Henry I of France

Henri I (1008 - 1060) was king of France from 1031 to 1060, a member of the Capetian Dynasty.

Born in April 1008 in Reims, France, the son of King Robert II and Constance of Provence, Henri assumed the throne at the age of twenty-three.

The reign of Henri I, like all of his predecessors, was marked by territorial struggles. In a strategic move, he came to the rescue of his very young nephew, and newly appointed Duke William of Normandy, to suppress a revolt by William’s vassals. In 1047 Henri secured the dukedom for William in their decisive victory over the vassals at a battle near Caen.

A few years later, when William Duke of Normandy, cousin to the king of England, married the daughter of the count of Flanders, King Henri I feared William’s potential power. In 1054 and again in 1058 Henri went to war to try to conquer Normandy from Duke William, but on both occasions he was defeated. Despite his efforts, Henri’s thirty-year reign saw feudal power in France reach its pinnacle.

Henri I married twice, his second wife, Princess Anne of Kiev, Russia was the mother of his successor, Philippe I.

King Henri I died on August 4, 1060 in Vitry-en-Brie, France, and was interred in Saint Denis Basilica.