utveksling Henriks svigersønn, Eustace de Pacy, og Ralph Harnec, constable av Ivry, gisler i form av den enes sønn og den andres døtre. Av en ukjent grunn lot Eustace den unge mannen bli blindet, og den rasende Ralph Harnec forlangte å gjøre det samme med pikene. Kong Henrik ga ham tillatelse til å gjøre dette mot de to pikene som også var hans egne barnebarn. Eustace og hans hustru Juliane ble rasende og truet med å gjøre opprør. Henrik arrangerte et møte med sin datter i Breteuil. Der forsøkte Juliane å rette en armbrøst mot sin far og myrde ham. Hun ble tatt til fange og holdt i forvaring i en festning, men unnslapp ved å hoppe ut av et vindu og ned i vollgraven. Først noen år senere ble Henrik forsont med sin svigersønn og datter [6].

Oppbyggingen av et moderne statsappaerat
Henriks behov for å skaffe finanser for å sikre sin egen og monarkiets posisjon førte til en økning i aktivitetene for en sentralisert regjering. En konsekvens av den normanniske erobringen i 1066 førte til at England som nasjon fikk en egeninteresse i å knytte kontakter i Frankrike, ikke bare i Normandie, men også i Flandern, Bretagne og innover mot Loire. Grunnen var at Frankrike var så fragmentert at de franske kongene hadde lite å stille opp mot normannerne. De engelske kongene influerte i fransk politikk via franske vasaller i ulike distrikter, Normandie, Anjou, Poitou og Gascogne. At Henrik selv måtte oppholde seg i store deler av sin tid i Normandie betydde at han måtte ha tillitsfulle folk i viktige posisjoner i England som styrte på hans vegne. Henriks tilstedeværelse i Normandie førte til gnisninger med den franske kongen, og Henriks knyttet allianser med grevskaper i nærheten, Anjou, Blois og Flandern. Han knyttet kontakter så langt unna som Tyskland og Italia [7].

Henrik satte også i gang en rekke sosiale og rettslige reformer, blant annet frihetsbrevet ved sin kroning (men som han ikke hadde til hensikt å holde), og ved å gjeninnføre lovene til kong Edvard Bekjenneren.

Med pave Gelasius II var striden med pavedømmet over.Mellom 1103 og 1107 var Henrik involvert i striden med Anselm, erkebiskop av Canterbury, og pave Paschalis II, som ble delvis bilagt ved konkredat i London i 1107. Pavens innblanding irriterte Henrik, og han forhandlet ekteskap med sin datter til den tyske keiseren, Henrik V, kanskje like mye for at keiseren var i konflikt med paven. Det ble først en forbedring mellom den engelske kongen og pavedømmet da Paschalis II døde i 1118. Den nye paven, Gelasius II, var en fjern slektning av Henrik, og han forsto etterhvert at paven ikke ville automatisk støtte vanskelige engelske biskoper. Gelasius II lot Henrik forstå at han respekterte kongens makt, verdsatte hans vennskap og gledet seg over Englands støtte, og Henrik innså da at han ikke trengte å være bekymret for pavens autoritet [8].

Abakus, i form av et regnebrett.En konsekvens av konfliktene mellom kongedømmet og pavedømmet var at det stimulerte kirkens embetsmenns interesse for offentlige anliggender. Henrik var selv godt utdannet og behersket latin og andre språk, og han anerkjente som få konger før ham, kanskje med unntak av Alfred av England, verdien av geistliges kunnskaper og han fikk dem inn i statlig tjenester, spesielt for utvikle kongelig rettspleie, innsamle og overvåke kongens finanser. Med hans vanskeligheter og krigføring i Normandie var behovet for å øke kongens inntekter i England akutt. Han opprettet en form egen finansminister, exchequer. Kunnskapen om abakus hadde blitt introdusert til England fra Lorraine av biskop Robert av Hereford (død 1095), og en effektiv økonomi var avhengig av finansministerens tallrike skrivere og deres matematiske evner. En av disse, Thurkil, skrev en avhandling om matematiske problemer, blant annet om brøk, en måte å representere et tall på ved hjelp av divisjon [9].

Med den fremste vitenskapen i samtiden tilgjengelig for kongens autoriteter bidro til å gjøre England til det best organiserte av samtlige stater i middelalderens Europa, og som med tiden gjorde England til en stormakt. England ble under Henrik I omformet til en egen kreasjon som hadde beholdt den gammeldagse legning fra det angelsaksiske kongedømmet uten å bli en normannisk koloni [10]. Det grunnlaget som Henrik I la ved hans omfattende diplomati og ekteskapelige allianser, munnet ut i Angevin-riket, en samling europeiske stater som strakte seg fra Pyreneene til Irland og inkluderte halve Frankrike, og som ble en realitet under hans etterkommer av samme navn, Henrik II av England.

Tragedien med Det hvite skip
William døde i tragedien med Det hvite skipet den 25. november 1120. Tragedien rammet England og Henrik I som et sjokk da hans eneste legitime sønn William Adelin på veg tilbake fra Normandie druknet i Den engelske kanal, kun 17 år gammel da skipet grunnstøtte. Blant de omkomne var flere av Henriks slektninger og kremen av Englands unge adel. William hadde kommet seg ombord i livbåt, men snudde for å redde sin halvsøster, men de desperate skipbrudne kastet seg ombord i livbåten, veltet den og alle unntatt en druknet.

?Her døde også med William, Richard, en annen av kongens sønner, som en kvinne uten rang før hans tiltredelse hadde født ham, en tapper ungdom, og kjær for sin far for sin lydighet; Richard d'Avranches, andre jarl av Chester, og hans bror Otheur; Geoffrey Ridel; Walter av Everci; Geoffrey, erkediakon av Hereford; grevinnen av Perche, kongens datter; grevinnen av Chester; kongens niese Lucia-Mahaut of Blois; og mange andre... Intet annet skip brakte så mye sorg til England,? skrev William av Malmesbury [11].
Katastrofen var middelalderens utgave av Titanic-forliset. Henrik var overveldet av personlig sorg, men sto også overfor politiske problemer da han ikke lenger hadde en opplagt arving til det rike han møysommelig hadde fått konstruert ved hjelp av diplomatiske evner og allianser.

