William the Conqueror, King of England ^{1 4 6 7 8 9}

   Cause of his death was Fatal fall from a horse.

   Other names for William were William I King of England and William I.

  General Notes:

[G675.ged]

Reigned 1066-1087. Duke of Normandy 1035-1087. Invaded England defeated and killed his rival Harold at the Battle of Hastings and became King. The Norman conquest of England was completed by 1072 aided by the establishment of feudalism under which his followers were granted land in return for pledges of service and loyalty. King William was noted for his efficient if harsh rule. His administration relied upon Norman and other foreign personnel especially Lanfranc Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1085 started the Domesday Book.

NOTES: William of the House of Normandy; The first Norman King; On 28 Sep 1066 William secured the sanction of Pope Alexander II for a Norman invasion of England. By 1070 the Norman conquest of England was complete. William introduced the Continental system of feudalism; by the Oath of Salisbury of 1086 all landlords swore allegiance to William, thus establishing the precedent that a vassal's loyalty to the king overrode his fealty to his immediate lord. During a campaign against King Philip I of France, William fell from a horse and was fatally injured. William was the illegitimate son of Robert I, duke of Normandy and Arletta, a tanner's daughter. He is sometimes called "William the Bastard".

REF: "Falls the Shadow" Sharon Kay Penman: William requested a large number of Jews to move to England after his conquest. They spoke Norman & did well under his reign.

REF: British Monarchy Official Website: The victory of William I, 'the Conqueror' (reigned 1066-1087) at Hastings and his subsequent coronation in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066 did not give him complete control of England. Remaining resistance was, however, severely crushed and castles were built to control the country (including a fortress on the site of Windsor Castle, and the White Tower at the Tower of London). The lands of defeated Saxon nobles were given to William's followers in return for military service by a certain number of knights, so that the tenants' foremost obligation was allegiance to the king. This firmly established the feudal system. In 1086, William commissioned the Domesday Book, to record land holdings for the assessment of taxes and other dues. William spent long periods in Normandy to maintain his authority there, dealing with rebellions and French invasions. William died in 1087 leaving Normandy to his eldest son, Robert, and England to his second son, William II Rufus (reigned 1087-1100).

REF: "Royal Descents of Famous People" Mark Humphreys: Steve Jones' book "In the Blood: God, Genes, & Destiny" 1996, estimates that 25% of the population of Britain is descended from William the Conqueror. Consider you need two parents, four grandparents, etc. Assuming an average of abt 25 years per generation, you only need go back to 1200, quite within historical times, to need more separate ancestors than the population of the world. Therefor we all must descend from cousin marriages, many times over, even within the last few hundred years. Davenport claimed "no people of English descent are more distantly related than 30th cousins".

  Noted events in his life were:

• Title: 7th Duke of Normandy 1035-1087. ^{4 6}

• Military: Invaded Anjou, Brittany, Maine, 1047. ⁶

• Military: Norman conquest of England completed by, 1072. ⁶

• Personality: Noted for his efficient if harsh rule. ⁶

• Political: Started the Domesday Book, 1085. ⁶

• Military: Defeated & killed his rival Harold at the Battle of Hastings and became King. ⁶

• Title: Reigned as King of England 1066-1087. ^{1 6}

William married Matilda of Flanders, daughter of Baudouin V "The Pious" , Comte de Flanders and Adela Capet, Comtesse de Contenance, in 1053 in Cathedral Of Notre Dame D'eu, Normandy.^{1 2 3 4 5 6} (Matilda of Flanders was born in 1031 in Flanders, France,^{4 5 6 7} died on 2 Nov 1083 in Caen, Calvirginiados, France ^{2 3 4 5 6 7} and was buried in Holy Trinity Abbey, Caen, Normandy, France ^{4 5 6}.)