William I
The Duke of Normandy; William the Conqueror became King of England after defeating his rival Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The ensuing Norman Conquest of England completely altered the course of British history.
The reign of William I was arguably the most monumental of any monarch of England. William was born the illegitimate son of the Duke of Normandy in France. William became Duke of Normandy at the age of seven and survived several attempts on his life, loosing three of his guardians in plots to usurp him. Throughout his life William tackled rebellion and conflict on his own doorstep, establishing himself as a cunning and ruthless leader, before turning his intentions overseas.
William was a cousin of the King of England, Edward the Confessor, who was childless. When Edward died, William claimed the throne, asserting that Edward had named him as successor and that his leading rival, the Saxon Earl, Harold had sworn his support after he had become shipwrecked in Normandy. But in January 1066 Harold was crowned king of England.
William began his preparations for invasion, but in an act of clever international diplomacy, he first gained the support of the Pope. On September, 600 ships carrying 7,000 men set sail from Normandy across the channel to England. At this same time Harold in England, though aware of William’s intentions, faced more pressing concerns with a force of Vikings led by his own brother attacking England to the north. Harold marched his army to meet this force, as news came that William had landed in Pevensey in Sussex; Harold’s own estate!
After he had repelled the Vikings, Harold was forced to march his army 250 miles south to meet William’s Norman army who had strategically positioned themselves on a hilltop close to Hastings. On October 14th 1066, the Normans of William faced the Saxons of Harold in the Battle of Hastings. Though evenly match in numbers, Harold’s army were battle weary and tired from their long march and eventually proved no match for William’s better equipped Normans. When Harold was killed, by an arrow shot to the eye, the Saxons were routed. The story of the Battle of Hastings is famously told in the Bayeux Tapestry and is reconstructed at Battle Abbey.
William the Conqueror was crowned King William I at Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066 and a new wave of governance was brought to England. As the new Norman order took over from old Saxon rule, lands were transferred from Saxon to Norman ownership and the Norman language replaced English as the language of law and officialdom, for some 300 years.
William ruled his new kingdom through a mix of military strength and clever public administration. He quickly established a wave of castles throughout the land, including his main residence the - Tower of London. William also set about crushing rebellion in the north of England and sought to contain the Scottish and Welsh by establishing strong Norman estates along these borders, such as the Marcher Lords in what is still known as the Welsh Marches.
In order to collect his taxes, William commissioned a survey of his kingdom in 1086, famously known as the Domesday Book. This full and definitive inventory of the land was hugely ambitious in its day and is regarded as the first ever census. The Domesday Book is on show at the National Archives in Kew.
William died in France in 1087 and is buried at St Peter’s Church in Caen, Normandy.