Legitime barn og andre ekteskap
Dronning Matilda (Edith) døde den 1. mai 1119 ved palasset i Westminster. Hun ble gravlagt i Westminster Abbey. Henrik fikk to barn med sin dronning:

Maud av England (Matilda) (ca februar 1102 - 10. september 1167). Hun ble først gift med Henrik V av Det tysk-romerske rike, og andre gang med Geoffrey V, greve av Anjou, og fikk en arving i andre ekteskap.
William Adelin, (5. august 1103 - 25. november 1120). Han giftet seg med Matilda (død 1154), datter av Fulko av Jerusalem, greve av Anjou. William døde i skipsulykken med Det hvite skip.
I et håp om å skaffe seg en ny mannlig arving giftet Henrik seg den 29. januar 1121 med den unge og vakre Adeliza av Louvain, født samme år som hans avdøde sønn, datter av Godefroid I av Louvain, hertug av Nedre Lorraine og landgreve av Brabant, men dette ekteskapet produserte ingen arving. Sittende uten en mannlig arving tok Henrik det hittil ukjente skritt å få sine baroner til å sverge troskap til hans datter keiserinne Maud av England, enke etter keiser Henrik V, som hans arving og etterfølger.

Død og ettermæle

Henrik I var spesielt glad i fisken niøyer, som var betraktet som en delikatesse i middelalderen, og han døde av en forspisning.Henrik besøkte Normandie i 1135 for besøke sine unge barnebarn, barna til Maud og Geoffrey. Han hadde store glede av sine barnebarn, men kom snart i krangel med sin datter og svigersønn, og disse stridene førte til at han ble lengre i Normandie enn han opprinnelig hadde planlagt.

Henrik døde den 1. desember 1135 fra matforgiftning etter ?en forspising på niøyer?, noe han var spesielt glad i, ved Saint-Denis-en-Lyons (i dag Lyons-la-Forêt) i Normandie. Han lik ble sydd inn i okse for å bevare ham for frakten til England, og ble gravlagt i Reading Abbey som han hadde grunnlagt fjorten år tidligere. Klosteret ble ødelagt i løpet av den protestantiske reformasjonen. Det finnes ikke lenger spor etter hans grav, og det sannsynlige stedet er i dag dekket av St James' School. I nærheten er det en liten plakett og et større minnekors som står i det tilstøtende Forbury Gardens.

Selv om Henriks baroner hadde sverget troskap og lydighet til hans datter som deres dronning, var hennes kjønn og hennes ekteskap med Huset Anjou, en fiende av normannerne, et problem, og tillot Henriks nevø, Stefan av Blois, å komme til England og kreve tronen med populær støtte.

Mens England hadde hatt stort fredelige tider og vekst under Henrik, blant annet ved at han tok krigen og slagene i Normandie framfor England, betydde hans død en slutt på den innenlandske stabiliteten og til en opprivende strid mellom tidligere keiserinnen Maud og Stefan. Den førte til en lang borgerkrig som kjennes som ?kaoset? eller ?anarkiet?, se Det engelske kaos under Stefan.

Barn utenfor ekteskap

Kong Henrik I var notorisk utro med sin dronning og han er berømt i England for å holde rekorden for det største antallet med anerkjente barn utenfor ekteskap av samtlige engelske konger. Antallet er på rundt 20 eller 25, alt etter hvordan man tolker bevisførselen. Han hadde mange elskerinner, men å identifisere hvilken av disse som er mor til bestemte barn er vanskelig. For de av hans avkom som det finnes dokumentasjon for er:

Robert, 1. jarl av Gloucester. Stundom påstått å være en sønn av Sybil Corbet (se nedenfor). Hans mor kan ha vært medlem av familien Gai/Gay/Gayt.
Maud FitzRoy (Maude), gift med Conan III, hertug av Bretagne
Constance FitzRoy, gift med Roscelin de Beaumont, vicomte av Maine og Beaumont. Deres datter Ermengarde de Beaumont ble dronning av Skottland
Mabel FitzRoy, gift med William III Gouet
Aline FitzRoy, gift med Matthieu I av Montmorency
Gilbert FitzRoy, døde etter 1142. Hans mor kan ha vært en søster av Walter de Gand.
Emma, født ca 1138; gift med Gui de Laval, Lord Laval. Denne tilskrivelsen er usikker da andre kilder mener at hun ble født 2 år etter at Henrik døde.
Med Edith:

Matilda du Perche, gift med greve Rotrou II av Perche, forsvant i forliset til Det hvite skip.
Med Gieva de Tracy:

William de Tracy
Med Ansfride:

Ansfride, født ca 1070. Hun var hustru til Anskill av Seacourt, ved Wytham i Berkshire (i dag Oxfordshire).

Juliane de Fontevrault (født ca 1090); gift med Eustace de Pacy i 1103. Hun forsøkte å skyte sin far med armbrøst etter at kong Henrik I tillot at hennes to unge døtre ble blindet.
Fulk FitzRoy (født ca 1092); en munk ved Abingdon.
Richard av Lincoln (ca 1094 - 25. november 1120); forsvant i forliset til Det hvite skip.
Med Sybil Corbet:

Lady Sybilla Corbet av Alcester ble født i 1077 i Alcester i Warwickshire. Hun ble gift med Herbert FitzHerbert, sønn av Herbert kammerherre av Winchester og Emma de Blois. Hun døde etter 1157 og var også kjent som Adela (eller Lucia) Corbet. Sybil var helt bestemt mor til Sybil og Rainald, muligens også til William og Rohese. Noen kilder antyder at det var en annen datter av dette forholdet, Gundred, men det synes som hun ble tenkt som det ettersom hun var en søster av Reginald de Dunstanville men det virker som det var en annen person med samme navn og i slekt med denne familien.

