• General Notes

  Duke of Normandy (as Guillaume II )
  William I of England, William of Normandy, William the Conqueror and William the Bastard. He was the illegitimate son of Robert the Magnificent, Duke of Normandy, and Herleva, the daughter of a tanner. Born in Falaise, Normandy, now in France, William succeeded to the throne of England by right of conquest by winning the Battle of Hastings in 1066 in what has become known as the Norman Conquest. William succeeded to his fathers Duchy of Normandy at the young age of 7 in 1035 and was known as Duke William II of Normandy. He lost three guardians to plots to usurp his place. King Henry I of France knighted him at the age of 15. By the time he turned 19 he was himself successfully dealing with threats of rebellion and invasion. With the assistance of King Henry, William finally secured control of Normandy by defeating the rebel Norman barons at Caen in the Battle of Val-s-Dunes in 1047. William The Conqueror, or The Bastard, or William Of Normandy, French Guillaume Le Conqubbrant, or Le Bbbtard, or Guillaume De Normandieduke of Normandy (as William II) from 1035 and king of England from 1066, one of the greatest soldiers and rulers of the Middle Ages. He made himself the mightiest feudal lord in France and then changed the course of England's history by his conquest of that country. William was the elder of two children of Robert I of Normandy and his concubine Herleva, or Arlette, the daughter of a burgher from the town of Falaise. In 1035 Robert died when returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and William, his only son, whom he had nominated as his heir before his departure, was accepted as duke by the Norman magnates and his feudal overlord, King Henry I of France. William and his friends had to overcome enormous obstacles. His illegitimacy (he was generally known as the Bastard) was a handicap, and he had to survive the collapse of law and order that accompanied his accession as a child. Three of William's guardians died violent deaths before he grew up, and his tutor was murdered. His father's kin were of little help; most of them thought that they stood to gain by the boy's death. But his mothe rmanaged to protect William through the most dangerous period. These early difficulties probably contributed to his strength of purpose and his dislike of lawlessness and misrule. By 1042, when William reached his 15th year, was knighted, and began to play a personal part in the affairs of his duchy, the worst was over.But his attempts to recover rights lost during the anarchy and to bring disobedient vassals and servants to heel inevitably led to trouble. From 1046 until 1055 he dealt with a series of baronial rebellions, mostly led by kinsmen . Occasionally he was in great danger and had to rely on Henry of France for help. In 1047 Henry and William defeated a coalition of Norman rebels at Val-bbs-Dunes, southeast of Caen. It was in these years that William learned to fight and rule. (Wikipedia)
  

Details of The Conqueror's family with Matilda (Maud) of Flanders