William had succeeded to his title in 1035, as the seven-year-old illegitimate son of the previous Duke, Robert I. Several of William's kinsmen (including Guy of Burgundy, his cousin) believed themselves to have a better claim to the title, but William had the support of King Henry I and other influential nobles. In 1046, some of William's enemies decided to finally strike. After an ambush near Valognes on the Cotentin Peninsula failed, the rebel nobles—Guy of Burgundy, Nigel of the Cotentin, Rannulf of the Bessin, Ralph Tesson of Thury, Grimoald of Plessis, and ...

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Battle of Val-ès-Dunes, Battle of Val-ès-Dunes - Background, Battle of Val-ès-Dunes - The battle, Battle of Val-ès-Dunes - The aftermath

Read more here: » Battle of Val-ès-Dunes: Encyclopedia II - Battle of Val-ès-Dunes - Background

1047 - Events. William the Conqueror, with assistance from King Henry I of France, secured control of Normandy by defeating the rebel Norman barons at Caen the Battle of Val-ès-Dunes 1047 - Births. Judith of Swabia, daughter of Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor 1047 - Deaths. October 9 - Pope Clement II October 25 - King Magnus I of Norway (b. 1024) Category: Including:

• 1047 - Events
• 1047 - Births
• 1047 - Deaths

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William of Normandy (French: Guillaume de Normandie; 1028?–September 9, 1087) ruled as the Duke of Normandy from 1035 to 1087 (as William II) and as King of England from 1066 to 1087 (as William I). The sole son of Robert the Magnificent and Herleva, William was born illegitimate in Falaise, Normandy, part of France. William invaded England, won a victory at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, and suppressing subsequent English revolts in what has become known as the Norman Conquest. No authentic portrait of William has been found. He was described as a big burly man, strong in every ...

Including:

• William I of England - Early life history
• William I of England - Conquest of England
• William I of England - William's reign
• William I of England - Death burial and succession
• William I of England - Children of William and Matilda
• William I of England - Honours

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Upon the death of William's cousin King Edward the Confessor of England (January 1066), William claimed the throne of England, asserting that the childless and purportedly celibate Edward had named him his heir during a visit by William (probably in 1052) and that Harold Godwinson, England's foremost magnate, had reportedly pledged his support while shipwrecked in Normandy (c. 1064). Harold made this pledge while in captivity and was reportedly tricked into swearing on a saint's bones that he would give the throne to William. Even if this st ...

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William I of England, William I of England - Early life history, William I of England - Conquest of England, William I of England - William's reign, William I of England - Death burial and succession, William I of England - Children of William and Matilda, William I of England - Honours

Read more here: » William I of England: Encyclopedia II - William I of England - Conquest of England

Upon the death of William's cousin King Edward the Confessor of England (January 1066), William claimed the throne of England, asserting that the childless and purportedly celibate Edward had named him his heir during a visit by William (probably in 1052) and that Harold Godwinson, England's foremost magnate and brother-in-law of the late King Edward the Confessor, had reportedly pledged his support while shipwrecked in Normandy (c. 1064). Harold made this pledge while in captivity and was reportedly tricked into swearing on a saint's bones ...

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William I of England, William I of England - Early life history, William I of England - Conquest of England, William I of England - William's reign, William I of England - Death burial and succession, William I of England - Children of William and Matilda, William I of England - Honours

Read more here: » William I of England: Encyclopedia II - William I of England - Conquest of England

He died at the age of 60, at the Convent of St Gervais, near Rouen, France, on September 9, 1087 from abdominal injuries received from his saddle pommel when he fell off a horse at the Siege of Mantes. William was buried in the St. Peter's Church in Caen, Normandy. In a most unregal postmortem, his corpulent body would not fit in the stone sarcophagus, and burst after some unsuccessful prodding by the assembled bishops, f ...

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William I of England, William I of England - Early life history, William I of England - Conquest of England, William I of England - William's reign, William I of England - Death burial and succession, William I of England - Children of William and Matilda, William I of England - Honours

Read more here: » William I of England: Encyclopedia II - William I of England - Death burial and succession

William initiated many major changes. In 1085, in order to ascertain the extent of his new dominionans and maximize taxation, William commissioned the compilation of the Domesday Book, a survey of England's productive capacity similar to a modern census. He also ordered many castles, keeps, and mots, among them the Tower of London, to be built across England to ensure that the rebellions by the English people or his own followers would not succeed. His conquest also led to Norman replacing English as t ...

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William I of England, William I of England - Early life history, William I of England - Conquest of England, William I of England - William's reign, William I of England - Death burial and succession, William I of England - Children of William and Matilda, William I of England - Honours

Read more here: » William I of England: Encyclopedia II - William I of England - William's reign

William was born the grandnephew of Queen Emma, wife of King Ethelred the Unready and later of King Canute. William succeeded to his father's Duchy of Normandy at the young age of 7 in 1035 and was known as Duke William I of Normandy (Fr. Guillaume II, duc de Normandie). He lost three guardians to plots to usurp his place. Count Alan of Brittany was a later guardian. King Henry I of France knighted him at the age of 15. By the time he turned 19 he was himself successfully dealing with threats of rebellion and invasion. With the ...

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William I of England, William I of England - Early life history, William I of England - Conquest of England, William I of England - William's reign, William I of England - Death burial and succession, William I of England - Children of William and Matilda, William I of England - Honours

Read more here: » William I of England: Encyclopedia II - William I of England - Early life history

In January 1047, King Henry's army joined Duke William's much smaller Norman army near Caen, in the heart of rebel territory. Ralph Tesson and his men then changed sides and joined the royal army. The next day, the combined armies joined battle with the rebel army on the plain of Val-ès-Dunes, near the present-day town of Conteville. The battle consisted mainly of a series of cavalry skirmishes. The rebel army outnumbered the royal army, but it lacked the royal army's coordination and leadership. After losing several skirmishes (in o ...

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Battle of Val-ès-Dunes, Battle of Val-ès-Dunes - Background, Battle of Val-ès-Dunes - The battle, Battle of Val-ès-Dunes - The aftermath

Read more here: » Battle of Val-ès-Dunes: Encyclopedia II - Battle of Val-ès-Dunes - The battle