His mother was Jutta, daughter of Frederick, Duke of Lower Lorraine, and his father is uncertain, but possibly named Count Udon.
[1][2] He opposed Egilbert, Archbishop of Trier, and took back some property which the former Countess Adela had given to the church.
After many local nobles left on the First Crusade, among them Godfrey, Henry's power in the region of Lower Lotharingia (or Lorraine) was greatly increased and he abused it, especially against the monasteries.
Henry was now forced to make submission and he was granted the duchy of Lower Lorraine, which Godfrey had abandoned on Crusade.
He also readily joined revolts against Henry V, fighting at the side of Lothair, Duke of Saxony at the victories of Andernach in 1114 and Welphesholt on 11 February 1115.