The only child of the Conqueror to be born in England, he was also the only son to be born in "purple" as only two years previously William the Conqueror had become King of England. As the youngest child he was his mother's favourite and when she died she left him her English estates. It seems he had a good education, learning to read and write Latin as well as English and Law. In 1086 he was knighted by his father. When his father died in 1087 his brother Robert received the Duchy of Normandy while William Rufus became King of England. Henry, having estates in both territories like so many other Norman Barons, had to keep in line with two overlords. When in 1100 William II Rufus mysteriously died, the very next day Henry was elected to succeed as King of England and on 6 August he was crowned in Westminster Abbey. His first act as King was to restore Anselm as Archbishop of Canterbury to be followed by a search for a bride. For his Queen he selected Edith of Scotland, daughter of King Malcolm Canmore and, more importantly, of St. Margaret of Wessex who was a descendant of the Kings of England prior to the conquest. In honour of the King's mother, Matilda of Flanders, Edith changed her name to Matilda. However, restoring Anselm did not assure peace in the kingdom as Anselm refused to do homage to the King, claiming to hold the church estates in the name of the pope. Anselm was then forced into exile but peace was restored only in 1107 when the King's sister, Adela, Countess of Blois, found a solution acceptable to both: bishops would pay homage to the king and the king would allow clerical investiture. When Duke Robert of Normandy returned from a crusade he proved such a bad ruler that the Barons in Normandy revolted and asked for Henry's support. Robert was imprisoned and Henry became Duke of Normandy. Henry was a good diplomat and, even though troubles within Normandy and with France continued, he made a successful alliance when his only daughter, Matilda, married the Emperor Heinrich V in 1114. However, in 1119 his only son, William, went to the continent and married a daughter of the Count of Anjou. On the journey home their ship, "the White Ship", was wrecked and William with his entourage drowned. As his wife had died in 1118, Henry waited until 1122 before taking a second wife in Adeliza of Louvain. Even though he had fathered two legitimate and probably nineteen illegitimate children, this second marriage remained childless. In 1126 he designated his daughter, the widowed Empress Matilda, as his successor; and in 1127 he selected Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, as her second husband even though he was ten years younger than the Empress Matilda. Henry travelled a great deal between England and Normandy and, on 1 August 1135, left England for the last time. He died 1 December 1135 at St. Denis-le-Fermont near Gisors. His body was taken back to England and buried at Reading Abbey. 

Source: Leo van de Pas