HENRY I. SURNAMED BEAUCLERC.

Third son of William the Conqueror. Born at Selby in Yorkshire, A.D. 1070. Ascended the throne 1100. Married twice: firstly to Matilda of Scotland, a lineal descendant of the Saxon Kings: secondly to Adela, daughter of the Duke of Louvain. Died 1135. Buried at Reading.

SUMMARY.

Ir would seem to have been the fate of the Conqueror's eldest 凸

T

COIN OF HENRY I.

son Robert, that he should, like

another Esau, be robbed of his birthright; for at the time of William the Second's mysterious death he was on his return from the Holy Land, crowned with laurels. Henry, who chanced to be in another part of the New Forest, no sooner

heard that an arrow had pierced his brother's heart, than he gallopped off with all speed to Winchester, the royal treasure city, and having possessed himself of its contents, carried them to London. Within three days of William's death Henry was crowned King of England, and had already decided upon a policy which he steadily pursued, and which maintained him firmly in his usurped position.

Henry had, more than any other of the Conqueror's children, been regarded by the English as a native of their island; he was born among them, he was educated with their sons, he married a Saxon Princess, and now he had grasped the throne by gathering around him the strength of the English party. He relied upon the natives of the soil, and placed them in positions of trust, and they felt convinced that if Robert were to govern them he would come armed with all his Norman prejudices, and would treat the natives of the island as slaves. With these views then they cast in their lot with Henry, and when, in 1101, his brother landed with an army at Portsmouth to assert his rights, the King of England was so numerously and powerfully attended, that the

Norman Duke consented to abandon his claim, upon the payment of an annual sum of three thousand marks.

The immediate danger having passed, Henry set himself silently but surely to destroy those powerful barons whose instincts led them to favour the claims of Robert, until at length their sufferings were so severe that the generous Duke came over to England to alleviate their distress, if possible, by his personal presence among them. Henry received his brother with apparent decency and affection, but caused him to be so watched and annoyed that it was plain he was but a captive in the English Court, so that he was at length glad to leave the kingdom, after making over his pension as a present to the Queen.

But Henry could not feel secure while Robert was at large, and on the pretended complaint of some discontented barons, he visited Normandy and espoused the cause of the malcontents. In the summer of 1106 he invested the town of Tinchebray, and Robert, advancing with an army to its relief, was defeated, and carried prisoner to England, where he passed the rest of his life in a weary imprisonment of twenty-eight years at Cardiff Castle. It is added that Henry caused his brother to be deprived of sight.

By the year 1109 the power of the English King had so increased, and his fame had spread so widely, that the Emperor of Germany demanded his daughter in marriage, an alliance which Henry was well pleased to accept. The Emperor dying in 1126 without leaving any children, his widow was contracted to Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, and became the heroic mother of Henry II., and ancestress of the famous Plantagenet dynasty.

After some years of peace the Norman barons again revolted in favour of William, son of Duke Robert, and it required all Henry's politic management to destroy the powerful confederacy arrayed against him. In 1120, tranquillity being restored, and the heir to the English throne having married the daughter of the Count of Anjou, preparations were made for returning to England. It was during that memorable voyage that Prince William and all the youthful nobility of the kingdom were lost by the wreck of the " Blanche Nef."

After this melancholy event Henry contracted a second marriage with Adela of Louvain, but as no children were born to him, he caused his daughter, the Empress Maude, to be declared his heiress, and the nobles and clergy swore homage and fealty to her; the first who bent the knee and devoted himself to her service being Stephen, Count of Blois.

In 1133 Henry received the pleasing intelligence that his daughter was a mother, and that her offspring was a Prince. Being desirous of sharing her pride and joy, the King set sail for Normandy in 1133, and remained in that country until his death, which was caused by a slow fever, induced by his eating a more than usual quantity of lampreys, a small species of eel, of which he was inordinately fond

The King received the name of Beauclerc, or the Scholar, from his fondness for study, and from having made a translation of Esop's

Fables. He abolished the Curfew, which was one of the most obnoxious of his father's institutions, regulated the standard of weights and measures, and corrected the debased coinage.

It was during this reign that the order of Knights Templars was established, of which an account is given at a later period of this work.

ESCAPE OF BISHOP FLAMBARD.

Henry having usurped the throne, found it necessary to sacrifice much to popular opinion. He committed Flambard, Bishop of Durham, who had been the obnoxious minister of the Red King, to the Tower. The prelate received a handsome allowance from the exchequer, and was of so lively and friendly a disposition that he lulled the vigilance of his keepers. A rope having been conveyed to him in a pitcher of wine, he made arrangements to effect an escape; so, inviting his guards to dine with him, he induced them to indulge more than was their usual custom, and they fell into a deep slumber. When he was alone, Flambard made one end of his rope fast to the bars of his cell, and descended to the ground, then making for the river, he embarked for Normandy, where he joined Duke Robert. In 1106, being then in possession of Lisieux, he gave the town up to Henry, on condition of being restored to his bishopric.

ORIGIN OF THE "GRACE-CUP."

Matilda of Scotland, Henry's first Consort, who was called the "Good Queen," was grand-daughter of Edmund Ironside, and sister of Edgar Atheling, whose name will become familiar to our readers as they proceed in their study of English History. Matilda's mother was a lady of much piety, and having married Malcolm, King of Scotland, was the means of spreading the light of Christianity among her husband's subjects, whom she encouraged in the practice of religion and morality.

