biography
| name: |
William I (of England),
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known as the Conquerer
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (c.1028–87)
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| biography:
| Duke of Normandy (1035–87) and the first Norman king of England (1066–87), the illegitimate son of Duke Robert of Normandy. Edward the Confessor, who had been brought up in Normandy, most probably designated him as future King of England in 1051. When Harold Godwinson, despite an apparent oath to uphold William's claims, took the throne as Harold II, William invaded with the support of the papacy, defeated and killed Harold at the Battle of Hastings, and was crowned king on Christmas Day, 1066. The key to effective control was military conquest backed up by aristocratic colonization, so that by the time of the Domesday Book (1086), the leaders of Anglo-Saxon society S of the Tees had been almost entirely replaced by a new ruling class of Normans, Bretons, and Flemings, who were closely tied to William by feudal bonds. He died near Paris in an accident on horseback, while defending Normandy's S border. |
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