Henry I (1068-1135)

King of England from 1100. Youngest son of William the Conqueror, he succeeded his brother William II. He won the support of the Saxons by marrying a Saxon princess, Matilda, daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland. An able administrator, he established a system of travelling judges and a professional bureaucracy, notably the setting up of the Exchequer as a formal government department to deal with the crown's financial matters (the chancellor of the Exchequer is still the government minister in charge of the Treasury in Britain). Henry quarrelled with St Anselm, the archbishop of Canterbury, who claimed that the king had no right to invest bishops to vacant sees (diocese of a bishop). For a while, Anselm was forced into exile, but in the end Henry had to concede defeat.

Henry's only legitimate son, William, was drowned in 1120, and Henry tried to settle the succession on his daughter Matilda. However, Matilda was unpopular and the throne was taken by Henry's nephew Stephen, who, towards the end of his reign, agreed to adopt Matilda's son Henry (later Henry II) as his heir.