King Henry I of England

[Music] the man known to posterity as king henry the first of england was born in around 1068 or 69 the only son of william the conqueror to actually be born in england and to the conqueror while he was king henry was born just a few years after the tumultuous events of the initial norman conquest his early months likely spent touring a devastated north with his father's household in retaliation for one of the many rebellions against norman rule this particularly nasty episode of the conquest known to history as the harrying of the north henry was possibly born in the town of selby yorkshire but despite this distinction of english birth was at his core still a norman he's world centered across the channel in his family's ancestral domain it is highly likely that queen matilda henry's mother named her younger son for a royal uncle henry the first king of france henry would have been granted the education befitting a prince with a focus on martial training and skill though interestingly one of his nicknames was henry berklerk or good scholar given his fluency in latin and general interest in reading it's possible that being a younger son he was also destined for the church physically the boy would grow to resemble the conquerors other sons robert richard and william being short stocky and barrel chested with a head of black hair as a younger son not much is known about henry's upbringing or even location during the first decades of life with scholars divided on whether he was primarily brought up in england or normandy henry truly entered into the political mainstream following his father's demise at the age of 60. on september 9th 1087 it appears that his father followed norman inheritance customs by allowing his rebellious son robert his inheritance of normandy given the conqueror himself had inherited this however the kingdom of england had been won by him through war and was thus open to be appointed to whomever he wished william's tenure as king had been far from cozy having numerous rebellions to quell in england but also rebellion by his own son robert squash 1077 an incident in which both william rufus and henry allegedly emptied the chamber pot over their elder brother's head was the trigger for robert's rebellion and exile henry's other elder brother william rufus fought on the side of his father and remained loyal throughout his reign which probably helped inform king william's later decision which widened the rift between brothers even further in 1079 robert engaged his father in battle directly wounding the younger william and even unhorsing his father accounts differ with one stating that the aging king was rescued by an accompanying englishman who gave up his horse with another suggesting that robert himself recognized his father's voice and allowed him to escape the king however would likely not have forgotten this humiliation which was compounded when he later found out that robert had been financed by the queen straining an otherwise loving and close relationship between husband and wife a reconciliation was brokered in 1080 but robert could have been under no illusion that his actions had permanently blackened him in his father's eyes given this context then it's no great surprise the dying king william designated his middle surviving son william as his successor in england while robert finally succeeded his birthright in normandy as for henry he received no lands yet was compensated with five thousand pounds and a vague promise that he would eventually receive his mother's lands in buckinghamshire and gloucestershire henry however ruthless and ambitious was certainly his father's son and not willing to settle for such a measly inheritance henry was not the only brother who fundamentally disagreed with her father's decision as robert returned to normandy having left court soon after his mother's death 1083 and fully expected to inherit both the duchy and the kingdom some barons in england agreed with the conqueror's two half-brothers odo and robert throwing their support behind the eldest son this rebellion of 1088 was soon suppressed by the new king with duke robert failing to effectively appear henry himself experienced what would become a hard reality for all the norman aristocracy who held lands on both sides of the channel initially he quietly remained loyal to robert perhaps fearful that his brother may try to steal his inheritance money the attempted flight robert requested the money anyway but henry refused instead coming to a compromise and purchasing the rights to the lands of the cotentin henry was recognized as the account of cotentin in exchange for three thousand pounds but his time under his brother's watch would not be comfortable henry did manage to cement his hold on the west of the duchy by forging a strong network baronial support so that by the time robert's attempt to take england by force had failed and he attempted to go back on the deal with henry henry's grip was solid unlike his younger brothers duke robert was not it seems an effective ruler he's duchy falling into chaos a situation taken advantage of by henry who effectively ruled as an independent lord in the west of normandy henry's position however was precarious traveling to england soon after the failure of the 1088 rebellion his request for his mother's lands was refused by rufus perhaps his punishment for his outward loyalty to robert what's more henry was seized soon after back in normandy by one of robert's chief supporters odo bishop of bayer and imprisoned henry remained incarcerated over the winter of 1088 but was released in early 1089. robert had taken the opportunity to seize back the cotentin despite this henry's support was strong enough for him to maintain effective de facto control over western normandy even if he was no longer officially the count the war of these brothers continued with rufus ii outmatching robert as a politician by fostering baronial support within the duchy itself and in ponthieu next door robert bolstered his own support with an alliance with philip the first king of france in 1090 henry demonstrated