[* See note N, at the end of the volume.]
1131.
As every thing in England remained in tranquillity, Henry took the opportunity of paying a visit to Normandy, to which he was invited, as well by his affection for that country as by his tenderness for his daughter the empress Matilda, who was always his favorite. Some time after, that princess was delivered of a son,
1132.
who received the name of Henry; and the king, further to insure her succession, made all the nobility of England and Normandy renew the oath of fealty,
1135.
which they had already sworn to her.[*] The joy of this event, and the satisfaction which he reaped from his daughter’s company, who bore successively two other sons, made his residence in Normandy very agreeable to him;[**] and he seemed determined to pass the remainder of his days in that country, when an incursion of the Welsh obliged him to think of returning into England. He was preparing for the journey, but was seized with a sudden illness at St. Dennis le Forment, from eating too plentifully of lampreys, a food which always agreed better with his palate than his constitution.[***]
[* W. Malms, p. 177.]
[** H. Hunting, p. 315.]
[*** H. Hunting, p. 385. M. Paris p. 50.]
He died in the sixty-seventh year of his age and the thirty-fifth year of his reign, leaving by will his daughter Matilda heir of all his dominions, without making any mention of her husband, Geoffrey, who had given him several causes of displeasure.[*]
[* W. Malms, p. 178.]