King William de Normandie I "the Conqueror" [18092]

  General Notes:

On September 9, 1087, William I was injured when a horse bolted as a burning roof collapsed in Mantes within sight of Paris. William's protruding stomach struck the pommel of the saddle and he died in intense agony several days later in Roen, France.

William The Conqueror, or William the Bastard as he was known in his day, though out of his hearing, was the illegitimate son of of Robert I, Duke of Normandy. The Normans were Vikings who had settled in northern France and had taken on the lifestyle of the French aristocracy without losing that passion for conquest. William was descended from RAGNALD, the ancestor of the Earls of Orkney.

While in Normandy, William believed the throne of England had been promised to him by EDWARD THE CONFESSOR as far back as 1051. Although historians have found nothing of a record of Edward's promise, William held to its provision.

When Edward died in 1066, Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, assumed the throne and was crowned king. William saw him as a usurper and prepared for warfare by building alliances. During the decade of the 1050's William worked at this consolidation and found himself in a number of skirmishes in defense of Normady against Henri I of France, giving him and his army battle experience.

William acquired territories, namely; Maine in 1062, Anjou, and Brittany. He prepared for the invasion of England in September 1066 and the campaign lasted until the 25th of December 1066 when he was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey. His dominion was primarily in the south covering the old kingdoms of Wessex, Kent, Sussex and Essex. Within a year William began a slow campaign of territorial acquisition and this continued until 1068 when he brought his wife, Matilda to England to be crowned queen.

Within the process of this campaign, William had caused to be built 78 castles, the most famous being the Tower of London.

The King of Denmark and Edgar of Atheling joined forces and decided to recapture England, and they did manage to capture York in September of 1069. This angered William and he abandoned his previous campaign of slow calculated military movement and marched north, this time destroying everything in his path. In 1070 the Danish retreated, made a brief second attempt then abandoned the Isles.

To pay for his considerable army, William had to raise taxes. To determine how to levy this tax he ordered a survey conducted, now known as the Domesday Book.

In July 1087, while beseiging the town of Mantes, his horse jumped over a ditch and William received an injury from the pommel of the saddle which ripped his stomach. The wound caused peritonitis. William lingered for five weeks and died in September.

His body was returned to Caen for burial but the tomb was not large enough for his considerable girth. Finally the attendants attempted to force the body into the tomb, the already decaying and swollen body burst open letting out an intense smell of putrefaction that caused most to flee the site. Only a hardy few completed the burial.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Life Summation. WILLIAM I "THE CONQUEROR".
Also called "THE BASTARD".
King of England, late November/early December 1066-9 September 1087.

Crowned: Westminster Abbey, 25 December 1066.
Titles: King of England, Duke of Normandy and County of Maine.

Born: Falaise, Normandy, Autumn 1028.
Died: St. Gervais, Rouen, 9 September 1087, age 59.
Buried: Abbey of St. Stephen, Caen.

Married: c1053, Matilda, daughter of Baldwin V of Flanders, 10 children.

William married Countess of Flanders Matilda van Vlaanderen [18093] [MRIN: 6108], daughter of Baldwin V of Flanders Vlaanderen [18112] and Unknown, in 1053 in Notre Dame Cathedral d'eu. (Countess of Flanders Matilda van Vlaanderen [18093] was born about 1031 in Flanders (Belgium), died on 2 Nov 1083 in Caen, Normandie, France and was buried in Eglise de la Sainte Trinitbe, Caen, Normandie, France.)