Observing that most of the Scottish nobles rose from table before grace was pronounced, she rewarded those who remained and attended the performance of the ceremony, with a cup of her choicest wine. Those, who before had been in such haste to retire, now awaited the benediction, and so entitled themselves to claim the cup. The custom spread to the boards of the more humble, until the " 'Grace-cup" became an established English custom.

TOTAL LOSS AT SEA OF THE "Blanche Nef," HER CAPTAIN, CREW AND PASSENGERS.

The King of France had called upon Henry to do homage for his French dominions, as under the feudal usage he was justly entitled to do. Deeming this act beneath his regal dignity, although not daring to commit an infraction of the general law of nations, Henry sent his eldest son William, whose homage on behalf of his father was accepted.

Henry had been two years in Normandy engaged in appeasing a violent insurrection which had broken out in favour of the son of Duke Robert. His prudence had given him success, the nobles flocked to do homage to him as their sovereign lord, and to Prince William as heirapparent. The Earl of Anjou, the most powerful of the rebellious nobles, gave his daughter in marriage to Prince William, and the conspiracy being thus happily ended, preparations were made for the return of the court to England.

It was not to be an ordinary voyage, to end in a quiet landing at some insignificant seaport, but a regal progress and a triumphal entry, in which Prince William was to introduce his beautiful young bride to her future subjects.

On the 25th of November 1120, the royal and noble persons arrived at the harbour of Barfleur, where floated the gallant ships which were to transport them to England. All was merriment and enthusiasm. There were minstrels and troubadours, jesters, poets, and taletellers, while all the young nobility of Normandy crowded into the town in the hope of being permitted to join the bridal train of their future Sovereigns.

Thomas Fitz-Stephen commanded the fleetest ship on the waters, which was named "La Blanche Nef," and coming into King Henry's presence on the eve of his departure, the captain entreated that he might have the honour of conveying his Majesty, as his father had, in 1066, commanded the Mora, which carried the Conqueror to Pevensey. Henry could not alter the arrangement he had already made to embark in another ship, but Prince William preferred Fitz-Stephen's. King Henry and the young bride sailed for England, and the only vessel left in the harbour of Barfleur was the Blanche Nef.

Hark! there is singing and merriment on board that gallant bark, Prince William has given three casks of Malvoisie to the sailors to celebrate his marriage festival.

And now the shades of evening gather over the waters. The King's bark has disappeared over the distant horizon, but the White ship rides lazily in Barfleur roads.

The prince converses with Fitz-Stephen; he urges him to show that his bark is no laggard, that she can "walk the waters, like a thing of life." Her white sails are spread. The drunken sailors take the oars and row with all their might and main. Well does the vessel maintain her character. The white foam rises at her bows, and falls in a shower of spray around, to be absorbed once more with the green waters. The swiftness with which she cleaves her way astonishes the passengers, who, besides Prince William and his natural sister Margaret, consist of some three hundred Norman and English nobles.

Barfleur is left behind, and night gathers around; now they will be in the open sea, following swiftly in the track of the royal

navy.

Hark! what is that agonising cry:- "She has struck! the

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Prince! the Prince!"

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

Too true. A solitary rock, hidden by 'the dark waters, is at the mouth of the harbour, and had it not been for those three casks of Malvoisie, Fitz-Stephen would have been careful to avoid it. It was now too late. The planks have started and the Prince is lost.

But no! A tiny speck on the waters is made out to be an open boat and in it is the "Hope of England A shout of "William, William," rises in the thickening WRECK OF THE CHILDREN OF HENRY I. air. It is the shriek of a woman's voice. It is his beloved sister Margaret. William insisted on the sooner had they sailors' return to the ship. They obeyed, but no touched the battered sides of the Blanche Nef than those on board leaped frantically into the little boat, which, unable to bear such a load, plunged into the sea, and every soul was drowned. Two men still lived. Fitz-Stephen, being an expert swimmer, breasted the waves and hovered about his ship. When day dawned he beheld a human being sitting on the mast head of the ill-fated vessel. He was a butcher of Rouen, named Berthould. Fitz-Stephen swam towards him and inquired for the Prince. When he learned the fate of William, his hands became motionless and he sunk to the bottom of the sea. Berthould was picked up by a fishing When Henry craft and was the only survivor. heard of the loss of his children, he fell into a swoon, which lasted several days, and he was never seen to smile afterwards.

HENRY I. BEWAILING

HIS CHILDREN.

SCENE AT A CORONATION.

King Henry's second wife was Adelicia of Louvain, and the wedding was celebrated at Windsor in 1121. Windsor being in the diocese of Salisbury, the Bishop of that see claimed the privilege of marrying the royal pair. The Archbishop of Canterbury, as Primate of all England, disputed the Bishop's claim, which, at a council called for the purpose, was declared nugatory.

To console his favourite, Roger le Poer of Salisbury, Henry commanded him to perform the coronation ceremony at Westminster on the following day. The service commenced early in the morning, and the diadem was already on the King's head, when the Archbishop entered the Abbey, and sternly demanded, "Who had dared to place the crown on the Monarch's head ?" Henry, in the hope of appeasing the ArchFrelate's wrath, evaded the question, and answered: "If the coronation