SUMMARY OF THE REIGN OF

HENRY I. SURNAMED BEAUCLERC.

Born at Winchester, 1068. Began to reign, 1100. Twice married, first to Maud, daughter of Malcolm, King of Scot land; afterwards to Adeliza, daughter of Geoffry, Earl of Louvaine. He had issue only by his first Queen, viz. Wil liam, Duke of Normandy, who by the carelessness of drunken pilots was drowned near Barfleur, which tragic event so affected the King he was never seen to smile afterwards. Maud, married to the Emperor Henry V. and a second time to Geoffry Plantagenet, Count of Anjou. Henry is also said to have had twelve natural children, of whom Robert, Earl of Glocester, was the chief. The King died at St. Denis, in France, of a surfeit, from eating Lampreys, 1135. Buried at Reading.

PRINCIPAL EVENTS.

Henry seizes the crown while his elder brother Robert is absent in the Holy land. Grants a charter to the Barons to purchase their support. Conquers Normandy, defeats and imprisons Robert for life. The quarrel with Archbishop Anselm renewed; the King resigns the right of investiture, but preserves his claim to homage from the Bishops. The great standard of France taken. The Welch repulsed.

Shipwreck and loss of the King's son. The Sees of Carlisle and Ely; the Abbies of Hide, Cirencester, and Priory of Dunstable erected and endowed.

EMINENT PERSONS.

Anselm and Radulph, Archbishops of Canterbury. Wil

liam Crito, son of Duke Robert of Normandy.

Robert,

Earl of Shrewsbury.

COTEMPORARY

COTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS.

Pascal II. 1099.

Popes.

Gelastius II. 1118. Calixtus II. 1119

Honorius II. 1124. Innocent IL 1130.

Emperors.

Of the East.-Alexis Comnenus, 1081. John Comnenus,

1118.

Of the West.-Henry IV, 1056, Henry V. 1106. Lotha

rius II. 1125.

Kings.

Of France.-Philip I. 1060. Lewis VI. 1108.

Of Portugal.-Alphonsus I. 1112.

Of Scotland.-Alexander I. 1107. David I. 1124.

HENRY

HENRY BEAUCLERC.

"But who shall teach my harp to gain
"A sound of the romantic strain
"Whose Anglo-Norman tones while're
"Cou'd win the royal Henry's ear.

« Famed BEAUCLERE call'd, for that he loved,
"The minstrel, and his lay approved."

WALTER SCOTT.

"For learning is better than house or land."

SCHOOL BOY'S POETRY.

"Henry was called 'Beauclerc,' from his attention to "learning, he had heard his father say, that Illiterate Kings 66 were little better than crowned asses," and determined not "to come under that description."

CAMDEN.

OF HENRY's learning, and the wise reform,
He in the royal houshold made,-nay more,
Abolish'd nightly curfew bells that rung
Throughout the land of Albion, and deranged
At early hour the interesting chat

Of lovers just affianc'd-or of friends,
Who, brought to council by the hope of gain
On trade, were speculating hundreds deep;
Or learned clerks, in disquisition grave,
By classic lamps; or poets, poor as I,

Condemn'd

Condemn'd to rhyme for ways and means to eat;
Sing, muse historic-Widows too, we learn,
By his command have jointures, and are free
To marry as they list, and marry did,
Merely to shew the loyal reverence

They bore the King's behest.-The laws 'erst made
By the Confessor EDWARD were restored
By HENRY, who, to please the English, wed
With MAUD, descendant of the Scottish King,
And EDGAR ATH'LING'S sister.*-At this time

• Queen Maud, or Matilda, was the delight of the English, both on account of her descent and goodness of heart. To her we owe the first stone arched bridges England ever possessed :she built two at Stratford, in Essex, (thence called De Arcubus, or Le Bow,) where she had nearly been drowned for want of such a convenience. What follows is part of an eulogy on her, preserved by Camden;

Prospera non lætam facere, nec aspera tristem,
Prospera terror ei, aspera risus erant,

Non decor efficit fragilem non sceptra superbam
Sola potens humilis, sola Pudica decens.

Imitated.

By woes her mind was near cast down,
Nor by success beguiled,

She met good fortune with a frown,

At fortune's frowns she smiled:

Where shall we find a Queen with this to pair,

Tho' sceptred, humble-chaste, tho' great and fair?

J. P. ANDREWS.

King HENRY'S BROTHER ROBERT claim'd the

crown,

And from the Holy Land return'd with troops
Ilis fancied right to aid-subdued, forgiven,
And set at liberty, again he fights

Against his brother; captive ta'en, and sent
To Cardiff, whence, in vain, he tries escape,
And, first deprived of sight, soon finds a grave;
Glo'ster Cathedral holds the Duke's remains,
Encag'd in trellis'd iron. Heart of Oak
Supplies a figure, armed cap-a-pie,

But such as modern warriors would disdain,
And ladies' ridicule on gay parade.

LEWIS, of France, invades the Norman lands,
Him HENRY meets, and quells th' invading King.
But when returning, mournful is the tale,
Prince WILLIAM, BEAUCLERC's son, a splendid
train

Of Knights and Nobles, with the Princess MAUD,
And many worthies perish'd in the waves!
And when to Normandy the King return'd,
By (not habitual) intemp❜rance, he

Met also with his death. He was interred
At Reading Abbey, which his zeal endow'd.

Twice