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Individual Record for: I HENRY (male)

Source:

bulkeley.txt

Notes:

Ascended the throne in 1100 and reigned for 35 years. Henry I, son of Wil liam the Conqueror, imprisoned his brother Robert, Duke of Normandy, for t wenty-eight years and is suspected of having orchestrated the tragic hunti ng "accidnet" that killed his brother, William II.

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[MyTree.GED]

William's younger brother Henry (reigned 1100-35) succeeded to the thron e. He was crowned three days after his brother's death, against the possib ility that his eldest brother Robert might claim the English throne. Aft er the decisive battle of Tinchebrai in 1106 in France, Henry
completed his co nquest of Normandy from Robert, who then (unusually ev en for that time) spent the last 28 years of his life as his brother's pri soner. An energetic, decis ive and occasionally cruel ruler, Henry central ised the administration of Eng land and Normandy in the royal court, usi ng 'viceroys' in Normandy and a grou p of advisers in England to act on h is behalf when he was absent across the C hannel. Henry successfully soug ht to increase royal revenues, as shown by the official records of his exc hequer (the Pipe Roll of 1130, the first exchequer account to survive ). He established peaceful relations with Scotland, through his marria ge to Mathilda of Scotland.

Henry's name 'Beauclerc' denoted his good education (as the youngest so n, his parents possibly expected that he would become a bishop); Henry w as probably the first Norman king to be fluent in English. In 1120, his le gitimate sons William and Richard drowned in the White Ship which sa nk in the English Channel. This posed a succession problem , as Henry nev er allowed any of his illegitimate children to expect succession to eith er England or Normandy.

Henry had a legitimate daughter Matilda (widow of Emperor Henry V, subsequ ently married to the Count of Anjou). However, it was his nephew Stephen ( reigned 1135-54), son of William the Conqueror's daughter Adela, who succe eded Henry after his death allegedly caused by eatin g too many lampreys ( fish) in 1135, as the barons mostly opposed the idea of a female ruler.

Henry was in reality a usurper. He imprisoned his older brother, Robe rt in Cardiff Castle in Wales, and it is said he had Robert's eyes put ou t. Henry reigned thirty-five years, not only over England, but over one th ird of France. In 1120 the White Ship went down on a hidden rock in the En glish Channel with the Crown Prince on board and it is said Henry I is nev er known to have smiled again. He had only one child left, Maude-Matild a, then a widow of the German Emperor Henry V. For political reasons she w as next married to Geoffrey of Anjou, a boy of sixteen, ten years her juni or. After the death of Henry I there was civil war between Matilda and h er nephew Stephen, who got the throne for nineteen years. At one poi nt in this contest Matilda had to escape from the Robert Doyley tower of O xford Castle by sliding down a rope with gloved hands, the rope held by h er favorite knight, Alain. She, with a few others dressed in white to avo id detection, crossed in the snowy night over the frozen Thames. The condi tion of the English people was deplorable during the reign of Henry I, owi ng to the blood-curdling cruelty of the Barons. Henry established a vigoro us police system to check this, and tried to stop counterfeiting the mon ey by mutilations. He oppressed his people by taxation.

Henry I was born in the year 1068---a factor he himself regarded as high ly significant, for he was the only son of the Conqueror born after the co nquest of England, and to Henry this meant he was heir to the throne. He w as not an attractive proposition: he was dissolute to a degree, produci ng at least a score of bastards; but far worse he was prone to sadistic cr uelty---on one occasion, for example, personally punishing a rebellious bu rgher by throwing him from the walls of his town.

At the death of William the Conqueror, Henry was left no lands, merely 5,0 00 pounds of silver. With these he bought lands from his elder brother Rob ert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, only to see them taken back again a few ye ars later by Robert, in unholy alliance with his brother William Rufus.

Henry could do little to avenge such treatment, but in England he found nu merous barons who were tired of the exactions and ambitions of their kin g. He formed alliances with some of these, notably with the important De C lare family. He and some of the De Clares were with William Rufus on his l ast hunting expedition, and it is thought that the king's death was the re sult of Henry's plotting.

