Henry I Beauclerc, King of England, Duke of Normandy (Selby, 1068 - Lyons-la-Forêt, 1 December 1135)

The third son of William the Conqueror who succeeded his brother William Rufus on the English throne (1100) and in Normandy succeeded his brother Robert Curthose, whom he expelled from England (1101) and defeated in the Battle of Tinchebray (28 September 1106) in Normandy. Henry thereby re-unified the Anglo-Norman world and called upon the military and financial resources of his kingdom to restore his ducal power. However, the intrigues of King Louis VI, in favour of William Clito, son of Robert Curthose, set the Norman barons against him. Henry surmounted these difficulties by the severity he showed in dealing with rebels and the instigators of private wars, and he inflicted a severe defeat upon the King of France and his own rebellious barons at Brémule in 1119. Henry built or restored many castles under his authority, especially on the Vexin frontier. On the death of his son and heir in the White Ship (1120), the succession was claimed both by his daughter Matilda and by his nephew Stephen of Blois.

Bibliography :

- François Neveux. - La Normandie des ducs aux rois, Xe-XIIe s. - Rennes : Ouest-France, 1998.
- Jean Favier. - Dictionnaire de la France médiévale. - Paris : Fayard, 1993.
- Henri Ier Beauclerc, roi d'Angleterre, duc de Normandie, seigneur de Domfront. - Le Domfrontais médiéval, XII, 1992.