s
than seven illegitimate sons and six daughters born to him [c].
Hunting was also one of his favourite amusements; and he exercised
great rigour against those who encroached on the royal forests, which
were augmented during his reign [d], though their number and extent
were already too great. To kill a stag was as criminal as to murder a
man: he made all the dogs be mutilated which were kept on the borders
of his forests; and he sometimes deprived his subjects of the liberty
of hunting on their own lands, or even cutting their own woods. In
other respects, he executed justice, and that with rigour; the best
maxim which a prince in that age could follow. Stealing was first
made capital in this reign [e]; false coining, which was then a very
common crime, and by which the money had been extremely debased, was
severely punished by Henry [f]. Near fifty criminals of this kind
were at one time hanged or mutilated; and though these punishments
seem to have been exercised in a manner somewhat arbitrary, they were
grateful to the people, more attentive to present advantages than
jealous of general laws. There is a code which passes under the name
of Henry I., but the best antiquaries have agreed to think it
spurious. It is however a very ancient compilation, and may be useful
to instruct us in the manners and customs of the times. We learn from
it, that a great distinction was then made between the English and
Normans, much to the advantage of the latter [g]. The deadly feuds,
and the liberty of private revenge, which had been avowed by the Saxon
laws, were still continued, and were not yet wholly illegal [h].
[FN [c] Gul. Gemet. lib. 8. cap. 29. [d] W. Malm. p. 179. [e] Sim.
Dunelm p. 231. Brompton, p. 1000. Flor. Wigorn. p. 653. Hoveden, p.
471. [f] Sim. Dunelm. p. 231. Brompton, p. 1000. Hoveden, p. 471.
Annal. Waverl. p. 149. [g] LL. Hen. I. Sec, 18, 75. [h] Ibid. Sec.
82.]

Among the laws granted on the king's accession, it is remarkable that
the reunion of the civil and ecclesiastical courts, as in the Saxon
times, was enacted [i]. But this law, like the articles of his
charter, remained without effect, probably from the opposition of
Archbishop Anselm.
[FN [i] Spellm. p. 305. Blackstone, vol. iii. p. 63. Coke, 2 Inst.
70.]

Henry, on his accession, granted a charter to London, which seems to
have been the first step towards rendering that city a corporation.
By this charter, the city was empower