Sybilla av Normandie, gift med Alexander I av Skottland.
William Constable, født før 1105. Gift med Alice (Constable); død etter 1187.
Reginald de Dunstanville, 1. jarl av Cornwall.
Gundred av England (1114-1146), gift i 1130 med Henry de la Pomeroy, sønn av Joscelin de la Pomerai.
Rohese of England, født 1114; gift med Henry de la Pomeroy.
Med Edith FitzForne:

Robert FitzEdith, lord Okehampton, (1093-1172) gift med dame Maud d'Avranches du Sap. De hadde en datter, Mary, som ble gift med Renaud, sire av Courtenay (sønn av Miles, sire av Courtenay og Ermengarde av Nevers).
Adeliza FitzEdith. Opptrer i charter med hennes bror Robert.
Med prinsesse Nest av Wales:

Nest ferch Rhys ble født omkring 1073 i festningen Dinefwr Castle, Carmarthenshire. Hun var datter av prins Rhys ap Tewdwr av Deheubarth og dennes hustru, Gwladys ferch Rhywallon. Hun ble gift i 1095 til Gerald de Windsor (også kjent som Geraldus FitzWalter), sønn av Walter FitzOther, marskalk av Windsor Castle og vokter av Skogene i Berkshire. Hun hadde flere andre forhold, blant annet et med Stephen av Cardigan, marskalk av Cardigan (1136), og derfor andre barn utenfor ekteskap. Datoen for hennes død er ikke kjent.

Henry FitzRoy, 1103-1158.
Med Isabel de Beaumont:

Isabel (Elizabeth) de Beaumont (etter 1102 - etter 1172), datter av Robert de Beaumont, søster av Robert de Beaumont, 2. jarl av Leicester. Hun ble gift med Gilbert de Clare, 1. jarl av Pembroke, i 1130. Hun var også kjent som Isabella de Meulan.

Isabel Hedwig av England
Matilda FitzRoy, abbedisse av Montvilliers, også kjent som Maud Montvilliers eller Montpiller.

Referanser
^ Henry I 'Beauclerc'
^ Pussig nok ble en av Robert Curthoses sønner utenfor ekteskap, Richard, som tilbrakte mye av livet ved det engelske hoffet til sin onkel Vilhelm Rufus, drept i jaktulykke i New Forest i 1099. Året etter skjedde det samme med onkelen Vilhelm Rufus...
^ Medieval Sourcebook: Odericus Vitalis: On Henry I Fra Ecclesiastical History.
^ overenskomst mellom stat og paven
^ Hollister, Warren: The Rouen Riot and Conan's Leap, Peritia v. 10
^ Wayne Le Cuirot's History Pages: Henry I Beauclerc (1106-1135).
^ Matthew, Donald, 2005. Side 79.
^ Matthew, Donald, 2005. Side 77.
^ Haskins, C.H.: Studies in the History of Medieval Science, Cambridge, Mass,, 1924, sidene 327-335: ?The abacus og the exchequer?.
^ Matthew, Donald, 2005. Side78.
^ En seksjon av William av Malmesburys nedtegnelse om Det hvite skip, sitert/oversatt fra English Historical Documentsvol. II, no.8.

Litteratur
Cross, Arthur Lyon: A History of England and Greater Britain. Macmillan, 1917.
Hollister, C. Warren: Henry I. Yale University Press, 2001. (Yale Monarchs series) ISBN 0300098294
Matthew, Donald: Britain and the Continent 1000-1300. The Impact of the Norman Conquest. Oxford 2005. ISBN 10: 0-340-74060-4
Thompson, Kathleen: ?Affairs of State: the Illegitimate Children of Henry I?. Journal of Medieval History 29 (2003): 129-151.
Children of 94a, Henry I, King of England, (c. 1068/1069 – 1 December 1135)
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=2c5c2bd3-6026-414c-b1ca-0dd9e1a852a2&tid=9692367&pid=-523715888
Acceded 08-06-1100, Westminster Abbey, London, England. Reigned1100-1135. duke of Normandy 1106-1135. Was so hated by his brothers thatthey bowed to disinherit him. In 1106 he captured Robert and held himuntil he died. He apparently died from over eating Lampreys.
Overeating Lampreys Reign 1100-1135Henry was heartbroken when his sonWilliam was drownes when the"White Ship" sank in the English Channel, hebecame the "Man whonever smile again"
Henry IHenry I, King of England Henry I, b. 1069, one of the greatest kings of England, ascended the throne on Aug. 5, 1100, and ruled until his death on Dec. 1, 1135. The third son of William I, he succeeded his oldest brother, William II, who died under suspicious circumstances while hunting with Henry. Henry's older brother Robert I (c.1054-1134), duke of Normandy, invaded (1101) England but was forced to recognize Henry as king. Subsequently, Henry seized (1106) Normandy as well. In his coronation charter (1100) Henry promised to remedy the alleged misrule of William II; this document was the first English royal charter of liberties, the ancestor of Magna Carta (1215). The king exploited his resources as feudal suzerain; yet in his reign occurred the beginning of the transformation of feudalism by the commutation of personal to financial service. The creation of the office of justiciar and of the royal exchequer also constituted the first appearance of specialization in English government. Royal justice was brought to the local level by itinerant judges, and royal control over the kingdom was strengthened. Although many barons objected to the severity of his rule, Henry gave peace, security, and stability to his country. He quarreled with the church over the lay investiture of clergy, forcing the archbishop of Canterbury, Saint ANSELM, into exile for a time. This issue was settled (1107), however, by a compromise that served as the pattern for later resolution of the INVESTITURE CONTROVERSY in Europe. During Henry's reign England participated increasingly in Continental intellectual life. His was also the first post-Conquest reign noted for patronage of learning and of secular officials. James W. Alexander Bibliography: Barlow, Frank, The Feudal Kingdom of England, 1042-1216, 4th ed., (1988); Poole, A. L., From Domesday Book to Magna Carta, 1087-1216, 2d ed. (1955); Southern, R. W., Medieval Humanism and Other Studies (1970)
King Henry Ist
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King 1100-35
King Henry I
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King of England
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He was Duke of Normandy from 1106 until his death. He was crowned King of England on 6 Aug 1100 and ruled till his death.
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He was Duke of Normandy from 1106 until his death. He was crowned King of England on 6 Aug 1100 and ruled till his death.
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!SOURCES:
1. Scottish Kings, Scot. 28, p. 1-50
2. Scots Peerage, Scot 2b, v. 1, p. 2
3. Burke's Peerage, Eng. P, 1949, pref. p. 252, 286
4. The Royal Lines of Succession, A16A225, p. 8
5. The Kings of England, Eng. 176, p. 24-33
6. The Royal Daughters of England, Eng. 120, v. 1, p. 39
7. Royal Fam. of Eng., Scot., and Wales, Eng. 260, v. 1, p. 33-46, gen. p. 9-15
8. Plantagenet Ancestry, Eng. 116, p. 6
9. Espolin (GS #12462, pt 1, p. 98)
GEDCOM line 102466 not recognizable or too long:
1 TITL I, Beauclerc, King of England
King Henry I, Beauclerc of England
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=1f13df2b-5397-447b-bee7-e671c816bae3&tid=9692367&pid=-523715888
King Henry I, Beauclerc of England
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henryi
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94a. Henry I, King of England
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1 NAME Beauclerc //
2 GIVN Beauclerc
2 SURN
2 NICK Beauclerc

