Joshua Wynne 1663-1714 Joshua Wynne (Major) b. 1663 Jordan's Parish, VA d. 1714 Henrico County, VA m. Mary Jones. Children: Peter 1685-1738, Joshua II 1690-?, Mary, William 1699-1777, Robert 1705-?, Francis. Joshua served as justice in the Charles City County court, sheriff of Prince George County 1705-1712, and commanded various militia units in the Virginia colonies. He made several trips to England trading tobacco, responsible for treaties with Indians from New York to Virginia, and mentioned numerous times as a close family friend of the Byrds of Westover (Colonel William Byrd II's diaries). Joshua was assassinated by American Indians.Maj. Joshua Wynne lived among the Indians in the Virginia Colony. In 1703, the Nottoway, Nansemonds, and Meherrin tribes requested that Joshua and his brother Thomas Wynne be appointed Indian Interpreters for the tribe. When a Chief of these tribes was taken prisoner by the Senecas, the Wynne brothers were begged to accompany the Indians on this long and dangerous journey, as without them "nothing could be accomplished". This journey was undertaken and their chief was retrieved, temporarily averting a tribal war.
May have immigrated from Scotland in 1769, moved to Madison Co. KY about 1777
Owned land in Lincoln Co., VA
Obiturary in Lexington Reporter, August 28, 1826
Will: Reel 183267 Probate Records of Madison Co., KY 1787-1959
After specifying many other gifts, his will stated, " and all the rest to be divided amoungst my five daughters Ester Baker, Mary Medkiff, Sarah Gorden, Henrietta and Patsy Roberston.---- My three exteste? daughters has had their beds Esther Baker, Sarah Medkiff, and Sarah Gordon."
The will and subsequent court challenges are lengthy, but it is clear that Samuel Robertson had a large estate. Owned slaves.Died following a fall from his horse.
DICKEY DIARY
===================== PIONEER HISTORY: ROBERTSON, Dicky Diary Interview This is the interview given by David Columbus ROBERTSON's son Allen E. ROBERTSON, 1898 Clay Co. Kty. ......... My fathers name was David ROBERTSON; he died in Clay County KY 18 Or 20 of June 1872 or 73 age 103 and from Feb to June. HIS father was Samuel ROBERTSON. He was born in the Highlands of Scotland. His wife, Elizabeth HARRIS and his brother William came over with him. I do not know when they came nor whether either was married when they came, though I think, they were. My grandfather left Moraviantown and settled two miles southeast of Richmond, KY where the water works now are, in 1777. I have heard my father say it was two years after BOONE went into the Fort at Boonesborough. Col. ESTILL settled near him about the same time, I think the same year. My grandfather lived and died near there, a mile near Richmond, adjoining Judge GOODOE's then called the John RIGG Farm. My father David Columbus Robertson was the eldest. He was born at or near the mouth of Dan River, VA, at a little town called Moraviantown. He had a brother, John, who went to Jackson County, Missouri. William, James and Alex settled in Indiana. James in Shelby County. The others in Morgan County at Martinsville. Sally married a GORDON and went to Mississippi. Esther married George BAKER and went with others to Indiana. Mary married a METCALF and went to Indiana. Jessamine went to Indiana unmarried. Martha married William MOBLEY and died in Madison County, KY. My father married Alie ALLEN. Daughter In 1839 he moved from Otter Creek to Clay County and located on Goose Creek opposite the mouth of Beech Creek. He said he came to this part of the State to hunt, in an early day, when little Goose Creek was the line between the whites and the Indians before a treaty was made between them. He hunted with John BAKER Sr., father of "Julius" Bob and "Durkham" John, George BAKER who married Esther ROBERTSON, my aunt, and was a Methodist preacher; and James called "Claybank" #2283 a great fighter, "ClayBank" was the father of Billy BAKER Sr. was called "RENTA" and has a brother, Bowling BAKER and a brother George BAKER. George was the father of John BAKER called "Cana" the rhymer, who made rhymes on Col Felix GILBERT and "Dry" John BAKER when John ran for the Senate and was elected and when FELIX ran for Representative and was defeated by Elhanon MURPHY. BOWLING Jr. son of BOWLING Sr. was bound to Daugh WHITE to learn salt making and killed Morgan DEZAM with a single barrel pistol with two balls in it. He fled the country and never returned. Georges descendant disappeared. The BAKERS came from