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After Robert kicked Henry out of Rouen, the Duke tried to restabilize his position in Normandy.
And his first move was to make an alliance with Robert of Belleme.

A Chronological History of Britain
Every episode of The British History Podcast that moves the story forward in a chronological way.

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After Robert kicked Henry out of Rouen, the Duke tried to restabilize his position in Normandy.
And his first move was to make an alliance with Robert of Belleme.

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We’ve been spending a lot of time with Rufus and Robert. And that was the way things were back in the 11th century, too. Rufus and Robert got the attention, while Henry… the youngest, and apparently most forgettable brother… was often left out. And this reality was made most clear when their father died… and, despite holding vast territories, the Conqueror didn’t bother to give Henry a single hide of land.

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It’s one of the most famous landmarks in the world. The White Tower, or more recently, the Tower of London. If you’ve visited London you likely took time to go see it.

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With Count Henry and Robert of Belleme imprisoned under his tender care, Bishop Odo had free rein to guide the impressionable Duke Robert in whatever direction he wanted. And he had a direction in mind.

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William the Conqueror had not set his sons up for success, and at the heart of it was land.
Obviously, the way he distributed those lands in his Will had been a bit of a disaster, as it had set his two eldest sons up for war.

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It was Easter of 1088. This was, typically, a time when the most powerful figures of England would gather at Court. But this wasn’t a typical year.

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Primogeniture, the practice of handing all wealth and power from father to the eldest son, had done a lot to consolidate power along single family lines. But it created all manner of problems for …well, pretty much everyone else.

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Somewhere around the time William the First was bursting out of his tomb like roasted chestnut and William the Second was making it rain with his dead dad’s money….something was turning in western culture as a whole.

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It was early September of 1087, and for weeks…nearly two months, in fact… people had been discussing William’s impending death, and worrying about what would happen next. And for good reason.
This family, which ruled over Normandy, had a history of infighting and civil wars, especially during times of succession.
