William The Conqueror Research Paper

1066: The Year of the Conquest, written by David Howarth, tells of one of the most important dates in the history of England. In 1066, William the Conqueror and William of Orange fought the historical Battle of Hastings. The outcome of this battle lead to many changes to the English people. The Norman people became assimilated into the English way of life. Howarth proceeds to tell the tale of the Battle of Hastings through the eyes on a common Englishman.

On the 14th of October 1066, Duke William of Normandy defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings. His win could be summed up by the fact that William was a better leader. Other factors that contributed to William’s victory include: William was better prepared, the English army was severely weakened as Harold had just fought off an invasion in the North of England, and Harold made a fatal mistake of prematurely entering the Battle of Hastings.

William was already good and experienced at ruling so thus should be no problem for him. William was already the ruler of Normandy and was doing a great job so being ruler of England wouldn’t be a

Arguably the most important factor in the exertion of power over the English was the ability by the Normans to act militarily. The warlike attitude of the Normans, combined with the religious aspects that will be discussed later, provided them with a ready and capable army with which to support William’s claim to the throne. The early years of William’s rule, after the 1066 defeat of Harold, emerged as a sort of military occupation within England by the Normans. These years were crucial in the Norman advance within England. When William came to England he arrived with a large support of military men and much of these supporting military men remained in England because of their military duties. This army aided William not only in the initial battle against Harold, but later as well, through their

William ordered his foot soldiers to fake retreat. This is found in Source 5 because it shows William and Harold’s movements. My opinion is that doing this is very intelligent because doing this tricks the opposing team. This meant that William won the Battle of Hastings because it this meant that the English got confused so they followed the Normans down the hill, therefore breaking the shield wall. When they were at the bottom of the hill, the Normans killed the Bretons quickly so without William making this decision, it would’ve been less likely that the Saxons would’ve won the Battle of

english rulers William and Mary started a war with France also known as King William’s War. This war

William the Conqueror or known as William the Bastard to his enemies, played a huge role in developing England into the country that it is today. (1)

It is at this time where early transitions and alliances started to pay off. Ancient traditions helped William maintain his ducal authority. Count William of Arques still had to pay homage to the duke. Probably the biggest reason William was able to maintain his authority was due to the Norman relationship with France. King Henry I supported William. Another break for William was the fact that King Henry didn’t take Normandy for himself. He did claim rights over Normandy and placed William under his protection. The King was exercising his rights as overlord to safeguard his kingdom. King Henry didn’t do this completely without any benefit to himself, he did take two fortresses.

William was born to Robert I of Normandy and Herleva, a woman who lived with Robert I but was lower than a wife, in 1028 (“William I”). In a royal family being the eldest male child gives you direct claim to the throne, and luckily for William he was

Of William I’s (1066-1087) sons, William the II (1087-1100) was a better king than his younger brother Henry I (1100-1135). William I’s was the first Norman king to rule England. He split his heritance between his three living sons. Robert received the rule of Normandy, William II received England and Henry I received five thousand pounds. In early medieval England a good king was a heroic soldier and a strong leader who was fair but enforced the law. It was also important that they were Christian and unsinful. William II “The Rufus”-because of his red face or temper, was true to himself and what he believed in while Henry I “Beauclerc”-because of his high level of education, was a brutal and selfish king, not only to his people, but also

William the Conqueror is widely known to the world as the very first Norman King of England, William I. Before his reign over England, he was the Duke of Normandy, William II. In September 1066, William prepared a fleet to invade England, and in this conquest he defeated Harold II in the Battle of Hastings to claim the throne of England, effectively removing the Anglo-Saxon reign over England, and establishing the Norman Dynasty as rulers of England. The above quote is from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a written history of the Anglo-Saxons, which also included the reign of the Norman king, William the Conqueror. This particular quote is a contemporary description of William the Conqueror, written by an unknown scribe.

William the Conqueror became the Duke of Normandy in 1035. He spent many years struggling for power till he became king in 1066. During his ruling he was able to transform Normandy into a greater military power with an emphasis on horsemanship and the development of cavalry as a fighting force, which made him a sucessful and an acomplished commander. At the battle of Hastings William defeated his rivial Harlod Godwinson. He was successful in this fight because he attackted Harlod right after he had defeated the Vikings. He bulit many castles during his time. The castles he bulit went in return turned into a symbol of his conquest. He created the cenus of england that was known as the Domesday Book. This book helped him in finding out what

This piece was made during the times of Norman Conquest, which include the military conquests of England by the Duke of Normandy. This began after the victory at the Battle of Hastings on October 14th, 1066. These conquests caused political, administrative, and social changes in England. The conquest was the finale of unrest that had begun during the reign of Edward the Confessor, who was the last king of the Anglo-Saxon royal line. Edward, had named William as his successor in 1051, but did not have any children from his marriage. He would use this as a diplomatic tool, causing him to give the throne to different groups in the times of his rule. One of these individuals who was promised the throne included Harold Godwineson, who later later

In 1056, the Normans, led by William the Conqueror, invaded England. Although this ended the

Just a year before the Norman Conquest, King Edward was dealing with the significant threat of civil unrest and a political coup and his death at the turn of 1066 worked to further set the stage for the Norman Conquest (Kapelle, 1979, p. 100). Unfortunately, the uncertainty of Edward's true intentions concerning who should succeed him to the throne of England contributed to the Norman Conquest by forcing William of Normandy to take the English throne by force. Earl Harold had quickly established who would take the throne by taking it himself (p. 101). William, who would eventually be called William the Conqueror, would have to take the throne from the largely self-appointed King Harold.