From: Edward Beauclerc, A life:
Thus, in 1101, Edward was crowned at Rouin. Leaving the Kingdom of Syria in the hands of Baldwin FitzHildebrand, the Duke of Antioch, Edward took up residence in Normandy for the first three years of his reign. It was at this time that he is believed to have uttered that phrase which would one day prove so injurious to the Empire he sought to rule: "He who controls Normandy controls the Empire". Edward seems to have meant this to refer not so much to the physical territory of Normandy, but to her people. He reasoned that the essential ingredient for a successful emperor was direct control over, and loyalty from, the Normans themselves, while letting more hybred kingdoms like Jerusalem, Syria and England have their head (Sicily and Britany were notable exceptions from this policy of autonomous rule; Edward paid very close attention to these domains, and their rulers, by turns flattering them and stepping on their every conceivable rebellious impulse). It is no slur on Edward's character to note that he was loved best in those lands where his reign touched least. England was one of Beauclerc's staunchest bases of support. The English considered him one of their own, both through his marriage to Edgar the Atheling's niece and his willingness to take the regnal name Edward IV in England, in deference to the Saxon Edwards who had preceded him. in Jerusalem, first under the rule of Richard and later his half-Arab son John the Left-handed, Edward was viewed with distant respect and affection, particularly after he consented without fuss to John's designation as heir. In the Kingdom of Syria, Edward--the crowned king of that complex land--was nearly idolized. Yet in Sicily, Normandy and Britany, sentiment was not so favorable to the Emperor throughout his reign. The Normans resented his tight grip on their land and persons, but rebellions here were few and far-between. Yet the Sicilians and Bretons, as a chronicler of the time put it, "made rebellion a sport and a way of life". Edward's nephew Roger II DeCoatville was doubtless the worst offender, but his niece Constance of Britany-- "that Breton harlot" as she is called in many pro-Edward chronicles--had her hand in a fair number of schemes, intrigues and rebellions. Despite the unrest in these two provinces, it is not without reason that Edward's reign would ever after be known as "the years of peace".