in these pretensions of the court of Rome.[*] [14]

[* 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.]

This prince was one of the most accomplished that has filled the English
throne, and possessed all the great qualities both of body and mind,
natural and acquired, which could fit him for the high station to which
he attained. His person was manly, his countenance engaging, his eyes
clear serene, and penetrating. The affability of his address encouraged
those who might be overawed by the sense of his dignity or of his
wisdom; and though he often indulged his facetious humor, he knew how to
temper it with discretion, and ever kept at a distance from all indecent
familiarities with his courtiers. His superior eloquence and judgment
would have given him an ascendant, even had he been born in a private
station; and his personal bravery would have procured him respect,
though it had been less supported by art and policy. By his great
progress in literature, he acq