North Carolina to Madison County and lived in Forts there. Another of the hunters of the Blue Grass was William MORRIS called 'Cuddy' who settled in the forks of Goose Creek and Red Bird. These Renta BAKER and his Three sons, George, John and "Julius" Bob. MORRIS, Jack HARRIS, #2284 Elisha HARRISON with my father David ROBERTSON made the 8 hunters who visited these regions. Beng LANGFORD and a man named LYONS first made salt for commerce. I have seen 40 boat loads of salt, 2,500 bushels tied up at my father's place at the mouth of Beech Creek from 1837 to 1844. There were 18 furnaces in blast above Manchester, besides Francis CLARK's two furnaces, one coal and the other wood. Francis CLARK got his 1000 acres at the mouth of Bull Skin by a "Head Right" from VA. I think it was patented in his father's name. Salt was worth 75 cents. The Goose Creek furnaces made about 90 bushels a day and the Bull Skin about 60 bushels and they would average 200 days a year. My mother was an ALLEN. She was a daughter of Adoniram ALLEN. He was nicknamed "Tediuoooooooooous" because he was so particular. The two creeks called "Teges" were named for him; he was born in New Hampshire near #2285 the Vermont line. He was a Captain in Col. CLEVELAND's regiment at the battle of King's Mtn where three Colonels commanded alternately. He settled in Augusta, GA. He was a mechanic. He was first a ship builder. At Augusta he put up iron works for some parties there. He also did some work of that kind in Sparta GA. He emigrated to KY but stopped in NC fut stayed there only a year to put up a mill, perhaps. (James and The. GARRARD, James and Daugh WHITE) were commissioners who expended $20,000 in South Fork and Goose Creek and Red Bird. This was about 1856-7. Eighteen years ago Judge HYDEN got an appropriation of, $6, 000 which General GARRARD and myself expended in the narrows or from the mouth of Crain Creek to Turkey Gap, a distance of five miles by land. Most of it was put in Chute. The "Basin" is 27 feet deep. We put blasts in the bottom of the narrows. There have been perhaps 100 salt boats sunk in the "Basin" but no one was ever lost there till 1871. #2286 Several have been drowned since. Pilots used to charge $5.00 for taking boats through the narrows. There were 300 guards at the jail at one time when Dr BAKER was in prison here. I was a guard from June to October. I was one of the eight inside guards. I was always present when any of Dr BAKER's friends came in to see him. I was a late comer into the county and all parties had confidence in me. While the 300 county guards were on duty; the State sent 300 guards; so that there were 600 at one time. Judge ROBERTSON and Judge KAINKADE, both of Lexington were retained for the defense. Joseph MOORE of Mt Vernon was Commonwealth's Attorney, Dr. CALDWELL's father assisted in the prosecution. Dr BAKER was a monomaniac on the subject of his wife. He would talk with perfect coherency in any other subject, but the moment his wife was mentioned he was wild, looked wild, talked incoherent, Daniel BATES made a will #2287 after Dr BAKER shot him, willing $10, 000 for the prosecution of Dr BAKER. He died inside of 24 hours after he was shot. He was sitting in his chair, asleep, at the salt furnace, when BAKER shot him. Milt RICE, afterwards Congressman from the 9th Dist, located at Barbourville, I think it was, to practice law. His brother located at Irvine and married a Miss SMITH. They were Irishmen who located first in NY then came to KY. Rice had not gotten any practice when a suit came up. Commonwealth against "Boston" Bob BAKER... a misdemeanor. He had no counsel and the Judge appointed Rice to defend him. Silas WOODSON, afterwards Gov of MO and John M. ELLIOTT, afterwards Judge of the Court of Appeals were prosecuting. They made BAKER out terribly guilty. Hi CORNETT was also before the Court for the same offense; the difficulty had been between them. In the latter case they changed sides. Now CORNETT was an angel. RICE said that in NY they did not practice law by telling anecdotes but as it was so common in KY he would indulge. He said he was reminded of WOODSON's position in this case of a church trial. ENDSamuels death is recorded in the Lexington Reporter 8/28 as: Samuel Robertson of Madison Co, Kty died in August 1826. Contributed by Margaret Robertson (Shearies@mswin.net <mailto:Shearies@mswin.net>)
William Claiborne was Secretary of State of Virginia from 1652 - 1660). He came to America on the GEORGE in 1621.
