William punished rebels by confiscating their lands and allocating them to the Normans. Effectively, this strengthened William's political stand as a monarch. Anglo-Saxon England was radically altered by the Norman conquest, it changed the entire way of life then established in the country. He defeated and killed King Harold at Hastings 14 Oct 1066, and made his way to London where he was crowned 25 Dec 1066 as WILLIAM I "the Conqueror" King of England. 3. In 1085, in order to ascertain the extent of his new dominions and to improve taxation, William commissioned all his counselors for the compilation of the Domesday Book, which was published in 1086. Meanwhile, many of the English had pursued the fleeing Normans on foot, allowing the Norman cavalry to attack them repeatedly from the rear as his infantry pretended to retreat further. William of Malmesbury provides us with a detailed description of the king in his Historia Anglorum:-. http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/NORMANDY.htm#GuillaumeIIdied1087B. The book was a survey of England's productive capacity similar to a modern census. Originally these castles were wooden towers on earthen 'mottes' (mounds) with a bailey (defensive area) surrounded by earth ramparts, but many were later rebuilt in stone. William undoubtedly possessed considerable powers of leadership and courage. [9] Along the ridge's border, formed as a wall of shields, the English soldiers at first stood so effectively that William's army was thrown back with heavy casualties. For William I, the worst crisis came from Northumbria, which had still not submitted to his realm. In addition to his two half-brothers, Odo of Bayeux and Robert, Count of Mortain, William also had a sister, Adelaide of Normandy, another child of Robert. Orderic says that she died en route to Spain, her body being brought back to Bayeux for burial[90]. The minute description of the country contained in the Domesday Book, completed in 1086, enabled King William to create an effective tax base He died from wounds received at the siege of Mantes, having been injured internally after being thrown against the pommel of his saddle[10], leaving Normandy to his eldest son Robert and England to his second surviving son William. Then, William organized a council of war at Lillebonne and in January openly began assembling an army in Normandy. Harold had been reconnoitering the south of England for some time and well appreciated the need to occupy this isthmus at once.[8]. Full of vexation come I, with complaint Against my child, my daughter Hermia. Guillaume de Jumièges records the death of King William at Rouen on 9 Sep and his burial at Saint-Etienne, Caen[11]. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II. Orderic Vitalis records that she encouraged her husband to join the First Crusade and did not hide her shame when he deserted from Antioch in 1098[96]. The Saxon army formed a shield wall along the edge of the hill which rebuffed repeated Norman attacks. In 1068, Harold's illegitimate sons raided the south-west coast of England (dealt with by William's local commanders), and there were uprisings in the Welsh Marches, Devon and Cornwall. The Chronicon Britannico Alter records the marriage in 1088 of "Alanus" and "Constantiam filam Regis Guillelmi Anglorum"[79]. On 13 October, William received news of Harold's march from London. By the end of William's reign over 80 castles had been built throughout his kingdom, as a permanent reminder of the new Norman feudal order. His mother, Herleva (a name with several variant versions), who later married and bore two sons to Herluin de Conteville, was the daughter of Fulbert of Falaise (possibly Fulbert de Tonnerre). The dominating shadow of the White Tower loomed menacingly over medieval London, a visible expression of Norman power. Despite their exhaustion, Harold's troops were equal in number (they included the best infantry in Europe equipped with their terrible two-handled battle axes) and they had the battlefield advantage of being based on a ridge above the Norman positions. Murder became an officially punishable crime in England and slavery was abolished. William's illegitimacy affected his early life. William of Malmesbury names Robert as eldest son of King William I[23]. . The necrology of Saint-Nicaise de Meulan records the death "II Non Aug" of "Guillelmus rex Anglorum filius Guillelmi regis"[73]. ...The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle... gave a favorable review of William's twenty-one year reign, but added, ...His anxiety for money is the only thing on which he can deservedly be blamed; . Duke Guillaume branded Harold a perjurer and appealed to Pope Alexander II for support. Constance (c. 1066 – 1090), married Alan IV Fergent, Duke of Brittany; poisoned, possibly by her own servants. A storm blew up and the fleet was forced to take shelter at Saint-Valery-sur-Somme and again wait for the wind to change. His grave has since been desecrated twice, in the course of the French Wars of Religion his bones were scattered across Caen, and during the tumultuous events of the French Revolution, the Conqueror's tomb was again despoiled. In England, Harold assembled a large army on the south coast and a fleet of ships to guard the English Channel.[6]. Harold Godwinsson's visit to Normandy, and swearing allegiance to Duke William, is recorded by William of Jumièges[7]. William I of England, better known as William the Conqueror, overcame a difficult childhood to become one of the most influential kings in British history. In 1086 William ordered the compilation of the Domesday Book, a survey listing all the landholders in England along with their holdings. 