man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.
Born ‎± 1068 at Selby, Yorkshire, England, died ‎ 1135 at St Denis-Ie-Fermont, Normandy‎, approximately 67 years, buried ‎ at Reading Abbey
1ST KING OF ENGLAND; DIED AGE 67; ARSC 121:25.

To my (Roger W. Winget - Genealogy@Winget.com) knowledge,
this individual was still alive as of May 2000.


Acquired from Roger W. Winget (Genealogy@Winget.com)

Henry I, Beauclerc
(1100-1135 AD)

Born: 1068

Died: 1135

Parents: William the Conqueror and Mathilda of Flanders

Significant Siblings: Robert, William Rufus

Spouse: (1st) Eadgyth, daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland; (2nd)Adelaide of Louvain

Significant Offspring: William, Matilda, Robert de Mellent (Earl ofGloucester), Sibylla

Contemporaries: Louis VI ("Louis the Fat", King of France, 1108-1137),Roger of Salisbury, Anselm (Archbishop of Canterbury), Pope Pascal II
Henry I, the most resilient of the Norman kings (his reign lastedthirty-five years), was nicknamed "Beauclerc" (fine scholar) for hisabove average education. During his reign, the differences betweenEnglish and Norman society began to slowly evaporate. Reforms in theroyal treasury system became the foundation upon which later kings built.The stability Henry afforded the throne was offset by problems insuccession: his only surviving son, William, was lost in the wreck of theWhite Ship in November 1120.

The first years of Henry's reign were concerned with subduing Normandy.William the Conqueror divided his kingdoms between Henry's olderbrothers, leaving England to William Rufus and Normandy to Robert. Henryinherited no land but received £5000 in silver. He played each brotheroff of the other during their quarrels; both distrusted Henry andsubsequently signed a mutual accession treaty barring Henry from thecrown. Henry's hope arose when Robert departed for the Holy Land on theFirst Crusade; should William die, Henry was the obvious heir. Henry wasin the woods hunting on the morning of August 2, 1100 when William Rufuswas killed by an arrow. His quick movement in securing the crown onAugust 5 led many to believe he was responsible for his brother's death.In his coronation charter, Henry denounced William's oppressive policiesand promising good government in an effort to appease his barons. Robertreturned to Normandy a few weeks later but escaped final defeat until theBattle of Tinchebrai in 1106; Robert was captured and lived the remainingtwenty-eight years of his life as Henry's prisoner.

Henry was drawn into controversy with a rapidly expanding Church. Layinvestiture, the king's selling of clergy appointments, was heavilyopposed by Gregorian reformers in the Church but was a cornerstone ofNorman government. Henry recalled Anselm of Bec to the archbishopric ofCanterbury to gain baronial support, but the stubborn Anselm refused todo homage to Henry for his lands. The situation remained unresolved untilPope Paschal II threatened Henry with excommunication in 1105. He reacheda compromise with the papacy: Henry rescinded the king's divine authorityin conferring sacred offices but appointees continued to do homage fortheir fiefs. In practice, it changed little - the king maintained thedeciding voice in appointing ecclesiastical offices - but it a marked apoint where kingship became purely secular and subservient in the eyes ofthe Church.

By 1106, both the quarrels with the church and the conquest of Normandywere settled and Henry concentrated on expanding royal power. He mixedgenerosity with violence in motivating allegiance to the crown andappointing loyal and gifted men to administrative positions. By raisingmen out of obscurity for such appointments, Henry began to rely less onlanded barons as ministers and created a loyal bureaucracy. He was deeplyinvolved in continental affairs and therefore spent almost half of histime in Normandy, prompting him to create the position of justiciar - themost trusted of all the king's officials, the justiciar literally ruledin the king's stead. Roger of Salisbury, the first justiciar, wasinstrumental in organizing an efficient department for collection ofroyal revenues, the Exchequer. The Exchequer held sessions twice a yearfor sheriffs and other revenue-collecting officials; these officialsappeared before the justiciar, the chancellor, and several clerks andrendered an account of their finances. The Exchequer was an ingeniousdevice for balancing amounts owed versus amounts paid. Henry gainednotoriety for sending out court officials to judge local financialdisputes (weakening the feudal courts controlled by local lords) and curberrant sheriffs (weakening the power bestowed upon the sheriffs by hisfather).

