Previously he was usually described as William the Bastard, an accurate reflection of both his illegitimate birth and his widely feared ruthless personality.
Childhood Duke
William was born during 1028 and he was the illegitimate son of Robert, the Duke of Normandy and one of his father's servants. Duke Robert had no legitimate sons, which made William only a disputed heir to the Duchy of Normandy.
As a child William was badly treated and unsurprisingly had an extremely difficult struggle to succeed his father as the undisputed Duke of Normandy. Being exposed to such a high degree of violent struggle and political intrigue William was used to using all available military might to achieve his dynastic and personal objectives.
The Conquest of England
He also liked to portray himself as been a highly religious man and servant of the Roman Catholic Church. William was an astute statesman as well as a very skilled military leader, which were certainly attributes that proved useful once he decided to invade England in the momentous year of 1066.
William always claimed that he had been promised the English throne by the childless Edward the Confessor who was half Norman himself and had spent many years in Normandy whilst in exile. After Edward the Confessor died in January 1066 William was furious when he found out that Harold Godwinson had seized the crown that was rightfully his.
Furthermore on an earlier visit to Normandy Harold had acknowledged that William was the rightful heir to the throne. William prepared to invade England, yet had to wait for the wind to change direction before he could cross the English Channel.
Luckily for William, Harold II had to deal with another invasion attempt from the Vikings . Despite the overwhelming victory at Stamford Bridge Harold II had to march his worn out army to Hastings to fight William's army.
At first the hard fought Battle of Hastings did not go the Duke's way yet he tricked the English infantry into leaving their formidable shield walls allowing his archers and his cavalry to win the day. His army slowly advanced to London where he was crowned on 25 December 1066.
William ruthlessly and systematically crushed English resistance via the construction of many castles, and the brutal harrying of the North. In reality the harrying of the North was mass murder in the counties of Lancashire, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire. Once he was in full control William restored order and England became one of the richest countries in Europe, although only the Norman landowners gained any benefit from that wealth.
William died on campaign in France during 1087, missed by neither his English nor his Norman subjects.
Bibliography
Crystal D (1998) Chambers’ Biographical Encyclopedia, 2nd edition, Edinburgh
Lenman B, (2004) Chambers Dictionary of World History, Edinburgh
Roberts R M (1996) Penguin History of Europe, Penguin, London
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