Death of King Henry I

On 1st December 1135 King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 67) died at Lyons-la-Forêt, Normandy [Map]. The succession fell between Henrys daughter Empress Matilda (age 33) and Henry's nephew King Stephen I England (age 41), son of Adela Normandy Countess Blois (age 68) daughter of King William "Conqueror" I of England. The period from 1135 to 1153 during which the succession was fought over is known as The Anarchy.

The phrase "surfeit of lampreys" to describe the cause of his death appears first to have been used in the Chronicle of Richard Baker. "Lampreys", in Latin "murenarum", may mean "eel". The word is used in the Chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon and The Flowers of History by Roger of Wendover.

On 3rd January 1136 King Henry I "Beauclerc" England was buried at Reading Abbey, Berkshire [Map]. The Archbishop of Canterbury William of Corbeil (age 66), Bishop of Winchester Henry of Blois (age 38), Bishop Roger of Sailsbury and Edwar,d Abbot of Reading, were present at the burial, where masses were sung, rich offerings made and alms were distributed to the poor of Reading. The dead king's effigy was displayed on a hearse, and his body was buried in a tomb before the abbey church's High Altar, while King Stephen (age 42) sat enthroned watching the rituals. The abbey church and the ground immediately outside became a desirable location for other royals and nobles to be buried.

Chronicle of William of Malmesbury Book V. [1st December 1135]. He [King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 67)] reigned, then, thirty-five years, and from the nones of August to the kalends of December [1st December 1135], that is, four months, wanting four days. Engaged in hunting at Lihun [Map], he was taken suddenly ill. His malady increasing, he summoned to him, Hugo, whom, from prior of Lewes, he had made abbot of Reading, and afterwards archbishop of Rouen, who was justly indebted to him and his heirs for such great favours. The report of his sickness quickly gathered the nobility around him. Robert, too, his son, the earl of Gloucester, was present; who, from his unblemished fidelity and matchless virtue, has deserved to be especially signalized throughout all ages. Being interrogated by these persons, as to his successor, he awarded all his territories, on either side of the sea, to his daughter, in legitimate and perpetual succession; being somewhat displeased with her husband, as he had irritated him both by threats and by certain injuries. Having passed the seventh day of his sickness, he yielded to nature about midnight. I waive describing his magnanimous character in this place, as I have been diffuse upon it in the fifth book of my Regal History. In how Christian a manner he departed, the following epistle of the aforesaid archbishop of Rouen, will testify.

Annals of Winchester. [1st December 1135]. In this year, King Henry (age 67), engrossed in the pursuit of hunting at Le Mans, was severely stricken with illness. He died and was carried to Rouen, from there disembowelled at Caen, and brought to England. He was buried at Reading in a church that he had ordered to be constructed.

MCXXXIV. Hoc anno rex Henricus apud Leonas venationis exercitio intentus, gravi correptus est ægritudine, defunctusque et deportatus Rothomagum; indeque evisceratus Cadomi, et de Cadomo in Angliam; sepultusque est apud Radingas in ecclesia quam ipse construi fecerat.

. 1st December 1135. Henry, king of England (age 67), died on the fourth of the nones of December, in the sixty-ninth year of his age, after a reign of thirty-five years and four months;

Chronicle of the Kings of England by Richard Baker. 1st December 1135. King Henry surfeiteth of eating of Lamprey

A discontent of minde upon some differences between him and his son-in-law, the Earl of Anjou, brought upon him a distemper which encreased by eating against his Physicians advice, of a Lamprey, a meat alwayes pleasing to him, but never agreeing with him, cast him into a Feaver, which in few dayes put a period to his life: So certain it is, that one intemperate action is enough to overthrow the temperance of a whole life; as of this King Henry it is said, that he feldom did eat but when he was hungry never did drink but when he was a thirst: yet this but once yieldiing to his sensual appetite, made him forfeit all benefit of his former abstinence, though some write he took his death by a fall off his Horse. He dyed upon the first of December at night, in the year 1155. when he had reigned five and thirty years, lived threescore and seven.

Chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon 1135. [1st December 1135]. In his thirty-fifth year King Henry (age 67) still continued in Normandy, though he often proposed to return to England, an intention which was never fulfilled. His daughter (age 33) detained him on account of sundry disagreements, which had their origin in various causes, between the king and the Count of Anjou (age 22), and which were fomented by the arts of his daughter. These disputes irritated the king, and roused an ill feeling, which some have said resulted in a natural torpor, which was the cause of his death. For, returning from hunting at St.Denys in the "Wood of Lions," he partook of some lampreys, of which he was fond, though they always disagreed with him; and though his physician recommended him to abstain, the king would not submit to his salutary advice; according to what is written:

"Men strive 'gainst rules, and seek forbidden things."

