King Henry I "Beauclerc" of England^[1]

1068 - 1135  (67 years)    Has more than 100 ancestors and more than 100 descendants in this family tree.

• Name	Henry I "Beauclerc" of England
  Prefix	King
  Birth	Sep 1068	Selby, Yorkshire, England
  Christening	5 Aug 1100
  Gender	Male
  Death	11 Dec 1135	Gisors, St. denis, Seine-St. denis, France
  Burial	4 Jan 1136	Reading Abbey, Reading, Berkshire, England
  Siblings	11 Siblings
  + 1. Gundrade de Normandie,   b. 1053-1054   d. Yes, date unknown ▻ Earl William de Warren, I + 2. Robert III Curthose de Normandie,   b. Abt 1054, Normandy, France d. 10 Feb 1134, Cardiff, Glamorganshire, Wales  (Age 80 years) ▻ Marguerite du Maine;   Sybil di Conversano;   NN   3. Richard de Normandie,   b. 1055   d. 1075  (Age 20 years)   4. Adelaide de Normandie,   b. 1055   d. Yes, date unknown   5. Cecily de Normandie,   b. 1056   d. 1127  (Age 71 years)   6. King William II Rufus de Normandie,   b. 1057   d. 2 Aug 1100  (Age 43 years)   7. Matilda de Normandie   d. Yes, date unknown + 8. Adela de Normandie,   b. Abt 1062   d. 8 Mar 1138, Marcigny-sur-Loire  (Age 76 years) ▻ Comte Stephen Henry de Blois, "le Sage",  m. Abt 1081   9. Agatha de Normandie,   b. 1064   d. Yes, date unknown   10. Constance de Normandie,   b. 1066   d. Yes, date unknown ▻ Alain IV. Fergent de Cornouaille,  m. 1086 + 11. King Henry I "Beauclerc" of England,   b. Sep 1068, Selby, Yorkshire, England d. 11 Dec 1135, Gisors, St. denis, Seine-St. denis, France  (Age 67 years) ▻ Queen Edith (Mathilda) of Scotland,  m. 11 Nov 1100 ;   Adelaide de Louvain,  m. 29 Jan 1122 ;   Sybilla Corbet,  m. Abt 1092 ;   Edith FitzForne;   Ansfride,  m. Abt 1090 ;   Edith,  m. Abt 1086 ;   Isabelle de Beaumont,  m. Abt 1120 ;   Princess Nest ferch Rhys,  m. 1103-1105 ;   + 12. Princess Anna of England,   b. Abt 1066, Normandy, France d. Yes, date unknown ▻ Earl Harold de Ewyas
  Person ID	I6049	Geneagraphie | Voorouders HW, Ahnen BvS
  Links To	This person is also Hendrik I van Engeland at Wikipedia (Nederlands)
  Links To	This person is also Henry I of England at Wikipedia (English)
  Last Modified	13 Aug 2019

  
  

  Father	King William de Normandie, "the Conqueror",   b. 1027, Falaise, Calvados, France d. 9 Sep 1087, Rouen, Normandie, France (Age 60 years)
  Mother	Matilda van Vlaanderen,   b. Abt 1031   d. 2 Nov 1083, Caen (Age 52 years)
  Marriage	1053	Cath. Notre Dame d'Eu
  Family ID	F2703	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Queen Edith (Mathilda) of Scotland,   b. Oct 1079, Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland d. 1 May 1118, Westminster Palace, London, England (Age 38 years)
  Marriage	11 Nov 1100	Westmister Abbey, Lond
  Henry married Matilda (daughter of Margaret) to appease his Saxon subjects.
  Children	1. Richard of England,   b. 1105   d. 25 Nov 1120, sinking of the White Ship, Barfleur, Manche, France (Age 15 years) + 2. Queen Matilda of England,   b. 5 Aug 1102, Winchester, Hampshire, England d. 10 Sep 1169, Notre Dame, Rouen, France (Age 67 years)   3. Duke William de Normandie, "Athling",   b. 5 Aug 1103, Winchester, Hampshire, England d. 25 Nov 1120, sinking of the White Ship, Barfleur, Manche, France (Age 17 years)
  Family ID	F2696	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	19 Oct 2017

  
  

  Family 2	Adelaide de Louvain,   b. 1102-1103, Louvain, Brabant, België d. 23 Apr 1151, Abdij Affligem, Vlaanderen, België (Age 48 years)
  Marriage	29 Jan 1122	Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England
  Family ID	F2695	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	19 Oct 2017

  
  

  Marriage	a woman of Caen
  Children	+ 1. Earl Robert de Caen de Mellent,   b. Abt 1090, Caen, Calvados, France d. 31 Oct 1147, Bristol, Avon, England (Age 57 years)
  Family ID	F316273	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	19 Oct 2017

