7 Charlemagne 7

libraries, and teaching techniques—upon which later cul-

tural revivals would be based. The impetus he gave to the

lord-vassal relationship and to the system of agriculture

known as manorialism—in which peasants held land from

a lord in exchange for dues and service—played a vital role

in establishing the seignorial system. The seignorial sys-

tem, in which lords exercised political and economic

power over a given territory and its population, in turn

had the potential for imposing political and social order

and for stimulating economic growth. Although his eco-

nomic and social initiatives were motivated chiefly by

his moral convictions, these measures gave modest sup-

port to movements that eventually ended the economic

depression and social instability that had gripped western

Europe since the dissolution of the Roman Empire in the

4th and 5th centuries.

William I

(b. c. 1028, Falaise, Normandy [France]—d. Sept. 9, 1087, Rouen)

O

ne of the greatest soldiers and rulers of the Middle

Ages, William I (also known as William the

Conqueror) reigned as duke of Normandy from 1035 and

king of England from 1066 until his death in 1087. He

made himself the mightiest noble in France and then

changed the course of England’s history with his conquest

of that country.

William was an illegitimate son of Robert I, duke of

Normandy, and his concubine Herleva. When Robert

died in 1035, he was succeeded by William, who was only

seven. He was accepted as duke by the Norman magnates

and by his overlord, King Henry I of France. William and

his supporters had to overcome enormous obstacles,

including William’s illegitimacy and the fact that he had