Henry I of England - Seizing The Throne of England

Seizing The Throne of England

When, on 2 August 1100, William II was killed by an arrow in a hunting accident in the New Forest, where Henry was also hunting, Duke Robert had not yet returned from the First Crusade. His absence allowed Prince Henry to seize the royal treasury at Winchester, Hampshire, where he buried his dead brother. Conspiracy theories have been repeatedly examined and widely dismissed. Thus he succeeded to the throne of England, guaranteeing his succession in defiance of William and Robert's earlier agreement. Henry was accepted as king by the leading barons and was crowned three days later on 5 August at Westminster Abbey.

Henry secured his position among the nobles by an act of political appeasement: he issued a coronation charter guaranteeing the rights of free English folk, which was subsequently evoked by King Stephen and by Henry II before Archbishop Stephen Langton called it up in 1215 as a precedent for Magna Carta. The view of Henry and his advisors did not encompass a long view into constitutional history: the Coronation Charter was one of several expedients designed to distance him from the extraordinary and arbitrary oppressions of William Rufus' reign, claiming to return to the practices of Edward the Confessor, made clear in clause 13, a statement of general principles. Its first clause promised the freedom of the church and the security of its properties, and succeeding clauses similarly reassured the propertied class.