The final years of his reign were consumed in war with France anddifficulties ensuring the succession. The French King Louis VI beganconsolidating his kingdom and attacked Normandy unsuccessfully on threeseparate occasions. The succession became a concern upon the death of hisson William in 1120: Henry's marriage to Adelaide was fruitless, leavinghis daughter Matilda as the only surviving legitimate heir. She wasrecalled to Henry's court in 1125 after the death of her husband, EmperorHenry V of Germany. Henry forced his barons to swear an oath ofallegiance to Matilda in 1127 after he arranged her marriage to thesixteen-year-old Geoffrey of Anjou to cement an Angevin alliance on thecontinent. The marriage, unpopular with the Norman barons, produced amale heir in 1133, which prompted yet another reluctant oath of loyaltyfrom the aggravated barons. In the summer of 1135, Geoffrey demandedcustody of certain key Norman castles as a show of good will from Henry;Henry refused and the pair entered into war. Henry's life ended in thissorry state of affairs - war with his son-in-law and rebellion on thehorizon - in December 1135.

Third surviving son of WIlliam the Conqueror.

Henry had at least 20 illegimate children. (The Kings & Queens ofBritain, John Cannon and Anne Hargreaves, Oxford University Press, page184, printed 2001)

Henry

Kings of England. Henry I, 1068-1135 (r.1100-1135), was the youngest sonof William I. On the death of his brother William Ii, he had himselfelected and crowned king while his older brother, Robert Ii, duke ofNormandy, was on crusade. In 1101 Robert invaded England, but Henrybought him off. Henry invaded Normandy in 1105, defeated his brother, andbecame duke of Normandy. In the meantime he had been involved in astruggle with Anselm over lay investiture. His later years were marked byhis attempts to obtain the succession for his daughter Matilda. UnderHenry's reign of order and progress, royal justice was strengthened.Henry II, 1133-89 (r.1154-89), was the son of Matilda and Geoffrey Iv,count of Anjou. Founder of the Angevin, or Plantagenet, line, he becameduke of Normandy in 1150 and in 1152 married Eleanor Of Aquitaine, thusgaining vast territories in France. In 1153 he invaded England and forcedStephen to acknowledge him as his heir. As king he restored order towar-ravaged England, subdued the barons, centralized the power ofgovernment in royalty, and strengthened royal courts. Henry's desire toincrease royal authority brought him into conflict with Thomas à Becket,whom he had made (1162) archbishop of Canterbury. The quarrel, whichfocused largely on the jurisdiction of the church courts, came to a headwhen Henry issued (1163) the Constitutions of Clarendon, defining therelationship between church and state, and ended (1170) with Becket'smurder, for which Henry was forced by public indignation to do penance.During his reign he gained northern counties from Scotland and increasedhis French holdings. He was also involved in family struggles. Encouragedby their mother and Louis Vi of France, his three oldest sons, Henry,Richard I, and Geoffrey, rebelled (1173-74) against him. The rebellioncollapsed, but at the time of Henry's death, Richard and the youngestson, John, were in the course of another rebellion. Henry III, 1207-72(r.1216-72), was the son of John. He became king under a regency and wasgranted full powers of kingship in 1227. In 1230, against the advice ofthe chief justiciar, Hubert de Burgh, he led an unsuccessful expeditionto Gascony and Brittany. He dismissed Hubert in 1232 and began a reign ofextravagance and general incapacity, spending vast sums on futile wars inFrance. Henry's absolutism, his reliance on French favorites, and hissubservience to the papacy aroused the hostility of the barons. Hisattempt to put his son, Edmund, earl of Lancaster, on the throne ofSicily (given to Henry by the pope) eventually led to the Barons' War.Simon de Montfort, the barons' leader, won at Lewes and summoned (1265) afamous Parliament, but Henry's son Edward I led royal troops to victoryat Evesham (1265), where de Montfort was killed. By 1267 the barons hadcapitulated, Prince Edward ruled the realm, and Henry was king in nameonly. Henry IV, 1367-1413, (r.1399-1413), was the son of John Of Gaunt.In 1387 he joined the opposition to Richard Ii and was one of the five"lords appellant" who ruled England from 1388 to 1389. In 1398 Richardbanished Henry and, after John's death in 1399, seized the family's vastLancastrian holdings. Counting on the king's unpopularity and his absencein Ireland, Henry invaded England and successfully claimed the throne,thus establishing the Lancastrian dynasty. His reign was spentsuppressing rebellions, notably by Richard's followers; by the Scots; bythe Welsh under Owen Glendower; and by Sir Henry Percy. He left thekingdom militarily secure but in debt. His son, Henry V, 1387-1422(r.1413-22), presided over the privy council during his father's illness.As prince of Wales (Shakespeare's "Prince Hal"), he led armies againstOwen Glendower and figured largely in the victory over the Percys. Theearly years of his reign were troubled by the rebellion of the Lollards(see Lollardry). Determined to regain lands he