Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/690

656 H E N K Y 1 [OF ENGLAND. England to wrest the crown from the usurper. He landed at Portsmouth (August 1, 1101), but before a blow was struck the brothers came to terms. Robert recognized Hmry as king of England, and returned to Normandy. Hanry s vengeance fell upon his brother s partisans, and R >bert of Belesme and several others were banished from the country and lost their English estates. Secure in England, Henry carried the war into the enemy s country. His brother s misgovernment gave him both pretext and opportunity. After two or three expeditions, the struggle was brought to a close by the battle of Tenchebrai (Sep tember 28, 1106), in which Robert was taken prisoner. HJ remained in captivity till his death in 1134, and Nor mandy passed into the possession of the English king. This cjnquest at once brought Henry into collision with France. Louis the Fat was a constant supporter of Henry s rebellious vassals, and of his rival and nephew, William, son of Robert. Henceforward Henry had to spend most of his time in the d achy. A war with France (1111-1113) ended in a peace which brought some advantages to Henry. Louis gave up .his claim to the sovereignty of Maine and Brittany, and Honry was able to carry his old opponent, Robert of Bjlesme, to England, where he was imprisoned for the rest of his life. Henry had already, though in vain, attempted to secure the aid of Flanders by two treaties with Count Robert (1103, 1108). He now sought a mightier ally in the emperor Henry V., to whom he mar ried his daughter Matilda (January 7, 1114). Another war with France, which broke out in 1116, and in which Louis took up the cause of William, son of Robert, against his uncle, was marked by the battle of Noyon (1119). At a council at Rheilm (1119) Louis accused Hyary before Pope Calixtus of rebellion and usurpation. Hinry, however, pleaded his own cause before the pope at Gisors so persuasively that Calixtus brought about a peace between the two kings (1120) on the basis of a mutual restoration of conquests. Daring the war Henry had s-iffared a severe loss in the death of his queen Matilda. He now felt it more than ever necessary to take measures for securing the succession to his only son William. The baronage of Normandy and England were made to do homage to the young prince (1119), who shortly afterwards married Matilda, daughter of Fulk of Anjou, an alliance by which Henry hoped to turn a dangerous foe into a firm friend, and to secure at least the chance of a rich inherit ance. All these hopes were, however, shattered by the death of William (1120). Deprived of an heir to his throne, Henry now married Adeliza, daughter of Godfrey, count of Louvain (1121), but the marriage unfortunately proved childless. Shortly afterwards another rebellion, headed by Count Waleran of Meulan, broke out in Nor mandy (1123). The rebels were emboldened by the assist ance of the king of France and the count of Anjou, but ware entirely defeated at Bourgtheroulde (1124). The terrible vengeance taken by Henry on this occasion, to gether with the death of William, son of Robert, in 1128, seems to have finally crushed the opposition in Normandy. The death of Duke Robert in 1134 removed the last object round which the schemes of rebellion or the intrigues of France could centre. Meanwhile Henry had recalled his diughter Matilda, now a widow, from Germany. In de fault of an heir to the throne, he made the witan swear to accept h^r as Lady of England and Normandy (Christmas 1126). Next year he gave her in marriage to Geoffrey, sou of Fulk, count of Anjou, hoping thereby to secure the objects frustrated by the death of his son. Fate, however, thwarted the immediate success of these schemes. The annals of England, after the expulsion of Robert of Belesme, are uneventful. In his ecclesiastical policy Henry, without giving up the control over the church which his father had asserted, was forced to recognize to a certain extent the advancing claims of Rome. His dispute with Anselm was conducted with good temper on both sides, and was brought to a satisfactory conclusion. Anselm had made no objection to the ecclesiastical supremacy claimed by Rufus, but the decrees of the Lateran Council (1099) obliged him to resist a similar claim when put forward by Henry I. He refused to do homage to his new king, or to consecrate the bishops whom Henry invested, according to ancient custom, with the symbols of ecclesiastical dignity. Neither side would give way. Henry continued to make bishops as before, and Anselm refused to consecrate them. In 1103 he left England. For the next three years the affairs of Normandy hindered the settlement of the ques tion, but a compromise was effected in 1107. The pope, Paschal II., consented that homage should be done to the king, while Henry gave up his claim to investiture with the ring and staff. The question thus settled was not re opened till the days of Becket. In other respects Henry acquiesced in the tendency of the time towards ecclesiastical separatism, and countenanced the decrees of the synod of 1102, which forbade the marriage of the clergy and the tenure of temporal offices by ecclesiastics. He showed his care for the church by the establishment of two new sees, those of Ely (1109) and Carlisle (1133), taken respectively from the unwieldy dioceses of Lincoln and York. In the old quarrel between York and Canterbury, Henry supported the claims of the southern metropolitan against Archbishop Thurstan. On Anselm s death, Henry was guilty of leaving the see vacant for five years, but in his other deal ings with the church he seems to have been actuated by worthy motives. He refused, however, to open her high places to Englishmen, and till near the end of his reign no native attained the dignity of prelate. The same exclusive spirit made itself felt in the appointments to temporal office. But although political liberty and influence were not granted to Englishmen under Henry I., the English nation as a whole acquiesced gladly in his rule. Its chief wants were justice and order, and protection from feudal tyranny ; and these blessings it obtained. The necessities of his position compelled Henry to rely mainly on his English subjects. As a counterpoise to the local influence of the baronage, he did his best to restore to activity the old popular institu tions of the hundred and the county-court, of tithings and frankpledge, of watch and ward. His frequent progresses through the country, for judicial and other purposes, form a link between the annual courts held by the Conqueror and the regular circuits of the justices established by Henry II. In the administration of justice and the toils of government he relied on new men, raised from the ranks and dependent on himself for their position. The older baronage he habitually depressed, and every unsuccessful rebellion thinned the ranks of the feudal nobility, while it tightened the link between the king and the nation. Thus secure at home, Henry was dreaded by his neigh bours within the four seas. Over Scotland, Ireland, and Wales a sort of ecclesiastical supremacy was recognized. On the northern frontier there was peace throughout the reign ; on the western there was more disturbance. Henry settled a colony of Flemings in Pembroke (1111), and made two expeditions into Wales (1114, 1121), in one of which he received the submission of several Welsh princes. The profound peace which England enjoyed for a period of thirty -four years is the best testimony to Henry s merits as a king. As a man his character is not admirable, nor yet wholly to be condemned. He was hard, merciless, and unforgiving, but not wantonly cruel. He sometimes dis played a grim humour which reminds one of his father ; but he never gave way to the vices and brutality of Rufus,

nor to the jovial good-humour which was so winning in his