his ruthlessness rufus made his move by prompting robert's vassal in normandy conan politus to rebel which he did attempting to seize the capital of ruon this latest threat was serious given most of the city supported conan and he had appealed to neighboring garrisons for support henry answered his legion's call for support arriving in ruan first in november the ensuing struggle was bitter and bloody street by street fighting consuming the area duke robert joined his younger brother attempting to suppress the rebels but chose to retreat from the action leaving henry to fight on alone yet henry overcame conan's men seized the burger himself henry then had the unfortunate conan dragged to the top of bruon castle where despite offers of a large ransom he had him thrown off to his death despite this brutal demonstration of loyalty it's possible duke robert was threatened by henry's victory as soon after he ordered henry to leave the city that could also have been due to henry's request for official reinstatement as the count of cotentin 1091 saw king william rufus himself invade the duchy with a large enough army to force robert to cede lands to him in exchange for his aid in retaking lost territory in maine rufus also agreed to help robert solidify control over his duchy including those quasi-independent areas under henry henry was also effectively excluded politically given both his elder brothers recognized each other as their heir unable to play one brother against the other henry was forced to take up arms marshaling his baronial network in the cotentin region however this support soon crumbled and he moved west to besiege the strategic fortress of montsemichau this ambitious move failed too causing henry's exile into brittany and then france for a time aldrich battalis suggests henry spent the year lingering in the vexin and other border regions with a small clique of followers henry may have been biding his time as eventually the pact between robert and william dissolved 1092 henry seized upon a golden opportunity to re-establish his local power base the people of don pront tiring of the rule of robert of berlin invited henry and his supporters to take the town which they did in a swift and non-violent coup over the next two years henry built up another network of support in the west even securing the support of rufus and using funds received from him to construct formidable castle in domfront itself with himself established as a rival power in the duchy henry began regularly visiting england and his royal brothers court openly supporting the red king as with 1087 the year of 1095 saw a decisive shift in henry's fortunes as pope urban ii called the first crusade which duke robert enthusiastically joined though he needed funding as king of england his brother william had the tax base and resources to oblige for a price robert mortgaged his duchy to william for a sum of ten thousand marks robert's departure thus removed a dangerous rival realizing what way the winds of history were blowing henry doubled down on his support for rufus campaigning with him in the vexin region during the years 1097 and 98. yet if 1087 and 1095 were significant years in the life of henry berkler then 1100 would prove his golden breakthrough on a fine summer's day on august 2nd the king of england william rufus stalked through the new forest the king however was not alone within his party happens to be his younger brother henry and the day is about to decisively darken the hush of the hunt suddenly shattered by a shriek of pain but it's no beast's cry that echoes through the secluded part the new forest the king staggers clutching his chest before sinking slowly at the foot of a tree his royal blood staining the bark as he falls for henry the time is very convenient the arrow shot had come from within his own party later sources suggest walter tyrell as the killer whether conspiracy or clumsiness it hardly mattered to henry he moved quickly as did his noble companions quickly fleeing the body of the king scattering to secure their holdings henry's haste was understandable the rules of succession to the english throne were hardly set in stone henry's father the conqueror had seized the throne in 1066 but it had been his second born william who had claimed the kingship following his own death through his explicit preference robert still lived and had a strong claim given the old treaty of ruon in which they had made each other their heir henry however begged to differ with robert safely out of the way returning from crusade he rushed to the ancient city of winchester to take possession of the royal treasury before making his way to london having himself crowned king in near record time it was this singular act that sealed the deal it's important to note that for the normans the act of coronation itself was what ended the interregnum period between the death and the session of the monarch unlike their anglo-saxon predecessors who acclaimed their kings for the normans the anointing and formal crowning was what completed the transformation it was a sacred act it was the divine act of approval and as such could not easily be undone indeed by the time robert kurtos had landed in england in july of 1101 henry's takeover was all but a fate accompli robert was persuaded to accept his younger brother's obsession with only the shaky acknowledgment that he was to be recognised as henry's heir and vice versa he to roberts dutchy if neither produced a male heir as well as a yearly tribute to robert that a similar arrangement had existed between robert and rufus probably did not help to play kate robert given that agreement had arguably been far more meaningful william was unmarried and had no heir there was only five or so years between them in age king henry's wife however was already pregnant and even if this failed he would go on to father many bastard children robert returned to normandy where he celebrated the arrival of his son william in october of 1102 king henry's wife matilda originally christened edith had also given birth to another matilda the king's only legitimate daughter