In the year Anglo-Saxon rule in England ended with the Nor- man Conquest that brought William I (–), known as the Con- queror, to the throne. William had nine children. He was succeeded by his third son, who became William II, also known as William Rufus because of his fl orid complexion (ca. –). When Wil- liam II died, the Conqueror’s fourth son became Henry I (ca. –
). In the year he became king, Henry married Edith of Scotland (who changed her name to Matilda), the daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland and great-niece of Edward the Confessor, who had been an Anglo-Saxon king. Th e marriage united the Norman and Anglo- Saxon royal families.
In Henry defeated Robert Curthose (ca. –), the Conqueror’s eldest son, to become Duke of Normandy. Robert had
been very unpopular and the people rose against him, appealing to Henry to come to their aid. When the king had united England and Normandy, he imprisoned Robert, who remained in captivity for the rest of his life.
In April , during his war with Robert Curthose, Henry cap- tured the Norman town of Caen and marked the victory with a parade through the streets. His parade included camels, an ostrich, a young lion, and a lynx. Th e people lining the street to watch the parade were delighted, but the aim was not to entertain: Henry was demonstrating his power. A king who could control such fi erce beasts would have no trouble controlling unruly subjects.
Henry was a skilled diplomat and highly effi cient ruler. He was also well educated, being the fi rst English king since Alfred the Great (ca. –ca. ) who could read and write, in Latin as well as English. London was the capital of England, but kings have always had palaces in various parts of the country. Henry had a palace at Woodstock, near Oxford. It was a peaceful place where he went to relax and escape from the aff airs of state, but without moving too far from London. Th e map on page shows the location of Wood- stock in relation to London, Oxford, and other cities. (Blenheim Palace, close to Woodstock, is where Winston Churchill was born.) Originally the palace was probably a hunting lodge inside a royal forest. Both William the Conqueror and William Rufus stayed there while hunting in the forest, but Henry converted it into something more appropriate for a royal residence. Mary I imprisoned Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth I) there in . Th e palace remained in use until the th century.
Henry had a stonewall seven miles ( km) long built to enclose part of the land surrounding the palace, and, in about , he began to stock the resulting enclosure with imported animals. Th ese included lions, leopards, lynx, camels, owls, porcupines, and an ostrich. Th is was the fi rst menagerie in England, and Henry took a keen interest in the animals. No doubt he used them to impress visi- tors, but he also took a keen interest in them. Th e porcupine, given to him by William VI of Montpellier (ca. –ca. ), was a par- ticular favorite. Th ere are records showing that Henry de la Wade of Stanton Harcourt was required to spread feed for the king’s beasts and to mow a meadow in the park at Woodstock and carry the hay
from the meadow to feed the animals. Usually hay was supplied from Oxford, but in fl oods ruined the crop and the Woodstock estate had to provide it.
ENGLAND WALES
Woodstock
LONDON Reading
Oxford Gloucester
Cheltenham Hereford
Brecon Merthyr Tydfil Swansea
Worcester
Northampton
Southampton Portsmouth Bournemouth
Weymouth
Dartmouth
Dorchester
Brighton
Southend Chelmsford
Colchester
Harwich Ipswich Norwich Kings Lynn
Cambridge Corby
Leicester Nottingham Derby
Coventry Birmingham
Wolverhampton
Stoke-on-Trent Crewe
Wrexham
Liverpool Manchester Sheffield Mansfield
Lincoln
Boston
Skegness
Peterborough
Lowestoft
Great Yarmouth
Hastings
0 miles 50 100
0 km 50 100 150
Dover Margate
Maidstone Salisbury
Taunton
Exeter
Torquay Lyme Regis
Luton
Bristol Newport
Newport CARDIFF
English Channel Bristol Channel
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Discovering the Earth Animals
DTE-Animals-008-woodstock.ai 01/13/2009
Woodstock is a town with about 3,000 inhabitants located 73 miles (117 km) from London and 8 miles (13 km) from Oxford. The name is Saxon and means “clearing in the wood.” In the 11th century the area was a royal forest. Henry I is believed to have kept England’s fi rst menagerie in a park on the southern side of the modern town.