Anglo-French War (1123–1135)

Anglo-French War (1123–1135)

PRINCIPAL COMBATANTS: England vs. France

PRINCIPAL THEATER(S): Normandy

DECLARATION: No formal declaration

MAJOR ISSUES AND OBJECTIVES: English hegemony in
Normandy

OUTCOME: Revolt in northern France ended by the time
of Henry I’s death in 1135.

APPROXIMATE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF MEN UNDER ARMS:
Unknown

CASUALTIES: Unknown

TREATIES: None

Like his father, William the Conqueror (1035–87), Henry I
(1068–1135) continued to consolidate English rule and
extend his power over northern France at the expense of
the Capetian dynasty. His politically motivated marriage to
Eadgyth (later called Matilda), a direct descendent of
Alfred the Great (849–99), bore him two children, Matilda
(1102–67) and William (d. 1120). The marriage and the
birth of an heir earned Henry much-needed acceptance by
the Anglo-Saxon English, who had been suspicious of his
Norman lineage. In 1120 young William, Henry’s only male
heir, drowned when his White Ship struck a rock during a
storm. The French resistance movement in Normandy
seized upon the sudden loss of William to stage a revolt in
the province of Maine in the Anglo-Norman territories of
northern France. The resulting war, which lasted from 1123
to 1135, was the last between the Capetian monarch Louis
VI (1081–1137) and the English king Henry I.
In an attempt to tighten England’s hold over the rebellious
province, Henry I dispatched troops to the area in
1123. One of Henry’s opponents was Fulk (1092–1143) of
Anjou, an ally of Louis VI and a veteran in the previous
ANGLO-FRENCH WAR (1116–1119), who fought Henry
despite the proposed marriage of Henry’s daughter Matilda
to Fulk’s son Geoffrey Plantagenet (1113–51). Fighting
was sporadic, and the struggle soon degenerated into a
war of attrition. In 1128 the planned marriage took place,
thereby securing a new English heir. By 1135 the revolt in
Maine had also been extinguished, but other difficulties
persisted, and the Capetians remained strong.
The ambitions of Matilda’s husband, Geoffrey, became
apparent in 1134, when he asked to be recognized as the
duke of Normandy. Henry refused, and Geoffrey prepared
to fight. This threat alienated the English acceptance of
Matilda as heir, and, upon Henry’s death in 1135 (the
result of gorging on a meal of lampreys following a hunt),
England was thrust into two decades of civil war over the
subject of succession.

See also ANGLO-FRENCH WAR (1159–1189); ENGLISH
DYNASTIC WAR.

Further reading: Frank Barlow, The Feudal Kingdom of
England, 1042–1216 (London: Longman, 1972); John Le
Patourel, The Norman Empire (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1976).