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The enthralling history of the Normans is one packed with adventure, drama, battles, and surprising turns of events. Most of the stories retelling those events focus on the epic endeavors of William the Conqueror, the Battle of Hastings, and the seizure of the Kingdom of England. However, the generations of Norman Kings who ruled in the British Isles after William I are discussed much more rarely. In this series, we will explore what happened following the Norman conquest of England, and how a single shipwreck caused a civil war that ravaged the kingdom for decades.
Welcome to our first video on The Anarchy, where we will cover the prelude to the conflict amidst the scheming and internecine bickerings of the reigns of William II and Henry I. In 1087, King of England William The Conqueror led a punitive expedition into Normandy, with the aim of securing overlordship over the French county of Vexin, which bordered his holdings. This campaign would be William's last. While sieging the town of Mantes, the famed Conqueror was gravely injured after falling from his horse. On his deathbed, he ordered his kingdom to be divided between his two sons according to tradition. The eldest son,
Robert Curthose, inherited the Duchy of Normandy despite his history of rebelliousness, while his second son, William Rufus, inherited England and, with it, the crown. Meanwhile, his third son, Henry Beauclerc, was bequeathed a hefty sum of money, but no lands. Upon the Conqueror's death, Robert stayed in Normandy while William crossed the channel, first rushing to Winchester to seize the royal treasury, and then to London for his coronation, which took place on the 26th of September. Although William Rufus, now William II, was fully in his right to take the crown of England for himself per his father's will,
Robert still held ambitions for the throne. Even after officially agreeing with William to be each other's heirs, it took Robert less than a year to openly rebel against his brother. This uprising was fueled by the kingdom's nobility. Many nobles with properties and castles on both sides of the Channel were split in their allegiances. Fearing for their privileges if they angered either of the quarreling brothers, they elected to back one of them to unify the crown. Their choice fell on Robert, who allegedly had a renowned habit of rewarding his followers handsomely.
Spearheaded by the dynamic leadership of the powerful bishop Odo, one of William the Conqueror's half-brothers, and boasting a significant numerical advantage in troops, the rebels seemed to have the upper hand, but their campaign ground to a halt when Duke Robert ran out of funds, and was forced to plead with his brother Henry Beauclerc to lend him some of his inherited money. Henry accepted, receiving the countship of Western Normandy in return. Robert then used the funds to bolster his backers in England, but in an unexpected turn of events,
William II managed to bring many of England's powerful nobles over to his side through bribes and promises of great rewards. He then besieged and captured his uncle Odo at Pevensey Castle. Meanwhile, some fortuitous bad weather drove back Robert's naval invasion force. By July 1088, William had also captured Rochester Castle, and with Robert's failure to show up, the rebels were forced to submit. The insurrection was over. Despite having rebelled against both his brother and, earlier, his father, Duke Robert pardoned by William II, who allowed him to stay safely
in England and retain his possessions in Normandy, on the condition that he recognize his brother as the rightful King. Unsurprisingly, this wouldn't be the last time Duke Robert attempted to seize the crown for himself. With that said, William II's hold on power was now secured. As king, he proved himself to be a harsh but effective ruler who managed to keep both the clergy and nobility under control, while also creating an effective administrative system. As far as foreign affairs are concerned, William thwarted a Scottish invasion, strengthened his position in Wales, and conducted a partially successful campaign in northern France.
In August 1100, while hunting in the "New Forest", William II was struck in his lung and killed by an arrow under unclear circumstances, supposedly by a nobleman accompanying him on the hunt. Be it by accident or on purpose, William was dead, and a new king now needed to take up the throne. Since William died with no heirs or wife, the youngest son of William the Conqueror, Henry Beauclerc, hurried to Winchester to claim the English throne. There, Henry managed to win over the barons and occupy Winchester castle, seizing the royal treasury in the process. He was then hastily
crowned King in Westminster Abbey, taking on the name of Henry I. In a bid to appease his most powerful vassals and legitimize his rule, Henry proclaimed the "Charter of Liberties" upon his coronation. This document was meant to bind the king to specific laws concerning the treatment of nobles, religious officials, and private citizens. In particular, it prevented the over-taxation of barons, the mishandling of vacant church sees, and the practices of simony and pluralism. All over-reaches that his predecessor William II, was perceived as guilty of.
Henry set out to reinforce his position by ensuring his supporters would remain loyal through gifts of lands, and by absorbing many of the prominent members of William II's court into his own. On the other hand, Henry quickly rid himself of unpopular figures, such as the Bishop of Durham Ranulf Flambard, who was locked up in the Tower of London on corruption charges. His next step was to marry Matilda of Scotland, daughter of the late Scottish king and descendant of the Anglo-Saxon royal House of Wessex. This marriage would cement the legitimacy of Henry's reign.
