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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Henry I
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(1068–1135)
King of England from 1100, duke of Normandy from 1106; third surviving son of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders; married Matilda, daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland (1100).
After the death on the hunting field of his brother *William II (in which he was probably implicated), Henry immediately rode to Winchester, seized the royal treasure, and within three days had been crowned in Westminster Abbey, thus pre-empting the better claim of his eldest brother Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy (c.1054–1134).
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The following year Robert unsuccessfully invaded England. In 1106 Henry in turn invaded and conquered Normandy. Robert spent the rest of his long life the prisoner of his younger brother; and the English crown acquired the first of those territories in France which caused friction until after the *Hundred Years War.
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Henry continued the severe rule of his father and brother, but with better administration and greater justice. A charter of liberties issued at the time of his coronation can be seen as a precursor of *Magna Carta; and his judges, sent out to try cases in the provinces, were the basis of the slightly later system of judges on circuit. Henry's determination to appoint his own men as bishops led to a clash with *Anselm and with Rome; but a compromise agreed in 1107 left the king with considerable power in the matter. His nickname of Beauclerk, meaning 'good scholar', was not given to him until the 14C, but it reflected the fact that he was more literate than his predecessors.
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The disaster of the *White Ship left the king without a male heir. Though he persuaded the barons in 1127 to accept his daughter *Matilda as his successor, she did not inherit his crown. But his grandson later did, as Henry II (see the *royal house).
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