[6][7][a] One of his paternal aunts was Constance of Burgundy, the wife of Alfonso VI of León, and one of his great-uncles was Hugh, Abbot of Cluny, one of the most influential and venerated personalities of his time.

[1] Count Henry's family was very powerful and governed many cities in France such as Chalon, Auxerre, Autun, Nevers, Dijon, Mâcon and Semur.

[15] Under this agreement, which counted with the blessings of their relative, the Abbot of Cluny,[c] Raymond "promised his cousin under oath to hand him over the Kingdom of Toledo and one third of the royal treasury upon the death of King Alfonso VI".

[17][18] Historians who date the pact closer to 1096 surmise that news of this agreement might have reached the king who, in order to counter the initiative of his two sons-in-law, appointed Henry governor of the region extending a flumine mineo usque in tagum (from the Minho river to the banks of the Tagus).

[20][d] Other historians however have showed that the pact could not have been made before 1103,[21][22] several years after the two counts had been granted their respective title, implying that their alliance must have prevailed over their hypothetical rivalry.

Henry took advantage of the family conflicts and political unrest to serve on both sides and aggrandize his domains at the cost of the squabbling royal couple.

[26] Count Henry was the leader of a group of gentlemen, monks, and clerics of French origin who exerted great influence in the Iberian Peninsula, promoted many reforms and introduced several institutions from the other side of the Pyrenees, such as the customs of Cluny and the Roman Rite.