HENRY I, king of England

Beginning in 1091 he fought against his elder brothers, King William II and Robert 11, duke of Normandy, but made peace with the former in 1094. He was hunting with William in the New Forest when the latter was killed by an arrow in 1100. Proceeding immediately to Winchester, he had himself elected king instead of Robert, who was on his way home from the First Crusade. To reconcile the kingdom to his usurpation, Henry issued a charter which was to form the basis of the Magna Carta; recalled Anselm (q.v.), archbishop of Canterbury, who had been in exile since 1097; and married Matilda, daughter of King Malcolm III of Scotland and descendant of the Anglo-Saxon kings. When Robert landed an army in England in 1101, actual hostilities were averted by Anselm.

War between the two brothers broke out four years later, however, and in 1106 Henry defeated and captured Robert and conquered Normandy. Robert remained a prisoner until his death in 1134, but his son, William Clito (d. 1128), escaped from custody and, securing the assistance of King Louis VI of France, involved Henry in wars for the duchy (1109-1113, 1116-1120).

In both England and Normandy, Henry was considered a just ruler, though cruel even by the standards of the time. He restored the coinage and effected a number of administrative and judicial reforms. Although he had many natural children, his only legitimate son, William Atheling, was drowned in the sinking of the White Ship in 1120. He therefore attempted to secure the succession for his only legitimate daughter, Matilda, widow of Emperor Henry V (in 1128 she was married to Geoffrey Plantagenet, son of Fulk V, count of Anjou), but on his death his nephew Stephen was crowned king.
Consult: Davis, Henry W. C., England Under the Normans and Angevins, 13th ed. (London 1949) ; Poole, Austin L., From Domesday Book to Magna Carta, 1087- 1216, 2d ed. (Oxford 1955).