A member of the House of Capet, Henry was born in Reims, the son of King Robert II (972–1031) and Constance of Arles (986–1034). He was crowned King of France at the Cathedral in Reims on May 14, 1027, in the Capetian tradition, while his father still lived. He had little influence and power until he became sole ruler on his father's death.
The reign of Henry I, like those of his predecessors, was marked by territorial struggles. Initially, he joined his brother Robert, with the support of their mother, in a revolt against his father (1025). His mother, however, supported Robert as heir to the old king, on whose death Henry was left to deal with his rebel sibling. In 1032, he placated his brother by giving him the duchy of Burgundy which his father had given him in 1016.
In an early strategic move, Henry came to the rescue of his very young nephew-in-law, the newly appointed Duke William of Normandy (who would go on to become William the Conqueror), to suppress a revolt by William's vassals. In 1047, Henry secured the dukedom for William in their decisive victory over the vassals at the Battle of Val-ès-Dunes near Caen.
A few years later, when William, who was cousin to King Edward the Confessor of England (1042–66), married Matilda, the daughter of the count of Flanders, Henry feared William's potential power. In 1054, and again in 1057, Henry went to war to try to conquer Normandy from William, but on both occasions he was defeated. Despite his efforts, Henry I's twenty-nine-year reign saw feudal power in France reach its pinnacle.
Henry had three meetings with Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor—all at Ivois. In early 1043, he met him to discuss the marriage of the emperor with Agnes of Poitou, the daughter of Henry's vassal. In October 1048, the two Henries met again, but the subject of this meeting eludes us. The final meeting took place in May 1056. It concerned disputes over Lorraine. The debate over the duchy became so heated that the king of France challenged his German counterpart to single combat. The emperor, however, was not so much a warrior and he fled in the night. But Henry did not get Lorraine.
King Henry I died on August 4, 1060 in Vitry-en-Brie, France, and was interred in Saint Denis Basilica. He was succeeded by his son, Philip I of France, who was 7 at the time of his death; for six years Henry I's Queen, Anne of Kiev, ruled as regent.
He was also Duke of Burgundy from 1016 to 1032, when he abdicated the duchy to his brother Robert Capet.
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The King of France. Eldest son of King Robert II and Constance of Provence; associated with the thrown and crowned at Rheims 1027. Succeeded his father July 20 1031. Buried at St. Denis, France. His reign saw the buring of Paris and a famine of seven years' duration. The King appears to have been something of a nonentity and is chiefly remembered for the novelty of his second marriage. His first wife, Matilda, niece of the Emperor Conrad II, bore one daughter who died young and died very soon herself thereafter. Henry, anxious to avoid a marriage within the prohibited degrees of kindred and affinity, determined to find his next bride from far afield and in 1051 married Anne, daughter of Yaroslav I, Great Prince of Kiev, who duly bore him three sons. The eldest, Philip, was crowned an associate King at the age of seven in May 1059. Although only fifty-two Henry aparently suffered from premature senility, being described as "old and wretched." He obtained a potion which he hoped would restore his health and prolong his life from a doctor in Chartres, but apparently disobeyed the instructions to take it without water and died the next day. Philip succeeded at the age of eight. Queen Anne refused the regency which was undertaken by King Henry's brother-in-law Baldwin V, Count of Flanders. She was soon abducted by Count Raoul de Crespy (or Crepy) and eventually became his second wife. (Williamson, David. Debrett's kings and queens of Europe. Topsfield, Mass. : Salem House Publishers, c1988, pg. 66).