Plaque at Jamestown:
To The Glory Of God And To The Honored Memory Of William Claiborne Son of Thomas Cleyborne of Crayford, Kent, Gentleman, and Sara Smith-James. Born 1587. Settled in Virginia 1621. Member of Council 1625 - 60. Treasurer 1642 - 50. Deputy Governor 1653. Commanded Expeditions Against the Indians 1629 - 1644. At Kent Island He Made The First Settlement Within The Present Boundary of Maryland.1617 (Boddie) He was student at Pembroke College, Cambridge. October WILLIAM CLAIBORNE Arrived at Jamestown to assume his appointmentas 1621 surveyor for the Virginia Colony.
March until 1637, and again 1652-1660 WILLIAM CLAIBORNE was Secretaryof State for Virginia. He later became Treasurer and then, Deputy Governor of the colony. He patented ma---- tracts of Land, boughtKent Island from the Indians and became involved in a dispute with Lord Calvert in his establishment, -- the dispute as to whether Kent Island was to be part of Maryland or Virginia lasting until his death. His name is included in many Virginia documents and records and his historyis well worth studying. His portrait is hanging in the State Capitol at Richmond.William Claiborne, Or Clayborne
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-->CLAIBORNE, or CLAYBORNE, William, colonist, known as "The Evil Genius of Maryland," born in Westmoreland, England, about 1589; died in Virginia about 1676. He was a younger son of a distinguished Westmoreland family, and in 1621 was appointed surveyor of the plantations of Virginia, under the London Company. He arrived at Jamestown in the ship "George," with Sir Francis Wyatt and other members of the new council, in October, 1621, and, escaping the massacre of 22 March, settled at "James City."
He acquired considerable landed estates, amounting, according to the "Land Register of Virginia," to 45,000 acres. On 24 March, 1625, he was commissioned by Charles I as member of the council, and "to be our Secretary of State for the said Collony and Plantation of Virginia." On 17 May, 1626, he and Capt. Samuel Matthews proposed to the privy council in England "to win the forrests of Virginia upon certain conditions," and on 13 March, 1628, he received from Governor John Port his first commission to make discoveries to the southward, and to open trade with the Indians. A similar commission was issued to him by Governor Sir John Harvey, 8 March, 1631, and this was followed by a patent from King Charles I, dated 16 May, 1631, and issued by Sir William Alexander, under the Scotch signet, authorizing him to make discoveries, and granting trading privileges with the Indians "in our colonies of New England and New Scotland."
Having discovered and partially planted and settled the isle of Kent a year before the first patent of Maryland was ever heard of, he, with the aid of William Cloberry, John de la Barre, and other "adventurers," established a trading-post there, and acted as the chief agent of his London partners, Cloberry & County, until displaced by George Evelyn in December, 1636. He purchased the interest of the natives in all the lands that he held in the island of Kent, and collected settlers in such numbers there that, in 1632, they were represented by a burgess in the general assembly of Virginia.
George Calvert, first baron of Baltimore, having failed in his colony of Avalon on Newfoundland from the severity of the climate, sailed southward, with his wife and family and a party of followers, to search for a more propitious climate and a more favorable soil. He arrived at Jamestown in October, 1629, where he was met by the authorities, among whom was Claiborne, with the demand that he should take the oath of supremacy and abjuration before taking up his residence in the colony.
Refusing to submit to these tests, he sailed northward, examining the Chesapeake and its shores. He thence returned to England and procured a charter for the country north of the Potomac and on both sides of the great bay, which was "hactenus inculta" (hitherto uncultivated). The territory granted to Baltimore had been within the original grant to the Virginia company; but, the charter of that corporation having been revoked, the whole subject of the grant was returned to the control of the crown, and in the subsequent charter to Baltimore it was only considered necessary to protect the rights of actual settlers under the Virginia charter by granting such portion of the territory designated as "hactenus inculta."