1 NAME Henry I King of /England/ 1 NAME /Henry/ I 1 BIRT 2 DATE 1068 1 DEAT 2 DATE 1135

Henry was in reality a usurper. He imprisoned his older brother, Robert in Cardiff Castle in Wales, and it is said he had Robert's eyes put out. Henry reigned thirty-five years, not only over England, but over one third of France. In 1120 the White Ship went down on a hidden rock in the English Channel with the Crown Prince on board and it is said Henry I is never known to have smiled again. He had only one child left, Maude-Matilda, then a widow of the German Emperor Henry V. For political reasons she was next married to Geoffrey of Anjou, a boy of sixteen, ten years her junior. After the death of Henry I there was civil war between Matilda and her nephew Stephen, who got the throne for nineteen years. At one point in this contest Matilda had to escape from the Robert Doyley tower of Oxford Castle by sliding down a rope with gloved hands, the rope held by her favorite knight, Alain. She, with a few others dressed in white to avoid detection, crossed in the snowy night over the frozen Thames. The condition of the English people was deplorable during the reign of Henry I, owing to the blood-curdling cruelty of the Barons. Henry established a vigorous police system to check this, and tried to stop counterfeiting the money by mutilations. He oppressed his people by taxation.
Henry I was born in the year 1068---a factor he himself regarded as highly significant, for he was the only son of the Conqueror born after the conquest of England, and to Henry this meant he was heir to the throne. He was not an attractive proposition: he was dissolute to a degree, producing at least a score of bastards; but far worse he was prone to sadistic cruelty---on one occasion, for example, personally punishing a rebellious burgher by throwing him from the walls of his town.
At the death of William the Conqueror, Henry was left no lands, merely 5,000 pounds of silver. With these he bought lands from his elder brother Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, only to see them taken back again a few years later by Robert, in unholy alliance with his brother William Rufus.
Henry could do little to avenge such treatment, but in England he found numerous barons who were tired of the exactions and ambitions of their king. He formed alliances with some of these, notably with the important De Clare family. He and some of the De Clares were with William Rufus on his last hunting expedition, and it is thought that the king's death was the result of Henry's plotting.
Certainly he moved fast to take advantage of it; leaving Rufus's body unattended in the woods, he swooped down on Winchester to take control of the treasury. Two days later he was in Westminster, being crowned by the Bishop of London. His speed is understandable when one realises that his elder brother, Robert [Curthose], was returning from the crusade, and claimed, with good reason, to be the true heir.
Henry showed great good sense in his first actions as King. He arrested Ranulph Flambard, William's tax-gatherer, and recalled Anselm, the exiled Archbishop. Furthermore, he issued a Charter of Liberties which promised speedy redress of grievances, and a return to the good government of the Conqueror. Putting aside for the moment his many mistresses, he married the sister of the King of Scots, who was descended from the royal line of Wessex; and lest the Norman barons should think him too pro-English in this action, he canged her name from Edith to Matilda. No one could claim that he did not aim to please.
In 1101 Robert Curthose invaded, but Henry met him at Alton, and persuaded him to go away again by promising him an annuity of Ð2,000. He had no intention of keeping up the payments, but the problem was temporarily solved.
He now felt strong enough to move against dissident barons who might give trouble in the future. Chief amongst these was the vicious Robert of Bellême, Earl of Shrewsbury, whom Henry had known for many years as a dangerous troublemaker. He set up a number of charges against him in the king's court, making it plain that if he appeared for trial he would be convicted and imprisoned. Thus Robert and his colleagues were forced into rebellion at a time not of their own choosing, were easily defeated and sent scuttling back to Normandy.
In Normandy Robert Curthose began to wreak his wrath on all connected with his brother, thus giving Henry an excellent chance to retaliate with charges of misgovernment and invade. He made two expeditions in 1104-5, before the great expedition of 1106 on which Robert was defeated at the hour-long battle of Tinchebrai, on the anniversary of Hastings. No one had expected such an easy victory, but Henry took advantage of the state of shock resulting from the battle to annex Normandy. Robert was imprisoned (in some comfort, it be said); he lived on for 28 more years, ending up in Cardiff castle whiling away the long hours learning Welsh. His son William Clito remained a free agent, to plague Henry for most of the rest of his reign.
In England the struggle with Anselm over the homage of bishops ran its course until the settlement of 1107. In matters of secular government life was more simple: Henry had found a brilliant administrator, Roger of Salisbury, to act as Justiciar for him. Roger had an inventive mind, a keen grasp of affairs, and the ability to single out young men of promise. He quickly built up a highly efficient team of administrators, and established new routines and forms of organisation within which they could work. To him we owe the Exchequer and its recording system of the Pipe Rolls, the circuits of royal justiciars spreading the king's peace, and the attempts at codification of law. Henry's good relationships with his barons, and with the burgeoning new towns owed much to skilful administration. Certainly he was able to gain a larger and more reliable revenue this way than by the crude extortion his brother had used.
In 1120 came the tragedy of the White Ship. The court was returning to England, and the finest ship in the land was filled with its young men, including Henry's son and heir William. Riotously drunk, they tried to go faster and faster, when suddenly the ship foundered. All hands except a butcher of Rouen were lost, and England was without an heir.
Henry's only legitimate child was Matilda, but she was married to the Emperor Henry V of Germany, and so could not succeed. But in 1125 her husband died, and Henry brought her home and forced the barons to swear fealty to her---though they did not like the prospect of a woman ruler. Henry then married her to Geoffrey of Anjou, the Normans' traditional enemy, and the barons were less happy---especially when the newly-weds had a terrible row, and Geoffrey ordered her out of his lands. In 1131 Henry, absolutely determined, forced the barons to swear fealty once more, and the fact that they did so is testimoney of his controlling power. Matilda and Geoffrey were reunited, and in 1133 she produced a son whom she named for his grandfather. If only Henry could live on until his grandson was old enough to rule, all would be well.
But in 1135, against doctor's orders, he ate a hearty meal of lampreys, got acute indigestion, which turned into fever, and died. He was buried at his abbey in Reading---some said in a silver coffin, for which there was an unsuccessful search at the Dissolution. [Source: Who's Who in the Middle Ages, John Fines, Barnes & Noble Books, New York, 1995]
1 NAME Beauclerc //
2 GIVN Beauclerc
2 SURN
2 NICK Beauclerc

