William I The Conqueror, King of England from 1066 to 1087, was a man of remarkable political and military skill and a dominant force in Western Europe. The Domesday Survey of 1086 was a striking illustration of his administrative capabilities. William was the illegitimate son of Robert I of Normandy and Herleve, a Tanner's daughter from Falaise, and became Duke of Normandy as a child in 1035. William the Conqueror died while campaigning to maintain his hold on Maine and was buried in his own monastic foundation of Saint-Etienne at Caen. "The Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages" Norman F. Cantor, General Editor.