figures to Normandy in the years he lived there. Histo-
rian Christopher Tyerman writes:
William’s subsequent consolidation of control
over both church and magnates depended cru-
cially upon military successes and his consequent
ability to reward loyalty, attract support and pun-
ish opposition. Northern France, a patchwork of
competing lordships and conflicting claims of
allegiance, offered considerable scope for a vig-
orous and well-organized power. Between 1054
and 1064 William extended his influence and
authority to Ponthieu, the Norman Vexin, Brit-
tany and Maine. A Flemish alliance was achieved
by his marriage (ca. 1051) to Matilda (d. 1083)
the diminutive but forceful daughter of Baldwin
V, count of Flanders. William also allied with the
counts of Boulogne. This network of alliances
proved vital when William planned his invasion
of England.Mathilda would bear William nine children, including
four boys. Among these would be his successor as king
of England, William Rufus, later to become William II.
Another son, Robert, succeeded his father as duke of
Normandy.
William coveted the throne of England, which he
claimed through his great-grandfather’s sister, Emma,
who had married Ethelred II of England. In 1051,
King Edward the Confessor named William as his heir,
based on this relationship. When Edward died in Janu-
ary 1066, his brother-in-law, harold ii, earl of Wes-
sex, immediately took the crown and shut William out.
William set out to challenge Harold for the throne, as-
sembling a fleet of ships to carry his Norman army to
the shores of the English island. However, he was not
the first invader to confront Harold: In September 1066,
Harold Hardrada, the king of Norway, invaded England,
and Harold II marched north and defeated him at the
Battle of Stamford Bridge (25 September). William had
allied himself to Harold Hardrada, and two days after
Stamford Bridge, he and his fleet sailed from France and
landed at Pevensey on the south coast of England on
28 September. Harold and his army of Saxons marched
south, and the two forces met at Hastings on 14 Octo-
ber 1066. Harold had easily defeated Harold Hardrada’s
forces, but his soldiers were exhausted after their forced
march from the north. During the battle, Harold was
killed, allegedly by an arrow in the eye, and much of
the Anglo-Saxon nobility fighting with him were also
slain. In the end, as with all battles, the victor wrote the
history, and the Normans displayed their great victory at
Hastings on the Bayeux Tapestry, a lengthy textile (231
feet) containing 72 scenes depicting William crossing
the English Channel and the battle itself. Today Battle
Abbey marks the site of the French triumph.
William was crowned king of England on Christ-
mas Day, 1066. He linked the English nation with his
own French dukedom and set out to consolidate his
gains firmly. One of his decisions was to take inventory
of everything in the nation he had just acquired. This ac-
count has become known as the Domesday (dooms-day)
Book (1085–86), which in fact was two books that listed
all the landholdings, animals, homes, and businesses in
England. The Domesday Book became the basis of gov-
ernment taxation.
William reigned as king for 20 years, suppressing
rebellions and invasions by the Scots and leaving the
country only when his Norman duchy was threatened
by rebellion. In 1081, he was forced to return to France
to fight a series of uprisings there, and these took up the
next several years of his life. In 1087, William and his
army took the city of Mantes, during which he suffered
a serious injury, supposedly the result of fall from his
horse. He was removed to the city of Rouen, where he
lay for five weeks before succumbing to his wounds on 9
September 1087. As William lay dying, English author
Hilaire Belloc writes,when he found death very near he was still able
to make dispositions for what was to follow. To
Robert, as of hereditary right, as to one also to
whom the feudatories had done homage, he left
the hereditary Continental land. To his younger
son, who had been born in England, Henry, now
twenty years old, he left a store of silver... and
presumably certain lands for his endowment as
well. But the arrangement he made in the matter
of England is strange and provokes our thought.
He had no doubt whatsoever on his right—he
was King of England by a rightful claim and the
favour of God who had confirmed that claim in
ordeal by battle—it was his right, without ques-
tion, to found a new dynasty in that realm. He
would not unite it with Robert’s Duchy, he did
not even actually appoint, what he said was that williAm i (the conqueRoR)