By the spring of 1107 Henry I, the youngest of the Conqueror’s four sons, had emerged as his father’s sole heir. He had reconstituted the Conqueror’s cross- Channel realm, having ruled England for more than six years, secured Normandy at the battle of Tinchebray and consigned his elder brother to a lifetime as a political prisoner. Apart from a few loose ends, such as Robert of Bellême, with whom he would deal later, his political settlement in Normandy in the aftermath of the battle was remarkably sure-footed and would enable him to maintain this position for the rest of his life. So, how was Henry, who was, after all, born and brought up in England, able to take over his brother’s duchy and with immediate insight put into place arrangements that would permit him to be so successful? What contribution had Normandy made to the formation of the man Frank Barlow describes as the ‘hardest, least scrupulous and most devious’ of the Conqueror’s sons, and how did this most opportunist of kings exploit what the duchy had offered him as a young man?

Henry had been born in England during his mother’s visit for her coronation, and the Brevis relatio says that he was brought up here, ‘nutritum in Anglia’. Orderic Vitalis tells us that he was put to the study of letters as a child, and as the fourth son, he was, perhaps, like his eldest sister, Cecilia, intended for the Church. He is known to have been at Rouen in May 1074 when he attested his father’s confirmation for Saint-Wandrille, and he was, of course, at L’Aigle in 1077/78 when his eldest brother took off in his first rebellion after a family squabble. While he may have visited Normandy as a child, however, all theevidence indicates that Henry’s adolescence was spent in England. The charters he attests are given in England, and his visit to the abbey of Abingdon at Easter 1084 is particularly recorded in the abbey’s chronicle. Professor Crouch has recently suggested that this was the beginning of a lifelong association in Henry’s mind between the Thames valley and recreational activity.