1 NAME Henry I King of /England/ 1 NAME /Henry/ I 1 BIRT 2 DATE 1068 1 DEAT 2 DATE 1135

Henry was in reality a usurper. He imprisoned his older brother, Robert in Cardiff Castle in Wales, and it is said he had Robert's eyes put out. Henry reigned thirty-five years, not only over England, but over one third of France. In 1120 the White Ship went down on a hidden rock in the English Channel with the Crown Prince on board and it is said Henry I is never known to have smiled again. He had only one child left, Maude-Matilda, then a widow of the German Emperor Henry V. For political reasons she was next married to Geoffrey of Anjou, a boy of sixteen, ten years her junior. After the death of Henry I there was civil war between Matilda and her nephew Stephen, who got the throne for nineteen years. At one point in this contest Matilda had to escape from the Robert Doyley tower of Oxford Castle by sliding down a rope with gloved hands, the rope held by her favorite knight, Alain. She, with a few others dressed in white to avoid detection, crossed in the snowy night over the frozen Thames. The condition of the English people was deplorable during the reign of Henry I, owing to the blood-curdling cruelty of the Barons. Henry established a vigorous police system to check this, and tried to stop counterfeiting the money by mutilations. He oppressed his people by taxation.
Henry I was born in the year 1068---a factor he himself regarded as highly significant, for he was the only son of the Conqueror born after the conquest of England, and to Henry this meant he was heir to the throne. He was not an attractive proposition: he was dissolute to a degree, producing at least a score of bastards; but far worse he was prone to sadistic cruelty---on one occasion, for example, personally punishing a rebellious burgher by throwing him from the walls of his town.
At the death of William the Conqueror, Henry was left no lands, merely 5,000 pounds of silver. With these he bought lands from his elder brother Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, only to see them taken back again a few years later by Robert, in unholy alliance with his brother William Rufus.
Henry could do little to avenge such treatment, but in England he found numerous barons who were tired of the exactions and ambitions of their king. He formed alliances with some of these, notably with the important De Clare family. He and some of the De Clares were with William Rufus on his last hunting expedition, and it is thought that the king's death was the result of Henry's plotting.
Certainly he moved fast to take advantage of it; leaving Rufus's body unattended in the woods, he swooped down on Winchester to take control of the treasury. Two days later he was in Westminster, being crowned by the Bishop of London. His speed is understandable when one realises that his elder brother, Robert [Curthose], was returning from the crusade, and claimed, with good reason, to be the true heir.
Henry showed great good sense in his first actions as King. He arrested Ranulph Flambard, William's tax-gatherer, and recalled Anselm, the exiled Archbishop. Furthermore, he issued a Charter of Liberties which promised speedy redress of grievances, and a return to the good government of the Conqueror. Putting aside for the moment his many mistresses, he married the sister of the King of Scots, who was descended from the royal line of Wessex; and lest the Norman barons should think him too pro-English in this action, he canged her name from Edith to Matilda. No one could claim that he did not aim to please.
In 1101 Robert Curthose invaded, but Henry met him at Alton, and persuaded him to go away again by promising him an annuity of Ð2,000. He had no intention of keeping up the payments, but the problem was temporarily solved.
He now felt strong enough to move against dissident barons who might give trouble in the future. Chief amongst these was the vicious Robert of Bellême, Earl of Shrewsbury, whom Henry had known for many years as a dangerous troublemaker. He set up a number of charges against him in the king's court, making it plain that if he appeared for trial he would be convicted and imprisoned. Thus Robert and his colleagues were forced into rebellion at a time not of their own choosing, were easily defeated and sent scuttling back to Normandy.
In Normandy Robert Curthose began to wreak his wrath on all connected with his brother, thus giving Henry an excellent chance to retaliate with charges of misgovernment and invade. He made two expeditions in 1104-5, before the great expedition of 1106 on which Robert was defeated at the hour-long battle of Tinchebrai, on the anniversary of Hastings. No one had expected such an easy victory, but Henry took advantage of the state of shock resulting from the battle to annex Normandy. Robert was imprisoned (in some comfort, it be said); he lived on for 28 more years, ending up in Cardiff castle whiling away the long hours learning Welsh. His son William Clito remained a free agent, to plague Henry for most of the rest of his reign.
In England the struggle with Anselm over the homage of bishops ran its course until the settlement of 1107. In matters of secular government life was more simple: Henry had found a brilliant administrator, Roger of Salisbury, to act as Justiciar for him. Roger had an inventive mind, a keen grasp of affairs, and the ability to single out young men of promise. He quickly built up a highly efficient team of administrators, and established new routines and forms of organisation within which they could work. To him we owe the Exchequer and its recording system of the Pipe Rolls, the circuits of royal justiciars spreading the king's peace, and the attempts at codification of law. Henry's good relationships with his barons, and with the burgeoning new towns owed much to skilful administration. Certainly he was able to gain a larger and more reliable revenue this way than by the crude extortion his brother had used.
In 1120 came the tragedy of the White Ship. The court was returning to England, and the finest ship in the land was filled with its young men, including Henry's son and heir William. Riotously drunk, they tried to go faster and faster, when suddenly the ship foundered. All hands except a butcher of Rouen were lost, and England was without an heir.
Henry's only legitimate child was Matilda, but she was married to the Emperor Henry V of Germany, and so could not succeed. But in 1125 her husband died, and Henry brought her home and forced the barons to swear fealty to her---though they did not like the prospect of a woman ruler. Henry then married her to Geoffrey of Anjou, the Normans' traditional enemy, and the barons were less happy---especially when the newly-weds had a terrible row, and Geoffrey ordered her out of his lands. In 1131 Henry, absolutely determined, forced the barons to swear fealty once more, and the fact that they did so is testimoney of his controlling power. Matilda and Geoffrey were reunited, and in 1133 she produced a son whom she named for his grandfather. If only Henry could live on until his grandson was old enough to rule, all would be well.
But in 1135, against doctor's orders, he ate a hearty meal of lampreys, got acute indigestion, which turned into fever, and died. He was buried at his abbey in Reading---some said in a silver coffin, for which there was an unsuccessful search at the Dissolution. [Source: Who's Who in the Middle Ages, John Fines, Barnes & Noble Books, New York, 1995]
1 NAME Beauclerc //
2 GIVN Beauclerc
2 SURN
2 NICK Beauclerc