believed to be his, heinvaded France in 1415, thus reopening the Hundred Years War. Afterannouncing his claim to the French throne, he met and defeated a superiorFrench force at the famous battle of Agincourt. By 1420 he had conqueredNormandy, married Catherine Of Valois, and persuaded her father, CharlesVi of France, to name him his successor. He fell ill and died in 1422. Asking he ruled with justice and industry, restoring civil order and thenational spirit. Though his wars left the crown in debt, his charm,military genius, and care for his less fortunate subjects made him apopular hero. His son, Henry VI, 1421-71 (r.1422-61, 1470-71), becameking when he was not yet nine months old. During his early years Englandwas under the protectorate of two of his uncles. After their defeat atOrléans by Joan Of Arc, the English attempted to protect their Frenchinterests by crowning Henry king of France at Paris in 1431, but theircause was hopeless. Henry's rule was dominated by factions, and therewere many riots and uprisings indicating public dissatisfaction with thegovernment. The struggle between the faction headed by Henry's wife,Margaret Of Anjou, and Edmund Beaufort, duke of Somerset, and that headedby Richard, duke of York, developed into the dynastic battle between theLancasters and Yorks known as the Wars of the Roses. Henry went insane in1453. In 1455 Somerset was killed in the battle of St. Albans, and theYorkists gained control of the government. Margaret had control from 1456until 1460, when the Yorkists won a victory at Northampton and Henry wastaken prisoner. York, who had been named Henry's successor, was killed atWakefield in 1460, but his son Edward Iv defeated the Lancastrians andwas proclaimed king. Later he fled to Holland, and Henry was briefly(1470-71) restored. In 1471 Edward retook the throne, and Henry wasmurdered in the Tower of London. Henry was a mild, honest, pious man, apatron of literature and the arts, and the founder (1440) of EtonCollege. He was also unstable, weak-willed, and politically naïve. HenryVII, 1457-1509 (r.1485-1509), became head of the house of Lancaster atHenry VI's death. In 1485 he invaded England from France and defeated theforces of Richard Iii at the battle of Bosworth Field. The next year hemarried Edward IV's daughter, Elizabeth, thus uniting the houses of Yorkand Lancaster and founding the Tudor dynasty. Although his accessionmarked the end of the Wars of the Roses, the early years of his reignwere disturbed by Yorkist attempts to regain the throne, e.g., theimpersonations of Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck. He consolidatedEnglish rule in Ireland (1494) and effected a peace treaty with Scotland(1499), which was followed by the marriage of his daughter Margaret toJames Iv of Scotland. He established the Tudor tradition of autocraticrule tempered by justice and increased the powers of the Star Chambercourt. His son Henry VIII, 1491-1547 (r.1509-47), married his brotherArthur's widow, Katharine Of Aragón, who bore him a daughter, Mary I. Hischief minister, Thomas Wolsey, concluded an alliance with Francis I ofFrance. but Henry (despite the Field Of The Cloth Of Gold) joined (1522)Emperor Charles V in a war against France. England prospered internallyunder Wolsey, who had almost complete control. The court became a centerof learning, and the pope gave Henry the title "Defender of the Faith"for a treatise he wrote against Martin Luther. By 1527 Henry, desiring amale heir, wished to marry Anne Boleyn, but Pope Clement Vii, under thecontrol of Katharine's nephew, Charles V, resisted his demands for adivorce. Wolsey's failure in this affair caused his downfall, and ThomasCromwell became chief minister. An anti-ecclesiastical policy wasadopted, and the subservient Thomas Cranmer became archbishop ofCanterbury. He immediately pronounced Henry's marriage to Katharineinvalid. Papal powers were transferred to the king, who became thesupreme head of the English church. The break with Rome was now complete,and the Church of England was established. Anne, whom Henry immediatelymarried, had one daughter, Elizabeth I. The marriage ended in 1536, whenAnne was convicted of adultery and beheaded. Ten days later Henry marriedJane Seymour, who died in 1537 giving birth to Edward Vi. The king dealtharshly with rebellions against the abolition of papal supremacy and thedissolution of the monasteries. In 1537 he licensed the publication ofthe Bible in English. His marriage (1540) to Anne Of Cleves (whom hedisliked and soon divorced) led to the execution of Cromwell. He thenmarried Catherine Howard, who suffered (1542) Anne Boleyn's fate. In 1543Catherine Parr became his sixth queen. In 1542 war with Scotland beganagain, and Henry made unsuccessful attempts to unite the two kingdoms.Wales was officially incorporated into England (1536), but the conquestof Ireland proved too expensive. The end of Henry's reign saw a gradualmove toward Protestantism. Henry remained immensely popular, despite hisadvancement of personal desires under the guise of public policy or moralright. His political insight, however, grew steadily better, and thepower of Parliament increased. He gave England a comparatively peacefulreign

