Nineteen illegitimate children and counting!
Yes, if Rufus had had no offspring, younger brother, Henry more than made up for it. He would sire at least nineteen children with a variety of mistresses.
Meanwhile, back to the Afternoon of August 2nd 1100.
He left his brother’s body lying on the forest floor!
He arrived in Winchester and walked through the
door!
Rufus had been struck by an arrow fired by Walter Tyrell, and had been killed instantly. Henry, in an action that fell somewhat short of brotherly love, had sped hell for leather for Winchester leaving Rufus’ body lying on the forest floor. We can only imagine what solemn thoughts were going through this young man’s mind as he raced through the woodland in the fading sunlight. Uppermost in his mind must have been his elder brother, Robert who was engaged in the First Crusade in the Holy Land.
‘ I have got to get my hands on the royal gold in the Treasury at Winchester. Then get the Archbishop, old gaffer, Anselm to crown me. No problem there, as he hated my brother.
Thank God, Robert is running around the Holy Land killing Arabs but as soon as he hears about this, he will be back here as fast as his little legs can carry him.
Anyway what’s he got to moan about? If he hadn’t tried to kill dad that time, the English crown would have been his by right!’ After that he was dead lucky that Dad gave him Normandy.’
Winchester Cathedral.
Henry was crowned on August 5th in Westminster Abbey by the Bishop of London. He managed to secure the throne because so many of the nobles were relieved that the tyranny of Rufus was over, and because they harboured a deep distrust of his brother, the fickle and feckless Robert. In an astute act of political manoeuvring, Henry introduced the Charter of Liberties. The Charter gave guarantees against unfair taxation, the seizure of Church property and other injustices which had been routinely carried out under Rufus.
Henry I
Brother Bobby is back!
Yes! And he is on the attack!
Duke Robert felt that the English crown was rightfully his so he invaded England in 1101. In fact diplomacy took root, so hostilities were actually avoided. By the Treaty of Alton, Robert agreed to accept Henry as the legitimate King of England but in return, Henry had to pay him a large annual payment. The matter was settled…..or so it seemed.
Wedding Bells.
The King cemented his position with the Saxons when he married Edith, the daughter of King Malcolm III of Scotland. Her mother, Margaret, was of the Saxon royal house of Wessex. and this meant that Saxon royal blood would flow in the veins of the next king of England.
The seal of Queen Edith or Matilda.
There had not been a royal wedding in England in sixty years and there was great rejoicing amongst the populace when the wedding took place in November 1100. They were married by Archbishop Anselm at Westminster Abbey. At her wedding, Edith adopted the Norman name Matilda.
Did brother Bobby receive an invitation?
No! They felt that it was not worth the aggravation!
Some of the Norman nobles were unimpressed and accused Henry of ‘going native’ or becoming ‘more Saxon than the Saxons’ because he learnt to speak English.
Their daughter Matilda was born in 1102, followed by the birth of a boy and heir, William, in 1103. William would be known as William the Atheling. After the boy’s birth Henry and Matilda decided to live in separate palaces so Henry could attend to state business and involve himself in ….. well, the activity came to nineteen, and who’s counting?