  
  

  Family 4	Sybilla Corbet,   b. Abt 1077, Alcester, Warwickshire, England d. Aft 1156 (Age 80 years)
  Marriage	Abt 1092
  Sybil was definitely mother of Sybil and Rainald, possibly also of William and Rohese. Some sources suggest that there was another daughter by this relationship, Gundred, but it appears that she may have been a sister of another Reginald de Dunstanville
  Children	+ 1. Sybilla of England,   b. Abt 1092, Domfront, Normandie, France d. 12 Jul 1122, Island of the Woman, Loch Tay, Perthshire, Scotland (Age 30 years)   2. William de Normandie,   b. Bef 1105, England d. Aft 1187 (Age 83 years) + 3. Earl Reynold de Dunstanville,   b. 1110-1115, Dunstanville, Kent, England d. 1 Jul 1175, Chertsey, Surrey, England (Age 60 years) + 4. Rohese of England,   b. Abt 1114   d. Aft 1176 (Age 63 years)
  Family ID	F2701	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	19 Oct 2017

  
  

  Family 5	Edith FitzForne,   b. Abt 1084, Greystoke, Cumberland, England d. Abt 1152 (Age 68 years)
  Children	+ 1. Robert FitzEdith   d. 1172
  Family ID	F8821	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	19 Mar 2010

  
  

  Family 6	Ansfride   d. Yes, date unknown
  Marriage	Abt 1090
  Definitely mother of Richard and Juliane, possibly also of Fulk.
  Children	1. Juliane de Fontevrault,   b. Abt 1090   d. Aft 1136 (Age 47 years)   2. Fulk,   b. Bef 1100   d. Yes, date unknown   3. Richard of Lincoln,   b. Bef 1101   d. 25 Nov 1120, Barfleur, Manche, France (Age 19 years)
  Family ID	F2699	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	24 Mar 2002

  
  

  Family 7	Edith   d. Aft 1130
  Marriage	Abt 1086
  Children	+ 1. Matilda of England,   b. 1086   d. 25 Nov 1120, sinking of the White Ship, Barfleur, Manche, France (Age 34 years)
  Family ID	F2697	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	19 Mar 2010

  
  

  Family 8	Isabelle de Beaumont,   b. Abt 1104, Leicester, Leicestershire, England d. Aft 1172 (Age 69 years)
  Marriage	Abt 1120
  Children	1. Isabelle de Normandie,   b. Abt 1120   d. Yes, date unknown + 2. Constance of England,   b. 1120-1130   d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F2698	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	24 Mar 2002

  
  

  Family 9	Princess Nest ferch Rhys,   b. Abt 1073, Dynevor, Llandyfeisant, Carmarthenshire, Wales d. Abt 1114 (Age 41 years)
  Marriage	1103-1105
  Children	+ 1. Henry FitzHenry,   b. 1103-1105, Narberth & Pebidiog, Wales d. 1157, Anglesey, Wales (Age 52 years)
  Family ID	F2700	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	19 Mar 2010

  
  

  Marriage	Unknown partners
  Children	+ 1. Matilda (Maud) of England,   b. 1102   d. 10 Sep 1169, Hermeville (Age 67 years) + 2. Alice (Aline) of England   d. Yes, date unknown + 3. Baron William de Tracy,   b. Aft 1090, Bradninch, Devonshire, England d. 1136 (Age 45 years) + 4. Richilde of England,   b. Abt 1100   d. Yes, date unknown + 5. Elisabeth (Joan ) of Gloucester,   b. 1084-1095, Gloucester, England d. Between 1132 and 1194 (Age 37 years) + 6. Sybilla de Falaise   d. Yes, date unknown + 7. Emma of England,   b. Abt 1110   d. Yes, date unknown   8. Maud of Montivilliers   d. Yes, date unknown   9. Gilbert of England,   b. Abt 1130   d. 1142 (Age 12 years)   10. NN of England   d. Yes, date unknown   11. NN of England   d. Yes, date unknown   12. Euphamia of England,   b. Jul 1101   d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F17240	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	19 Oct 2017

  
  

• Event Map	Click to hide
  		Marriage - 29 Jan 1122 - Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

• Photos

  Henry I "Beauclerc" of England

  
  