Throughout the years, Matilda would prove an effective queen. She began several building projects for transit and health, played a key role in government as a mediator with the Church, and led a literary court, while also being a patron of the arts. She served as regent while her husband was away from the realm, and many charters she signed still survive today. By 1101, despite Henry I's well-established regime, many from the Anglo-Norman elite still supported his brother Robert Curthose, who had spent the last few years in the Holy Land on the First Crusade.
Robert received an opening to launch a third rebellion when Bishop Flambard escaped from the Tower of London in February, then crossed the Channel to Normandy, where he aligned himself with Robert and brought new direction and energy to the Duke's efforts to mobilize an invasion force. Indeed the Norman duke, urged on by Flambard, claimed the English throne, based on the short-lived agreement of 1087 between him and his brother William II. Soon, he had massed an army and a fleet with which he was hell-bent on invading England and usurping the throne. In retaliation, Henry seized Flambard's lands in England and deposed him as bishop.
After this, the King held court on two occasions, during which the nobility renewed their oaths of allegiance to him, but their support stayed tenuous. With the invasion looming, Henry gathered his troops and fleet outside Pevensey, close to Robert's expected landing spot, and apparently even personally trained some of them. Even though a large number of English levies and knights arrived to bolster the king's ranks, many of his barons did not. Robert unexpectedly landed further West up the coast at Portsmouth with a small force of a few hundred men, but he
was soon joined by many of England's barons. But instead of proceeding into nearby Winchester and seizing Henry's treasury, Robert dallied in his forward march, enabling Henry to quickly march west and intercept the invasion force. The two armies met at Alton, but rather than meet steel to steel, diplomacy proved to be the tool that won the day. Agreeing to entreat with one another, the brothers eventually ratified the Treaty of Alton, which stipulated that Robert acknowledged Henry as king and that Henry would renounce his claims to all of western Normandy except for Domfront, and pay Robert an annual pension for the rest of his
life. If either brother died without a male heir, the lands would pass to the other. To defend their various holdings in Normandy, the two were now bound to aid each other militarily. Henry I then went about punishing the barons who had opposed him during the invasion. The powerful Robert de Bellême, Earl of Shrewsbury, was one of the noblemen who had joined Duke Robert. As punishment for this insubordination, King Henry accused him of around 45 different offenses. When Earl Shrewsbury refused to answer to these charges, the King gathered his troops, besieged, and
eventually captured Robert's English castles. This forced de Bellême to accept an exile to Normandy. With Bellême dealt with and Duke Robert pacified, Henry was free to strengthen his position in Normandy. To secure the border he arranged the strategic marriage of two of his illegitimate daughters with local nobles, while also offering lucrative gifts and estates in England to pivotal Norman lords. Meanwhile, as agreed upon per the Treaty of Alton, Duke Robert was fighting the exiled Robert de Bellême, who was now threatening the king's holdings in Normandy.
Despite his efforts, the Duke was weakened, and by 1104 was forced to capitulate, and subsequently ally himself with de Bellême to avoid total defeat. King Henry, who was still very weary of his brother, saw Robert's alliance with de Bellême as a violation of the treaty. The following year, in the hopes of provoking a conflict that would allow him to get rid of his troublesome brother for good, Henry sent a personal friend to Normandy with a contingent of knights. Predictably, this friend was detained, giving Henry the excuse he was looking for to launch a campaign.
The King's efforts to secure the loyalty of the Norman nobles had borne fruit, for as war with Duke Robert ignited once again, many of them continued to support him, while King Philip of France was persuaded to remain neutral. In 1105, Henry landed in Western Normandy and occupied it, before advancing toward the town of Bayeux. When it refused to surrender, the King's forces besieged it, then burned it to the ground. Caen, a Norman town some 24 km to the East, changed sides and submitted, fearing that it would suffer the same fate. This allowed Henry to advance to the South on Falaise, which would prove a much harder nut to crack in the ensuing siege.