10. Delisle dates her death to [1113][56], on the basis of Orderic Vitalis recording that her successor as abbess of la Trinité de Caen, her sister Cecilia, died 13 Jul 1127 after 14 years as abbess[57]. The rebels easily captured York and its castle. William "Rufus" (c. 1056 – 1100), King of England. The Vita Simonis records a ficitional speech of William I King of England in which he offers his (unnamed) daughter's hand to Simon, specifying that she had previously been betrothed to "regis Hispaniarum Anfursi et Roberti principis Apuliæ"[92]. Osbern was killed whilst guarding his door. At the time, William was about 24 years old and Matilda was 22. William Rufus (his third son) was next English king, as William II. He was very charismatic and commanding. His second wife was Adeliza of Leuven. It proved however, to be a highly successful union and produced a large family. Two of his brothers, Gyrth and Leofwine Godwinson, were killed as well. MATHILDE de Normandie (-26 Apr or 6 Jul [1113]). Orderic Vitalis records that, after unsuccessfully aspiring to govern Normandy and Maine during the lifetime of his father, Robert rebelled in 1079 and went into exile in Flanders[25]. Edward and his brother Alfred had spent much of their childhood in exile at the Norman Court, their mother, Emma, had been a daughter of the House of Normandy. William, the illegitimate son of the Duke of Normandy, spent his first six years with his mother in Falaise and received the duchy of Normandy upon his father's death in 1035. Her parents offered her as an oblate to the nunnery of the Holy Trinity, Caen (founded by her mother) 18 Jun 1066[62], probably in part to obtain divine blessing for her father´s project to invade England. Guillaume de Jumièges records the burial of Queen Mathilde on 3 Nov 1081 at Holy Trinity, Caen[20]. Queen Matilda acted as regent in Normandy during her husband's absences in England. He died September 9, 1087 from complications of a wound he received in a siege on the town of Mantes. A manuscript of la Trinité de Caen names "Mathildem Anglorum reginam, nostri cœnobii fondatricem, Adilidem, Mathildem, Constantiam, filias eius" heading the list of the names of nuns at the abbey[50], which, if the order of names is significant, indicates that Adelaide was older than her two named sisters. With John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Pedro Armendáriz, Agnes Moorehead. According to Orderic Vitalis, Alain III Duke of Brittany was appointed his guardian during his father's absence in 1035[239]. Its laws, aristocracy and church were altered and it introduced the French feudal system. The victorious Harold, in an attempt to solidify his kingship, took the fight south to William and the Normans on October 14, 1066 at Hastings. William's wholesale confiscation of land from English nobles and their heirs (many nobles had died at the battles of Stamford Bridge and Senlac) enabled him to recruit and retain an army, by demanding military duties in exchange for land tenancy granted to Norman, French and Flemish allies. More severe forest laws reinforced William's conversion of the New Forest into a vast Royal deer reserve. His marriage in the 1050s to Matilda of Flanders provided him with a powerful ally in the neighbouring county of Flanders. King William I & his wife had ten children: 1. Edward the Confessor finally breathed his last in January, 1066, and was buried in his foundation of St.Peter, Westminster, which had been consecrated but ten days previously. Reforms William initiated many major changes. William was born in Falaise, Normandy, the illegitimate and only son of Robert I, Duke of Normandy, who named him as heir to Normandy. In 1071, William defeated the last rebellion of the north through an improvised pontoon, subduing the Isle of Ely, where the Danes had gathered. The arrival and conquest of William and the Normans radically altered the course of English history. In particular, before his conquest of England, he was known as "William the Bastard" (French: Guillaume le Bâtard) because of the illegitimacy of his birth. William rallied his troops reportedly raising his helmet, as shown in the Bayeux Tapestry, to quell rumors of his death. Reigned 1066-1087. At dusk, the English army made their last stand. By the end of William's reign, a small group of the King's tenants had acquired about half of England's landed wealth. Three months later, he was confident enough to return to Normandy leaving two joint regents (one of whom was his half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, who was later to commission the Bayeux Tapestry) behind to administer the kingdom. Matthew of Paris does not name her but lists her fourth among the daughters of King William, while distinguishing her from the fifth daughter betrothed to "Aldefonso Galiciæ regi"[43]. William I, the first Norman King of England, ascended to the throne in 1066 shortly after the death of his second cousin, Edward the Confessor. Chateau de Falaise . Eventually, the Pope protested that the Normans were mistreating the English people. William was a savage and formidable ruler, by modern standards an exceedingly cruel one, but his methods produced the desired results and extinguished the fires of opposition. Comte de Maine 1063, after he conquered the county. His illegitimate status and his youth caused some difficulties for him after he succeeded his father, as did the anarchy that plagued the first years of his rule. Harold took up a defensive position on Senlac Ridge. Several unsuccessful rebellions followed, but by 1075 William's hold on England was mostly secure, allowing him to spend the majority of the rest of his reign on the Continent. 