1 NAME Henry I King of /England/ 1 NAME /Henry/ I 1 BIRT 2 DATE 1068 1 DEAT 2 DATE 1135

Henry was in reality a usurper. He imprisoned his older brother, Robert in Cardiff Castle in Wales, and it is said he had Robert's eyes put out. Henry reigned thirty-five years, not only over England, but over one third of France. In 1120 the White Ship went down on a hidden rock in the English Channel with the Crown Prince on board and it is said Henry I is never known to have smiled again. He had only one child left, Maude-Matilda, then a widow of the German Emperor Henry V. For political reasons she was next married to Geoffrey of Anjou, a boy of sixteen, ten years her junior. After the death of Henry I there was civil war between Matilda and her nephew Stephen, who got the throne for nineteen years. At one point in this contest Matilda had to escape from the Robert Doyley tower of Oxford Castle by sliding down a rope with gloved hands, the rope held by her favorite knight, Alain. She, with a few others dressed in white to avoid detection, crossed in the snowy night over the frozen Thames. The condition of the English people was deplorable during the reign of Henry I, owing to the blood-curdling cruelty of the Barons. Henry established a vigorous police system to check this, and tried to stop counterfeiting the money by mutilations. He oppressed his people by taxation.
Henry I was born in the year 1068---a factor he himself regarded as highly significant, for he was the only son of the Conqueror born after the conquest of England, and to Henry this meant he was heir to the throne. He was not an attractive proposition: he was dissolute to a degree, producing at least a score of bastards; but far worse he was prone to sadistic cruelty---on one occasion, for example, personally punishing a rebellious burgher by throwing him from the walls of his town.
At the death of William the Conqueror, Henry was left no lands, merely 5,000 pounds of silver. With these he bought lands from his elder brother Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, only to see them taken back again a few years later by Robert, in unholy alliance with his brother William Rufus.
Henry could do little to avenge such treatment, but in England he found numerous barons who were tired of the exactions and ambitions of their king. He formed alliances with some of these, notably with the important De Clare family. He and some of the De Clares were with William Rufus on his last hunting expedition, and it is thought that the king's death was the result of Henry's plotting.
Certainly he moved fast to take advantage of it; leaving Rufus's body unattended in the woods, he swooped down on Winchester to take control of the treasury. Two days later he was in Westminster, being crowned by the Bishop of London. His speed is understandable when one realises that his elder brother, Robert [Curthose], was returning from the crusade, and claimed, with good reason, to be the true heir.
Henry showed great good sense in his first actions as King. He arrested Ranulph Flambard, William's tax-gatherer, and recalled Anselm, the exiled Archbishop. Furthermore, he issued a Charter of Liberties which promised speedy redress of grievances, and a return to the good government of the Conqueror. Putting aside for the moment his many mistresses, he married the sister of the King of Scots, who was descended from the royal line of Wessex; and lest the Norman barons should think him too pro-English in this action, he canged her name from Edith to Matilda. No one could claim that he did not aim to please.
In 1101 Robert Curthose invaded, but Henry met him at Alton, and persuaded him to go away again by promising him an annuity of Ð2,000. He had no intention of keeping up the payments, but the problem was temporarily solved.
He now felt strong enough to move against dissident barons who might give trouble in the future. Chief amongst these was the vicious Robert of Bellême, Earl of Shrewsbury, whom Henry had known for many years as a dangerous troublemaker. He set up a number of charges against him in the king's court, making it plain that if he appeared for trial he would be convicted and imprisoned. Thus Robert and his colleagues were forced into rebellion at a time not of their own choosing, were easily defeated and sent scuttling back to Normandy.
In Normandy Robert Curthose began to wreak his wrath on all connected with his brother, thus giving Henry an excellent chance to retaliate with charges of misgovernment and invade. He made two expeditions in 1104-5, before the great expedition of 1106 on which Robert was defeated at the hour-long battle of Tinchebrai, on the anniversary of Hastings. No one had expected such an easy victory, but Henry took advantage of the state of shock resulting from the battle to annex Normandy. Robert was imprisoned (in some comfort, it be said); he lived on for 28 more years, ending up in Cardiff castle whiling away the long hours learning Welsh. His son William Clito remained a free agent, to plague Henry for most of the rest of his reign.
