Henry I of England Facts & Worksheets

• This was because Archbishop Anselm was in exile, and the archbishop of York was not there. Henry issued a coronation charter to make his rule official. In it, he promised to restore order, stop royal property abuse, improve relations with the Church, and take other measures and go back to the gentler customs of Edward the Confessor. He made himself look like a peacemaker after Rufus’s harsh rule. Henry strengthened his position by rewarding friends and bringing many members of the previous administration into his own household. William Giffard and other loyalists were given promotions, while corrupt officials like Ranulf Flambard, the Bishop of Durham, were put in jail. 
• Henry quickly filled open Church positions and brought Anselm back from exile to get more support from the clergy. Henry wed Matilda of Scotland (formerly Edith), the daughter of King Malcolm III and a descendant of Alfred the Great and Edmund Ironside, on 11 November 1100. This Anglo-Saxon royal lineage strengthened Henry’s legitimacy, and it won him more support from his English subjects. Anselm had to rule on their marriage because Matilda had lived in convents and was thought to have taken vows. A council said she was free to marry.
• Matilda was a strong and active queen who sometimes acted as regent and was involved in politics and supporting the arts. The couple had at least two legitimate children: William Adelin (1103) and Empress Matilda (1102). Henry, on the other hand, had at least 20 illegitimate children and openly kept many mistresses. 
• Duke Robert, Henry’s older brother, quickly threatened his rule. Curthose invaded England in 1101 with the help of unhappy nobles and Flambard, who had escaped. The Treaty of Alton ended the standoff. In it, Curthose agreed to pay Henry yearly payments in exchange for recognising him as king. The two brothers also agreed to inherit each other’s property if either of them died without children.
• Henry still went after rebellious nobles, most notably Robert of Bellême, whom he sent into exile in 1102. He slowly made friends in Normandy by marrying his illegitimate daughters to powerful counts. By 1104, Curthose’s rule in Normandy had turned into chaos, which drove many Norman barons to Henry’s side.
• Henry invaded Normandy in 1105, burning Bayeux and taking Caen, but he was not able to fully conquer the area. He came back for good in 1106 and won a key battle at the Battle of Tinchebray. Henry took control of Normandy after Curthose was caught and put in jail for life. Henry was a good overlord even though he did not call himself Duke. He upheld Norman laws and customs.
• Henry’s rule was characterised by strong, centralised government. He made it harder for the barons to get away with things by rewarding loyalty and punishing those who opposed him harshly. His royal household (domus) became the centre of government. It was split into three parts: the chapel for documents, the chamber for money, and the marshal for travel and logistics. His household knights, the familia regis, made his army stronger.
• Henry expanded royal justice by drawing on Anglo-Saxon customs as a foundation. Roger of Salisbury worked on the Exchequer system after 1110. This made it easier to collect taxes and keep track of them, as shown by the Pipe Roll of 1130. He also changed the way coins were made in 1107, 1108, and 1125, and he was very strict with dishonest moneyers.
• The Investiture Controversy happened during Henry’s reign. Henry needed to be in charge of clerical appointments, but Pope Urban II had told lay rulers not to invest bishops. Anselm supported papal decrees, which caused problems, exile, and a compromise in 1105. Henry gave up the right to invest with ring and staff but kept the requirement of homage for lands, which kept royal power.
• Later disagreements were about the fight between the archbishops of York and Canterbury. Henry supported Canterbury’s primacy, but he also had to respect papal authority, especially when he needed help against Louis VI of France. In general, Henry used bishoprics well to reward loyal administrators and make sure that the clergy worked together.
• Henry was not very religious at first, but he became more so after personal tragedies, like the death of his son Adelin in 1120. He backed the Cluniac reforms, set up Reading Abbey in 1121 as a spiritual and dynastic centre, and supported new monastic orders. He also collected relics and even sent messengers to Constantinople.
• After 1108, Normandy came under increasing pressure from nearby powers. Louis VI of France, who had just been crowned, wanted Henry to pay him homage and give him control over castles on the border that were in dispute. Henry, however, refused. The two kings agreed to a truce, even though the fight almost got worse. Fulk V of Anjou, on the other hand, strengthened his position by rejecting Henry’s rule and siding with Louis. Robert II of Flanders briefly joined the anti-Norman alliance before dying in 1111.
• Henry solidified his position by arranging for his daughter Matilda to marry Henry V of Germany in 1108. This was a prestigious match that came with a large dowry paid for by a special tax. In 1110, Matilda became the queen of Germany. At the same time, he strengthened his grip on Normandy by arresting barons who could not be trusted, taking estates to buy allies in Maine, and putting Robert of Bellême in jail.
• He also tried to catch his nephew William Clito, who was also trying to claim Normandy, but William got away to Flanders. Rebellion spread through France and Anjou from 1111 to 1113. Henry supported his nephew, Theobald of Blois, against Louis VI and arranged marriages to cut off France: Adelin was engaged to Fulk’s daughter Matilda, and another daughter married the Duke of Brittany.
• In 1113, Louis acknowledged Henry’s dominion over Maine, Bellême, and Brittany, granting him a transient diplomatic triumph. Henry took control of Pembroke in South Wales by sending Flemings there in 1108. Owain ap Cadwgan led Welsh resistance in Mid-Wales, and Gruffudd ap Cynan led it in the north. By 1114, this resistance was getting stronger. Henry fought back with a three-pronged campaign that made the Welsh rulers ask for peace and strengthened the Marcher lordships to make the border stronger.
• Henry tried to ensure that Louis VI would recognise Adelin as Duke of Normandy, thereby securing his position as king. Louis said no and backed William Clito instead, which led to war in 1116. The fighting got worse when French, Flemish, and Angevin troops attacked Normandy. At the same time, baronial uprisings and even plots within Henry’s own household made his position weaker. His queen, Matilda of Scotland, died in 1118, making the situation even worse.
• Henry slowly got better, despite having some problems. Baldwin of Flanders died in 1118, which made things easier for Henry, but Fulk’s troops beat him at Alençon. There was trouble at home after that. In 1119, Henry’s daughter Juliane and her husband Eustace of Breteuil rebelled, which led to violent hostage mutilations and Juliane’s failed attempt to kill her father. Henry put down their rebellion and took their Norman lands.
• This strengthened the alliance with Anjou. Henry decisively beat Louis at the Battle of Brémule that summer. His disciplined dismounted knights held off the French cavalry. Louis could not change Henry’s mind at the papal council of Reims in 1119. In 1120, peace was made when Adelin paid homage to Louis, who agreed that he had rights to Normandy. Henry’s plans for succession fell apart when the White Ship sank off Barfleur on 25 November 1120, killing Adelin and almost 300 nobles.
• Henry was heartbroken, so he married Adeliza of Louvain in 1121, hoping for another son. However, they had no children together. The disaster threw politics into chaos. There was a rebellion in Wales, and relations with Anjou got worse when Fulk asked for his daughter’s dowry back after William died. Henry said no, so Fulk married his daughter Sibylla to William Clito and gave him Maine. This led to new baronial revolts along the Norman-Angevin border from 1123 to 1124, with Amaury de Montfort and Waleran de Beaumont in charge of the opposition.
• Henry put down the rebellion in 1124 at the Battle of Bourgthéroulde, where royal troops ambushed and defeated the rebel cavalry. Henry caught Waleran, Amaury ran away, and he punished the rebels harshly, even blinding some of their leaders. He also got the Pope to annul William Clito’s marriage to Sibylla, which hurt the Angevin claims. Henry’s dynasty was still at risk because Adeliza had no children. 
• He briefly thought about his nephews, like Stephen of Blois or his illegitimate son Robert of Gloucester. However, he chose his widowed daughter, Empress Matilda, who came back to England in 1126 after Emperor Henry V died. That Christmas, the Anglo-Norman barons swore oaths to recognise her as Henry’s heir. This was a first for a woman and caused problems at court and with Louis VI. The issue of succession was closely tied to politics on the continent.
• Charles I of Flanders was killed in 1127, and William Clito was made count with the help of the French. This was a threat to Normandy. Henry paid for enemies in Flanders and attacked France, which weakened Louis’s alliance. Henry’s main rival, William Clito, died suddenly in 1128, which lowered tensions. That same year, Henry made a new alliance with the Angevins by marrying Matilda to Geoffrey Plantagenet, Fulk’s son and now King of Jerusalem. 
• Even though the marriage was troubled, the couple got back together in 1131, which was suitable for the dynasty because Matilda had two sons, Henry (1133) and Geoffrey (1134). The succession seemed safe for the first time since the White Ship disaster.

