Divorced, Beheaded, Died: The History of Britain's Kings and Queens in Bite-Sized Chunks Read Online Free PDF Page B
Author: Kevin Flude
The French King accepted their control of Normandy in 911 and gave them the title of Dukes of Normandy. Gradually they became integrated with the French, and practised a particularly ruthless form of feudalism that enabled them to turn out well-equipped, well-trained and fearless warriors. They conquered England and parts of Scotland, Ireland, and Sicily, and ran the Christian kingdom in the Holy Land. The Normans’ castles and architecture formed a lasting legacy in England, as did the contribution of French words to the English language.
W ILLIAM I
Reigned 1066–1087
The legacy of William the Conqueror is debated. Was he the man who destroyed Anglo-Saxon England? Or did he lay the foundation for the glorious future of the nation? On the one hand, William eradicated the English aristocracy, replacing it with the feudal system, with the hated French as powerful barons, thereby creating a Britain divided by class. On the other hand, the Norman Conquest was responsible for merging the practicality of the Anglo-Saxons with the flair of the French, creating a hybrid race and language that proved stronger and more adaptable as a result. By the end of William’s reign virtually every major landlord was French, every leading clergyman was foreign, and the English language had been replaced with French and Latin.
William was born in 1027/8 in Falaise Castle, Normandy, the illegitimate son of Robert, Duke of Normandy, and a tanner’s daughter. He succeeded to the Dukedom as a child in 1035 and conquered Maine (in northern France) in 1063. In 1066 he claimed the throne of England on the death of Edward the Confessor. His claim was very weak but he said it had been offered to him by Edward and that Edward’s ‘official’ successor, Harold Godwinson, had vowed to support it (this was disputed by Harold). William received the support of the Pope and gathered a huge fleet full of freebooters, willing to risk all for the spoils of war. His victory over King Harold at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066 marks one of the most important dates in the course of English history.
William’s coronation on Christmas Day 1066 at Westminster Abbey was a disaster, as Norman troops ran riot after mistaking sounds of acclamation coming from within the abbey for an English rebellion. This set the tone for much of his early reign, as William dealt with continued resistance ruthlessly. The Saxon leader Hereward the Wake was causing trouble in East Anglia; Edgar the Atheling and the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, supported by the Danes, led a rebellion in the north; and there were uprisings in the Midlands. In response, William adopted a scorched-earth policy, which included genocide and the salting of the land in the infamous ‘Harrying of the North’. The consequence was mass starvation, and the north took decades to recover. The creation of the royal forests – swathes of land that were cleared of Saxon villages and reserved for the sole use of the King and his nobles – was also deeply resented.
However, William maintained a well-ordered, strong kingdom in which crime was contained. The efficiency of Norman bureaucracy is shown by the creation of the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of who owned what in England, which was completed in 1086, shortly before William’s death in Rouen from war wounds in 1087. William married Matilda of Flanders and had ten children. Remarkably for this time, he seems to have remained faithful to his wife.
W ILLIAM II
Reigned 1087–1100
William II was the fifth child and third son of William the Conqueror, and was born in around 1056 in Normandy. His fair hair and ruddy complexion earned him the nickname ‘Rufus’ (meaning ‘red’). He was a rather flamboyant figure, with ‘effeminate’ long hair and extravagant clothes, and is said to have led a dissolute life. He never married and was not linked with any women, which in an age when the succession was the most important matter of
W ILLIAM I
Reigned 1066–1087
The legacy of William the Conqueror is debated. Was he the man who destroyed Anglo-Saxon England? Or did he lay the foundation for the glorious future of the nation? On the one hand, William eradicated the English aristocracy, replacing it with the feudal system, with the hated French as powerful barons, thereby creating a Britain divided by class. On the other hand, the Norman Conquest was responsible for merging the practicality of the Anglo-Saxons with the flair of the French, creating a hybrid race and language that proved stronger and more adaptable as a result. By the end of William’s reign virtually every major landlord was French, every leading clergyman was foreign, and the English language had been replaced with French and Latin.
William was born in 1027/8 in Falaise Castle, Normandy, the illegitimate son of Robert, Duke of Normandy, and a tanner’s daughter. He succeeded to the Dukedom as a child in 1035 and conquered Maine (in northern France) in 1063. In 1066 he claimed the throne of England on the death of Edward the Confessor. His claim was very weak but he said it had been offered to him by Edward and that Edward’s ‘official’ successor, Harold Godwinson, had vowed to support it (this was disputed by Harold). William received the support of the Pope and gathered a huge fleet full of freebooters, willing to risk all for the spoils of war. His victory over King Harold at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066 marks one of the most important dates in the course of English history.
William’s coronation on Christmas Day 1066 at Westminster Abbey was a disaster, as Norman troops ran riot after mistaking sounds of acclamation coming from within the abbey for an English rebellion. This set the tone for much of his early reign, as William dealt with continued resistance ruthlessly. The Saxon leader Hereward the Wake was causing trouble in East Anglia; Edgar the Atheling and the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, supported by the Danes, led a rebellion in the north; and there were uprisings in the Midlands. In response, William adopted a scorched-earth policy, which included genocide and the salting of the land in the infamous ‘Harrying of the North’. The consequence was mass starvation, and the north took decades to recover. The creation of the royal forests – swathes of land that were cleared of Saxon villages and reserved for the sole use of the King and his nobles – was also deeply resented.
However, William maintained a well-ordered, strong kingdom in which crime was contained. The efficiency of Norman bureaucracy is shown by the creation of the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of who owned what in England, which was completed in 1086, shortly before William’s death in Rouen from war wounds in 1087. William married Matilda of Flanders and had ten children. Remarkably for this time, he seems to have remained faithful to his wife.
W ILLIAM II
Reigned 1087–1100
William II was the fifth child and third son of William the Conqueror, and was born in around 1056 in Normandy. His fair hair and ruddy complexion earned him the nickname ‘Rufus’ (meaning ‘red’). He was a rather flamboyant figure, with ‘effeminate’ long hair and extravagant clothes, and is said to have led a dissolute life. He never married and was not linked with any women, which in an age when the succession was the most important matter of
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