"Henry I: King of England and Duke of Normandy" by Judith A. Green

 I was rather frightened of this biography: it looked a little too much like serious history which usually means it is rather boring to read. But it was well written (not quite a page turner!) and I read it quite quickly.

The most fascinating episodes in Henry's life were:

• His accession: his elder brother King William II 'Rufus' died hunting in the New Forest in an 'accident' when Henry was in the same hunting party;
• His coronation Charter which promised to uphold the laws of Edward the Confessor; later when Henry married Matilda who was descended from Saxon royalty this was seen as a beginning of the healing of the breach between the Saxons and the conquering Normans; the coronation Charter was the model for the Magna Carta and is thus the beginning of British liberty;
• His fight with his elder brother Robert who was Duke of Normandy which ended when Robert was captured in battle: Robert spent the rest of his life in captivity;
• The death of his son and heir William in the wreck of the 'White Ship' after which "he never smiled again"
• His death "of a surfeit of lampreys"

Sometimes I felt that Green rather skimmed over these issues (there is probably very little evidence for single incidents) but of course I found out many more fascinating things about this king.

• His wife (Edith) was the daughter of King Malcolm and descended from the Saxon kings. She had been brought up in a nunnery and there was some discussion as to whether she was therefore fit to marry. When she married Henry she changed her name to Matilda. 
• The sons of King Harold Godwinson fled to Ireland from where they ravaged the Avon region.
• Henry's second wife Adeliza was possibly the dedicatee of a book describing the voyages of St Brendan.
• Henry liked his manor at Dunstable, a town built where the Icknield Way crosses Watling Street. He also enjoyed Windsor (although frustratingly Green never makes it clear whether this was the old Saxon and Norman palace at Old Windsor or the new Windsor Castle; according to wikipedia Henry I was the first Norman king to use Windsor Castle as a residence at Whitsuntide 1110). 
• Other places associated with Henry I include Kingsthorpe in Northampton, Woodstock and Winchester. It was during Henry I's reign that old St Paul's was built.
• Henry's favourite nephew was Stephen of Blois who succeeded Eustace of Boulogne as Count by wedding his daughter, Matilda; this marriage could have given Stephen claims on the throne of Jerusalem too. Stephen succeeded Henry (despite Henry wishing the succession to England on his daughter Matilda). Every woman seems to have been called Matilda at this time.
• Henry's daughter Matilda (!) married first the Holy Roman Emperor (thus becoming Empress) and, after ebing widowed, Geoffrey of Anjou once his dad Fulk had 'taken the cross' at Le Mans. For a wedding present Henry gave Geoffrey a sword said to have been forged by Wayland the legendary Smith. There is dispute as to whether the three golden lions on the Royal Standard come from Geoffrey or Henry.
• The scholar Adelard of Bath wrote a treatise on the use of the abacus which soon became adopted for the tresury because it used a blank space for zero. Roman numerals do not have a zero.
• Those whom the king wishes to destroy he first praises said a Bishop to chronicler Henry of Huntingdon.

A fascinating read.

This review was written by the author of Motherdarling  and The Kids of God

May 2011; 321 pages