William Duke of Normandy (1035 – 1087), King of England (1066 – 1087)

William was the illegitimate son of Robert the Magnificent and Herleva of Falaise, but although his succession was contested, he asserted his authority over Normandy at the battle of Val-ès-Dunes (1047). He removed the threat of his French and Angevin enemies through his victories at Mortemer (1054) and Varaville (1057) and pursued an active policy on the borders of Maine and Brittany while his links with Flanders were reinforced by his marriage to Matilda, daughter of Count Baldwin. As master of his Duchy, he claimed the English throne on the death of Edward the Confessor, son of his aunt Emma. William armed an invasion fleet and defeated the Anglo-Saxon King Harold at Hastings on 14 October 1066. William was crowned king and governed England as a hierarchical feudal kingdom on the Norman model, but he had difficulty in juggling the two halves of his domain. The end of his life is marked in particular by the revolts of his son Robert Curthose. Having been mortally wounded in Mantes in 1087, William divided his domain making Robert, Duke of Normandy, and William Rufus, King of England, but leaving no territory to his third son Henry.

Bibliography :

- Michel de Boüard. - Guillaume le Conquérant. - Paris : Fayard, 1984