| Notes |
- Henry was Duke of Normandy by usurpation of his brother Duke Robert
III, 1106. He was crowned king 6 Aug 1100.
Henry I, the most resilient of the Norman kings (his reign lasted
thirty-five years), was nicknamed "Beauclerc" (fine scholar) for his
above average education. During his reign, the differences between
English and Norman society began to slowly evaporate. Reforms in the
royal treasury system became the foundation upon which later kings
built. The stability Henry afforded the throne was offset by problems
in succession: his only surviving son, William, was lost in the wreck
of the White Ship in November 1120.
The first years of Henry's reign were concerned with subduing
Normandy. William the Conqueror divided his kingdoms between Henry's
older brothers, leaving England to William Rufus and Normandy to
Robert. Henry inherited no land but received £5000 in silver. He
played each brother off of the other during their quarrels; both
distrusted Henry and subsequently signed a mutual accession treaty
barring Henry from the crown. Henry's hope arose when Robert departed
for the Holy Land on the First Crusade; should William die, Henry was
the obvious heir. Henry was in the woods hunting on the morning of
August 2, 1100 when William Rufus was killed by an arrow. His quick
movement in securing the crown on August 5 led many to believe he was
responsible for his brother's death. In his coronation charter, Henry
denounced William's oppressive policies and promising good government
in an effort to appease his barons. Robert returned to Normandy a few
weeks later but escaped final defeat until the Battle of Tinchebrai in
1106; Robert was captured and lived the remaining twenty-eight years
of his life as Henry's prisoner.
Henry was drawn into controversy with a rapidly expanding Church. Lay
investiture, the king's selling of clergy appointments, was heavily
opposed by Gregorian reformers in the Church but was a cornerstone of
Norman government. Henry recalled Anselm of Bec to the archbishopric
of Canterbury to gain baronial support, but the stubborn Anselm
refused to do homage to Henry for his lands. The situation remained
unresolved until Pope Paschal II threatened Henry with excommunication
in 1105. He reached a compromise with the papacy: Henry rescinded the
king's divine authority in conferring sacred offices but appointees
continued to do homage for their fiefs. In practice, it changed little
- the king maintained the deciding voice in appointing ecclesiastical
offices - but it a marked a point where kingship became purely secular
and subservient in the eyes of the Church.
By 1106, both the quarrels with the church and the conquest of
Normandy were settled and Henry concentrated on expanding royal power.
He mixed generosity with violence in motivating allegiance to the
crown and appointing loyal and gifted men to administrative positions.
By raising men out of obscurity for such appointments, Henry began to
rely less on landed barons as ministers and created a loyal
bureaucracy. He was deeply involved in continental affairs and
therefore spent almost half of his time in Normandy, prompting him to
create the position of justiciar - the most trusted of all the king's
officials, the justiciar literally ruled in the king's stead. Roger of
Salisbury, the first justiciar, was instrumental in organizing an
efficient department for collection of royal revenues, the Exchequer.
The Exchequer held sessions twice a year for sheriffs and other
revenue-collecting officials; these officials appeared before the
justiciar, the chancellor, and several clerks and rendered an account
of their finances. The Exchequer was an ingenious device for balancing
amounts owed versus amounts paid. Henry gained notoriety for sending
out court officials to judge local financial disputes (weakening the
feudal courts controlled by local lords) and curb errant sheriffs
(weakening the power bestowed upon the sheriffs by his father).
The final years of his reign were consumed in war with France and
difficulties ensuring the succession. The French King Louis VI began
consolidating his kingdom and attacked Normandy unsuccessfully on
three separate occasions. The succession became a concern upon the
death of his son William in 1120: Henry's marriage to Adelaide was
fruitless, leaving his daughter Matilda as the only surviving
legitimate heir. She was recalled to Henry's court in 1125 after the
death of her husband, Emperor Henry V of Germany. Henry forced his
barons to swear an oath of allegiance to Matilda in 1127 after he
arranged her marriage to the sixteen-year-old Geoffrey of Anjou to
cement an Angevin alliance on the continent. The marriage, unpopular
with the Norman barons, produced a male heir in 1133, which prompted
yet another reluctant oath of loyalty from the aggravated barons. In
the summer of 1135, Geoffrey demanded custody of certain key Norman
castles as a show of good will from Henry; Henry refused and the pair
entered into war. Henry's life ended in this sorry state of affairs -
war with his son-in-law and rebellion on the horizon - in December
1135
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1069 - 1135 (~ 67 years)