Therefore, when Baltimore's first colony arrived at St. Mary's in March, 1634, Claiborne had been seated on the isle of Kent for more than three years, and his settlement had been recognized by the admission of the burgess into the Virginia assembly. The Virginians, sustaining Claiborne, naturally claimed the right to the isle of Kent. The Calverts insisted that Claiborne's right was only a license to trade under the Scotch signet, and that from it no right of property in the soil could arise. Claiborne claimed both property right and political independence of Calvert. Calvert asserted sovereignty and title paramount over the isle of Kent, and all settlers thereon.
This issue influenced the history of the two colonies for a generation. It was at first the issue between the Roman Catholics of Maryland and the churchmen of Virginia; then between cavaliers and Puritans, and was never finally settled until Virginia, in her bill of rights in 1776, finally released all claim to the territory of Maryland beyond the Potomac, and executed a conveyance of all the territory northwest of Ohio River in 1781 to the United States. In fact, the mutterings of the old Claiborne quarrel had hardly died out in the Virginia-Maryland boundary arbitration of 1775-'8, which finally settled the disputed Potomac boundary of the two states.
As soon as the new colony was founded on St. Mary's river, the encroachments on the isle of Kent settlement began to be felt. Claiborne's boats and traders plied in and out of the estuaries of the Chesapeake, and the Indian allies of the Calverts at St. Mary's began to show signs of restiveness. The settlers first provided themselves with a blockhouse for defense, and then investigated the cause of trouble.
Claiborne, so the Indians said, declared that the new settlers at St. Mary's were Spaniards, who of necessity were papists and people of despicable traits, and were to be watched and guarded against. Whereupon Leonard Calvert, governor of Maryland, dispatched an expedition under Capt. Thomas Cornwaleys to settle the question of prior settlement and sovereignty with the Kent isle rebel.
Cornwaleys, with his pinnaces, the "St. Helen" and the "St. Margaret," attacked the "Cockatryce," Claiborne's boat, under Lieutenant Ratcliffe Warren, on 23 April, 1635, in Great Wicomico River, and captured both boat and men, after killing Warren and two others; Cornwaleys losing one man killed and several wounded. On 10 May following, Cornwaleys captured another boat belonging to Claiborne, the commander of which, Thomas Smith, escaped.
Claiborne's enterprise on the isle of Kent had proved an utter failure. A fire there destroyed his warehouse of supplies, and his people were reduced to the greatest extremities, being obliged, says the chronicler, "to subsist on oysters." His London partners became satisfied that his affairs required examination. Cloberry & County sent out George Evelyn as their representative, with full power to act for them and take possession of their property.
Claiborne, failing to get a surety of £3,000 from Evelyn and suspecting his intrigue with Calvert, surrendered everything to him, and sailed in 1637 for England, where he was sued by his partners for an account of his proceedings, and was held to answer before the lords commissioners of plantation on a charge of mutiny, preferred by Governor Harvey, of Virginia.
Evelyn seized Kecoughtan and the rest of Claiborne's property in Virginia, and instituted suits, in the name of Cloberry & County, in Baltimore's courts in Maryland against parties on the isle of Kent. At St. Mary's, Evelyn was shown copies of Calvert's charter, and of Claiborne's licenses to trade, which satisfied him as to the question of right, so that in behalf of his principals he acknowledged the authority of Baltimore, and accepted from Leonard Calvert the office of commander of the isle of Kent.
Thus ejected from the isle of Kent, Claiborne purchased from the Indians Palmer's Island at the head of the bay, thinking it to be beyond Baltimore's grant. He then petitioned the king that Baltimore might be restrained from interfering with him, but, despairing of success, offered the king an annual rent of £100 for his lands in the Chesapeake and Susquehanna, and proposed that the crown should grant him a tract of land twelve leagues on each side of Susquehanna river, "from the mouth of said River down the said bay, southerly to the seaward, and to the head of the River and to the great lake of Canada, to be held of the crown at the rent of twelve pounds sterling per annum."