in february of 1102 with his own son another william arriving in the summer of 1103 henry was too smart of a politician however to simply rely on force of arms alone to back his crown he speeded and necessitated his crowning by the bishop of london rather than by one of england's archbishops anselm was absent in exile and henry had clearly not wished to risk waiting on thomas archbishop of york to travel south henry tried to reason somewhat successfully after rufus's fall that unlike robert he was actually born to a reigning monarch thus claiming the crown through right of warfire agenda henry gained the support of henry de beaumont and robert of milan which seems to have tipped the balance with the barons reluctantly supporting him henry further strengthened his hold by issuing a charter perceiving the unpopularity of his brother's regime in which he overtaxed the barons rufus had been particularly unpopular with the church for his practice not appointing clergy to vacated church posts keeping the revenues for himself rufus's relations with the church had deteriorated to the point of exiling and sam henry positioned himself as the reformer to his evil brother henry proclaimed that the money-making practices of his brother and father were to be discontinued including making baronial successors pay for their inheritance blocking marriages between nobles and cancelling debts owed to rufus among other grievances these concessions went a long way duplicating the church in the barons but henry was also king of a relatively hostile population of anglo-saxons it had only been 34 years since the battle of hastings and there were likely many people still alive who fought against henry's father there the larger population were also hostile to the succession however henry was not blind to this aspect to the securing of his succession on november 11th of the same year he married edith daughter of the king of scots edith who changed her name to the more norman matilda was no ordinary noble lady she was in fact the daughter of margaret of wessex queen of malcolm iii of scotland margaret was a direct descendant of king alfred the great being a scion of the true anglo-saxon line of kings thus making her daughter edith of english royal blood too her mother was the daughter of edward the exile the son of king edmund einside the anglo-saxon warrior king who fought commute in a series of battles way back 10 15 to 16. this match would thus ensure that any children sired would share the royal blood of both william the conqueror and more importantly the native house of wessex this proved popular with the native english though was generally frowned upon by the normal elite henry had nonetheless achieved a stability with the match and would continue to cement his crown with another key marriage alliance later on with both brothers siring legitimate sons any mutual succession agreement was dead in the water interestingly perhaps telling me the sobriquets given to both williams indicate the continuing ambition both fathers robert's william known as cleto which derives from the latin in cletus and henry's son known as adeline a norman french corruption of the anglo-saxon a fling with both roughly translating as king worthy or of royal blood but despite these royal ambitions on the part of his son duke robert had far more immediate problems in his duchy with his magnates factionalised in petty disputes it deteriorated to the point that some of these powerful men began appealing to henry across the channel henry was not immune from continued internal descent himself and although he had brought several key men from his brother's regime into his own he had imprisoned the unpopular bishop of durham ran off lombard the tower of london in 1101 flambard escaped and began scheming with robert in normandy many of the norman elite in england also shaky in their allegiance or openly supportive of robert as king henry moved with anselm's support to deprive flambard of his bishopric and moved to pevensey to contest an expected landing for robert's army alarmingly though many english levies and knights joined henry here many barons were conspicuously absent despite the lack of support robert's unexpected landing further down the coast in portsmouth on july 20th the duke did not move quickly to seize henry's treasury at winchester this dibbering allowed henry to intercept him and his host it was at this point that the two men met at alton agreeing the vacuous treaty in which robert released henry from his oath for failty recognized him as king if henry in turn gave up his claims to western normandy and pledged his aid in normandy this was also the agreement that stipulated the mutual succession of iva to the other's lands if he ever died however prince william's birth in 1103 obviously made robert's succession to henry null and void henry was not idle in punishing those barons who had sided with his brother notably banishing robert of berlin in 1102 forcing him and his brothers to flee to duke robert henry was also busy in other ways too famously fathering many illegitimate children before and during his marriage to matilda as many as nine sons and thirteen daughters were sired two of which he used to forge marriage links with nobles in normandy in 1103 robert's position continued to deteriorate with his duchy falling into factionalism chaos noble splitting between pro henry pro robert factions in open warfare henry landed a sizeable force in november 1105. he managed to take over a significant portion western normandy capturing bayer and khan but halted due to problems back home concerning the investiture controversy this gave robert precious breathing space in the early summer of 1106 king henry landed again near khan and began where he had left off by building on his earlier conquests persuading more of robert's lords to join him robert by contrast was losing control of his duchy and felt driven to act he was informed that his brother was besieging the castle tinchbury and so moved to confront him there robert arrived in the area close to henry's host by late september and the two hosts encamped