Henry I of England

Henry Beauclerc was the fourth son of William the Conqueror, educated in Latin and the liberal arts but left without land when his father died in 1087. After his brothers Robert Curthose and William Rufus took Normandy and England, Henry bought the County of Cotentin, was deposed in 1091, then clawed his way back. When William Rufus died in a hunting accident in 1100, Henry seized the throne ahead of Robert, married Matilda of Scotland, and beat back Robert's invasion in 1101. He invaded Normandy in 1105 and 1106, defeated Robert at Tinchebray, and kept him imprisoned for life. He then fought off challenges from Louis VI of France and others backing Robert's son William Clito, winning at Brémule in 1119 and securing peace in 1120. A harsh but effective ruler, he built a system of exchequer and itinerant justices staffed by "new men" of obscure backgrounds. His son William drowned in the White Ship disaster of 1120; a second marriage to Adeliza of Louvain brought no children, so he named his daughter Matilda heir and married her to Geoffrey of Anjou. He died on 1 December 1135 after a week of illness, but his nephew Stephen of Blois took the throne anyway, trigge