Recognition of William the Ætheling
Henry next exacted, first from the Norman barons and then from the Great Council of England, a solemn oath of homage and fealty to his son William as his destined successor.…
The Angevin Burghers and the Renewal of War
Fulk was troubled by a revolt at home partly attributable to general feudal unrest, but the chronicles also record “a grave dissension between Count Fulk the Younger and the burgh…
The League with Flanders
In 1117, Baldwin of Flanders and Louis formally leagued themselves with the avowed object of avenging Duke Robert and reinstating his son in the duchy of Normandy, and the count o…
The Campaign of 1118
War began in earnest in mid-1118. Fulk opened the campaign by capturing La Motte-Gautier on the Cenomannian border.…
The Peace and Marriage of 1119
The following year brought Henry an almost unbroken series of reverses, and in 1119 he was compelled to seek peace with Fulk.…
The Battle of Brénneville
Louis assembled his forces at Etampes and marched on Normandy, meeting Henry on the plain of Brénneville between Noyon and Andely.…
Fulk’s Pilgrimage to Jerusalem
Reconciled to his neighbours, Fulk desired by penance to be reconciled to God and, in a move that seemed to repeat the story of Fulk Nerra, set out on pilgrimage to Jerusalem.…
The Wreck of the White Ship
Before Fulk reached home, those forebodings were fulfilled: on 25 November 1120, the promising treaty was scattered to the winds by the death of William the Ætheling in the wreck…
CHAPITRE IV.
CHAPTER IV. surveys the political crisis that engulfed Henry I of England following the 1120 White Ship disaster, tracing the struggle over the Anglo-Norman succession between the king’s surviving daughter Matilda and his nephew William the Clito, the rival claims of Anjou and F…
The Wreck of the White Ship
In November 1120 the White Ship was wrecked with the loss of Henry I’s only legitimate son, the Ætheling William, and with him perished all the king’s hopes for a settled successi…
Henry’s Political Peril After His Son’s Death
Henry’s personal grief was equalled by his political peril: with the Ætheling dead, his entire strategy of uniting the insular and continental dominions under a single heir collap…
The Succession Question: Ætheling versus Clito
The succession question now narrowed to a contest between Henry’s daughter Matilda and his brother’s son William the Clito.…
The Child-Widow’s Dowry Dispute
The Ætheling’s child-widow Matilda of Anjou had crossed on the fatal night with her father-in-law and thus survived.…
Fulk Offers Maine and Sibyl to the Clito
Fulk, regarding his ties with Henry as broken and pressed by Almeric of Montfort and King Louis of France, offered the hand of his second daughter Sibyl together with the county o…
Norman Baronial Conspiracy
The threatening alignment of France and Anjou provoked a Norman baronial conspiracy led by Almeric of Montfort and the young Count Waleran of Meulan, son of Henry’s old friend.…
Siege of Pontaudemer and Battle of Bourgthéroulde
Henry marched at once against Waleran’s castle of Pontaudemer and captured it after a six-week siege in which he laboured in the trenches alongside his men.…
The Emperor’s Threatened Invasion of France
Henry secured an ally in his son-in-law the Emperor Henry V, who in August 1124 threatened France with a German invasion. King Louis snatched the Oriflamme from S.…
Papal Annulment of Sibyl’s Marriage
Henry turned to Rome and, through threats, promises, and bribes, obtained a papal annulment of Sibyl’s marriage to the Clito on grounds of consanguinity—an objection equally appli…
Death of Emperor Henry V
The Clito’s prospects received a further blow at Christmas 1125 with the death of Emperor Henry V—fulfilling, it was said, the prophecy that any disturber of France brought face t…
Return of the Empress Matilda
The widowed Empress Matilda, the only surviving child of Henry I and Queen Matilda, was summoned home to her father’s court.…
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