Name Prefix:<NPFX> King
Name Suffix:<NSFX> I, Of England "The Conqueror"
ANCI: HIGH
!Nickname: "William the Conquerer" Came to England in 1066 from Normandy.
William Moriton was the Duke of Normandy. * The illegitimate son of Robert his
mother was a baker woman.
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Notes: William the Conqueror was the illegitimate son of Robert I, duke of Normandy, and Herleva, daughter of a wealthy Falasian; many contemporary writers referred to him as "William the Bastard". Robert died in 1035 while traveling through Asia Minor, and the young William was named Duke of Normandy. He married Mathilda, daughter of Count Baldwin of Flanders, who bore him at least nine children, four of which were boys.
Edward the Confessor, in an effort to gain Norman support while fighting with his father-in-law, Earl Godwin, had promised the throne to William the Confessor in 1051. By 1066, however, Edward had reconciled with Godwin, and on his deathbed and named the Earl's son Harold as successor to the crown. William felt cheated and immediately prepared to invade, insisting that Harold had sworn allegiance to his accession in 1064. He was prepared for battle in August of 1066, but the winds were against him throughout August and most of September, prohibiting he and his troops from crossing the English Channel. This turned out to be an advantage, however, as Harold Hardrada, the King of Norway, invaded England and met Harold Godwinson's forces at Stamford Bridge on September 25, 1066. Godwinson emerged victorious, but two days after the battle, William was able to land unopposed at Pevensey and spent the next two weeks pillaging the area and strengthening his position on the beachhead. The victorious Harold, in an attempt to solidify his kingship, took the fight to William and the Normans on October 14, 1066 at Hastings. Harold and his brothers died fighting in the Hastings battle, removing any further organized resistance to the Normans. The earls and bishops of the Witan hesitated in supporting William, but soon submitted and crowned him William I on Christmas Day 1066.
The kingdom was immediately besieged by minor uprisings, each one individually crushed by the Normans, until the whole of England was conquered and united in 1071. William punished rebels by confiscating their land and giving it to Normans. The Domesday Book was commissioned in 1085 as a survey of land ownership to assess property and establish a tax base; within the regions covered by the Domesday survey, only two native English landowners still held their land. All landowners were summoned to pay homage to William in 1086. William imported an Italian, Lanfranc, to take the position of Archbishop of Canterbury; Lanfranc reorganized the English Church, establishing separate Church courts to deal with infractions of Canon law.
William was a feudal vassal of the king of France (a situation destined to cause great consternation between England and France), and constantly found himself at odds with King Philip. In a siege on the town of Mantes in 1087 he was injured, and he died from complications of the wound on September 9. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gave a favorable review of William's twenty-one year reign, but added, "His anxiety for money is the only thing on which he can deservedly be blamed; ... he would say and do some things and indeed almost anything ... where the hope of money allured him." He was certainly cruel by modern standards, and exacted a high toll from his subjects, but he laid the foundation for the building of English history.
[inglis family.and Keith .4FBK.ged.FBK.FBK.FBK.FTW]
Without adducing other pro of, if reference be made to William de
Jumieges, and Thierry ("Histoire de la Conquete de l'Angeleterre par les
Normans"), it is plain that the birth of W illiam of Normandy may be fixed
in the year 1027, or the commencement of 1028 . The former states that he
was in his 60th year ("fere sexagenarius), at the time of his