King of Denmark
Gunhilda of = SWEYN FORKBEARD
Styrbjorn = Thyra
Poland
Richard I, Duke of
Sweden
of Normandy
Thorgils Sprakalegg
Elgiva of (1) = CANUTE = (2) Emma, widow of Judith
= Richard II,
Northampton (1016–1035) ATHELRED II
daughter of Duke of Gytha =
Godwin,
Conan I Normandy
Earl of
Wessex
HAROLD HARDICANUTE
HAREFOOT (1040–1042)
Robert I = Herlиve
(1035–1040)
Duke of
Normandy
HAROLD
II EDWARD THE=Eadgyth
(1066)
CONFESSOR
(1042–1066)
WILLIAM I
= Matilda, dau. of
THE CONQUEROR
Baldwin V, Count
(1066–1087)
of Flanders
WILLIAM II
Adela = Stephen, Adela of =
HENRY I,
(1087–1100)
Count of Louvain
(1100–1135)
Blois
STEPHEN
Matilda = Geoffrey, Count
(1135–1154)
of Anjou and Maine
HENRY II =
Eleanor of
(1154–1189)
Aquitaine, divorced
wife of LOUIS VII,
King of
France
RICHARD I JOHN
= Isabella, dau. of
(1189–1199) (1199–1216)
Count of
Angoulкme
HENRY III
(1216–1272)
WILLIAM I «THE CONQUEROR» (1066-1087)
Born around 1028, William was the illegitimate son of Duke Robert I of
Normandy, and Herleve (also known as Arlette), daughter of a tanner in
Falaise. Known as 'William the Bastard' to his contemporaries, his
illegitimacy shaped his career when he was young. On his father's death in
1035, William was recognised by his family as the heir - an exception to
the general rule that illegitimacy barred succession. His great uncle
looked after the Duchy during William's minority, and his overlord, King
Henry I of France, knighted him at the age of 15. From 1047 onwards,
William successfully dealt with rebellion inside Normandy involving his
kinsmen and threats from neighbouring nobles, including attempted invasions
by his former ally King Henry I of France in 1054 (the French forces were
defeated at the Battle of Mortemer) and 1057. William's military successes
and reputation helped him to negotiate his marriage to Mathilda, daughter
of Count Baldwin V of Flanders. At the time of his invasion of England,
William was a very experienced and ruthless military commander, ruler and
administrator who had unified Normandy and inspired fear and respect
outside his duchy. William's claim to the English throne was based on his
assertion that, in 1051, Edward the Confessor had promised him the throne
(he was a distant cousin) and that Harold II - having sworn in 1064 to
uphold William's right to succeed to that throne - was therefore a usurper.
Furthermore, William had the support of Emperor Henry IV and papal
approval. William took seven months to prepare his invasion force, using
some 600 transport ships to carry around 7,000 men (including 2,000-3,000
cavalry) across the Channel. On 28 September 1066, with a favourable wind,
William landed unopposed at Pevensey and, within a few days, raised
fortifications at Hastings. Having defeated an earlier invasion by the King
of Norway at the Battle of Stamford Bridge near York in late September,
Harold undertook a forced march south, covering 250 miles in some nine days
to meet the new threat, gathering inexperienced reinforcements to replenish
his exhausted veterans as he marched. At the Battle of Senlac (near
Hastings) on 14 October, Harold's weary and under-strength army faced
William's cavalry (part of the forces brought across the Channel) supported
by archers. Despite their exhaustion, Harold's troops were equal in number
(they included the best infantry in Europe equipped with their terrible two-
handled battle axes) and they had the battlefield advantage of being based
on a ridge above the Norman positions. The first uphill assaults by the
Normans failed and a rumour spread that William had been killed; William
rode among the ranks raising his helmet to show he was still alive. The
battle was close-fought: a chronicler described the Norman counter-attacks
and the Saxon defence as 'one side attacking with all mobility, the other
withstanding as though rooted to the soil'. Three of William's horses were
killed under him. William skilfully co-ordinated his archers and cavalry,
both of which the English forces lacked. During a Norman assault, Harold
was killed - hit by an arrow and then mowed down by the sword of a mounted
knight. Two of his brothers were also killed. The demoralised English
forces fled. (In 1070, as penance, William had an abbey built on the site
of the battle, with the high altar occupying the spot where Harold fell.
The ruins of Battle Abbey, and the town of Battle, which grew up around it,
remain.) William was crowned on Christmas Day 1066 in Westminster Abbey.
Three months later, he was confident enough to return to Normandy leaving
two joint regents (one of whom was his half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux,
who was later to commission the Bayeux Tapestry) behind to administer the
kingdom. However, it took William six years to consolidate his conquest,
and even then he had to face constant plotting and fighting on both sides
of the Channel. In 1068, Harold's sons raided the south-west coast of
England (dealt with by William's local commanders), and there were
uprisings in the Welsh Marches, Devon and Cornwall. William appointed earls
who, in Wales and in all parts of the kingdom, undertook to guard the
threatened frontiers and maintain internal security in return for land. In
1069, the Danes, in alliance with Prince Edgar the Aetheling (Ethelred's
great-grandson) and other English nobles, invaded the north and took York.
Taking personal charge, and pausing only to deal with the rising at
Stafford, William drove the Danes back to their ships on the Humber. In a
harsh campaign lasting into 1070, William systematically devastated Mercia
and Northumbria to deprive the Danes of their supplies and prevent recovery
of English resistance. Churches and monasteries were burnt, and
agricultural land was laid to waste, creating a famine for the unarmed and
mostly peasant population which lasted at least nine years. Although the
Danes were bribed to leave the north, King Sweyn of Denmark and his ships
threatened the east coast (in alliance with various English, including
Hereward the Wake) until a treaty of peace was concluded in June 1070.
Further north, where the boundary with Scotland was unclear, King Malcolm
III was encroaching into England. Yet again, William moved swiftly and
moved land and sea forces north to invade Scotland. The Treaty of Abernethy
in 1072 marked a truce, which was reinforced by Malcolm's eldest son being
accepted as a hostage. William consolidated his conquest by starting a
castle-building campaign in strategic areas. Originally these castles were
wooden towers on earthen 'mottes' (mounds) with a bailey (defensive area)
surrounded by earth ramparts, but many were later rebuilt in stone. By the
end of William's reign over 80 castles had been built throughout his
kingdom, as a permanent reminder of the new Norman feudal order. William's
wholesale confiscation of land from English nobles and their heirs (many
nobles had died at the battles of Stamford Bridge and Senlac) enabled him
to recruit and retain an army, by demanding military duties in exchange for
land tenancy granted to Norman, French and Flemish allies. He created up to
180 'honours' (lands scattered through shires, with a castle as the
governing centre), and in return had some 5,000 knights at his disposal to
repress rebellions and pursue campaigns; the knights were augmented by
mercenaries and English infantry from the Anglo-Saxon militia, raised from
local levies. William also used the fyrd, the royal army - a military
arrangement which had survived the Conquest. The King's tenants-in-chief in
turn created knights under obligation to them and for royal duties (this
was called subinfeudation), with the result that private armies centred
around private castles were created - these were to cause future problems
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