The commissioners of plantation, to whom this application was referred, having become satisfied that Claiborne's license to trade gave him neither title to land nor right to make a settlement, and influenced by the queen, who favored Baltimore, refused his petition for the grant, thus ignoring his discovery and purchase of the land, and referred him to the courts of law for remedy for the wrongs of which he complained.
Notwithstanding Claiborne's departure, and Evelyn's submission to the authorities of St. Mary's, the isle of Kent continued in an insubordinate condition. It was represented in the general assembly of the freemen of Maryland, which was convened .by Leonard Calvert at St. Mary's in February, 1637-'8, by some of the freemen in person, and by Evelyn as proxy for the great body of them. On .the advice of Evelyn, Governor Calvert undertook an expedition in person for the subjection of Kent. He made his campaign within the time marked out, reduced the isle of Kent to obedience, captured Smith, the leader of the affray in the Wicomico some years before, and took possession of Palmer's island, the only remaining post held by Claiborne within the limits of the Maryland charter.
On his return to his capital City of St. Mary's, he reported his proceedings to the general assembly, which had reconvened according to adjournment, and delivered Smith in irons to them. The sheriff forthwith empanelled the whole general assembly as the grand inquest of the province, and they at once found a true bill against the prisoner for piracy and murder. The same body then dissolved itself into a high court of justice, presided over by Governor Calvert, with John Lewger, the attorney general, prosecuting for the proprietary. He was allowed his challenge, according to the course of the common law, and, on being found guilty, after a formal trial, prayed his clergy. The president of the court decided that his prayer had not been made in time, and pronounced sentence of death. He was then executed.
Failing to get possession of his island of Kent, Claibone proposed on 6 June, 1638, that "he and his associates should have a grant for settlement of an island, by them discovered within the company's patent, to be called Rich island, in honor of Earl Holland"; but, this meeting with but little favor, he was made by the king treasurer of the colony of Virginia for life, on 6 April, 1642.
In all the trials of Charles I, Virginia had remained true to the cavalier cause, while the baron of Baltimore was preserving a cautious neutrality, so as to prevent the seizure of his province by either of the powers then contending for supremacy in England.
In 1644 Claiborne reappeared on the isle of Kent, and, exhibiting what he claimed was a royal commission, endeavored to incite resistance to the Roman Catholic authority at St. Mary's. In February, 1645, the Roman Catholic government under Leonard Calvert was overthrown by Capt. Richard Ingle, of the parliament ship "Reformation," professing to act under the authority of the parliament.
All historians unite in charging that Claiborne was a participator or co-operator with Ingle in this attack; but the archives of Maryland fail to prove any such complicity. Ingle took possession of the government in February, 1645, and entered on a career of plunder. Governor Calvert took refuge in Cavalier Virginia, and in December, 1646, returned with a small force and expelled the parliamentarians without a struggle.
The condition of affairs in England, the battle of Marston Moor, the incursion of Ingle, and the restless activity of Claiborne, backed by royal favor, convinced Cecilius Calvert (Lord Baltimore) that to preserve his province he must at once organize it in sympathy with the prevailing sentiment in England. Accordingly, in 1648, he reorganized his government of Maryland, which to that time had been entirely in the hands of Roman Catholics.
His brother, Leonard, had died on 9 June, 1647, and appointed Thomas Green, an ardent cavalier, his successor. The churchmen of Virginia were driving out the non-conformists there, and Lord Baltimore induced Capt. William Stone, one of them, to remove from Northampton County, Virginia, to Maryland, under a contract that Stone would transport 500 of the exiles from Virginia, and receive grants of land according to Baltimore's liberal terms of plantation.
When the news arrived of the execution of the king, Green, in the absence of Stone, immediately proclaimed Charles II as his successor. The general assembly of Virginia was equally prompt in avowing its loyalty, so that in 1650 Maryland and Virginia were the only parts of the British Empire that acknowledged the royal authority.
The opportunity thus afforded was too good to be lost by Claiborne. Exasperated by what he thought the injustice of the court, backed by the influence of the queen and his enemy, Archbishop Laud, he joined the parliamentary party, and on 26 September, 1651, with Richard Bennett and two others, was appointed commissioner by parliament to reduce Virginia and "the plantations within the Chesapeake bay."
