General Notes

[passmore4.ged]

[more information in the royal database: http://www.dcs.hull.ac.uk/cgi-bin/gedlkup/n=royal?royal01391]

(from Pemble website http://www.my-ged.com/db/page/pemble/4999)

Longest reign of any of the Norman kings of England, 35 years.

Henry played both sides in his brothers' quarrel. Consequently, they both mistrusted Henry and signed a pact barring Henry from the crown. Henry's hopes rose when Robert went with the crusades

Henry was in the woods hunting on August 2, 1100, when William died. Henry moved quickly and was crowned on August 5, 1100.  Robert was captured on his return from the holy land and spent the remaining 28 years of his life as Henry's prisoner.

After the death in 1125 of his daughter Matilda's husband, Emporer Henry V of Germany, he forced the nobles to accept her as Queen on his death. She was then forced to marry the 16 year old Geoffrey of Anjou (founder of the Plantaganet dynasty) to continue the Angevin alliance.  The marriage was unpopular among the Norman barons and Henry was forced to acquire another oath of Allegiance from them.

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from Raven website http://genweb.net/~raven/html/d15.htm#P248

Henry I Beauclerc King Of England  was born in Sep 1068 in Selby, North Yorkshire, England.(19) He died on 1 Dec 1135 in Angers, Normandy, France.(19) He was a 8th Duke of Normandy. He was buried in Reading Abbey, Berkshire, England. (19) Henry I  "Henry Beauclerk"  1100-1135

As the fourth son of William the Conqueror it was something of a surprise when Henry became King of England. The deaths of two of his three elder brothers, however suspicious, coupled with the banishment of a third were to see him succeed to this office.

Henry was known as Beauclerk due to his ability to read fluently. This ability had not been witnessed in a King of England since Alfred the Great. His other sobriquet of 'Lion of Justice' derives from his formation of basic laws to govern England. These laws were harshly enforced.  Henry is said to have been very alike to his brother, William Rufus in that he was avaricious, lustful and cruel. He was a calculating man and his marriage to Matilda,
the daughter of King Malcolm III of Scotland virtually allayed any fears of an invasion from north of the border.
The major threat to Henry was his surviving brother, Robert, who had been handed the Dukedom of Normandy by their father. Robert and Henry had been in alliance to gain the throne of England, it is said for Robert. This threat was countered once and for all following the Battle of Tinchobrai in 1106. After this battle Robert was imprisoned in Cardiff Castle for the rest of his days.

Henry was married twice. His first wife, the previously mentioned Matilda, gave him three children; William, who died in the wreck of the White Ship in 1120; Matilda or Maud who married Geoffrey Count of Anjou and another son who died in infancy.  As Henry had no direct heir to the throne he bequeathed the crown to his favourite nephew, Stephen.  Henry died in Normandy in November 1135, after eating a surfeit of lampreys. (source: Henry I [http://www.camelotintl.com/heritage/heni.html])

Henry I (born 1068, ruled 1100-35). The youngest son of William the Conqueror was born in England. His nickname, Beauclerc, which means "good scholar," was given him because of his fine education. He seized the crown in the year 1100, when his brother King William II was killed in a hunting accident and his brother Robert, duke of Normandy, who was next in the line of succession, was absent on a crusade (see William, Kings of England).
At his accession Henry I issued the famous Charter of Liberties, which, over a hundred years later, was used as the basis of Magna Carta, the foundation of the liberties of the Anglo-Saxon world. He also favored the church in order to gain its backing against the claims of his brother Robert to the English throne.  The Charter of Liberties helped gain Henry the support of the nobles. He conciliated the English, conquered by his father, by marrying Matilda, who was the daughter of King Malcolm III of Scotland and who was descended from the Anglo-Saxon kings. The support of the common people was assured by the justice he administered through the King's Court.
Henry's only son, William Aetheling, was drowned in 1120 when the White Ship sank in the English Channel.  according to legend, the king never smiled again. The accident left his daughter Matilda, widow of the Holy Roman emperor Henry V, and his nephew Stephen contestants for the throne at his death.

(19) Royal database, http://www.camelotintl.com/royal/search.html
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Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia
Copyright (c) 1994, 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Henry I (of England)
Henry I (of England) (1068-1135), third Norman king of England (1100-35), fourth son of William the Conqueror. Henry was born in Selby. Because his father, who died in 1087, left him no land, Henry made several unsuccessful attempts to gain territories on the Continent. On the death of his brother William II in 1100, Henry took advantage of the absence of another brother-Robert (circa 1054-1134), who had a prior claim to the throne-to seize the royal treasury and have himself crowned king at Westminster. Henry subsequently secured his position with the nobles and with the church by issuing a charter of liberties that acknowledged the feudal rights of the nobles and the rights of the church. In 1101 Robert, who was duke of Normandy, invaded England, but Henry persuaded him to withdraw by promising him a pension and military aid on the Continent. In 1102 Henry put down a revolt of nobles, who subsequently took refuge in Normandy, where they were aided by Robert. By defeating Robert at Tinchebray, France, in 1106, Henry won Normandy. During the rest of his reign, however, he constantly had to put
down uprisings that threatened his rule in Normandy. The conflict between Henry and Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, over the question of lay investiture (the appointment of church officials by the king), was settled in 1107 by a compromise that left the king with substantial control in the matter.  Because he had no surviving male heir, Henry was forced to designate his daughter Matilda (1102-67) as his heiress. After his death on December 1, 1135, at Lyons-la-Fôret, Normandy, however, Henry's nephew, Stephen of Blois, usurped the throne, plunging the country into a protracted civil war that ended only with the accession of Matilda's son, Henry II, in 1154.