DEATH AND LEGACY

• In the last years of Henry I's life, relations between him and his daughter, Empress Matilda, and her husband, Geoffrey Plantagenet, deteriorated. The couple was worried that England would not support them, so in 1135, they asked Henry to give Matilda control of Normandy’s royal castles and get the Norman barons to swear loyalty to him while he was still alive. Henry angrily said no, probably because he was afraid Geoffrey would take over too soon. William III of Ponthieu led a rebellion in southern Normandy not long after that, and Matilda and Geoffrey backed it.
• Henry worked hard that autumn to strengthen Normandy’s borders, but while hunting at Lyons-la-Forêt in November, he got very sick and died. It is said that he ate too many lampreys against medical advice. Over the course of a week, his health got worse. He admitted it, called Archbishop Hugh of Amiens, Robert of Gloucester, and other courtiers, and made plans to pay off debts and give up property. On 1 December 1135, Henry died. In Rouen, his body was preserved, and his guts were buried nearby at Notre-Dame du Pré. His remains were then taken to England and buried at Reading Abbey.
• Even though Henry had made plans, the succession fell apart. At the time of Henry’s death, Matilda and Geoffrey were in Anjou with some of her allies, like Robert of Gloucester, helping rebels. Many barons had sworn to stay in Normandy until the king was buried, which made it hard for them to get back to England quickly. Nobles in Normandy even thought about making Theobald of Blois king. However, Stephen of Blois, Theobald’s younger brother, acted quickly.
• He crossed the Channel from Boulogne with the help of his household knights. With the help of Henry of Blois, the Bishop of Winchester, and Hugh Bigod’s questionable claim that Henry had freed the barons from their oath to Matilda on his deathbed, Stephen quickly took control. On 22 December 1135, he was made king. However, Matilda would not give in. She asked the Pope for help and then invaded England, starting the long civil war known as the Anarchy (1135–1153), which pitted her troops against Stephen in a bitter fight for the English throne.