Early lifeHe married a woman who bore him one son.[2] Apart from the legitimate offspring, Henselt begat enough bastards to fill all the thrones of the North.[1]

Northern WarsIn 1263, after hearing news of the Slaughter of Cintra, Henselt sent the Kaedwenian Army to Upper Sodden, and they fought and defeated the invading Nilfgaardian Empire. Over the next few years, after losing many soldiers in the Battle of Sodden Hill, Kaedwen was left undefended to the Scoia'tael, a problem which irritated Henselt greatly.[2] In response, he put a lot of time and money into creating several armed forces to deal with the nonhuman threat, who chased them for years throughout the forests, to face execution publicly if caught.[3]

In early 1267, he was summoned to Hagge by Demavend, along with the other leaders of the Northern Kingdoms, Meve of Lyria and Rivia, Foltest of Temeria and Vizimir II of Redania. He told them of the troubles of the Scoia'tael and how they should clear their forests of the nonhumans. Like all the other rulers of the greatest kingdoms of the North, he said that he had lived in peace and coexisted with nonhumans, but this was far from the truth, in his realm ther has been discrimination, pogroms, and even worsed. He knew the risk of an attack against Nilfgaard, but eventually conceded with the other rulers that action had to be taken. When the topic of Ciri came up, Henselt realized if Emhyr var Emreis were to marry her, they would lose control of Cintra to the power of her royal blood. Eventually the rulers decided that if Cintra were to be kept under northern control, the young girl had to die.[2]