What happened next is unclear. Some sources state Henry was forced to abandon the siege because of desertions inside his camp, some say it was because funds for the campaign had run out, and others still assert the siege was actually completed successfully. In any case, the campaign stalled, and King Henry had to return to England. After settling some religious disputes that had been hampering Henry's military ambitions, he was able to strike again. In July 1106, determined to reunify England and the Duchy of Normandy, he invaded it again with a modest force, with which
he landed near Caen. His first move was to attack the fortified abbey of Saint-Pierre sur Dives. When Henry learned that an enemy contingent garrisoned inside the abbey was planning to ambush and capture him, he decided to march on it at night before unexpectedly assaulting it in the early morning hours. Some buildings were set on fire, pressuring a reinforcement ducal force from nearby Falaise to back away. The King managed to take control of the abbey and take some of his brother's leading supporters as prisoners. Next, instead of turning on Falaise as he did
the previous year, he decided to move against the castle of Tinchebray to the southwest. When the King arrived at the castle's walls, he ordered part of his army to begin the siege. A siege tower was quickly built, but the besiegers were too few to prevent the defenders from resupplying their position. So Henry moved up the rest of his forces to join the siege, surrounding the walls and cutting off any supply routes. Duke Robert, who recently got news of Henry's invasion, rushed to Tinchebray with an army to break the siege, joined by Robert de Bellême. When Robert
reached the castle by late September, he set up camp at a safe distance. The two brothers met to parlay one last time, but Henry made his intentions very clear, refusing to lift the siege. Now, Robert knew his only chance was a decisive victory on the battlefield. The two armies met on the plains outside of Tinchebray. Duke Robert's forces were arranged in two lines. His first line consisted of Norman heavy cavalry to the right, and infantry on the left. Robert de Bellême commanded the second line, which was intended to act as a reserve. King Henry
organized his slightly larger army into three lines. He had far more cavalry than his brother, but he cleverly ordered most of them to dismount in order to lull his brother into a false sense of security. The only remaining mounted soldiers formed a hidden contingent under the command of Count Elias of Maine, composed mostly of Bretons, a Celtic people from the Brittany Peninsula. Henry's trick worked: Duke Robert, seeing no enemy cavalry to counter him, led his Norman knights in a vicious frontal charge against Henry's first line, which buckled
under the impact. Despite their brave efforts, the king's knights struggled to keep cohesion, nearly breaking against the enemy cavalry's thrust, which was now joined by Robert's infantry. The situation seemed hopeless until the second royal line stepped in to support the first one. The two armies were now embroiled in a tangled melee, with men from both sides reportedly becoming stuck on each other's weapons, desperately trying to smash free. Despite their numerical inferiority, Robert's men had made significant progress. Thinking quickly, King Henry ordered his mounted reserves to finally spring their trap. Emerging from their hidden
position, the Breton cavalry rode around the main engagement and flanked the enemy knights, which, now tired from the fighting and under attack from the front and flank, began to give ground. This was the critical turning point of the battle. The count of Bellême, who was in command of a large part of the Ducal troops, was supposed to sweep in with his second line and break the King's men, but to Robert's terror, he instead turned around and retreated from the battlefield. As the losses started to mount up and with no hope of reinforcements, the Duke's infantry broke
and fled, while he and his remaining knights were finally surrounded and captured. Henry's victory at Tinchebray, which had cost him only minor losses, left the rest of Normandy at his mercy. Following his decisive triumph, King Henry wiped out the remaining opposition in Normandy, and Duke Robert agreed to order the surrender of his last garrisons. When King Henry arrived in the Norman capital of Rouen, he was welcomed by its citizens and promptly reaffirmed Normandy's laws and customs, later receiving homage from the leading barons and citizens as the new Duke
of Normandy. Robert Curthose and several other leading nobles were imprisoned indefinitely, but the lesser prisoners taken at Tinchebray were released. William Clito, Curthose's son, was only three years old and so was released into the care of Helias of Saint-Saens, a Norman baron. This would prove a bad choice for the King in the coming years. Peace with Robert de Bellême was made, when he relinquished the ducal lands he had seized following his retreat at Tinchebray, and joined the royal court. With his great triumph at Tinchebray,
Henry finally realized the crowning achievement of his royal career. Thanks to his diplomatic and military skill, William the Conqueror's lands were once again united, 19 years after they were divided between the squabbling brothers. But, unbeknownst to him, Henry's struggles to stabilize England were not over just yet. In this video, we have explored how England and Normandy were plunged into war because of the quarreling sons of William the Conquerors. In our next episode, we'll see how his next generation of descendants will also fight each other, after one unfortunate
shipwreck will begin a bloody succession crisis that will throw the realm into chaos. To make sure you do not miss when that video goes live, subscribe and press the bell button. Please, consider liking, commenting, and sharing - it helps immensely. Recently we have started releasing weekly patron and youtube member exclusive content, consider joining their ranks via the link in the description or button under the video to watch these weekly videos, learn about our schedule, get early access to our videos, access our private discord,
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