The Leading Facts of English HistoryMontgomery, D. H. (David Henry)
History
The Leading Facts of English History
Montgomery, D. H. (David Henry)
Great Britain -- History
While this Church question was in dispute, Henry had still more
pressing matters to attend to. His elder brother Robert (SS124, 127)
had invaded England and demanded the crown. The greater part of the
Norman nobles supported this claim, but the English people held to
Henry. Finally, in consideration of a heavy money payment, Robert
agreed to return to Normandy and leave his brother in full possession
of the realm. On his departure, Henry resolved to drive out the
prominent nobles who had aided Robert. Of these, the Earl of
Shrewsbury, called "Robert the Devil," was the leader. With the aid
of the English, who hated him for his cruelty, the earl was at last
compelled to leave the country.
He fled to Normandy, and, in violation of a previous agreement, was
received by Henry's brother Robert. Upon that, Henry declared war,
and, crossing the Channel, fought (1106) the battle of Tinchebrai,[1]
by which he conquered and held Normandy as completely as William, Duke
of Normandy, had conquered England forty years before. The King
carried his brother captive to Wales, and kept him in prison during
his life in Cardiff Castle. This ended the contest with the nobles.
[1] Tinchebrai, Normandy, in the region west of Caen and Avranches.
(See map facing p. 54.)
By his uprightness, his decision, his courage, and by his organization
of better courts of law (S147), Henry fairly won the honorable title
of the "Lion of Justice"; for the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" says, "No
man durst misdo against another in his time."[2]
[2] See, too, the Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix,
p. vi, S7.
138. Summary.
The three leading points of Henry I's reign are: (1) the
self-limitation of the royal power embodied in his Charter of
Liberties; (2) the settlement of old disputes between the King and the
Church; (3) the banishment of the chief of the mutinous barons, and
the victory of Tinchebrai, with its important results.
Stephen--1135-1154
139. The Rival Candidates.
With Henry I's death two candidates presented themselves for the
throne,--Henry's daughter, Matilda (for he left no lawful son), and
his nephew, Stephen. In France the custom of centuries had determined
that the crown should never descend to a female. It was an age when
the sovereign was expected to lead his army in person, and it
certainly was not expedient that a woman should hold a position one of
whose chief duties she could not discharge. This French custom had,
of course, no force in England; but the Norman nobles must have
recognized its reasonableness; or if not, the people did.[1]
[1] Before Henry's death, the baronage had generally sworn to support
Matilda (commonly called the Empress Matilda, or Maud, from her
marriage to the Emperor Henry V of Germany; later, she married
Geoffrey of Anjou). But Stephen, with the help of London and the
Church, declared himself "elected King by the assent of the clergy and
the people." Many of the barons now gave Stephen their support.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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