Henry I of England

Henry I was King of England from 1100 until his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror, and when William died in 1087 his elder brothers Robert Curthose and William Rufus inherited Normandy and England respectively, leaving Henry landless. When William Rufus died in a hunting accident in 1100, Henry seized the English throne ahead of Robert; the two brothers later fought over control of England and Normandy until Henry defeated Robert at the Battle of Tinchebray in 1106 and kept him imprisoned for the rest of his life. Henry was considered by contemporaries a harsh but effective ruler who drew on the existing Anglo-Saxon system of justice, local government and taxation while strengthening it with new institutions such as the royal exchequer. After his only legitimate son William drowned in the White Ship disaster of 1120, Henry declared his daughter Matilda his heir, but on his death in 1135 he was succeeded instead by his nephew Stephen of Blois, leading to a civil war known as the Anarchy.