William Duke of Normandy lead the last successful invasion of England, winning his greatest victory at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
William the Conqueror was born William the Bastard around the year 1027, the son of Robert the Magnifient, Duke of Normandy and his mistress Herleva, thought to be the daughter of a common tanner. Unlike England, where an illegitimate son could never hope to inherit his father's title, Normandy had no such laws. In 1035 Robert died, and the seven-year-old William became Duke of Normandy.
William spent the next twelve years dodging assassins and countering plots to usurp his position. By age 19, he had developed into a large and powerful man, capable of commanding his own Duchy. In 1047 a large number of Norman Barons took one last shot at escaping from William's rule and rebelled. With the aid of King Henry I of France, William met the rebel Barons on the battlefield at Val-es-Dunes. It was a great victory for William and secured his reputation as a fearsome fighter.
Despite William's warrior reputation, Val-es-Dunes was the only pitched battle he fought before 1066. William preferred the use of careful strategy, including sieges and castle building to impose his will. That said, he also believed that quick and violent strokes could achieve long lasting results. Although William wasn't cruel by the standards of his day, at least in his early days, on several occasions he killed, maimed, or mutilated men who had opposed him. He did this not out of revenge, but as a warning to others.
In 1053, against the wishes of the Pope, William married his cousin Matilda of Flanders. Their marriage was highly unusual at the time, since it seems to have come about because the two actually loved one another. Matilda proved a strongly supportive wife for most of William's life and their marriage would produce ten children.
The story of William's coming to England and the Battle of Hastings will be told elsewhere on this site. For the moment, let us get by with the knowledge that in 1066 William took an army across the English channel and defeated the English King Harold at the battle of Hastings.
Although most history books end the story there, the actual conquest of England would take another 5 years. England was a fractured and divided nation at the time, with Earls and lesser nobility ruling their little pieces of the country mostly independent from any higher authority. Only through a slow and steady campaign of repressing rebellions and castle building was William able to slowly cement his rulership over the entire island. In 1071, Hereward the Wake lead the last major English uprising against William. Only when it failed, could Duke William truly be considered King William of England.
For the next 16 years, William travelled back and forth across the English Channel trying to keep the peace in his two countries. With the end of English rebellions, came a new set of rebellions by William's Norman vassals, including one led by his eldest son and supported by Matlida. Although William successfully dealt with them all, time and age began to take its toll. The muscular body that had helped win him the crown of England slowly slipped away to be replaced by fat. The loss of his wife, first to rebellion, then to death, brought a cruelness and recklessness to his character that hadn't been there before. While attempting to suppress another rebellion in Normandy, a very fat and 59 year-old William fell off his horse. The injuries he received quickly lead to his death. Unfortunately, the nobility were slow to bury their lord. By the time they got around to it some days later, they found his swollen corpse would not fit into the stone coffin that had been prepared. After a great deal of pushing, William's body burst open, releasing a noxious gas that caused everyone at the funeral to flee the chapel. It would be several more days before he was actually laid in the ground.
