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| William I | |
|---|---|
| King of the English (more...) | |
 |
|
| The Duke of Normandy in the Bayeux Tapestry | |
| Reign | 25 December 1066 – 9 September 1087 |
| Coronation | 25 December 1066 |
| Predecessor | England: Edgar
Ætheling (uncrowned), Harold
II
Normandy: Robert II the Magnificent |
| Successor | England: William
II Rufus
Normandy: Robert III Curthose |
| Consort | Matilda of Flanders |
| Issue | |
| Robert
III, Duke of Normandy
William II of England Adela, Countess of Blois Henry I of England |
|
| Titles and styles | |
| King of the English
Duke of the Normans |
|
| Father | Robert the Magnificent |
| Mother | Herlette of Falaise |
| Born | 1027–1028
Falaise, France |
| Died | 9
September 1087
Convent of St. Gervais, Rouen |
| Burial | Saint-Étienne de Caen, France |
William I of England (c. 1027/1028 – 9 September 1087), known as William the Conqueror, was Duke of Normandy from 1035 to 1087 and King of England from 1066.
To claim the English crown, William invaded England in 1066, leading an army of Normans to victory over the Anglo-Saxon forces of Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, and suppressed subsequent English revolts in what has become known as the Norman Conquest.[1]
His reign brought Norman culture to England, which had an enormous impact on the subsequent course of England in the Middle Ages. In addition to political changes, his reign also saw changes to English law, a programme of building and fortification, changes in the English language, and the introduction of continental European feudalism into England.
As Duke of Normandy, he is known as William II. He was also,
particularly before the conquest, known as William the Bastard.
Contents |
William's birth is believed to have been in either 1027 or 1028, and more likely in the autumn of the later year.[2] He was born the grandnephew of Queen Emma of Normandy, wife of King Ethelred the Unready and later of King Canute the Great.[3]
Against the wishes of Pope
Leo IX, William married Matilda
of Flanders in 1053 in the Cathedral of Notre Dame at Eu,
Normandy (Seine-Maritime).
At the time, William was about 26 years old and Matilda was 22. William
was a faithful husband who cherished his wife for life, their marriage
produced four sons and six daughters. In repentance for what was a consanguine
marriage (as in "same blood"), William donated St-Stephen's church (l'Abbaye-aux-Hommes)
and Matilda donated Sainte-Trinité church (Abbaye
aux Dames). However, King Henry became concerned because the noble
marriage of William increased the power of the Normans too much. Consequently,
Henry attempted invading Normandy twice (1054 and 1057), to no avail. William's
half-brothers Odo
of Bayeux and Robert,
Count of Mortain played significant roles in his life. He also had
a sister, Adelaide
of Normandy, also through Robert and Herleva.
The vacancy of the English crown, which was left after Edward the Confessor died, was to be ferociously disputed by three European figures (William, Harold, and Viking King Harald III of Norway). In January 1066, by Edward's last will, and by the vote of the Witengamot, Harold Godwinson was crowned King of England as Harold II by Archbishop Aldred, and immediately the new monarch raised a large fleet of ships and mobilized a force of militia, arranging these around the coasts to anticipate attack from several directions.
Meanwhile, William submitted his claim to the English throne to Pope Alexander II, who sent him a consecrated banner in support. Then, William organized a council of war at Lillebonne and openly began assembling an army in Normandy, consisting of his own army, French mercenaries, and numerous foreign knights who expected plunder or English land. To each man, William promised both lands and titles of nobility after their victory. William gained the support from many knights and gathered a considerable army of 600 ships and 7,000 men at Saint-Valery-sur-Somme. But because of the heavy militia presence on the south coast of England and the fleet of ships guarding the English Channel, it looked as if he might fare little better than Tostig.[4]
Weeks of unfavourable weather affected the English Channel, delaying William's departure but granting Harold additional time, who moved out of the nearby English coasts. William arrived with his army in Pevensey Bay (Sussex) on September 28, and then he moved to Hastings, a few miles to the east, where he built a prefabricated wooden castle for a base of operations.