a decent distance apart unlike at alton however talks broke down with henry maybe feeling he had a superior position he thus refused to abandon the siege left with little choice robert had to act to retain his power in the duchy with a pitched battle the only decisive way to stymie his royal brother's ascent the duke divided his army into two lines consisting of norman cavalry and supporting foot robert of baleem headed the ducal reserve and was given the discretion attacking at the key moment king henry divided his army into three lines with the earls of leicester and surrey commanding the two main groups henry knowing he had more of the crucial cavalry did not want to squander this opportunity at battle by giving his brother the advantage for defensive posture he wanted robert to attack with this in mind henry ordered his mounted knights in the main lines to dismount fight on foot thus giving robert the illusion of mounted superiority importantly however henry held back significant reserve of knights in the third group on his flank under elias of maine the ruse worked and it was robert who initiated hostilities ordering his first line to attack smashing loudly to henry's awaiting nights the fighting then devolved into a bloody slugging match with robert's mounted knights beginning to pressure henry's dismounted knights however though close to losing its cohesiveness the royal lines held with support from some infantry reserves acting quickly knowing that this balance in force could not hold it was the king who seized back the initiative and ordered his hidden mounted reserve to attack robert's flank elias funded out from his deep cover smashed into robert's unprotected flank surprising the bloodied spent nights of his first line despite this shock all was not lost if robert's ally and commander of his second line now charged to his aid as was planned and thus turned the tide of the battle yet robert of baleem did not oblige to the duke's likely horror berlin may have seen such an act as a lost cause and instead fled the field leaving robert to his fate [Applause] this treachery was the decisive moment leading to the total collapse of morale robert's infantry which routed leaving their duke and his knights locked into a deadly battle for life only to be surrounded killed and in many cases captured robert himself fought bravely and was taken along with william the count of mortaine and edgar aifling the uncle of king henry's wife this battle was a turning point in henry's reign definitively sealing his control both his father's kingdom and duchy uniting the domains for the first time since 1087. his brother was sent back to england in irons where he'd spend the remaining years of his long life in prison despite duke robert's capture and incarceration his son william clyto was spared immediately after events an uncharacteristic mistake that would prove costly to the security of henry's rule henry spent the next few years consolidating his rule continuing to groom his only son and heir william aifling to be his eventual successor meanwhile opposition to henry and normandy did not collapse following tinchbury but merely coalesced around duke robert's son william cloto meanwhile henry proved a good ruler travelling extensively with his court around england normandy to enact justice he's justice support for a vision of his father's feigned ruthlessness henry clamped down on those found guilty debasing the coinage by inflicting harsh corporal punishments many appointees to his government were also new men of relatively low stock likely a deliberate attempt to bind such men closer to him rather than having disloyal established men around him it is in henry's reign that the office of chancellor of the exchequer derives which is still in use today the exchequer was simply the table used to calculate taxes and goods a practice began in henry's time given its first mention in royal rit in 1110 roger of salisbury had began to develop the royal exchequer around this time using it to collect and audit revenues from the king's sheriffs in the shires henry's borders in england were also secure with relations with the scots being generally good henry also maintained decent relations with the native welsh princes while encouraging march or incursion deeper into southern wales normandy ii was settled under henry's rule kept stable through complex interlocking relations with native families as well as strong castles within the border regions and alliances with notable families in the border counties henry's relations with the church were a mixed bag though the church was vital to the smooth running of his administration the investiture controversy proved a major form in his realm stability pope urban ii decreed in 1099 the bishops should only receive the ceremonial ring and staff or investiture from the papacy and not by kings which was traditionally the case as a fan of royal symbolism given his own shaky claim to the crown henry was reluctant to give way though also weary pre-tinter bray of alienating church support while contesting robert henry could not budge and sound the archbishop of canterbury from his support of the pope's stance and the latter fled england with the kings seizing his lands and the former threatening excommunication which would do serious damage to henry's credibility by july 1105 however henry proved his political acumen by negotiating a compromise with the archbishop that though he could not invest bishops he would require them to pay homage to him for those lands they held henry's charm and power were clearly enough to placate and sound enough for the latter to vociferously support his new king during robert's invasion of 1101 something that would have been unthinkable with william rufus his predecessor henry also had the misfortune presiding over a dispute between the premier posts of the english church with a dispute over the primacy between the archbishoprics of canterbury and york henry continues to play a major part in the selection of bishops work to ensure the installation of a wider range of these men into roles as advisors thus distancing