Back to the Mainly The Normans calendar
After William's death in the White Ship, Henry had been worried about who would succeed him as his only legitimate child
still alive was a girl, called Matilda. You may remember Matilda had been married at 12 and widowed at 23. Shortly before Christmas in 1126, Henry I made all
his nobles, the church, plus David, King of Scotland, agree that Matilda would be his heir. Then two years later he had Matilda marry Geoffrey of Anjou. Geoffrey
had as his emblem the broom flower which was known in Latin as planta genista. Geoffrey became known as Geoffrey Plantagenet which explains a lot about the future.
Unfortunately Henry’s decision was very unpopular in England and didn’t go down too well in Normandy either. You can probably guess what would happen
when Henry died.
By the way by 1125AD there were no English Earls, Abbots (who ran the many monasteries) or Bishops; all were Norman
Matilda and Geoffrey began to feel a bit unwanted so Matilda asked her dad to give all the royal castles in Normandy to her and make the nobles and
barons swear an oath saying they would support her. Daddy said no, possibly worried that Geoffrey would try to seize power in Normandy and extend his boundaries.
The arguing went on for some years and then a rebellion started in
the southern part of Normandy and Henry led the attempts to put it down which were successful. It seems Matilda and Geoffrey might have been helping the rebels.
Anyway after winning the battles Henry did what all Norman kings and princes did and went hunting. Then, like 3 of his brothers, he died. By now it was 1035AD.
It is said he died after eating too many lampreys which are a toothless fish, looking a bit like an eel. Apparently the fish are returning to English
rivers again after over 100 years. They are the oldest living vertebrates and were around 200 million years before the dinosaurs. The biggest ones can grow up to a
metre in length. They are known as a luxury food and much loved by royalty. In Henry’s case, it was too much loved.
So, who would rule? Matilda, and Geoffrey, were still campaigning in Anjou and in any case the nobles in England didn’t like the idea of their new ruler
being ruler of yet another part of France nor did they think a woman could rule. Henry’s nephew, Stephen, quickly crossed the channel from France and, with the
agreement of some powerful nobles and bishops in England, including his brother, was crowned King of England.
Forward to 1139AD