Married ‎ Jan 29, 1122 at Westminster,Abbey,London,England (12 or 13 years married) to:

N.N.‎


2nd marriage/ relation
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married/ Related to:

N.N.‎


3rd marriage
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married ‎± 1086 at Of,,,England (approximately 49 years married) to:

N.N.‎


4th marriage
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married ‎ Jan 24, 1120/1121 at ,Windsor,Berkshire,England (approximately 15 years married) to:

N.N.‎


5th marriage
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married ‎ at Unmd. to:

N.N.‎


6th marriage/ relation
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married/ Related to:

N.N.‎


7th marriage/ relation
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married/ Related to:



8th marriage/ relation
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married/ Related to:

N.N.‎


9th marriage
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married ‎ at Unmd to:

N.N.‎


10th marriage/ relation
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married/ Related to:

N.N.‎


11th marriage/ relation
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married/ Related to:

N.N.‎


12th marriage/ relation
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married/ Related to:

N.N.‎


13th marriage/ relation
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married/ Related to:

N.N.‎


14th marriage/ relation
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married/ Related to:

N.N.‎


15th marriage/ relation
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married/ Related to:

N.N.‎


16th marriage/ relation
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married/ Related to:

N.N.‎


17th marriage/ relation
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married/ Related to:

woman Concubine 2‏‎
Born ‎± ABT. 1070 at Westiminister, England‎

Child:

1.
man William de Tracy‏
Born ‎± ABT. 1085 at Westminister, England, died ‎ 1135‎, approximately 50 years


18th marriage/ relation
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married/ Related to:

woman Sibyl Adela Lucy Corbert‏‎
Born ‎ 1070 at Alcester, Warwickshire, England, died ‎ 1157‎, 86 or 87 years

Children:

1.
woman Gundrada‏‎
2.
woman Rohese‏‎
3.
man Robert de Gloucester Earl of Gloucester Earl of Gloucester‏
Born ‎ 1090, died ‎ Oct 31, 1147‎, 56 or 57 years
4.
woman Sybilla‏‎
Born ‎ 1092‎
5.
man William‏‎
Born ‎ 1105‎
6.
man Reginald de Cornwall‏‎
Born ‎ 1110‎


19th marriage/ relation
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married/ Related to:

woman Concubine 1‏‎

Child:

1.
woman Elizabeth Beauclerc Princess of England Princess of England‏
Born ‎± ABT. 1095 at Talby, Yorkshire, England‎
Henry I was not a Plantagenet, either this Elizabeth's last name is wrongor Henry is not her father.


20th marriage/ relation
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married/ Related to:

woman Concubine 3‏‎

Child:

1.
woman Matilda Beauclerc‏
Born ‎ 1086 at England‎


21th marriage/ relation
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married/ Related to:

woman Edith‏‎

Child:

1.
woman Matilda Beauclerc‏
Born ‎ 1090, died ‎ 1120‎, 29 or 30 years


22th marriage
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married ‎ Nov 11, 1100 (17 years married) to:

woman Matilda Dunkeld of Scotland‏‎, daughter of N.N. and N.N.‏.
Also known as: /Edith/, born ‎ Oct 1079 at Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland, died ‎ May 1, 1118 at Westminister Palace, London, England‎, 38 years
Neice of Edgar the Atheling, bringing together the pre conquest Saxonroyalty and the Norman royalty upon her marriage to Henry.

Edith - Margaret (Matilda) of Scotland, born in 1080 and died in 1118,married Henry I. Beauclerc, King of England, son of William I TheConqueror (ruler from 1066 to 1087) and his wife, Matilda of Flanders,who died in 1083. Matilda was educated at Wilton and Romsey Abbey whereshe said that her aunt, Christina, forced her to wear a black veil. Shethrew it on the ground whenever left alone, in spite of beatings. Whenher mother died she came to England to Edgar Atheling, her uncle. She wasa sister of King David of Scotland; she was a correspondent of Anselm andHildebert, Bishop of Le Mans, who wrote poetry about her. She was asymbol of the union of Saxon and Norman. She was Henry's Queen forseventeen years and six months, and died in her prime like most of herfamily. Henry and Matilda had a son and a daughter as follows:


1. William, Duke of Normandy, died in a shipwreck in 1119.

2. Matilda (Maud the Empress). See below.

Children:

1.
woman Matilda Empress of Germany Queen of England‏
Also known as: /Adelaide/, born ‎ Aug 5, 1102 at Winchester, Hampshire, England, died ‎ Sep 10, 1169 at Notre Dame, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Normandy‎, 67 years
Empress Matilda (1141 AD)
Matilda is the Latin form of Maud, and the name of the only survivinglegitimate child of King Henry I. She was born in 1101, generally it issaid at Winchester, but recent research indicates that she was actuallyborn at the Royal Palace in Sutton Courtenay (Berkshire).

In something of a political coup for her father, Matilda was betrothed tothe German Emperor, Henry V, when she was only eight. They were marriedon 7th January 1114. She was twelve and he was thirty-two. Unfortunatelythere were no children and on the Emperor's death in 1125, Matilda wasrecalled to her father's court.

Matilda's only legitimate brother had been killed in the disastrous Wreckof the White Ship in late 1120 and she was now her father's only hope forthe continuation of his dynasty. The barons swore allegiance to the youngPrincess and promised to make her queen after her father's death. Sheherself needed heirs though and in April 1127, Matilda found herselfobliged to marry Prince Geoffrey of Anjou and Maine (the future GeoffreyV, Count of those Regions). He was thirteen, she twenty-three. It isthought that the two never got on. However, despite this unhappysituation they had had three sons in four years.

