William I, also known as William the Conqueror, or William the Bastard, was born in 1027. He was the only living illegitimate son of Robert, a Duke of Normandy. His mother was called Herleve of Falaise. Robert and Herleve never married and that is why William’s enemies referred to him as “William the Bastard”, though they never said this to his face once he grew up. He is recognized for kick-starting England into Medieval ages by bringing in some modern castle building proficiencies. His father, Robert, died in 1035. It is immediately after this death that William inherited Robert’s title. Some of the leading Normans who became William’s guardians include Gilbert of Brionne, Alan of Brittany and Osbern the Seneschal. Later on, in 1053, William married Matilda who hailed from Flanders. They gave birth to nine children, but only seven of them survived.

William’s Early Life

Before Robert died in 1035, he pushed his lords to swear their allegiance to William, his only existing heir. He got the title as Duke of Normandy at a tender age of 8. His young age, compounded with the fact that he was born out of wedlock, were the main reasons why a number of lords in Normandy didn’t approve being ruled by him. They even tried to kill him in 1040, but in vain. Instead his guardian, Gildert of Brionne, was killed.

William’s Throne Life

His administration and battle towards the throne faced a lot of challenges, as well as victory. William started to rule Normandy in 1045 and two years later, he faced a lot of rebel from the lords of western Normandy because he claimed to be their heir. However, he later subdued them at Val-es-dunes. Two murder attempts out of rebellion from the western Normandy taught William not to trust anyone. Besides becoming a victim of the violent times that he lived in, he held a strong believe not to show any mercy on whoever betrayed him. In 1051, William was besieged in the town of Alencon, and some of the citizens of this town stood against him because of the subject of being illegitimate. When later the town fell for him, he commanded that all those who had insulted him must have their feet and hands cut off.

William made a visit to Edward the Confessor in 1051. He laid claims that during this meeting, he was assured the throne of England after the death of Edward. However, this meeting had no proper witnesses, except those who were on William’s side.

The main powers of his army were based on his horse borne soldiers who were highly trained. These men wore chain mails whenever they went into fight, and used swords, lances, or mace to fight. The kind of horses these solders rode where bred purposely to carry war loads at high speeds.

When William managed to defeat Harold during the Battles of Hastings, he further employed the Feudal System in order to have England under his full control. His powers also greatly increased because of his famous use of the Domesday Book.

Soon after his coronation in 1066, he claimed that all England’s land belonged to him. Only those powerful lords such as Earl of Northumbria and Morcar who had made no attempt of attacking him were given the opportunity to recover their lands back, though in form of grants from William. He retained approximately a fifth of the land for personal use and distributed the rest to all who had assisted him to defeat Harold during the Battle of Hastings.

The Death Of William

William succumbed to dead in 1087 out of serious internal injuries sustained on him by his horse. The embers of a Norman village that was burning scared the horse, something that made it to rear and ram the pommel that was on the saddle, into the stomach of William. He suffered for a number of days before dying.
Legends hold a lot about his burial. For instance, his body was too big to fit in the coffin. Therefore, his body was stuffed into it, and in the process split open because it had rotted. In 1562, all that was put into his coffin got stolen, except for the thigh bone. During the French revolution, this thigh bone was removed.
There is no one who has a full story on what happened to the skeleton of William the Conqueror. He is still remembered for winning the Battle of Hastings.

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