Henry I, also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. Henry encouraged ecclesiastical reform, but became embroiled in a serious dispute in 1101 with Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury. He married Matilda of Scotland and they had two surviving children, William Adelin and Empress Matilda; he also had many illegitimate children by his many mistresses.
About Henry I of England in brief
Henry I, also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. He married Matilda of Scotland and they had two surviving children, William Adelin and Empress Matilda; he also had many illegitimate children by his many mistresses. Henry encouraged ecclesiastical reform, but became embroiled in a serious dispute in 1101 with Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury. He supported the Cluniac order and played a major role in the selection of the senior clergy in England and Normandy. Henry’s son William drowned in the White Ship disaster of 1120, throwing the royal succession into doubt. Henry died on 1 December 1135 after a week of illness. Henry was probably born in England in 1068, in either the summer or the last weeks of the year, possibly in the town of Selby in Yorkshire. His father was William the. Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy who had invaded England in 1066 to become the king of England, establishing lands stretching into Wales. There is little evidence for his early years, but historians suggest he was brought up predominantly in England, while Judith Green argues he was initially brought up in the Duchy of Salisbury, possibly by Bishop Osmund, the King’s chancellor at Salisbury Cathedral. As a result of their early death, Henry would probably have seen little of his older brothers, Richard Curthose and William Rufus, being, as historian David Carpenter describes,’short, and barrel-chested, with black hair’ Henry was the youngest of William’s four sons, and would have been seen relatively little of their older brothers as well, as the two were close in age.
His older brothers Robert and William inherited Normandy and England, respectively, but Henry was left landless. He purchased the County of Cotentin in western Normandy from Robert, but his brothers deposed him in 1091. He gradually rebuilt his power base in the Cotentin and allied himself with William against Robert. Henry kept Robert imprisoned for the rest of his life. 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. In Normandy, he governed through a growing system of justices and an exchequers, who rose through the ranks as administrators. His 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 between 1116 and 1119. Following Henry’s victory at the Battle of Brémule, a favourable peace settlement was agreed with Louis in 1120. Despite his plans for Matilda, the king was succeeded by his nephew Stephen of Blois, resulting in a period of civil war known as the Anarchy.
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