He never married, having an invincible abhorrence
for the state, although not for the sex.
He died in the thirteenth year of his reign, the forty-third
of his age, and of Christ 1100, August 2.
His works of piety were few, but in buildings he was
very expensive, exceeding any King of England before
or since, among which Westminster Hall, Windsor Castle,
the Tower of London, and the whole city of Carlisle,
remain lasting monuments of his magnificence.
This prince was the youngest son of William the Conqueror,
and bred to more learning than was usual in that age,
or to his rank, which got him the surname of Beauclerk;
the reputation whereof, together with his being born
in England, and born son of a king, although of little
weight in themselves, did very much strengthen his
pretensions with the people. Besides, he had
the same advantage of his brother Robert’s absence,
which had proved before so successful to Rufus, whose
treasures he likewise seized on immediately at his
death, after the same manner, and for the same end,
as Rufus did those of his father the Conqueror.
Robert had been now five years absent in the Holy
War, where he acquitted himself with great glory;
and although he was now in Apulia, upon his return
homeward, yet the nobles pretending not to know what
was become of him, and others giving out that he had
been elected King of Jerusalem, Henry laid hold of
the occasion, and calling together an assembly of
the clergy, nobles, and people of the realm at London,
upon his promises to restore King Edward’s laws,
and redress the grievances which had been introduced
by his father and brother, they consented to elect
him king. Immediately after his coronation, he
proceeded upon reforming the abuses of the late reign:
he banished dissolute persons from the court, who
had long infested it under the protection and example
of Rufus: he restored the people to the use of
lights in the night, which the Conqueror had forbidden,
after a certain hour, by the ringing of a bell.
Then he published his charter, and ordered a copy
thereof to be taken for every county in England.
This charter was in substance; The freedom of Mother
Church from former oppressions; leave to the heirs
of nobles to succeed in the possession of their lands,
without being obliged to redeem them, only paying to
the king a moderate relief; abolition of fines for
licence of marriage to their heiresses; a promise
of not refusing such licence unless the match proposed
be with the king’s enemy,[17] &c.; the next
of kin to be guardians of the lands of orphans; punishments
for coiners of false money; a confirmation of St.
Edward’s laws; and a general amnesty.
[Footnote 17: i.e. with a traitor or malcontent.
[D.S.]]
