Attempt to secure the succession to Matilda.
It remained for him to secure the succession for his daughter Matilda, and he induced all the great men of England to acknowledge her, and swear to support her claims. The list of those who swore was headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, followed by the King’s nephew, Stephen of Boulogne, and his natural son, Robert of Gloucester. They always declared that they accepted the oath on the condition that she should not be married to a foreigner without their consent, and therefore many of them held themselves absolved from their oath, when she was betrothed and ultimately married to Geoffrey, son of the Count of Anjou.
Death of Henry.
The close of his reign was chiefly occupied in arranging disputes in consequence of this marriage. It was while still in Normandy on this business, though his presence was imperatively demanded in England to suppress an insurrection in Wales, that he died, as it is said, of the effects of a hearty meal of lampreys on the 1st of December 1135.
Welsh held in check by colonies of Flemings.
Constant insurrections.
Throughout the reign he had had considerable difficulties with the Welsh, for although, as has been said, many Norman knights and barons had established strongholds among them, they were by no means subdued. They took part in the insurrection of Robert of Belesme; and Henry, conscious that they would be difficult to conquer, hit upon the plan of establishing among them colonies of Flemings, many of whom had come over with the Conqueror, and still more about the year 1106, driven from their country by inundations. The land granted them was in the western part of Wales, near Haverfordwest and Tenby, where they acted at once as a military post, and, through their knowledge of manufacture and agriculture, as an instrument of civilization. In 1114 the Welsh rose under Gryffith. The occupation of Caermarthen and Cardigan, where Gilbert Strongbow, Earl of Strigul, was at that time commanding, separated the Flemings from the English, and Henry was compelled to march to their rescue. This insurrection was suppressed by Robert of Gloucester, himself the son of Gryffith’s sister.[7] Small insurrections continued. In 1122 Henry again went in person to Wales, but, on the whole, the inhabitants were kept in subjection by the Flemings and by numerous Norman castles till 1134, when they were provoked to a new outbreak, so important that the King was preparing to cross from Normandy to suppress it, when he died.
Henry’s Church policy.
Anselm refuses fealty.
Anselm has to leave England.