In England the struggle with Anselm over the homage of bishops ran its course until the settlement of 1107. In matters of secular government life was more simple: Henry had found a brilliant administrator, Roger of Salisbury, to act as Justiciar for him. Roger had an inventive mind, a keen grasp of affairs, and the ability to single out young men of promise. He quickly built up a highly efficient team of administrators, and established new routines and forms of organisation within which they could work. To him we owe the Exchequer and its recording system of the Pipe Rolls, the circuits of royal justiciars spreading the king's peace, and the attempts at codification of law. Henry's good relationships with his barons, and with the burgeoning new towns owed much to skilful administration. Certainly he was able to gain a larger and more reliable revenue this way than by the crude extortion his brother had used.
In 1120 came the tragedy of the White Ship. The court was returning to England, and the finest ship in the land was filled with its young men, including Henry's son and heir William. Riotously drunk, they tried to go faster and faster, when suddenly the ship foundered. All hands except a butcher of Rouen were lost, and England was without an heir.
Henry's only legitimate child was Matilda, but she was married to the Emperor Henry V of Germany, and so could not succeed. But in 1125 her husband died, and Henry brought her home and forced the barons to swear fealty to her---though they did not like the prospect of a woman ruler. Henry then married her to Geoffrey of Anjou, the Normans' traditional enemy, and the barons were less happy---especially when the newly-weds had a terrible row, and Geoffrey ordered her out of his lands. In 1131 Henry, absolutely determined, forced the barons to swear fealty once more, and the fact that they did so is testimoney of his controlling power. Matilda and Geoffrey were reunited, and in 1133 she produced a son whom she named for his grandfather. If only Henry could live on until his grandson was old enough to rule, all would be well.
But in 1135, against doctor's orders, he ate a hearty meal of lampreys, got acute indigestion, which turned into fever, and died. He was buried at his abbey in Reading---some said in a silver coffin, for which there was an unsuccessful search at the Dissolution. [Source: Who's Who in the Middle Ages, John Fines, Barnes & Noble Books, New York, 1995]
Henry1
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=882a218e-effc-4c85-ab1c-a895b6ad27cd&tid=7179083&pid=-603563936
henry1beauclerk
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=feca6090-21f3-4d24-ad19-d83bac94324c&tid=12140672&pid=-321237034
The third Norman king of England, also duke of Normandy. Because his father, who died in 1087, left him no land, Henry made several unsuccessful attempts to gain territories on the Continent. On the death of his brother William II in 1100, Henry took advantage of the absence of another brother Robert, who had a prior claim to the throne to seize the royal treasury and have himself crowned king at Westminster. Henry subsequently secured his position with the nobles and with the church by issuing a charter of liberties that acknowledged the feudal rights of the nobles and the rights of the church. In 1101 Robert, who was duke of Normandy, invaded England, but Henry persuaded him to withdraw by promising him a pension and military aid on the Continent. In 1102 Henry put down a revolt of nobles, who subsequently took refuge in Normandy, where they were aided by Robert. By defeating Robert at Tinchebray, France, in 1106, Henry won Normandy. During the rest of his reign, however, he constantly had to put down uprisings that threatened his rule in Normandy. The conflict between Henry and Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, over the question of lay investiture (the appointment of church officials by the king), was settled in 1107 by a compromise that left the king with substantial control in the matter. Because he had no surviving male heir, Henry was forced to designate his daughter Matilda as his heiress. After his death Henry's nephew, Stephen of Blois, usurped the throne, plunging the country into a protracted civil war that ended only with the accession of Matilda's son, Henry II, in 1154. He also had a child who died young. He was called "the Lion of Justice".
_P_CCINFO 1-3597
Henry I of England
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=1f5eb8cb-6aaf-4ce6-a348-278d26be93f2&tid=7179083&pid=-603563936
Henry I was Duke of Normandy from 1106-1135 and King of England from1100-1135. William I left Normandy to his oldest son Robert II Curthoseand England to his next oldest son, William II Rufus. Henry was leftgreat wealth and eventually outmanuvered his brothers to become King ofEngland in 1100 and ruled 35 years. Henry is remembered for expanding andstrengthening royal justice, integrating the Norman and Anglo-Saxon legalsystems, and laying the foundation for more centralized royal rule. "TheEncyclopedia of the Middle Ages" Norman F. Cantor, General Editor.

