5 August: Henry I

Henry I became King of England on 5 August 1100. Here are some facts about him.

1. Henry was born in Selby, Yorkshire. The exact date of his birth isn't known but would have been around 1068 or 1069. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders. He was the only one of their children to be born in England, since Matilda had come over for her coronation.
2. We don't know much about his childhood, either. It's thought that, as the fourth son, he wouldn't have been expected to become king, so would have been educated with a view to taking a high position within the church. His nickname, Henry Beauclerc, meaning fine scholar, was probably due to this. We do know he had some military training and was knighted by his father in 1086.
3. By the time William died in 1087, one of Henry's older brothers had already died, leaving William II, who became king, and Robert, who was made Duke of Normandy. Henry, still a minor at the time, got nothing. William II died in a hunting accident in 1100. At least, the official story was that it was an accident. Nobody knows exactly what happened. Robert was away on a crusade at the time. Henry was part of the hunting party and when his brother died, he immediately made a bid for the throne himself. Henry was known for being ruthless and brutal, so who knows?
4. Henry then had the job of appeasing Robert and the barons who supported him. He granted favours and made concessions in his Charter of Liberties, a document considered to be a predecessor of the Magna Carta. Robert, naturally, wasn't so easily appeased and invaded England in 1101 to get his throne back. Henry managed to persuade Robert by giving him Normandy and a pile of Money. Robert, however, made such a mess of ruling Normandy that Henry invaded in 1106 and ousted him, keeping Robert prisoner for the rest of his life.
5. At the age of 31, Henry married Edith, daughter of the king of Scotland. While it's thought they genuinely liked each other, it was a politically motivated match, for both of them. For Henry, it ensured the support of Scotland. Edith, who had been educated in convents and had been considering becoming a nun, decided that she would prefer the status and influence being queen of England would give her. However, because she was living in a convent, she had to appeal to the Archbishop in order to be allowed to leave and get married. She hadn't taken formal vows, so despite a few dissenting voices within the church, her request was granted. Upon her marriage, she took her mother in law's name as a mark of respect and from then on was called Matilda, or the Latin form of the name, Maud.
6. Henry and Maud had two children, William and Matilda. There was possibly a third child called Richard who died young. However, Henry is thought to have fathered more illegitimate children than any other English king, possibly as many as 25.
7. What was he like? Physically, he was described as "short, stocky and barrel-chested," with black hair. Historians differ as to whether he was a cruel, draconian ruler, or simply firm but fair. He has been described as "in many respects highly unpleasant". It's possible contemporary reports show little criticism of Henry because people were too afraid of him.
8. At the age of 12, Henry's son William was taken to France to be married to Isabella d'Anjou, daughter to the Count of Anjou. The bride was left behind and William was meant to travel back to England with his father, but plans changed when a ship owner begged the king for the honour of transporting the young bridegroom home on his vessel, the White Ship. The sailors were partying and getting drunk, which led to the White Ship hitting a rock and sinking. William was safely installed in a lifeboat, but he heard the ladies still on the ship screaming for help, and insisted that the oarmen went back to rescue them. As soon as they got close to the floundering ship, so many people crowded onto the lifeboat that it sank, killing everyone on board in including the heir to the throne. Soon afterwards, Henry took another wife, Adeliza, daughter of Godfrey I of Leuven. The marriage happened so quickly that it was speculated he might have been planning to marry again even before the disaster. However, any hope Henry had of producing another male heir was unrealised, as Adeliza had no children.
9. Despite being groomed to enter the church as a child, Henry wasn't known for being a pious king, although he did make donations to the church. He is said to have become more interested in spiritual matters as he grew older, perhaps as a result of his son's untimely death. He was an avid collector of relics, sending an embassy to Constantinople in 1118 to collect Byzantine items, which he donated to Reading Abbey.
10. He died in 1135, the cause of death being chronicled at the time as "a surfeit of lampreys". He'd travelled to Lyons-la-Forêt on a hunting trip and was apparently healthy when he arrived. However, he ate too many lampreys, a type of fish, against his doctor's advice, and it made him ill. Food poisoning? An allergy? A medical condition that meant he should have been following a strict diet? We don't know, but a week later he died, sparking off a succession crisis. The only legitimate heir was Matilda, but English barons didn't want to be ruled over by a woman. The result was a civil war between those who supported Matilda and those who wanted Henry's nephew Stephen to be king.