The English expedition sent with the commissioners reached Virginia in March, 1652, and overthrew the cavalier government, with Sir William Berkeley at its head, and established a roundhead one, with Richard Bennett for governor, and Claiborne as secretary of state.
As soon as Berkeley was disposed of, Claiborne went to St. Mary's, where he compelled Governor Stone to renounce his allegiance to Lord Baltimore, and to issue all legal process in the names of "the keepers of the liberties of England," in June, 1652. When Cromwell at home dispersed the long parliament, Stone naturally concluded that the "keepers" had gone with their masters, and repudiated the arrangement with Claiborne, whereupon that vigorous adventurer returned with an armed force and deposed Stone, and appointed Capt. William Fuller governor, with a council of Puritan commissioners, so thus, after a struggle of twenty years, Maryland passed under the control of Claiborne.
Starting with a claim under a grant from the king, he now held office under commission of parliament. Writs for an assembly to be held at Patuxent were issued, and they contained the first religious test ever exacted in Maryland. No Roman Catholic could be elected to the general assembly, or vote. The assembly thus obtained repealed the toleration act of 1649, declared that all actual settlers should be entitled to take up land, regardless of any rights of the proprietary.
In January, 1654, Cromwell intervened for the protection of the Roman Catholics and the rights of Lord Baltimore, and wrote to Governor Bennett, of Virginia, forbidding him, or those acting under his authority, from disturbing Lord Baltimore or his officers and people in Maryland.
Encouraged by this support, Baltimore ordered Stone to overthrow the Puritan government, and Stone mustered a force and attacked the Puritans on the Severn, at Annapolis, on 25 March, 1654, where he was defeated and taken prisoner. The Claiborne reqime was thereby firmly established; but the progress of affairs in England again interfered with Claiborne's fortunes.
Lord Baltimore made his peace in some way with the commonwealth in 1656, and the commissioners of plantations decided that he ought not to be molested in his province. In 1658 an agreement was made in London by which it was restored to him, and thus Claiborne finally disappears from the history of Maryland. On the restoration in 1660 he was turned out of his secretaryship of Virginia and from the council, and we hear no more of him until 1675, when, on the death of Cecilius Calvert, who was succeeded by his son, Charles, third baron of Baltimore, Claiborne presented a petition to the king in council praying for the redress of his many wrongs at the hands of the Calverts.
He made loud protestations of his loyalty; but he had no influence at court; his friends were dead; and besides this, the royal memory was more tenacious than his own, and no attention was paid to his petition. He died shortly afterward on his estates in Virginia, leaving three sons and one daughter, from whom have descended numerous branches of the family in Maryland, Virginia, Mississippi, Missouri, and Louisiana, distinguished for ability. He has been unjustly called "Claiborne the Rebel," from a novel bearing that title, by W. H. Carpenter (Philadelphia, 1845).
Edited Appletons Encyclopedia by John Looby, Copyright © 2001 VirtualologyTM
King of England, Duke of Normandy Henry I
King Henry I (1068-1135) Born: September 1068 at Selby, Yorkshire West Riding King of England Duke of Normandy Died: 1st December 1135 at St. Denis-le-Fermont, Gisors, Normandy
Henry was the youngest son of William the Conqueror and his only child born in England. He came into the World at Selby, in Yorkshire, while Queen Matilda was accompanying her husband on his expedition to subdue the North. Henry was always his mother’s favourite and, though his father held a life interest, he inherited all her English states upon her death in 1083.
As a boy, Henry received an excellent education at Abingdon Abbey <../churches/abingdon_abbey.html> in Berkshire. Though a native speaker of Norman-French, as well as learning the usual Latin, he was taught to read and write in English. He also studied English law, possibly with a view to entering the Church, like so many other younger sons. Henry had a particular interest in natural history and, being far in advance of the times, eventually collected together the first zoo in the country, at his palace in Woodstock (Oxfordshire). His wide-ranging knowledge earned him the epithet of ‘Beauclerc’ meaning ‘Fine Scholar’, a name of which he was extremely proud. In later years, he even declared that ‘an unlettered King was but a crowned ass.’
