William (I) the Conqueror (1028–1087)

Part of the Domesday Book, the compilation of which was ordered by William the Conqueror in 1086. Compiled to provide a basis for taxation, the Domesday Book was the most comprehensive survey of feudal estates carried out in medieval England. It caused great popular discontent and earned its name because, like the religious Day of Judgement, there could be no appeal against it.

Duke William of Normandy (later William I the Conqueror) is depicted in this scene in the Bayeux Tapestry, receiving news of Harold II of England. The Tapestry approaches the story of the Norman Conquest of England from the Norman perspective, and thus it is not possible to be certain that the events it shows really took place, such as the oath sworn by Harold to William, or the arrow through Harold's eye, which killed him.

King of England from 25 December 1066. He was the illegitimate son of Duke Robert the Devil whom he succeeded as Duke of Normandy in 1035. Claiming that his relative King Edward the Confessor had bequeathed him the English throne, William invaded England in 1066, defeating Harold (II) Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings) on 14 October 1066, and was crowned king of England.

William's coronation took place in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066. During the Norman Conquest of England, he secured control of the country by ruthlessly crushing any rebellion and the construction of 50 castles by 1087. He completed the establishment of the feudal system in England, compiling detailed records of land and property in the Domesday Book (1086), and kept the barons firmly under control. A key aspect of his policy was to gain the support of the medieval church through his archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc. He died in Rouen after a fall from his horse and is buried in Caen, France. He was succeeded by his son William II.

After his death, one Norman monk wrote that William ‘excelled in wisdom all the princes of his generation’ and claimed that ‘he was undaunted by danger’. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle described him as a ‘man of great wisdom and power, who surpassed in honour and strength all those who had gone before him’. It also, however, complained that William was ‘a hard man...sunk in greed’, who oppressed the people with castles and taxes, ‘but was too relentless to care though all might hate him’.

William's early years were marked by violence and disorder. In 1046 his cousin, Guy of Burgundy, led a revolt which forced the young duke to seek the aid of his overlord, Henry I of France. With Henry's help, William defeated Guy at Val-és-Dunes, and firmly secured control over Normandy. In 1051–52 William and Henry besieged and captured Domfront castle and Alençon in Maine, France. Almost immediately afterwards, William, Count of Arques, rebelled against the duke with the support of Henry I, who was increasingly concerned about Normandy's growing power. William quickly besieged the rebel Arques-la-Bataille castle and it was surrendered to him in 1053. In 1054 Henry I and Geoffrey of Anjou invaded Normandy, but when part of their force was wiped out at Mortemer they were forced to withdraw. Their second invasion, in 1057, was defeated at the Battle of Varaville. In 1051 Edward the Confessor had nominated William as heir to the English throne, but when he died in January 1066 Harold (II) Godwinson was crowned. William immediately began preparations for an invasion of England. On 28 September his forces landed unopposed at Pevensey, Sussex. Harold was in the north of England defeating an invasion led by Harald Hardrada, King of Norway, but immediately marched south to meet William. Their armies clashed in the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066. Harold was slain and William achieved a decisive victory. In 1067 William forcibly brought southwest England under his control. In 1068 he marched north and east to establish a number of strategic fortifications. In the summer of 1069 Swein Estrithson of Denmark landed with a considerable force in the Humber and was welcomed by the northern English earls who joined him in expelling the Norman garrison at York. William immediately marched north, destroying everything in his path, and reoccupied York. He undertook a systematic harrying of the north, setting his troops to kill and burn in order to leave nothing that could support future rebellion. The Danish fleet was bought off and departed. In 1072 William led an invasion that forced King Malcolm of Scotland to surrender hostages and swear fealty. In 1073 he was back in France suppressing rebellion in Maine. His regents dealt with a rebellion by the English earls in 1075, and in the latter years of his reign, William twice faced rebellion in Normandy led by his eldest son, Robert (II) Curthose. In 1087 William sacked the French-controlled town of Mantes (now Mantes-la-Jolie) in the Vexin. In the fighting he suffered a fatal internal injury after being thrown against the pommel of his saddle. He was taken to the priory of Saint-Gervais near Rouen where on 9 September he died.