Norman Conquest Encyclopedia

William the Bastard

William the Conqueror-William I of England

William, duke of Normandy, inherited the duchy on the death of his father, Duke Robert the Magnificent, in July 1035. He was born out of wedlock to Herleve, also known as Arlette, who was probably the daughter of a tanner of Falaise. His success in retaining the duchy in his boyhood, he was only seven when he inherited it, was largely due to the support and protection of King Henry I of France who finally put his rivals to flight at the battle of Val-ès-Dunes in 1047. As William's power grew, Henry sought to limit it and, with the Count of Anjou, attacked his former ward. These attempts failed. In 1051 Edward the Confessor, king of England, assured William that he would succeed to the throne of England and in 1064 Harold Godwinsson, according to the Normanchroniclers and the Bayeux Tapestry, took an oath of fealty to William which further secured his position. However, on Edward's death in January 1066, Harold was chosen to be king by the witan and, as it had not come to him by right, William chose to take what he and the Church considered his throne by force. While Harold was in the north of England, having won a battle against Harald Hardrada at Stamford Bridge, William landed at Pevensey and moved to Hastings. On 14 October 1066 the English and Normans fought at Senlac Hill, north of Hastings, where Battle Abbey now stands. Harold was slain together with the flower of the English nobility and much of their military manpower. William then undertook a great encircling march to isolate London which he entered in December. He was crowned on Christmas Day. The next five years were spent in gaining full control of the kingdom. Castles were built throughout the land and numerous uprisings under such men as Edwin of Mercia, Morcar of Northumbria and Hereward the Wake were put down with a firmness that included great cruelty. William also had to deal with opposition from Scotland by King Malcolm III and from the Welsh. The English church was reformed and brought into line with Rome by Lanfranc of Bec and the administrative control of the country was secured with the great Domesday survey. By the time William died on 9 September 1087 Anglo-Saxon England had disappeared.

Norman Conquest Encyclopedia

William the Bastard

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