• Notes

  Koning van Engeland 1100-1135, 4e zoon van Willem. Zijn "Charta Libertatum" leidde de verzoening van de Angelsaksen met de Normandische veroveraars in en kan als de eerste grondwet van Engeland worden gezien. Duke of Normandy 1106-1135 after his brother Robert Curthose was deposed Stuart p. 68: the first King of England to use and grant a coat of arms Henry I was the fourth and most capable son of William the Conqueror and Matilda, born 1068, and nicknamed "Beauclerc" (fine scholar) for his above average education. He married Eadgyth (who later took the name Matilda), daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland, who bore him two sons and a daughter. One son died very early, and the other, William, died in the wreck of the White Ship in November 1120, leaving the daughter, Matilda, as the sole heir. Eadgyth died in 1118, and Henry married Adelaide of Louvain, but the union produced no offspring. Henry also had two fairly significant illegitimate children - Robert de Mellent, Earl of Gloucester, and Sibylla, wife of the Scottish King Alexander I. Henry's was the longest reign of the Norman line, lasting thirty-five years. The first years of Henry's reign were concerned with subduing Normandy. His father divided his kingdoms between Henry's older brothers, leaving England to William and Normandy to Robert. Henry inherited no land, but received £5000 in silver. He played both sides in his brothers' quarrel, leading both to distrust Henry, and sign a mutual accession treaty barring their brother from the crown. Henry's hope arose when Robert went on the First Crusade; should William die, Henry would be the obvious choice. Henry was in the woods hunting on the morning of William's death, August 2, 1100. He moved quickly and was crowned king on August 5, his coronation charter denouncing William's oppressive policies and promising good government. Robert returned to Normandy a few weeks later, but escaped final defeat until 1106, at the Battle of Tinchebrai. Robert was captured and lived the remaining twenty-eight years of his life as Henry's prisoner. Henry was drawn into controversy with the Church over the lay investiture issue - the practice of selling clergy appoints by the king to gain revenue, heavily opposed by Gregorian reformers in the Church. He ignored the situation until he was threatened with excommunication by Pope Paschal II in 1105, reaching a compromise with the papacy: he would officially denounce lay investiture, but prelates were to continue to do homage for their fiefs. In practice, it changed little - the king still had the deciding voice in appointing ecclesiastical offices - but it a marked a point when kingship was viewed as purely secular, and subservient to the Church. A solution to the lay investiture controversy and conquest of Normandy were accomplished in 1106, allowing Henry to expand his power. Henry mixed generosity with violence in motivating allegiance to the crown, appointing loyal and gifted men to administrative positions. Roger of Salisbury, the most famous of Henry's servants, was instrumental in organizing a department for collection of royal revenues, the Exchequer. The Exchequer quickly gained notoriety for sending out court officials to judge local financial disputes, weakening the feudal courts controlled by local lords, and won the title "Lion of Justice". The final years of his reign were concentrated on war with France and succession concerns upon the death of his son William in 1120. The marriage to Adelaide was fruitless, leaving Matilda his 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 the barons to swear they would accept Matilda as Queen upon Henry's death. She was then forced to marry the sixteen-year-old Geoffrey of Anjou (founder of the Plantagent dynasty) in 1128 to continue the Angevin alliance. The marriage was unpopular with the Norman barons, but Matilda and Geoffrey produced a male heir, prompting Henry to force another oath from the barons in support of Matilda. In summer 1135, Henry refused to give custody of certain key Norman castles to Geoffrey, as a show of good will, and the pair entered into war. Henry's life ended in this sorry state of affairs - war with his son-in-law - in December 1135. Henry was in reality a usurper. He imprisoned his older brother, Robert in Cardiff Castle in Wales, and it is said he had Robert's eyes put out. Henry reigned thirty-five years, not only over England, but over one third of France. In 1120 the White Ship went down on a hidden rock in the English Channel with the Crown Prince on board and it is said Henry I is never known to have smiled again. He had only one child left, Maude-Matilda, then a widow of the German Emperor Henry V. For political reasons she was next married to Geoffrey of Anjou, a boy of sixteen, ten years her junior. After the death of Henry I there was civil war between Matilda and her nephew Stephen, who got the throne for nineteen years. At one point in this contest Matilda had to escape from the Robert Doyley tower of Oxford Castle by sliding down a rope with gloved hands, the rope held by her favorite knight, Alain. She, with a few others dressed in white to avoid detection, crossed in the snowy night over the frozen Thames. The condition of the English people was deplorable during the reign of Henry I, owing to the blood-curdling cruelty of the Barons. Henry established a vigorous police system to check this, and tried to stop counterfeiting the money by mutilations. He oppressed his people by taxation. Henry I was born in the year 1068---a factor he himself regarded as highly significant, for he was the only son of the Conqueror born after the conquest of England, and to Henry this meant he was heir to the throne. He was not an attractive proposition: he was dissolute to a degree, producing at least a score of bastards; but far worse he was prone to sadistic cruelty---on one occasion, for