himself with the prickly arch bishops on a larger scale the threat to henry's dominion was exacerbated by the rise to the french throne of louis the fat king with ambitions to extend direct royal authority over the patchwork phenomenal vassals that was his kingdom the french monarchs did not rule much beyond a small strip of land around paris and louis wanted to change that henry obviously denied this so the two men met on the franco-norman border in 1109 to settle the dispute in the event no fighting took place with louis actually achieving little the castles guarding the road from paris to ruon still remained in henry's possession and the king of england even strengthened his position by forging an alliance with brittany on his western border and having louis formally recognise his sovereignty over maine to be south by 1115 however henry's project of dynastic security so carefully cultivated since the start of his reign was unravelling before his eyes despite his gains henry still needed the recognition of louis if his line were to be secure in their holdings having installed his son william as his successor in normandy as duke was not enough as his nominal overlord with the support of the count of flanders elected to back william claito the son of the previous duke henry's brother robert kurtos who still languished in captivity back in england in the next years the situation deteriorated for henry with border skirmishes devolving into a defensive campaign he not only faced louis raiding his own border but also the efforts of baldwin of flanders the patron of cluto and falk of anju to the south who even inflicted a defeat on him at alancon this defeat inflamed the opposition to henry from norman nobles which required his deeper involvement in local politics even to the detriment of important events indeed henry was too busy in normandy to even attend the funeral of his queen matilda in 1118. this campaign and his political efforts did however begin to pay off luckily baldwin of flanders succumbed to wounds in the summer of 1118 temporarily granting henry respite on this front he also arranged the marriage of william his son to the daughter of falk counter von zhu in the spring of 1119 falk also permanently departed the area for the holy land to take up the title king of jerusalem thus removing this threat from the south and even leaving maine back under henry's effective control with batters temporarily calmed king now assembled around 500 knights headed back to raiding the french borderlands it was here that henry learned a french incursion in the same area such an opportunity was hard to dismiss and henry moved his contingent to the stockade farmstead of bremule which straddled the old roman road and had a thick wooded area nearby louis quickly realised that henry was close and moved to meet him to settle their dispute having slightly less nights at around 400 men louis was accompanied by the young william cloyter himself heir robert kurtos the french force was divided into three lines with louis commanding the rear interestingly much look at tinge bray henry did have a slight advantage over his opponent but instead of relying on this alone ordered most of his men to dismount form a tight defensive line between the farmstead and the thick wooded area nearby which guarded his flanks but henry did retain a small vanguard of cavalry who remained rooted in the saddle the battle began when louis sent his first line of knights forward these were met by henry's vanguard of mounted knights this malay saw the norman side fall back under the pressure emboldening louise knights to renew their assault on henry's main line dismounted troops this time however they met with little success as much like at tinchbury henry's knights resisted the charge doggedly and horsing capturing many enemy knights in the process seeing this defeat the french knight ordered his second line forward which was once again met by henry's battered vanguard this time however not only were the knights defeated but they were also shattered dispersed leaving henry's main force to face the renewed assault of the reforming french knights this second charge was noticeably more ferocious than the first however henry's tight command and the character of his own men shine through with his infantry holding firm and slowly gaining the upper hand over their french foes it was now that louis perhaps shaken by the defeat for around a third of his forces chose to withdraw the remainder the norman casualties were small i've only reported three losses compared to the 140 french knights which stacked up a hefty slew of ransoms for the norman contingent what's more louis eventually settled with henry on the issue of the duke or succession having his son william aifling recognized by louis as the heir to the duchy now after nearly two decades of struggle henry could finally say he had the dynastic succession settled for all time his son william who embodied the bloodlines of both the houses of normandy and wessex would inherit both the kingdom and the duchy held by his illustrious father however sadly for henry this was not to be as disaster would dispel this fondly held hope on the rocks just outside of barfleur harbour william a fling was trained from a very young age to be king probably schooled by queen matilda herself or within her household before graduating as with all highborn sons to the more manly arts military doctrine martial arts as well as politics and governance by 11 13 young william was already entering into the public sphere attesting world documents at around 12 years of age in 1115 he received the homage of the norman barons in the duchy and then for england itself in march of 1116 following the death of his mother in 1118 he was even named henry's regent when his father ventured into normandy william was even proving useful in securing henry's border for his betrothal to the daughter of count folk of anju whom he married in the june of 1119. yet despite the fact that henry was fertile and productive these overactive loins producing an abundance of bastard children he only sired two