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Henry I Beauclerc

Henry I
Henry1.jpg
Miniature from Matthew Paris's
Historia Anglorum
King of England (more ...)
Tenure 2 August 1100 – 1 December 1135
Coronation 5 August 1100
Predecessor William II
Successor Stephen
Duke of Normandy
Tenure 1106 – 1 December 1135
Predecessor Robert Curthose
Successor Stephen
Born c. 1068
Possibly Selby, Yorkshire
Died 1 December 1135 (aged 66–67)
Saint-Denis-en-Lyons, Normandy
Burial Reading Abbey
Spouse Matilda of Scotland
(m. 1100; d. 1118)

Adeliza of Louvain
(m. 1121)
Issue
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Matilda, Holy Roman Empress
William Adelin
Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester
Alice FitzRoy
Gilbert FitzRoy
Matilda FitzRoy, Countess of Perche
Fulk FitzRoy
Sybilla, Queen of Scots
Reginald de Dunstanville, 1st Earl of Cornwall
Robert FitzEdith, Lord Okehampton
Henry FitzRoy (d. 1158)
Matilda FitzRoy, Abbess of Montvilliers
House Normandy
Father William I of England
Mother Matilda of Flanders

Henry I (c. 1068 – 1 December 1135), also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death. Henry was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. On William's death in 1087, Henry's elder brothers Robert Curthose and William Rufus inherited Normandy and England, respectively, but Henry was left landless. Henry purchased the County of Cotentin in western Normandy from Robert, but William and Robert deposed him in 1091. Henry gradually rebuilt his power base in the Cotentin and allied himself with William against Robert. Henry was present when William died in a hunting accident in 1100, and he seized the English throne, promising at his coronation to correct many of William's less popular policies. Henry married Matilda of Scotland but continued to have a large number of mistresses by whom he had many illegitimate children.

Robert, who invaded in 1101, disputed Henry's control of England; this military campaign ended in a negotiated settlement that confirmed Henry as king. The peace was short-lived, and Henry invaded the Duchy of Normandy in 1105 and 1106, finally defeating Robert at the Battle of Tinchebray. Henry kept Robert imprisoned for the rest of his life. Henry's control of Normandy was challenged by Louis VI of France, Baldwin VII of Flanders and Fulk V of Anjou, who promoted the rival claims of Robert's son, William Clito, and supported a major rebellion in the Duchy between 1116 and 1119. Following Henry's victory at the Battle of Brémule, a favourable peace settlement was agreed with Louis in 1120.

Considered by contemporaries to be a harsh but effective ruler, Henry skilfully manipulated the barons in England and Normandy. In England, he drew on the existing Anglo-Saxon system of justice, local government and taxation, but also strengthened it with additional institutions, including the royal exchequer and itinerant justices. Normandy was also governed through a growing system of justices and an exchequer. Many of the officials who ran Henry's system were "new men" of obscure backgrounds rather than from families of high status, who rose through the ranks as administrators. Henry encouraged ecclesiastical reform, but became embroiled in a serious dispute in 1101 with Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury, which was resolved through a compromise solution in 1105. He supported the Cluniac order and played a major role in the selection of the senior clergy in England and Normandy.


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