Henry I 1068-1135
King of England and Duke of Normandy

The youngest and only English-born son of William the Conqueror, he was supposedly born in Selby, Yorkshire. When war broke out between his brothers, William II, Rufus and Robert Curthose, Henry helped the latter to defend Normandy, yet in the treaty which followed in 1091 he was excluded from the succession. Immediately after William's death, Henry seized the royal treasure, and was elected king by the Witan (1100). He issued a charter restoring the laws of Edward the Confessor and William I, recalled Anselm, and set about reforming the administration of justice. He strengthened his position by a marriage with Eadgyth (Matilda), daughter of King Malcolm III, Canmore of Scotland and Queen Margaret, who was descended from the old English royal house. Robert had been granted a pension to resign his claim to the English Crown and concentrate his attentions on Normandy, but in 1105-06 Henry made war against his badly-governed duchy. Robert was defeated at Tinchebrai (1106), and was kept a prisoner for life (28 years). To keep Normandy Henry was obliged to wage nearly constant warfare. King Louis VI of France took part with William, Robert's son, but the first war ended in the favourable peace of Gisors (1113), and in 1114 Henry's daughter Matilda was married to the Emperor Henry V of Germany. The second war (1116-20) was marked by the defeat of the French king at Noyon in 1119, and Henry was able to satisfy the pope, who succeeded in bringing about a peace. In 1120 Henry's only legitimate son, William Adelin, was drowned on his way from Normandy to England. In 1126 Matilda, now a widow, returned from Germany. In 1127 Henry nominated her his heir, and in 1128 she was married to Geoffrey Plantagenet, son of the Count of Anjou. However, when Henry died the crown was seized by his sister Adela's son, Stephen of Blois. Henry I was posthumously styled Beauclerc, or the Scholar, in honour of his learning, which was, in fact, limited. He was able and crafty, consistent and passionless in his policy, but often guilty of acts of cold-blooded cruelty. His reign marks a milestone in the development of governmental institutions such as the Exchequer and the itinerant justices.