legitimate offspring with the queen a boy and a girl the girl would become immensely important in time as we shall see but it was on the boy that the hopes of this new anglo-norman dynasty hung it was november 25th 11 20 some two decades into his reign henry was in bar fleur along with a large section of his household as well as many english norman nobles it was afternoon and he was awaiting the tide when a certain thomas fitzsteven approached the king to offer passage in his own vessel the white ship thomas perhaps in an effort to ingratiate himself in henry's favor even claimed that his own father had piloted henry's father william the conqueror himself 1066 despite this fanciful claim however king henry declined though he was certainly impressed enough to allow fitzstephen to pilot many others to england in his new ship including his son william and much of the queen of the young anglo-norman nobility originally the young stephen of blue younger son of fear bold counter blue intended to board the white ship but crucially decided to wait for another vessel because of an upset tummy aldrich batalis has it that stephen disembarked due to the rowdiness of the passengers but whatever the case this was an extremely lucky turn of events that would have proved disastrous in the long term for the peace and stability of england the rowdy atmosphere was only exacerbated by william himself when the prince brought aboard a liberal supply of wine which he dispensed to both crew and passengers events further conspired against william and his companions given it was a moonless night with very little wind now behind the king's vessel with an inebriated crew perhaps eager to impress their rowdy and highborn passengers the sleek and swift ship raced out of harbor in an attempt to catch overtake and beat the rest of the party back to england alas they did not get far as the vessel smashed into a well-known rock which loomed just under the water's surface cold sea water gushed into the ship rapidly capsizing it with all the women certainly doomed to frozen watery deaths given their thick heavy dresses the men may have fared somewhat better to begin with however sadly they were too far out to swim back to shore and yet close enough that their screams could be made out to the horrified onlookers back ashore onlooker is a generous description given it is highly unlikely anybody was spotted with only the terrible cries and faint thrashing of desperation cutting the cold chill night air in the event just one man survived a butcher from ruon called berold who somehow managed to cling on to some wreckage through the night it was possibly berold who later reported the fate of the young prince himself william had managed to get into a small boat only to be overwhelmed and dragged under the waves by the weight of desperate survivors when he tried to wade back to save his drowning half-sister another probable apocryphal tale is that the white ship's captain initially survived though chose to sink to his death on learning that william a fling had perished rather than face the wrath of king henry if true it was probably a wise decision henry had landed safely in southampton and made his way to clarendon to wait his son nobody dared to face the king with the news till fear bold of blue had an innocent young boy fall before the king and delivered the news weeping who as a blameless child would surely not suffer the king's wrath aldrich vitalis writes that henry fell to the ground upon receiving the news and was quote conducted to his chamber where he gave free course to his bitterness and grief end quote a much later poem by felicia himans he never smiled again probably encapsulates henry's lovely depression not only the loss of his only legitimate son and heir but also of his hopes for a clear and sure path to dynastic security whether or not henry truly never smiled again hardly mattered in the long term as now he's carefully laid out plans for a peaceful succession were most decidedly in tatters with no other legitimate heirs and his queen dead henry was forced to compromise his dream of an anglo-norman dynasty acting quickly to marry again though not to a woman the old anglo-saxon bloodline henry married the young and beautiful adelizer of levane in january of 1121 though remarkably given the fertility of both husband and wife no children would come from the marriage henry though could not have known this at the time in 1121 he was around 52 years old however his new wife was just 18 and more than capable in theory producing a new legitimate son henry was not delusional though and began to make plans for the worst he did have another legitimate child the questions immediately arose about whether a woman even the daughter of a king and an empress could or should rule a kingdom in her own right if there was a woman who could though then it was matilda born in 1102 as henry's eldest child matilda was valuable as a key piece in her father's initial strategy legitimizing his own position negotiations of her marriage to henry v the future holy roman emperor resulted in a diplomatic triumph in 1110 when henry's daughter was crowned 25th of july in mance matilda was just eight years old but the match did much to elevate henry's prestige at home and abroad in january of 1114 matilda officially married king henry v her own rank raised to dizzying heights as the empress of the holy roman empire in 1117 she even accompanied her husband into rome itself being crowned by the disputed pope gregory viii mathilde would use the title empress consistently for the rest of her life and was placed in northern italy at the time to govern the region in her husband's name throughout 1118. this information is crucial in understanding the character this remarkable woman she had been educated in the german culture of raw as a young girl and gained practical experience ruling subjects directly in this period much like her father's second childless marriage however matilda was not destined to birth the emperor's heirs as she was clearly capable given the later birth of her own three sons in 1125 emperor henry died