Knighted by his father at Whitsun 1086, Henry became one of the barons who suffered from divided loyalties after the latter’s death the next year. The Conqueror left Normandy to his eldest son, Robert Curthose, and England to his second son, William Rufus. For nine years, this resulted in many disputes in which men like Henry, with lands in both realms, were obliged to take sides with one overlord while unintentionally antagonizing the other. Eventually, however, Robert renounced Normandy and set off on crusade, leaving Henry and the other barons to serve the monarch of a united kingdom. He was thus attending his brother, William, in the New Forest when he was accidentally (or otherwise) shot dead whilst out hunting on 2nd August 1100. Recognising the need for quick actions, the young prince left his brother’s body on the forest floor and rode straight for Winchester to secure both the treasury and his election as King by a small band of available councilors. He then left for Westminster where Bishop Maurice of crowned him in the Abbey, four days later.
Henry promised to return to the ways of his father and his first act as king was to restore the exiled St. Anselm to the Archdiocese of Canterbury. He then began his search for a suitable wife and quickly decided Princess Edith (later renamed Matilda), the eldest daughter of King Malcolm Canmore of Scots. Her mother was St Margaret, the grandaughter of the penultimate Saxon King of England, Edmund Ironside. So their children united the blood lines of both the old and new ruling houses.
Anselm’s return was not without controversy and the monarch and prelate soon clashed over the question of lay investiture of ecclesiastical estates. Believing he held his estates from the Pope, for years, the Archbishop refused to do homage for them to King Henry, until the frustrated monarch finally forced him to flee into exile once more. The King's sister, the Countess of Blois, eventually suggested a compromise in 1107, by which the bishops paid homage for their lands in return for Henry allowing clerical investiture.
King Henry’s elder brother, Robert, had returned from the Crusade in 1100, but proved such an ineffectual ruler in Normandy that the barons revolted against him and asked Henry, a wise monarch and a skilled diplomat, to take his place. The King crossed the Channel to aid their struggle and Duke Robert was prisoner at Tinchebrai. Disquiet continued to harass Henry’s rule in Normandy over the next few years, and this was not helped by war with France. However, in 1109, his foreign policy was triumphant in arranging the betrothal of his only legitimate daughter, Matilda, to the powerful German Emperor, Henry V. They were married five years later.
Despite his numerous bastard progeny, King Henry had only one other legitimate child, his heir, Prince William, a boisterous young man whom the monarch completely idolized. Tragically, in 1120, the prince was needlessly drowned - along with many of his generation at court - while making a return trip from Normandy in the ‘White Ship’ which ran aground and sank. It is said that Henry never smiled again. His first wife having died in 1118, Henry took a second, Adeliza of Louvain, in 1122. But, despite the lady being many years his junior, the marriage remained childless. So, four years later, while staying for Christmas at Windsor Castle, the King designated as his successor, his widowed daughter, the Empress Matilda; and all the barons swore to uphold her rights after his death. The following May, Henry also found his daughter a new husband, in the person of Geoffrey, the rather young heir to the County of Anjou.
Henry found it expedient to spent an equal amount of time in both his realms but, on 1st August 1135, he left England for the last time. An eclipse the next day was seen as a bad omen and by December, the King was dead. He apparently had a great love of lampreys (eels), despite their disagreeing with him intensely. He had been ordered not to eat them by his physician, but, at his hunting lodge at St Denis-le-Fermont, near Gisors, the monarch decided he fancied some for supper. A severe case of ptomaine poisoning ensued, of which gluttonous King Henry died.
Several Norman monasteries wanted Henry’s body buried within their walls, but it was mummified for transportation back to England and only his bowels, brains, heart, eyes & tongue were interred at Rouen Cathedral. As he had wished, King Henry was laid to rest before the high altar of Reading Abbey, at the time, an incomplete Cluniac house he had founded in 1121. The Dissolution of the Monasteries was severe at Reading and little survives of its walls, let alone any trace of the effigial monument that once marked the Royal grave. Even the King’s vault, below St. Joseph’s School, was broken into in the hope of finding his ‘silver coffin’, and his bones scattered in anger when it was found it be a myth. A large Celtic Cross to his memory now stands on the site of the old west front.