His father also held the title of a landgrave of Brabant, duke of Lower Lorraine and margrave of Antwerp.

Upon the death of his father in 1190, King Henry VI confirmed the elevation of Brabant, while he de facto abolished the Duchy of Lower Lorraine by creating the empty title of a Duke of Lothier.

He also was in opposition to the German king (emperor from 1191) when his brother Albert of Louvain was elected bishop of Liège and murdered shortly afterwards.

In October of the same year he took part in the recapture of Beirut and, then moved to Jaffa with the crusaders: however, before reaching the city he got news of the death of the King of Jerusalem, Henry II, Count of Champagne, and he returned to Acre.

Back in Germany after the emperor's death in September 1197, Duke Henry supported the election of the Welf candidate Otto IV, the fiancé of his daughter Maria, who rivalled with the Hohenstaufen scion Philip of Swabia.

His attention went out to those regions that lent themselves to the extension of his sovereignty and in some locations he used the creation of a new town as an instrument in the political organisation of the area.

[9] They had two children: In 1235, Henry I was commissioned by the German emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen to accompany the imperial fiancée Isabella Plantagenet from England to Germany.

In addition, he lies on a high base, wears a long robe and the duke's cloak, and holds a scepter; his left hand plays with the cord of the mantle.