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 and bitter rivalry 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. Nonetheless, he was depicted as a man of fair stature with remarkably strong arms, "with which he could shoot a bow at full gallop". William I (circa 1028[1] – 9 September 1087), also known as William the Conqueror (Guillaume le Conquérant), was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. Under such circumstances, Northumbria rebelled, besieging York. A rumour arose in the Norman ranks that Duke William was dead, causing panic and flight. In a most unregal postmortem, it was found that William's corpulent body would not fit in the stone sarcophagus as his body had bloated due to the warm weather and length of time that had passed since his death. William negotiated a marriage in 1049 to Matilda, a descendant of the old Saxon House of Wessex and daughter of Baldwin, Count of Flanders and Adela, daughter of Robert II, King of France. Brother of Adelaide of Normandy, Countess Of Aumale The Chronicon Kemperlegiensis records the marriage in 1087 of "Alanus Hoëli Consulis filius" and "Constantiam Guillelmi Regis Anglorum filiam"[78]. 2 son of Robert I, Duke of Normandy and Harlette de Falaise, was born about 1028 in Falaise, Normandy, France and died on 9 Sep 1087 in Rouen, Normandy, France about age 59.. Other names for William were William of Normandy and William I King of England. 9. 7. An example of William's legacy even in modern times can be seen on the Bayeux Memorial, a monument erected by Britain in the Normandy town of Bayeux to those killed in the Battle of Normandy during World War II. From http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/normans.htm. During this visit, Edward is purported to have promised his Norman cousin the crown of England, should he die without issue. Offering promises of English lands and titles, he amassed at Dives-sur-Mer a huge invasion fleet, supposedly of 696 ships. 8. Had Harold rested and reorganized his army, the outcome of the impending battle and English history could have been very different. Named first in his list of the daughters of King William I by Matthew of Paris[75]. Florence of Worcester records the death "IV Non Nov" in [1083] of "regina Mahtilda" in Normandy and her burial at Caen[21]. William's youngest son Henry received 5,000 silver pounds, which would be earmarked to buy land. The scope, speed, efficiency and completion of this survey was remarkable for its time and resulted in the two-volume Domesday Book of 1086, which still exists today. In 1069, the Danes, in alliance with Prince Edgar the Aetheling (Ethelred's great-grandson) and other English nobles, invaded the north and took York. William the Conqueror, King of England William the Conqueror aka William the Bastard aka William of Normandy. After receiving continental reinforcements, William crossed the Thames at Wallingford, and there he forced the surrender of Archbishop Stigand (one of Edgar's lead supporters), in early December. However, before he would allow his guest to leave, William required him to swear an oath to support his claim to the crown upon Edward's death. 'He was of just stature, ordinary corplulence, fierce countenance; his forehead was bare of hair; of such great strength of arm that it was often a matter of surprise, that no one was able to draw his bow, which himself could bend when his horse was in full gallop; he was majestic whether sitting or standing, although the protuberance of his belly deformed his royal person; of excellent health so that he was never confined with any dangerous disorder, except at the last; so given to the pleasures of the chase, that as I have before said, ejecting the inhabitants, he let a space of many miles grow desolate that, when at liberty from other avocations, he might there pursue his pleasures. Orderic Vitalis says that Adelaide "a most fair maiden vowed herself to God when she reached marriageable age and made a pious end under the protection of Roger of Beaumont"[46]. From there, he ravaged the hinterland and waited for Harold's return from the north. There is no basis for assessing her order of birth among the other known daughters of the king. Edward the Confessor attempted to gain Norman support while fighting with his father-in-law, Earl Godwin, by purportedly promising the throne to William in 1051. Taking personal charge, and pausing only to deal with the rising at Stafford, William drove the Danes back to their ships on the Humber. [15] Modern historians, however, have come to the conclusion that the New Forest depopulation was greatly exaggerated. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_I_of_England. A Norman monk later wrote "As the fire spread rapidly, the people in the church were thrown into confusion and crowds of them rushed outside, some to fight the flames, others to take the chance to go looting.". Orderic Vitalis records the betrothal of Adelaide and Harold Godwinson, listing her after Agatha and before Constance in his description of the careers of the daughters of King William[42]. 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