HENRI D’ANDELI
(fl. first half of the 13th c.). Henri was probably a native of Andelys (in Normandy) who
studied and later wrote in Paris. His poetic compositions include the Bataille des vins (ca.
1225); the Dit du chancelier Philippe, a funeral eulogy for the chancellor of Notre-Dame
of Paris (d. 1236); and the Bataille des sept arts, concerning university disputes during
the 1230s. He is, however, best known for the Lai d’Aristote (ca. 1220), a fabliau that
illustrates the triumph of “nature over nurture.” This work has Aristotle rebuke Alexander
for forgetting reason and becoming a slave to love; thereafter, seized by lust for
Alexander’s mistress, the great philosopher allows himself to be saddled and ridden in
order to win her favors.
Norris J.Lacy
[See also: FABLIAU; PHILIP THE CHANCELLOR]
Henri d’Andeli. Le lai d’Aristote d’Henri d’Andeli, ed. Maurice Delbouille. Paris: Bibliothèque de
la Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres de l’Université de Liège, 1951.
HENRY I
(1008–1060). The third king of the Capetian line, Henry I (r. 1031–60) was the second
son of Robert II and Constance of Arles. After the death of his elder brother, Hugh, in
1025, Henry was crowned in 1027 over the objections of his mother, who preferred her
third son, Robert. After Henry succeeded his father, Robert and Constance rebelled with
the aid of Eudes II, count of Blois and Champagne. Henry received direct support from
Robert the Magnificent, duke of Normandy, and indirect support from the emperor
Conrad II, a rival of Eudes in Burgundy and Lorraine, to whose daughter Matilda (d.
1034) Henry was affianced (1033). Henry had to give his brother the duchy of Burgundy,
but the deaths of Constance in 1034 and Eudes in 1037 left the king more secure.
In the 1140s, Henry maintained the imperial connection by his marriage with another
Matilda (d. 1044), the niece of the emperor Henry III (r. 1039–56). After the death of his
Norman ally Robert, Henry supported Robert’s illegitimate son and heir, William (r.
1035–87), defeating rebellious vassals at Val-ès-Dunes in 1047. Henry also supported the
new count of Anjou, Geoffroi Martel (r. 1040–60), against his enemy Thibaut III of Blois
(r. 1037–89), who had succeeded Eudes II. He also maintained his rights and control over
the French church in the face of the reforming pope Leo IX (r. 1049–54), while avoiding
a direct confrontation.
Henry concluded a new marriage in 1051, with Anne, the daughter of the Russian
prince Jaroslaw III of Kiev (r. 1019–54). His heir, the future Philip I, was born in 1052,
and Henry arranged for his coronation at Reims in May 1059. In his last years, Henry’s
deteriorating relations with William the Conqueror led him to invade the duchy twice, but
he met defeat at Mortemer (1054) and Varaville (1058). Following his son’s coronation,
Henry arranged for a regency under Baudouin V of Flanders (r. 1035–67), the husband of
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