Being absent in Anjou at the time of her father's death on 1st December1135, possibly due to pregnancy, Matilda was not in much of a position totake up the throne which had been promised her and she quickly lost outto her fast-moving cousin, Stephen. With her husband, she attempted totake Normandy. With encouragement from supporters in England though, itwas not long before Matilda invaded her rightful English domain and sobegan a long-standing Civil War from the powerbase of her half-brother,Robert of Gloucester, in the West Country.

After three years of armed struggle, she at last gained the upper hand atthe Battle of Lincoln, in February 1141, where King Stephen was captured.However, despite being declared Queen or "Lady of the English" atWinchester and winning over Stephen's brother, Henry of Blois, thepowerful Bishop of Winchester, Matilda alienated the citizens of Londonwith her arrogant manner. She failed to secure her coronation and theLondoners joined a renewed push from Stephen's Queen and laid siege tothe Empress in Winchester. She managed to escape to the West, but whilecommanding her rearguard, her brother was captured by the enemy.

Matilda was obliged to swap Stephen for Robert on 1st November 1141. Thusthe King soon reimposed his Royal authority. In 1148, after the death ofher half-brother, Matilda finally returned to Normandy, leaving her son,who, in 1154, would become Henry II, to fight on in England. She died atRouen on 10th September 1169 and was buried in Fontevrault Abbey, thoughsome of her entrails may possibly have been later interred in herfather's foundation at Reading Abbey

. Matilda (Maud the Empress). See below.

In addition to these legitimate births, Henry is reported to have hadnineteen or twenty illegitimate children, the highest number of spuriousoffspring for a King of England to have acknowledged. The best known ofthem all is Robert the Consul, Earl of Gloucester, father of Maud, wifeof Ranulph de Meschines, 2nd Earl of Chester. Another was Reginald, anatural son from a relationship between Henry I. of England and hismistress, Elizabeth Beaumont, daughter of Robert de Beaumont, Count ofMeulent and Earl of Leicester, (son of Roger de Beaumont and his wife,Adelina, Countess of Meulent) and his wife Elizabeth Vermandois, youngerdaughter of Hugh Magnus, the Great, of France, Count of Vermandois.Reginald, married Beatrix, daughter of William Fitz Richard, a potentlord in Cornwall. They had a daughter, Matilda, who married Robert, Countof Meulent, son of Waleran II., Count of Meulent, who married Agnes deMontfort. Waleran II. was a son of the aforementioned Robert Beaumont,and his wife, Elizabeth Vermandois. Robert and Matilda had two children:Waleran III. and Mabel de Beaumont, who married William de Vernon, Earlof Devon, who had three children: Baldwin, Mary Vernon and Joan. Theirdescendants are not identified.


Henry I. also married (2) Adeliza of Lorraine, daughter of GeoffreyBarbatus, Duke of Lorraine and Count of Barbant. Adeliza of Lorraine,upon the death of Henry I., married (2) William de Albini. See thecontinuation of that lineage under the Albini Line in Volume II.


12. Matilda (Maud the Empress) of England (1102-1167), was left the solelegitimate child of Henry I. by the loss of his son in the White Ship(1120). She married (1) Emperor Henry V, Emperor of Rome, and was crownedat Mainz (1114), but was widowed in 1125 and married (2) Geoffrey IV. leBel, Plantaganet, 10th Count of Anjou and Maine, Duke of Normandy, havingwon the Duchy from Stephen, son of Fulk V. the Younger, 9th Count ofAnjou, King of Jerusalem, and his wife, Ermengarde. See their ancestrallineage elsewhere in Vol. I. Her first husband was thirty years older,her second husband, ten years younger than herself. Henry made the baronsrecognize the Empress as his heir (1126, 1131, and 1133), but when hedied Stephen ignored her claim to rule England by hereditary right. TheNormans preferred his chivalrous geniality to her haughtiness and theydisliked the House of Anjou as much as they did the House of Blois, intowhich Stephen's mother, the Conqueror's daughter Adela, had married. TheEmpress appealed to the Pope in vain (1136) and Archbishop Thurstan ofYork defeated her uncle and champion, David I., King of Scotland(1084-1153) at the Battle of the Standard (1138); but at last she landedin England. Geoffrey was the original Plantaganet, so named by hiscompanions for the broom corn he wore on his person. Matilda and Geoffreyhad two sons as follows:


1. Henry II. See below.

2. Geoffrey, died in 1158.

It is through Geoffrey that the Plantaganet line from France was broughtinto the British royalty (see the lineage of the Counts of Anjouelsewhere). He died in 1151. After Geoffrey's death Matilda lived inNormandy, charitable and respected. Matilda died in 1167. Geoffrey wassucceeded by his eldest son, Henry.
2.
man William Beauclerc Duke of Normandy Duke of Normandy‏
Also known as: The /Atheling/, born ‎ 1103 at Winchester, Hampshire, England, died ‎ Nov 25, 1120 at At sea‎, 16 or 17 years
Died at sea on the wreck of the White Ship with two of Henry's illegimatechildren. He was 17 and left Henry with no male heir.
3.
man Richard Beauclerc‏‎
Born ‎± ABT. 1105‎


23th marriage
man Henry I Beauclerc of England of England‏‎, son of King William The Conqueror and Matilda de Flanders‏.

Married ‎ Jan 29, 1120/1121 (approximately 15 years married) to:

woman Dutchess Adelicia de Brabant‏‎, daughter of Godrey Lorraine Duke of Lorraine Duke of Lorraine and Clementia de Namur‏.
Also known as: Dutchess of Normandy, born ‎ 1103 at Brabant, Louvain, Belgium, died ‎ Apr 23, 1151 at Afflighem, Flanders, Belgium‎, 47 or 48 years, buried ‎ at Reading Abbey, England, ‎1st marriage to: Henry I Beauclerc of England of England, 2nd marriage to: William D'Aubigny Earl of Arundel Earl of Arundel
Born: circa 1103 in Louvain, Leeuwen, Brabant, Belgium, daughter ofGodefroy I, Duke de Lorraine and Ide de Namur. Married on 29 Jan 1121:Henry I, King of England, son of Guillaume, Duke de Normandie andMathilde-Maud de Flandre. Adelaide was Henri I’s second wife and he washer first husband. At 15 years of age, she therefore married this 50-yearold widower. Perhaps understandably, her true passion was said to beneedlework. Married before 1128: Guillaume d’Aubigny, son of Williamd’Aubigny and Cecily Bigod (source- a pedigree purchased at ArundelCastle). Married before 1149: Gilbert de Ville. It is unclear whetherGilbert was Adelaide’s second or third husband. Some sources indicate shebore her second husband some 7 children, and his name was Albini. Died:on 23 Apr 1151 in Afflighem, Flandre, Belgium. Adelaide was 48 years ofage when she died. Some sources indicate Adeliza de Louvain, who was thewidow of Henri I and married Guillaume d’Aubigny/de Albini, died in 1176.

In hopes of further legitimate issue King Henry married again after theloss of his only son William. His bride, whose age is uncertain but whowas certainly younger than his daughter Matilda, was Adeliza, thedaughter of Godfrey the Bearded, Duke of Lower Lorraine, Marquess ofAntwerp, and Count of Louvain. The marriage took place at Windsor on 29January 1122.
The coronation of the new Queen at Westminster Abbey on 3 February 1122gave rise to an amusing incident. The King, wearing his crown, had takenhis seat on the throne to await his consort’s crowning when the agedArchbishop Ralph d’Escures, verging on senility, entered. Seeing the Kinghe flew into a rage, thinking that his right to place the crown on thesovereign’s head had been infringed. He at once snatched the crown fromthe King’s head (one version has it that he knocked it off with hispastoral staff) and insisted on reimposing it with his own hands. Henry’ssecond marriage remained childless; the once potent sire of manyillegitimate children was potent no longer.
In 1138 the young widowed Queen married William d’Aubigny, 1st Earl ofArundel, to whom she bore a large family before, wearied by married life,she retired to the convent of Afflighem in Flanders, where she died andwas buried in March or April 1151.