Certainly he moved fast to take advantage of it; leaving Rufus's body unat tended in the woods, he swooped down on Winchester to take control of t he treasury. Two days later he was in Westminster, being crowned by the Bi shop of London. His speed is understandable when one realises that his eld er brother, Robert [Curthose], was returning from the crusade, and claime d, with good reason, to be the true heir.

Henry showed great good sense in his first actions as King. He arrested Ra nulph Flambard, William's tax-gatherer, and recalled Anselm, the exiled Ar chbishop. Furthermore, he issued a Charter of Liberties which promised spe edy redress of grievances, and a return to the good government of the Conq ueror. Putting aside for the moment his many mistresses, he married the si ster of the King of Scots, who was descended from the royal line of Wesse x; and lest the Norman barons should think him too pro-English in this act ion, he canged her name from Edith to Matilda. No one could claim th at he did not aim to please.

In 1101 Robert Curthose invaded, but Henry met him at Alton, and persuad ed him to go away again by promising him an annuity of D2,000. He had no i ntention of keeping up the payments, but the problem was temporarily solve d.

He now felt strong enough to move against dissident barons who might gi ve trouble in the future. Chief amongst these was the vicious Robert of Be ll°me, Earl of Shrewsbury, whom Henry had known for many years as a danger ous 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 convic ted and imprisoned. Thus Robert and his colleagues were forced into rebell ion at a time not of their own choosing, were easily defeated and sent scu ttling back to Normandy.

In Normandy Robert Curthose began to wreak his wrath on all connected wi th his brother, thus giving Henry an excellent chance to retaliate with ch arges of misgovernment and invade. He made two expeditions in 1104-5, befo re the great expedition of 1106 on which Robert was defeated at the hour-l ong battle of Tinchebrai, on the anniversary of Hastings. No one had expec ted such an easy victory, but Henry took advantage of the state of shock r esulting from the battle to annex Normandy. Robert was imprisoned (in so me comfort, it be said); he lived on for 28 more years, ending up in Cardi ff castle whiling away the long hours learning Welsh. His son William Cli to remained a free agent, to plague Henry for most of the rest of his reig n.

In England the struggle with Anselm over the homage of bishops ran its cou rse until the settlement of 1107. In matters of secular government life w as more simple: Henry had found a brilliant administrator, Roger of Salisb ury, to act as Justiciar for him. Roger had an inventive mind, a keen gra sp of affairs, and the ability to single out young men of promise. He quic kly built up a highly efficient team of administrators, and established n ew routines and forms of organisation within which they could work. To h im we owe the Exchequer and its recording system of the Pipe Rolls, the ci rcuits of royal justiciars spreading the king's peace, and the attemp ts at codification of law. Henry's good relationships with his barons, a nd with the burgeoning new towns owed much to skilful administration. Cert ainly he was able to gain a larger and more reliable revenue this way th an by the crude extortion his brother had used.

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

Henry's only legitimate child was Matilda, but she was married to the Empe ror Henry V of Germany, and so could not succeed. But in 1125 her husba nd died, and Henry brought her home and forced the barons to swear feal ty to her---though they did not like the prospect of a woman ruler. Hen ry then married her to Geoffrey of Anjou, the Normans' traditional enem y, and the barons were less happy---especially when the newly-weds had a t errible row, and Geoffrey ordered her out of his lands. In 1131 Henry, abs olutely determined, forced the barons to swear fealty once more, and the f act that they did so is testimoney of his controlling power. Matilda and G eoffrey were reunited, and in 1133 she produced a son whom she named for h is grandfather. If only Henry could live on until his grandson was old eno ugh to rule, all would be well.

But in 1135, against doctor's orders, he ate a hearty meal of lampreys, g ot acute indigestion, which turned into fever, and died. He was buri ed at his abbey in Reading---some said in a silver coffin, for which the re was an unsuccessful search at the Dissolution. [Source: Who's Who in t he Middle Ages, John Fines, Barnes & Noble Books, New York, 1995]


Notes Source: bulkeley.txt

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