The Battle of Hastings lasted all day. Along the ridge's border, hiding behind a large wall of shields, all English soldiers stood so effectively that, initially, William's army could not even reach the high enemy, suffering a large number of casualties. However, to pursue the many fleeing Normans, many English soldiers broke their ranks so disorderly that William, whose horse had collapsed, could lead some Norman knights who were followed by the rest of the Normans back into the battlefield. Thus, the battle was even while the English wall of shields weakened progressively, to disappearance. Then, William launched an effective wave of arrows over the shields, which decided the Norman victory irrevocably. This resulted in the deaths of Harold—who was likely killed by an arrow by a severe eye-wound—and two of his brothers, Gyrth and Leofwine Godwinson. At dusk, the English army made their last stand. By that night, the Norman victory was complete, and the remaining English soldiers fled in fear.
For William I, the worst crisis came from Northumbria, which had still not submitted to his realm. In 1068, with Edgar Ætheling, both Mercia and Northumbria revolted. William could suppress these, but Edgar fled to Scotland where Malcolm protected him. Furthermore, Malcolm married Edgar's sister Margaret, with much eclat, stressing the English balance of power against William. Under such circumstances, Northumbria rebelled, besieging York. Then, Edgar resorted also to the Danes, who disembarked with a large fleet at Northumbria, claiming the English crown for their King Sweyn II. Scotland joined the rebellion as well. The rebels easily captured York and its castle. However, William could contain them at Lincoln. After dealing with a new wave of revolts at western Mercia, Exeter, Dorset, and Somerset, William defeated his northern foes decisively at the River Aire, retrieving York, while the Danish army swore to depart.
William then devastated Northumbria between the Humber and Tees rivers, with his Harrying of the North. The region ended up absolutely deprived, losing its traditional autonomy towards England. Then, the Danish king disembarked in person, readying his army to restart the war, but William suppressed such threat with a payment of gold. Subsequently in 1071, William defeated the last rebel focus of the north through an improvised pontoon, subduing the Ely island at which the Danes had gathered. In 1072, he invaded Scotland, defeating Malcolm and gaining a temporary peace. In 1074, Edgar Ætheling submitted definitively to William.
In 1075, during William's absence, the Revolt of the Earls was confronted successfully by Odo. In 1080, William sent his half brothers Odo and Robert, who stormed Northumbria and Scotland, respectively. Eventually, the Pope protested against the excessive mistreatment which had been exerted by the Normans against the English people. Indeed, until overcoming all rebellions, William had conciliated with the English church although he persecuted it ferociously afterward.
The mischief of William's elder son Robert arose after a prank of his brothers William and Henry, who doused him with filthy water. The situation became a large scale Norman rebellion. Only with King Philip's additional military support William was able to confront Robert, who had based at Flanders. During the battle in 1079, William was unhorsed and wounded by Robert, who lowered his sword only after recognizing him. The embarrassed William returned to Rouen, abandoning the expedition. In 1080, Matilda reconciled both, and William revoked Robert's inheritance.
Odo caused many troubles to William, and he was imprisoned in 1082, losing his English estate and all royal functions, except the religious ones. In 1083, Matilda died, and William became more tyrannical over his realm.
William also ordered many castles, keeps, and mottes, among them the Tower of London's foundation (the White Tower), which were built throughout England. These ensured effectively that the many rebellions by the English people or his own followers did not succeed.
His conquest also led to Norman (and French) replacing English as the language of the ruling classes for nearly 300 years.[5][6] Furthermore, the original Anglo-Saxon cultural influence of England became mingled with the Norman one; thus the Anglo-Norman culture came into being.
