William the Conqueror

William I was the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087. He was the son of the unmarried Robert I, Duke of Normandy, by his mistress Herleva. His illegitimate status and his youth caused some difficulties for him after he succeeded his father. His hold was secure on Normandy by 1060, following a long struggle to establish his throne.

About William the Conqueror in brief

William I was the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087. He was the son of the unmarried Robert I, Duke of Normandy, by his mistress Herleva. His illegitimate status and his youth caused some difficulties for him after he succeeded his father, as did the anarchy which plagued the first years of his rule. His hold was secure on Normandy by 1060, following a long struggle to establish his throne, and he launched the Norman conquest of England six years later. The rest of his life was marked by struggles to consolidate his hold over England and his continental lands, and by difficulties with his eldest son, Robert Curthose. He died in September 1087 while leading a campaign in northern France, and was buried in Caen. He did not try to integrate his various domains into one empire but continued to administer each part separately. His lands were divided after his death: Normandy went to Robert, and England went to his second surviving son, William. Norsemen first began raiding in what became Normandy in the late 8th century. Permanent Scandinavian settlement occurred before 911, when Rollo, one of the Viking leaders, and King Charles the Simple of France reached an agreement ceding the county of Rouen to Rollo. Normandy may have been used as a base when Scandinavian attacks on England were renewed at the end of the 10th century, which would have worsened relations between England and Normandy. In the 1050s and early 1060s, William became a contender for the throne of England held by the childless Edward the Confessor, his first cousin once removed.

There were other potential claimants, including the powerful English earl Harold Godwinson, whom Edward named as king on his deathbed in January 1066. After further military efforts, William was crowned king on Christmas Day, 1066, in London. He made arrangements for the governance of England in early 1067 before returning to Normandy. Several unsuccessful rebellions followed, but William’s hold was mostly secure on England by 1075, allowing him to spend the majority of his reign in continental Europe. In 1086, he ordered the compilation of the Domesday Book, a survey listing all the land-holdings in England along with their pre-Conquest and current holders. His final years were marked by difficulties in his continental domains, troubles with his son,Robert, and threatened invasions of England by the Danes. In 1014, Swein I of Denmark drove Æthelred and his family from England in 1014 to return home but contested Swein’s return. When Swein died unexpectedly in 1016, Cnut became king of England. Cnut’s two sons, Edward and Alfred, went into exile in Normandy while their mother, Emma, became king by Alfred. After Alfred returned to England in 1036, the English throne fell to Harold Hare, perhaps as a challenge to Harold’s mother, Haracnut. Harold Hare fell to his mother as Harold Hare’s mother.

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Harold Godwinson Battle of Hastings Henry I of England List of English monarchs