Henry I was Duke of Normandy from 1106-1135 and King of England from1100-1135. William I left Normandy to his oldest son Robert II Curthoseand England to his next oldest son, William II Rufus. Henry was leftgreat wealth and eventually outmanuvered his brothers to become King ofEngland in 1100 and ruled 35 years. Henry is remembered for expanding andstrengthening royal justice, integrating the Norman and Anglo-Saxon legalsystems, and laying the foundation for more centralized royal rule. "TheEncyclopedia of the Middle Ages" Norman F. Cantor, General Editor.
henry1beauclerk
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=486e7aa4-c9e7-4c94-bd13-1775188c09be&tid=2456826&pid=242830790
church. In 1101 Robert, who was duke of Normandy, invaded England,
nobles and with the church by issuing a charter of liberties that
Henry won Normandy. During the rest of his reign, however, he
constantly had to put down uprisings that threatened his rule in
church officials by the king), was settled in 1107 by a compromise
civil war that ended only with the accession of Matilda's son, Henry
Henry I, King of England
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=b77fe922-f5d0-4001-a686-49bfbaaa71de&tid=2456826&pid=65654531
Henry I, King of England - 2
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=6a943d65-31a3-4ab4-ba0a-c0b5f48d5978&tid=2456826&pid=65654531
NOTE: ||after defeating his brother Robert in battle
Strangely, at the time William 'Rufus' was shot in the New Forest, Henry was also hunting there and this may or may not be coincidence. Henry was in turn in some danger from his brother Robert who claimed the throne for himself. Robert was captured at the battle of Tinchebrai in 1106 and Henry imprisoned him in Cardiff Castle for the rest of his life. Henry was successful in keeping the peace in England despite spending much time in Normandy. He developed the English system of justice and organised the civil service of the time, particularly the taxation department. He was unpopular with the church leaders. He had only one legitimate son, William and a legitimate daughter Matilda, but over twenty illegitimate children. His sons William and Richard were drowned in 1120 aboard his personal vessel the 'White Ship' when it struck a rock off the Normandy coast. He wanted his successor to be his daughter Matilda whom the English called Maud
food poisioning, after supposedly overeating lampreys
King of England||'Dei Gratiâ Rex Anglorum'
Battle of Tinchebrai
Dictionary of National Biography
NOTE: Kinship II - A collection of family, friends and U.S. Presidents
URL: http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2902060&id=I575188576
ID: I575188576
Name: Henry I of ENGLAND
Given Name: Henry I of
Surname: England
Sex: M
Birth: 1068 in , Selby, Yorkshire, England
Death: 1 Dec 1135 in , St Denis, Seine-St Denis, France
Christening: 5 Aug 1100 , Selby, Yorkshire, England
Burial: 4 Jan 1136 Reading Abbey, Reading, Berkshire, England
Change Date: 15 May 2004 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Note:
Name Prefix: King
Also Known As:<_AKA> "Beauclerc"
Ancestral File Number: 8XJ0-6V

Henry I, miniature from a 14th-century manuscript; in the British Library (Cottonian Claud D11 45 B)
byname Henry Beauclerc (Good Scholar), French Henri Beauclerc
youngest and ablest of William I the Conqueror's sons, who as king of England (1100?35) strengthened the crown's executive powers and, like his father, also ruled Normandy (from 1106).

Copyright © 1994-2002 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Father: Guillaume I De NORMANDIE b: 14 Oct 1024 in , Falaise, Normandie
Mother: Matilda Countess Of Flanders Queen Of ENGLAND b: Abt 1031 in Of, , Flandres

Marriage 1 Gieva De TRACY b: Abt 1068 in Of, Barnstaple, Devon, England
Married: in Unmd
Note: _UID449CEDEF7ECD494AABCF183A333854F21769
Children
William De TRACY b: Abt 1097 in Of, Westminster, Middlesex, England

Marriage 2 Edith Matilda ATHELING b: Abt 1079/1080 in , Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland
Married: 11 Nov 1100 in Westminster, London, Middlesex, England
Note: _UID15CD57967285844197EAEF4161A671792D01
Children
Elizabeth Princess Of ENGLAND b: Abt 1095 in Of, Talby, Yorkshire, England
Son Prince Of ENGLAND b: Jul 1101 in Of, , , England
Matilda (Maud) Of GERMANY b: Bef 5 Aug 1102 in , London, Middlesex, England
William "Atheling" Prince Of ENGLAND b: Bef 5 Aug 1103 in Of, Selby, Yorkshire, England
Richard Prince Of ENGLAND b: Abt 1105 in Of, , , England
Adelaide of ANGERS b: Abt 1112 in Of, , Normandy, France

Marriage 3 Sibyl (Adela) (Lucy) CORBET b: Abt 1075 in Of, Alcester, Warwickshire, England
Note: _UIDB14AFEDA988AE14D97A0B3738D56FACA2766
Children
William Prince Of ENGLAND b: Abt 1103 in Of, , , England
Gundred (Rohesia) Princess Of ENGLAND b: Abt 1114 in Of, , , England
Rohese Princess Of ENGLAND b: Abt 1114 in Of, , , England
Rainald De DUNSTANVILLE b: Abt 1110/1115 in Of, Dunstanville, Kent, England
Sibyl Elizabeth Queen Of SCOTLAND b: Abt 1095/1100 in Of, Westminster, Middlesex, England

Marriage 4 Mrs-Henry I, Concubine Of ENGLAND b: Abt 1070 in Of, Caen, Calvedos, France
Note: _UID59245AB452800D4FAB922C8D2EF223B4A604
Children
Robert "The King's Son" De CAEN b: Abt 1090 in Of, Caen, Normandy, France
Maud, Princess Of ENGLAND b: Abt 1091 in Of, , , England

Sources:
Author: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Title: Ancestral File (R)
Publication: Copyright (c) 1987, June 1998, data as of 5 January 1998
Repository:

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