King of England Henry I Beauclerc Born: SEP 1068 Selby, North Yorkshire, ENGLAND Sex: M Died: 1 DEC 1135 St. Denis-le-Fermont, nr Rouen, FRANCE Buried: ? Reading Abbey, Berkshire, ENGLAND Religion: Pre-Reformation
Relationship: 28/29 great grandfather, etc.
Accession: 5 AUG 1100 Westminster Abbey, London, England
Ancestors:
Marriage(s) and Relationships: Partner: Pss of Deheubarth Nesta Tewdwr of So.Wales Child:FitzHenry, Henry Partner: Sibyl Corbert Child:Joan de Normandy Child:1. Earl of Gloucester Robert de Caen Child:Sybilla de Normandy Child:Count de Cornouailles Renaud Child:Rohesia de Normandy Partner: Elisabeth\Isabel de Beaumont Child:Isabel Beauclerc Child:Maud de Montivilliers Married to: Edith Sigulfson Child:Baron of OkenhamptonFitzEdith, Robert Married to: NN Child:Constance of England Partner: Amicie de Gauder Child:Maud de Normandy Married to: Matilda\Edith of Scotland 11 NOV 1100, Westminster Abbey, London, England
Child:Euphemia of England Child:Matilda of Normandy Child:Duke of Normandy William *The Atheling* Child:Richard of England Married to: Adeliza de Louvain 2 FEB 1120/21, Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England
Child:Notes:
Henry was the first child of William I to be born on English soil, but
as the fourth son he had little hope of inheriting a crown. Whereas,
Robert, the first born, inherited Normandy, and William II, the second
son, inherited England, Henry was left without title, only a huge fortune
in
English sterling.
While William Rufus and Robert quarreled in the years to come,
Henry flitted from side to side, hedging his bets. Eventually he became
thoroughly distrusted by both men. In 1091, when William and Robert
temporarily reconciled, they entered into a pact whereas if either died
without male heir the other would inherit, thereby eliminating Henry from
the succession. When Robert left on a crusade to Jerusalem, Henry was
quite hopeful that Robert would not return alive, but by 1100 word came
that Robert was on his way back to Normandy, victorious and wealthy,
having married a rich woman on the way home. So, perhaps it was more
than coincidence that on August 2, 1100, Henry was hunting in the New
Forest at the same time William was struck with an arrow and killed. In
any event, Henry seemed prepared for his brother's death, for he rode
directly from the New Forest to the Treasury and declared himself King.
He was crowned in Westminster three days later.
The first few weeks of Henry's reign were shrewd ones. Expecting
an invasion from Robert upon his return from Jerusalem, Henry used his
inherited silver to buy support in both England and Normandy. He also
invited Anselm back to the post of Archbishop of Canterbury in an
attempt to garner the support of the church in both England and Rome.
Henry even arranged for a marriage to Edith (also known as Matilda), the
sister of Edgar, King of Scotland, in order to eliminate invasion from the
North. Henry also got the support of France and Flanders (neither of
which wanted to see Normandy and England united into a powerful
kingdom). When Robert landed in Portsmouth in July of 1101 he was
without any advantage, and an immediate treaty was arranged. Robert
would receive an annual pension, and Henry would keep England.
Treaty or no, Henry still did not trust the Norman barons, whose
fathers had been granted English estates under the reign of the
Conqueror. He set out systematically to relieve them of their English and
Welsh lands. The conflict between Robert and Henry came to a head at
the Battle of Tinchebrai. Robert was captured and spent the rest of his
life as Henry's prisoner.
While his present Norman troubles were coming to a close, Henry
was faced with a more far-reaching problem. As with his brother, William
Rufus, Henry's power as king was challenged by the growing Gregorian
reform movement. In serious question now were the traditional royal
rights over the administration of the church, specifically, the
institution of
lay investiture. Lay investiture was the ceremony were the secular king or
queen presented a new church official, like an abbot or bishop, with a
ring and staff of office. The Gregorian reformers wish to purify the
church by taking its administration out of secular control. While lay
investiture had been prohibited by the church as early as 1059, its
practice continued in England until the return of Anselm in 1100. He had
learned of the papal decree against lay investiture while in exile, and
upon his return refused to pay homage to Henry and urged his brothers
of the cloth to refuse homage to local fiefs. Henry, in turn, refused to
renounce his right to invest church officials, and in 1105 Anselm, again
in frustration left England. However, in 1105 the Pope threatened to
excommunicate Henry if he did not renounce lay investiture. Henry
offered his terms: he would renounce his right to invest, if the prelates
on
a local level would continue homage to local fiefs.
Thus Henry kept the abbots and bishops throughout England loyal.
However, the ideological battle forced Henry to give up something very
important. His renouncement of lay investiture meant that Henry (in the
eyes of the church) was a secular king, not a king annointed of God, and
not a king superior to priests. Ironically, it is at this point in English
folklore that the first claims of royal healings appear. It was said that
one
touch from a King could heal scrofula, known as the "king's disease."
However, despite his "healing power," Henry reigned in the last
years concerned with holding his hard-won kingdom together. This was
probably what Henry did best. Henry was ruthless when it came to
demanding loyalty. It was said that during the years he flitted back and
forth between the loyalty of William Rufus and Robert that he once
pushed a man off the roof of Rouen Castle for betraying his oath of
allegiance to Robert. This reputation served him well, as he now
concerned himself with the traditional enemies of Normandy, France and
Flanders. By 1119 things looked good for Henry. He beat Louis VI of
France in the battle of Bremule and married his legitimate son, William,
to the daughter of the count of Anjou. However, in 1120 William died in a
shipwreck and so began one of the darkest periods in English history.
Edith, Henry's first wife, died in 1118, and Adelaide of Louvain,
whom Henry married months after his son's death was still without child
by 1125. The only legitimate heir of the king's was Matilda, born in 1102.
Matilda's husband, Emperor Henry V of France died in 1025 and left
Matilda without a male heir. Henry, therefore, made his barons swear to
accept Matilda as Queen of England should he die without a male heir.
Still eager to keep ties with Anjou, Henry married Matilda to Count
Geoffrey of Anjou. Normandy, of course, did not want to be ruled by an
Angevin, and war ensued. While his kingdom's future seemed most
uncertain Henry died, December 1135. He ruled longer than his father
and brother, but still remains one the least known of the English kings.
*from*: Biographical information from The Lives of the Kings and Queens
of England, ed.
Antonia Frasier and The Oxford Illustrated History of the British
Monarchy, ed.
John Cannon and Ralph Griffiths.
King Henry was styled as, *Dei Gratia Rex Anglorum*.
According to some other sources, Henry was born in 1070.
He was crowned by Maurice, Bishop of London.
It is probable that Henry was the first king of the Normal royal line to
speak Saxon.
Died from a *surfeit of lampreys*, as the chronicles said, althought most
historians
believe that he died from food poisoning.
Henry was the founder of Reading Abbey, where he was buried.
Source: RoyaList.
Source: *Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europaeischen Staaten* 4 vol.,
Marburg, 1953, 1975, by W.K. Prinz von Isenburg.
*Burke's Guide to the Royal Familiy*, London, 1973.
*Nachkommen Gorms des Alten*, 1978, by S. Otto Brenner.
*Europaeische Stammtafeln*, J.A. Stargardt Verlag, Marburg.
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