Henry I

King of England (r. 1100-1135)

• Born: c. September, 1068
• Birthplace: Selby, Yorkshire, England
• Died: December 1, 1135
• Place of death: Lyons-la-Forět, Normandy (now in France)

Henry I did much to organize and regularize the laws and government of England, reforming judicial and fiscal matters. By his marriage to Matilda of Scotland, a descendant of Edward the Confessor, Henry I won the support of many of his English subjects, although the marriage was less pleasing to Normans.

Early Life

Henry I was the only English-born son of William the Conqueror and the only one of his sons to have been born after their father had become king of England; his brothers had been born while William was duke of Normandy. It is reputed that Henry I learned to read and write Latin and studied the English language and law, but scholars have found little to support his supposed intellectual habits, although they do concede that he had some knowledge of Latin and spoke some English. On the death of William the Conqueror, in 1087, Normandy was willed to his eldest son, Robert, while England was awarded to his second son, William Rufus. Henry received lands in both Normandy and England. As he thus became a vassal of both of his brothers, he was inevitably brought into the quarrels between them.

Henry was a member of the royal hunting party, in the New Forest, when William Rufus was fatally injured by an arrow, whether by accident or murder (this question has never been answered). There have been hints that Henry may have had at least a guilty knowledge of the events that led to the death of William Rufus, if, indeed, there was a plot. At the time of the death of William Rufus, Robert was returning to Europe from a crusade. Henry knew of an agreement between Robert and William Rufus with regard to the succession; each was to be his brother’s heir. Henry moved to consolidate his position. He rode from the New Forest to Winchester and took possession of the royal treasury. He was chosen king the next day by those councillors in Winchester at the time. At the time of his coronation, he issued a charter of liberties, designed to win support of the people and the Church. He promised to put an end to the evil customs of William Rufus and to assure that the laws of Edward the Confessor would be upheld, subject to the amendments made by William the Conqueror. He invited the exiled Saint Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury (1093-1109), to return to England and to resume his office. On Anselm’s return, Henry raised the question of the investiture of church appointees by the king, lay investiture. Anselm refused to accept this concept of investiture. The issue was settled by a compromise, in which it was agreed that the king was to be informed of election of churchmen but would allow their investment by the Church. In reality, the king had surrendered a hollow ceremony and retained a real power.

In the spring of 1101, Robert of Normandy returned to Western Europe and made plans to invade England in support of his claim to the English throne. The landing of Robert at Portsmouth was followed by a meeting of the two brothers. An agreement was reached. By the terms of their agreement, Henry gave up all of his Norman holdings except Domfront, restored the lands in England of Robert’s supporters, and paid the duke an annual pension. For his part, Robert gave up his claim to the English throne and paid homage to Henry for his English lands.

The rule of Robert over Normandy caused some of his vassals to appeal to Henry for aid. A decisive battle between the two brothers was fought at Tinchebray, and as a result of this engagement, Robert fell prisoner to Henry. Robert would be retained as his brother’s prisoner until Robert’s death in 1134. With the fall of Robert, England and Normandy were reunited.

Although Henry had many illegitimate children, he had only two legitimate heirs, Matilda and William. Until 1120, the succession appeared secure. In that year, returning to England from Normandy following his betrothal and marriage, William was to drown at sea.

Suddenly, the succession question was no longer settled. All of Henry’s plans were now in a state of total confusion. He sent for his widowed daughter, Matilda, who had been married to Holy Roman Emperor Henry V. At a December, 1126, meeting of his council, Henry forced his barons and prelates to swear to support Matilda should Henry die without a male heir. Although many prelates and barons favored his nephew, Stephen of Blois (who became King Stephen, r. 1135-1154), they were afraid to oppose Henry’s wishes. In the spring of 1127, he secured for Matilda a new husband, Geoffrey of Anjou. In 1133, a child, the future Henry II, was born to this marriage.

Life’s Work

It was to be in the field of government that Henry I would make his major contribution to English history. Henry made a wise choice in naming as his principal adviser and justiciar Roger of Salisbury. During his reign, Henry began to meet less with his Great Council of tenants-in-chief and to meet more frequently with a small working council of a few barons and his major officials. This smaller group traveled with the king at all times. While the Great Council remained essentially a feudal body and met only on formal occasions, the smaller body was mainly an administrative council, a legislative body, a financial agency, and a court of law. Although the Great Council could disavow decisions of the smaller council, it seldom did so.

Under the direction of Roger of Salisbury, the financial and judicial functions of the council became more specialized. When the small council met for financial reasons, it came to be spoken of as the Exchequer. For the accomplishment of its financial duties, it was divided into the Lower Exchequer, which received moneys due the Crown, and the Upper Exchequer, which settled accounts and financially oriented judicial disputes. During Henry’s reign judicial reforms also took place. Henry commenced a practice of sending out royal justices on circuits to provide the king’s justice in the local areas. This use of such officials, known as itinerant justices, was only begun under Henry’s rule; it was expanded during the reign of his grandson, Henry II.

Because much of the reform work of Henry I was lost during the period of civil war that followed his death, later scholars have tended to forget the work of Henry I and his minister, Roger of Salisbury, and attribute this work to Henry II. In truth, Henry II’s work was at least in part restoration.

Significance

Henry I has not received due recognition. In addition to his work in government, Henry should also be credited with the reunification of England and Normandy under the Norman rulers of England. This reunification may have been a mixed blessing, as it kept England’s king abroad for great periods of time and caused substantial amounts of England’s resources to be expended on its troubled French territories.

Norman Kings of England, 1066-1189

Reign

• Monarch

1066-1087

• William I the Conqueror

1087-1100

• William II Rufus

1100-1135

• Henry I Beauclerc

1135-1154

• Stephen

1154-1189

• Henry II (Plantagenet line begins)

Bibliography

Chrimes, S. B. An Introduction to the Administrative History of Mediaeval England. 3d ed. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1966. Written primarily for scholars, but also valuable for general readers.

Hollister, C. Warren. Henry I. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2001. Part of the Yale English Monarchs series, an extensive biography of Henry. Includes a bibliography and index.

Kealey, Edward J. Roger of Salisbury, Viceroy of England. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972. Although this work deals primarily with the life and career of Roger of Salisbury, it is one of the more extensive sources of the reign of Henry I.

Poole, Austin L. From Domesday Book to Magna Carta, 1087-1216. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. This volume, from the Oxford History of England series, includes discussion of the reign of Henry I.

Robertson, A. J., ed. and trans. The Laws of the Kings of England from Edmund to Henry I. Felinfach, Wales: Llanerch, 2000. A survey of the legal history of English kings.

Taswell-Langmead, Thomas Pitt. English Constitutional History, from the Teutonic Conquest to the Present Time. 11th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1960. Still one of the standard sources of English constitutional history. Covers the time of Henry I.

Williamson, David. Debrett’s Kings and Queens of Europe. Topsfield, Mass.: Salem House, 1988. A brief entry of Henry I and Queen Matilda. Includes genealogical tables.