throwing open this unorthodox solution to the widowed empress's father king henry after four years of marriage the king had failed to sire a legitimate heir with adolescer and may have begun to consider male relatives such as stephen of blue the son of his sister and eliza as potential successors he and adeliza were close in age and likely closer than the king had been with his brothers stephen was no doubt a favorite of the king with henry arranging a good marriage for him with matilda countess of boloin another decision that would prove decisive in the aftermath of his death theobald count of blue also lived and was an elder brother of stephen though he became count of champagne in 1125 if henry considered either of these men then he did not follow through on actually publicly designating either as his heir another obvious alternative was robert of gloucester king henry's most prominent illegitimate son who held extensive lands both normandy and england robert was a powerful magnate and was favored perhaps on a par with his cousin stephen the legitimate nephew of the king robert had plenty of support though despite the fact that his grandfather william the conqueror himself was a bastard attitudes towards bastard inheritance had hardened and his succession would scarcely have ensured a peaceful realm with more legitimate contenders violently disagreed with henry's decision before 1128 henry had the uncomfortable option of william clyto his nephew and the incarcerated former duke robert's legitimate son though for obvious reasons this would be awkward and difficult to implement it was not a serious option the returning matilda arguably had one of the best claims to her father's crown she was his only surviving legitimate child carrying the all-important blood of the ancient house of wessex which flowed through her veins like henry himself she could also claim legitimacy through porphyrogenitor or being born to the purple that is being born to the reigning monarch matilda had been born after henry became king just as henry had been born after his father's conquest of england unlike his older brothers furthermore henry seemingly sealed the deal on january 1st 1127 the gathering of his barons in london following his christmas court at windsor in attendance were king henry his new queen still childless and matilda herself one by one the key players filed in front of them to swear to uphold matilda's succession among these men were william of corbell the archbishop of canterbury the man who would presumably have the job of crowning matilda when the time came in addition the king of scots added his personal pledge he would later indeed prove to be a staunch supporter next to swear and arguably the most important was matilda's cousin stephen abloire the king's favorite first to swear among the lay nobility it is undeniable that stephen who had narrowly escaped sharing william aifling's watery death in 1120 did pledge to uphold his royal cousin's path to the crown and her father's duchy unlike matilda stephen was not officially designated his uncle's heir had other claimants above him including his own brother spherebold and the disabled william he was not born to the purple and was not directly descended for a male line which made him a distant prospect for his royal uncle despite all this however stephen did have something going for him his sex in a world in which men ruled through military might he was powerful the count of bologne had extensive land holdings in england it was also popular and affable enough to make him a decent political operator what's more he did have a decent claim to the crown for his mother and was unlike robert of gloucester king henry's eldest son legitimate with this public designation matilda is his heir king henry may have uneasily breathed a sigh of relief his heirs tragic death had done more damage than merely scuppering the succession and matilda would also prove useful repairing his collapsing relations with the angebins to the south of normandy william's marriage to falk the count of bonjour's daughter obviously fell through but in 1127 henry arranged for the 26 year old former holy roman empress matilda to marry falk's fifteen-year-old son jeffrey the fair this was an obvious major fall from grace henry's proud and politically experienced daughter she would now marry in 1128 the son of a count when she had been the empress of an empire she now went from ruling in a former husband's name to being the wife of a teenaged and inexperienced and relatively minor noble not surprisingly the marriage was rocky within a year matilda returned to normandy to her father's displeasure yet even with this rocky start the marriage of geoffrey and matilda would ultimately prove successful the two forging a cordial strained business-like relationship centered around their sons 1129 saw henry's primary threat in that region falk leave to take up the title king of jerusalem naming his younger son henry's own son-in-law count of both maine and anju the couple were reconciled in 1131 though the possession of particular castles in the south of normandy which the king had promised them as dowry for matilda were not handed over causing tension both the marriage itself and between them and henry bethilda may have been worried that her position as heir was undermined by a position so far south if her father should die if this was a concern then it was well founded to the pleasure and relief of henry matilda gave birth to two sons in 1133 and 11 34 with a third coming later thus providing potential legitimate heirs to the kingdom though by the birth of henry in 1133 his grandfather was 64 years old in 1135 relations between henry his daughter and jeffrey deteriorated given matilda and jeffrey's lack of support in england and lack of a firm base in normandy having their request for castles to be handed over to them while the king lived and homage sworn to matilda by the norman nobles angrily rejected by the old king given henry's fears that jeffrey would simply take power in the duchy a rebellion sparked in southern normandy led by william counter ponthieu