KING HENRY I,

King Henry I, was born in the month of May in either 1068 or 1069, in Selby Yorkshire, the fourth and youngest son of William the Conqueror and his wife Matilda, who herself was descended from King Alfred the Great.

He was named after his mother Matilda's uncle, Henry I of France and as the youngest son in the family, it was expected that he would enter the Church, and become a bishop, as was the usual case for the youngest son of the Monarchs in those days.

With that scenario in mind he received an excellent and extensive education at Abingdon Abbey in Berkshire. He was taught to read and write in English, and studied latin and English Law.

King Henry I, was the first Norman King of England to be fluent in English. This, together with his first class education and wide ranging knowledge, earned him the title ' Beauclerc ' meaning ' Fine Scholar. '

William of Malmesbury, the Chronicler said Henry once remarked that an unlettered King was a crowned ass. He certainly took great pride in the title ' Beauclerc. '

On 9th September 1087, William the Conqueror was thrown from his horse whilst riding through the ruins of the town of Mantes, which had been sacked after he had successfully lay siege to it.

Suffering fatal abdominal injuries from the saddle pommel as he fell, he was carried to the convent of St. Gervais in Rouen, which was the Norman capital.

There in the presence of his two younger sons, William and Henry, (the Conqueror's second son, Richard had been killed in a hunting accident in 1081), he bequeathed England to William Rufus his second surviving and also his favourite son.

The Duchy of Normandy, despite his reluctance, he left to his eldest son Robert Curthose and 5,000 silver pounds to his youngest son Henry.

This resulted in many disputes between the brothers, leaving men with lands in both England and Normandy, being forced to take sides with one or the other, while unintentionally antagonizing the other.

This situation carried on until 1095 when Pope Urban II announced the first crusade and Robert decided to go, leaving the Duchy of Normandy in William's hands for a term of three years, in return for a sum of ten thousand marks.

The agreed three year term had passed and Robert Curthose had not yet returned from the First Crusade, when on 2nd August 1100, King William Rufus was killed in suspicious circumstances whilst out hunting in the New Forest, an area which covers south-west Hampshire, extending into south-east Wiltshire.

It had been created by William the Conqueror in about the year 1079, as a royal forest for private hunting, at the expense of many small farms. Hence the term new, which meant a single area made out of several smaller ones.

There has been speculation ever since as to what actually did happen that day, but this is, just speculation. He was killed by an arrow in the chest, but under what circumstances he met his death, will never be known.

With the king that day, were Gilbert de Clare (the grandfather of Richard de Clare, who would become immortalised as Strongbow), his younger brother Roger and Walter Tyrell (or Tirel), who was married to the de Clare's sister. Also present that day was William Rufus' younger brother Henry.

An arrow was fired by Walter Tirel at a stag which missed the target and hit King William in the chest killing him almost instantly. Tirel, it appears jumped on his horse, made off at great speed and escaping to France, never returned to England again.

Prince Henry, left his brothers' body on the floor where it had fallen and rode straight for Winchester at full speed to secure the treasury.

When finished at Winchester, he raced off to London, again at full speed, to be crowned King of England, by Bishop Maurice at Westminster Abbey, within three days of the death of William Rufus, on 5th August 1100.

There has always been a suspicion that, when Henry heard his brother, Robert Curthose was returning alive from the crusade, he decided to take action and arranged the murder of William Rufus, by Walter Tirel.

Certainly, everyone present at the hunt that day benefitted enormously by the death of King William II. However, some contemporary chroniclers accepted that his death had indeed been an accident.

In defiance of a pact between his two brothers, Robert Curthose and William Rufus, that if either one of them died without an heir, their two dominions would be reunited under whichever one of them survived, King Henry I had now succeeded to the throne of England.The main objective now for King Henry I was to secure the throne, and this he set about doing immediately.

He had already been accepted by some of the leading barons, but he went further by issuing a charter of liberties, which is seen as a forerunner of Magna Carta. Thus by an act of political appeasement, he found favour with the rest of the nobility.

Having promised the nobility that he would return to the ways of his father, William the Conqueror, he began looking for a suitable wife and found one in Edith, the daughter of King Malcolm of Scotland.

Her mother was St. Margaret of Scotland, who was the great-grandaughter of the Saxon King, Edmund Ironside (half brother of King Edward the Confessor).

Although the marriage was not pleasing to the Norman barons, since it united the Norman line with the old English line of kings, it did make King Henry I, immensely more popular with the Anglo Saxon population. In a concession to the Norman barons, Edith changed her name to Matilda on becoming queen.

King Henry I to be continued.

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