William is said to have eliminated the native aristocracy in as little as four years. Systematically, he despoiled those English aristocrats who either opposed the Normans or who died without issue. Thus, most English estates and titles of nobility were handed to the Norman noblemen. Many English aristocrats fled to Flanders and Scotland; others may have been sold into slavery overseas. Some escaped to join the Byzantine Empire's Varangian Guard, and went on to fight the Normans in Sicily. By 1070, the indigenous nobility had ceased to be an integral part of the English landscape, and by 1086, it maintained control of just 8% of its original land-holdings.[7] However, to the new Norman noblemen, William handed the English parcels of land piecemeal, dispersing these wide. Thus nobody would essay conspiring against him without jeopardizing their own estates within the so unstable England. Effectively, this strengthened William's political stand as a monarch.
William also seized and depopulated many miles of land (36 parishes), turning it into the royal New Forest region to support his enthusiastic enjoyment of hunting.[8]
William died at age 59 at the Convent of St Gervais near Rouen, France, on 9 September 1087. William was buried in the Abbaye-aux-Hommes, which had been erected by him, in Caen, Normandy.
According to some sources, a fire broke out during the funeral; the original owner of the land on which the church was built claimed he had not been paid yet, demanding 60 shillings, which William's son Henry had to pay on the spot; and, in a most unregal postmortem, William's corpulent body would not fit in the stone sarcophagus.
William's grave is currently marked by a marble slab with a Latin inscription; the slab dates from the early 19th century. The grave was defiled twice, once during the French Wars of Religion, when his bones were scattered across the town of Caen, and again during the French Revolution. Following those events, only William's left femur remains in the tomb.
As Duke of Normandy and King of England he passed the titles on to his descendants. Other territories would be acquired by marriage or conquest and, at their height, these possessions would be known as the Angevin Empire.
They included many lands in France, such as Normandy and Aquitaine, but the question of jurisdiction over these territories would be the cause of much conflict between England and France, which took up much of the Middle Ages, including the Hundred Years War and, some might argue, continued as far as the Battle of Waterloo of 1815.
| William I of EnglandHouse of NormandyBorn: 1028Died: 9 September 1087 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by
Edgar Ætheling |
King
of England
1066–1087 |
Succeeded by
William II |
| French nobility | ||
| Preceded by
Robert the Magnificent |
Duke
of Normandy
1035–1087 |
Succeeded by
Robert Curthose |
| Family information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Richard
II of Normandy
House of Norman
|
Robert
II
Duke of Normandy |
William I of England |
| Judith
of Brittany
House of Rennes
|
||
| Fulbert of Falaise | Herleva of Falaise | |
| Doda | ||
| Notes and references | ||
| 1. Tompsett, Brian, Directory
of Royal Genealogical Data (Hull, UK: University of Hull, 2005).
2. Ross, Kelley L., The Proceedings of the Friesian School (Los Angeles, US: Los Angeles Valley College, 2007). |
||
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|
|---|
| Monarchs
of England (pre-Conquest)
Alfred the Great • Edward the Elder • Ælfweard • Athelstan • Edmund the Magnificent • Edred • Edwy the Fair • Edgar the Peaceable • Edward the Martyr • Ethelred the Unready • Sweyn Forkbeard • Edmund Ironside • Canute • Harold Harefoot • Harthacanute • Edward the Confessor • Harold Godwinson • Edgar the Atheling Monarchs of England (post-Conquest) William I the Conqueror • William II Rufus • Henry I • Stephen • Matilda • Henry II • Richard I the Lionheart • John • Henry III • Edward I Longshanks • Edward II • Edward III • Richard II • Henry IV Bolingbroke • Henry V • Henry VI • Edward IV • Edward V • Richard III • Henry VII • Henry VIII • Edward VI • Jane • Mary I • Elizabeth I • James I • Charles I • Republic • Charles II • James II • William III & Mary II • William III • Anne |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | England, William I of |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1024–1028 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Falaise, France |
| DATE OF DEATH | 9 September 1087 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Convent of St. Gervais, Rouen |