and supported by the disgruntled angebin couple henry was vigorous in stamping out this new threat despite his advanced years strengthening the southern frontier however ironically on a hunting trip given his own brother's death henry suddenly fell ill according to henry of huntington he ate too much specifically an ill-like fish called a lamprey against his doctor's advice his condition was soon shown to be terminal with henry taking confession and being comforted by prophet of gloucester and other members of the royal court henry the first died on december 1st 11 35. his body was removed to ruin where his entrails were buried and the corpse was embalmed henry was finally laid to rest in reading abby in england henry the first youngest son of king william the conqueror and arguably the greatest of the norman monarchs was dead despite all his efforts to avoid it he left his kingdom limbo the crown in dispute as throughout december barons in normandy gradually agreed that fear bold count of blue and champagne should succeed as the elder male relative and a grandson of william the conqueror matilda henry's actual designated heir could not have been in a worse position to claim her father's crown she was technically in rebellion against her father at the time of his death she was heavily pregnant was firmly in angevin for her marriage to jeffrey which thus opened the possibility however slim that an angebin would succeed to the throne and duchy of the anglo-norman world given anju and normandy were traditional rivals this prospect did not fill the norman barons with joy more obviously was that matilda was a woman could she rule men lead men in battle or effectively defend the realm worse still matilda was located much further south than her potential rivals but if the barons in normandy expected a long journey to england to crown their man they were surprised when news reached them in late december that another claimed the crown fortuitously for stephen not only did he have enough support and acclaim to the throne for his grandfather but he was also informed of his uncle's death first and he seated boloin much earlier than henry's actual heir matilda it was with her husband jeffrey and anju further south like henry before him stephen was in a prime location to capitalize on the confusion of the succession and move swiftly he did with berlin being close to england he landed in dover around 5th december and quickly moved to london arriving around the 8th of december just a week after the old king's death the londoners were particularly amenable to stephen given his position as counter beloin he controlled the all-important trade route to the continent and was also accompanied by an armed contingent to concentrate mines further the stars further aligned in stephen's favor given he then rode for winchester to take the royal treasury the city conveniently under the control of his younger brother the bishop henry of blue despite some initial objections from the archbishop of canterbury stephen the supporters ultimately proved persuasive with the ironical argument that the peace and stability of the realm took precedence over any oaths previously taken so it was that stephen of blue was crowned king stephen of england that hastily arranged and sparsely attended ceremony at westminster on december 22 11 35 however though a coronation went a long way to solidifying steven's claim to the throne of england the mata was far from closed as across not would see this available woman press her claim to the very cusp of power in 1141 her supporters defeated stephen at lincoln but her later haughty attitude and demand for a heavy tax in london caused the residents to kick her out on the eve of her own coronation she carried on the war to our stephen throughout the 1140s even capturing the usurper for a time but being forced to exchange him for robert earl of gloucester following her own defeat in the route of winchester in 1148 following the death of her chief supporter robert of gloucester she was forced to accept that she would never personally sit on the throne of england as her father had intended yet through her support behind her eldest son and the grandson of henry henry plantagenet by 1153 the young henry had risen to mastery of both normandy anju and then through marriage lordship over more of france than the king of france himself an agreement hammered out with the exhausted king stephen guaranteed he would succeed him henry did not wait long with stephen himself expiring the next year so it was that in 1154 nearly two decades after his grandfather's death henry's namesake was crowned king henry ii the first king of the long-ruling plantagenet dynasty yet the legitimate grandson of the great norman monarch and also for his mother the descendant of both the norman kings and the old house of wessex just as henry had always wanted king henry the first was undoubtedly a great king arguably the greatest of the four norman monarchs though this accolade could be claimed by his much more famous father henry built on and improved on the conqueror's reign doing much to unify the english and norman peoples for his policies and marriage though it is undeniable that henry's greatest failure had been his leaving england's crown in dispute a reality he must have been acutely aware of despite this in the subsequent years of civil war over his legacy henry still deserves to be remembered as one of england's great kings [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: History Hub

Views: 58,985

Keywords: king henry i of england, king henry i, history hub, henry i of england, henry beauclerc, king biography, biography, biography documentary, norman conquest of england, norman invasion of england, norman kings, norman kings of england, norman kings and queens of england, norman england, norman england documentary, battle of tinchebray, battle of tinchebrai, battle of bremule, white ship disaster, medieval history, henry i death, henry i white ship, medieval england, history

Id: yujbleffUiI

Length: 57min 50sec (3470 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 02 2022