The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy by Orderic Vitalis. Lastly, this catholic prince besought all persons to preserve peace and protect the poor. Then, after having made his confession, he received penance and absolution from the priests, and receiving extreme unction, and being strengthened by the holy eucharist, commended himself to God, and departed this life on the calends of December [1st December [1135]], being Sunday, early in the night. There were then assembled five counts, Robert of Gloucester (age 36), William de Warrenne, Rotrou of Mortain (age 55), Waleran of Mellent (age 31), and Robert of Leicester (age 31),¹ besides several other lords, captains, and noble castellans: all of whom were entreated by Hugh the archbishop, and Ouen, bishop of Evreux, not to forsake their master's corpse unless by common consent, but to conduct it to the sea side, all together, in an honourable escort.

Note 1. Robert, earl of Gloucester, the king's natural son; William de Warrenne, earl of Surrey, probably the third of that name, as his father William had died in the course of the year; Rotrou II., Count du Perche; Waleran, count, or earl, of Mellent; and Robert the Hunchback, earl of Leicester.

Chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon 1135. [2nd December 1135]. Meanwhile, the remains of King Henry lay still unburied in Normandy; for he died on the 1st of December, [a.d. 1135.] His corpse was carried to Rouen, where his bowels, with his brain and eyes, were deposited. The body being slashed by knives, and copiously sprinkled with salt, was sown up in ox hides to prevent the ill effluvia, which so tainted the air as to be pestilential to the bystanders. Even the man who was hired by a large reward to sever the head with an axe and extract the brain, which was very offensive, died in consequence, although he wore a thick linen veil; so that his wages were dearly earned. [He was the last of that great multitude King Henry slew.¹]

Note 1. This sentence is omitted in the Royal MS.; but it is found in the Anmdel MS., and occurs in Roger de Wendover.

The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy by Orderic Vitalis. [2nd December 1135]. On Monday they bore the royal corpse from the castle of Lions to Rouen,² twenty thousand men attending it, that no honour should be wanting in the obsequies. It was received with great pomp in the cathedral church of St. Mary, mother of God, all ranks of men and persons of both sexes shedding floods of tears during the solemnity. During the night the body, which was very fat, was opened by a skilful surgeon, and embalmed with sweet spices.² The entrails were carried in an urn to Emendreville, and deposited in the church of St. Mary-du-Pré, which his mother began and he finished.

Note 1. The corpse was carried by the high nobles, relieving each other at intervals. From the distance between the castle of Lions and Rouen just stated, it must have been a long and toilsome journey.

Note 2. So far from this, the embalment was performed in the most clumsy and offensive manner. "The body, being slashed by knives, and copiously sprinkled with salt, was sewn up in ox-hides to prevent the ill effluvia, which so filled the air as to be pestilential to the bystanders," says Henry of Huntingdon. A better process was introduced from the east in the following century, precious aromatics being substituted for salt. Thus the heart of St. Lewis was preserved. The embalment of King Baldwin, in 1118, though performed in the east, was done according to the primitive rude process, salt being the principal ingredient. But Baldwin died in the desert.

Flowers of History by Roger of Wendover 1135. [3rd January 1136]. The corpse of the king lay a long time above ground at Rouen, where his entrails, brain, and eyes are buried; the rest of his body, cut with knives and seasoned with salt to destroy the offensive smell, which was great, and annoyed all who came near it, was wrapped in a bull's skin; and the physician who was engaged for a large sum of money to open his head with a hatchet, and extract the brain after it was already too much corrupted, notwithstanding that the head was wrapped up in several napkins, was poisoned by the noisome smell, and thus the money which he received was fatal to him; he was the last of king Henry's victims, for he had killed many before. The royal body was conveyed from thence to Caen, where it was placed in the church before the tomb of his father, who also reposes there. Immediately, a bloody and frightful liquor began to ooze through the bull's skin, which the attendants caught in basins, to the great horror of the beholders. At length the king's corpse was brought to England, and buried with royal pomp on his birth-day [3rd January 1136?], at Reading [Map], in the church which he had himself founded. The archbishops, bishops, and nobles of the kingdom were present at the ceremony.

Chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon 1135. [3rd January 1136]. At last, the royal remains were brought over to England, and interred, within twelve days of Christmas, in the abbey at Reading [Map], which King Henry had founded and richly endowed. There, King Stephen, after holding his court at London during Christmas, came to meet the body of his uncle, and William, archbishop of Canterbury, with many earls and great men, buried King Henry with the honours due to so great a prince.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. In this king's time was all dissention, and evil, and rapine; for against him rose soon the rich men who were traitors; and first of all Baldwin de Redvers, who held Exeter, Devon [Map] against him. But the king beset it; and afterwards Baldwin accorded. Then took the others, and held their castles against him; and David, King of Scotland, took to Wessington against him. Nevertheless their messengers passed between them; and they came together, and were settled, but it availed little.