example, personally punishing a rebellious burgher by throwing him from the walls of his town. At the death of William the Conqueror, Henry was left no lands, merely 5,000 pounds of silver. With these he bought lands from his elder brother Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, only to see them taken back again a few years later by Robert, in unholy alliance with his brother William Rufus. Henry could do little to avenge such treatment, but in England he found numerous barons who were tired of the exactions and ambitions of their king. He formed alliances with some of these, notably with the important De Clare family. He and some of the De Clares were with William Rufus on his last hunting expedition, and it is thought that the king's death was the result of Henry's plotting. Certainly he moved fast to take advantage of it; leaving Rufus's body unattended in the woods, he swooped down on Winchester to take control of the treasury. Two days later he was in Westminster, being crowned by the Bishop of London. His speed is understandable when one realises that his elder brother, Robert [Curthose], was returning from the crusade, and claimed, with good reason, to be the true heir. Henry showed great good sense in his first actions as King. He arrested Ranulph Flambard, William's tax-gatherer, and recalled Anselm, the exiled Archbishop. Furthermore, he issued a Charter of Liberties which promised speedy redress of grievances, and a return to the good government of the Conqueror. Putting aside for the moment his many mistresses, he married the sister of the King of Scots, who was descended from the royal line of Wessex; and lest the Norman barons should think him too pro-English in this action, he canged her name from Edith to Matilda. No one could claim that he did not aim to please. In 1101 Robert Curthose invaded, but Henry met him at Alton, and persuaded him to go away again by promising him an annuity of Ð2,000. He had no intention of keeping up the payments, but the problem was temporarily solved. He now felt strong enough to move against dissident barons who might give trouble in the future. Chief amongst these was the vicious Robert of Bellême, Earl of Shrewsbury, whom Henry had known for many years as a dangerous troublemaker. He set up a number of charges against him in the king's court, making it plain that if he appeared for trial he would be convicted and imprisoned. Thus Robert and his colleagues were forced into rebellion at a time not of their own choosing, were easily defeated and sent scuttling back to Normandy. In Normandy Robert Curthose began to wreak his wrath on all connected with his brother, thus giving Henry an excellent chance to retaliate with charges of misgovernment and invade. He made two expeditions in 1104-5, before the great expedition of 1106 on which Robert was defeated at the hour-long battle of Tinchebrai, on the anniversary of Hastings. No one had expected such an easy victory, but Henry took advantage of the state of shock resulting from the battle to annex Normandy. Robert was imprisoned (in some comfort, it be said); he lived on for 28 more years, ending up in Cardiff castle whiling away the long hours learning Welsh. His son William Clito remained a free agent, to plague Henry for most of the rest of his reign. In England the struggle with Anselm over the homage of bishops ran its course until the settlement of 1107. In matters of secular government life was more simple: Henry had found a brilliant administrator, Roger of Salisbury, to act as Justiciar for him. Roger had an inventive mind, a keen grasp of affairs, and the ability to single out young men of promise. He quickly built up a highly efficient team of administrators, and established new routines and forms of organisation within which they could work. To him we owe the Exchequer and its recording system of the Pipe Rolls, the circuits of royal justiciars spreading the king's peace, and the attempts at codification of law. Henry's good relationships with his barons, and with the burgeoning new towns owed much to skilful administration. Certainly he was able to gain a larger and more reliable revenue this way than by the crude extortion his brother had used. In 1120 came the tragedy of the White Ship. The court was returning to England, and the finest ship in the land was filled with its young men, including Henry's son and heir William. Riotously drunk, they tried to go faster and faster, when suddenly the ship foundered. All hands except a butcher of Rouen were lost, and England was without an heir. Henry's only legitimate child was Matilda, but she was married to the Emperor Henry V of Germany, and so could not succeed. But in 1125 her husband died, and Henry brought her home and forced the barons to swear fealty to her---though they did not like the prospect of a woman ruler. Henry then married her to Geoffrey of Anjou, the Normans' traditional enemy, and the barons were less happy---especially when the newly-weds had a terrible row, and Geoffrey ordered her out of his lands. In 1131 Henry, absolutely determined, forced the barons to swear fealty once more, and the fact that they did so is testimoney of his controlling power. Matilda and Geoffrey were reunited, and in 1133 she produced a son whom she named for his grandfather. If only Henry could live on until his grandson was old enough to rule, all would be well. But in 1135, against doctor's orders, he ate a hearty meal of lampreys, got acute indigestion, which turned into fever, and died. He was buried at his abbey in Reading---some said in a silver coffin, for which there was an unsuccessful search at the Dissolution. [Source: Who's Who in the Middle Ages, John Fines, Barnes & Noble Books, New York, 1995] (Medical):or from over eating Lampreys

  
  

• Sources

  [S190] Peter Barns-Graham, British Pedigrees, (Stirnet), Kings of England, Earls of Gloucester, Gernet of Halton (Reliability: 2).