60 Fun Facts About William the Conqueror

In which Norman town was William born in 1027 or 1028?

His mother's father, Fulbert of Falaise, may have been a tanner or an embalmer.

What was the name of William's mother, the mistress of Duke Robert I?

She later married Herluin de Conteville and bore William's half-brothers Odo of Bayeux and Robert of Mortain.

By what unflattering nickname was the duke sometimes known because of his birth?

Earlier dukes had also been illegitimate, and his father had the magnates swear fealty to him as heir.

William was a descendant of which Viking leader who was granted the lands around Rouen in 911?

King Charles the Simple ceded the county of Rouen, the core of the later duchy.

How did William's father Duke Robert I die in 1035?

He died at Nicaea; his supporters had tried to talk him out of the journey.

How old was William when he became Duke of Normandy?

Several of his guardians were murdered; one, Osbern, was killed in William's chamber while the boy slept.

Which guardian was slain in the young duke's own bedchamber while he slept?

His uncle Walter was said to have hidden the boy in peasants' houses during the anarchy.

At which 1047 battle near Caen did William, helped by King Henry I of France, crush Guy of Burgundy's rebellion?

He then proclaimed the Truce of God across the duchy to limit the days on which fighting was allowed.

Whom did William marry in the early 1050s, gaining a powerful ally?

The marriage produced four sons and five or six daughters, and contemporaries thought it a happy one.

Which pope forbade William's marriage at the Council of Rheims in 1049?

Papal sanction seems to have required each spouse to found a monastery in Caen.

What did William and his wife each found in Caen, apparently the price of papal approval to wed?

William was later buried in his, the Abbaye-aux-Hommes.

Which half-brother did William make Bishop of Bayeux around 1049?

He later ruled England as regent, was made Earl of Kent, and was arrested in 1082 for allegedly wanting to be pope.

Which childless English king appears to have chosen William as his successor in 1051?

William was the grandson of Edward's maternal uncle, Duke Richard II.

According to Norman sources, when did Harold Godwinson swear to uphold William's claim to England?

No English source records the trip, and it may be Norman propaganda.

Which county did William secure control of by 1062–64 through his son Robert's betrothal?

He appointed a Norman to the bishopric of Le Mans in 1065.

Which pope, according to William of Poitiers, gave William a papal banner for the invasion?

Papal approval is only firmly attested after the conquest succeeded.

Whom did William leave in charge of Normandy while he invaded England?

He used her as regent again in 1075 during the Revolt of the Earls.

From which port did William's fleet finally sail for England?

Adverse winds had kept the ships in port from early August until late September.

Three days before William landed, Harold beat which invaders at Stamford Bridge in 1066?

Harold's own brother died there alongside the Norwegian king.

Where did the Norman fleet land on 28 September 1066?

William then moved a few miles east to build a castle as his base.

Roughly how many miles a day did Harold's army average on its march south to face William?

About 200 miles in about a week, after a stop of roughly a week in London.

On which hill did Harold's army form its shield wall on 14 October 1066?

It is the site of the present-day town of Battle in East Sussex.

In which year was the Battle of Hastings fought?

It began at about 9 am on 14 October and lasted all day.

What advantage did William's army have over Harold's at Hastings?

The two sides were roughly equal in numbers, but Harold had only foot soldiers and few if any archers.

Which of William's troops panicked and fled early at Hastings, prompting rumours that the duke was dead?

William rallied his men, and two further retreats were feigned to draw the English out.

How does the Bayeux Tapestry apparently show Harold dying?

That may be a later reworking; William of Jumièges claimed the duke himself killed Harold.

What did Harold's mother Gytha offer William for her son's body?

He refused and ordered the body thrown into the sea; Waltham Abbey later claimed it was secretly buried there.

Whom did some English clergy and magnates nominate as king after Harold's death?

Their support was lukewarm, and he submitted to William at Berkhamsted in December.

On what day was William crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey?

He had first crossed the Thames at Wallingford and received the submission of Stigand and the earls.

How long did Exeter hold out against William's siege in the winter of 1067–68?

Harold's mother Gytha had been a focus of the resistance there.

On Christmas Day 1069 William symbolically wore his crown where?

He had just retaken the city from Edgar and the Danes, and then bought the Danes off.

What name is given to William the Conqueror's brutal campaign across northern England in the winter of 1069-70?

It ended by April 1070 when he wore his crown for Easter at Winchester.

What did William found on the site of his great 1066 victory as a penance for the dead?

The same year three papal legates ceremonially crowned him at Winchester, a papal seal of approval.

Which Italian-born cleric did William make Archbishop of Canterbury in 1070?

By the end of the reshuffle only two native English bishops remained in office.

Which local thegn joined the Danes at Ely and looted Peterborough Abbey in 1070?

William built a causeway to take the Isle of Ely; Hereward escaped but Earl Morcar was captured.

By which 1072 agreement did the King of Scots make peace with William?

It may also have required Edgar the Ætheling's expulsion from the Scottish court.

The 1075 rebellion by the earls of Norfolk and Hereford was launched at what kind of event?

Earl Waltheof, one of William's favourites, was drawn in and executed the following May.

Where did William suffer his first defeat in battle, in 1076?

King Philip of France relieved the siege and drove him back to Normandy.

At the siege of Gerberoi in 1079, who unhorsed William in battle?

An Englishman, Toki son of Wigod, saved his life and died doing it.

Per Orderic Vitalis, the quarrel between Robert and his younger brothers began when William and Henry did what?

More likely Robert simply felt powerless, having been refused Maine and Normandy.

The great stone keep William began at his London fortress is known by what name?

Early Norman castles were earth and timber, later rebuilt in stone.

Per William of Malmesbury, the king depopulated 36 parishes to create which hunting ground?

Modern historians think the depopulation was greatly exaggerated; his son William Rufus died hunting there.

How many times did William cross between England and the continent between 1067 and his death?

After 1072 he spent most of his time in Normandy.

What was the usual annual rate of the danegeld land tax under William?

In a crisis it could rise to six shillings; it was the only universal tax in western Europe at the time.

What was the great survey of English landholdings ordered by William at Christmas 1085?

It lists each holding's owner before and after the Conquest, its value and its peasants and ploughs.

When the survey results were delivered on 1 August 1086, all the chief magnates swore what?

It renewed their oaths of allegiance to the king.

How did William suffer the injury or illness that killed him in 1087?

He was taken to the priory of Saint Gervase at Rouen, where he died on 9 September.

How did William divide his lands at his death?

The brothers fought over it until Henry captured Robert at Tinchebray in 1106.

What went wrong at William's funeral in Caen?

A citizen also interrupted to complain that the church stood on land stolen from his family, and had to be paid off.

What single relic of William's body survived the ransacking of his grave in 1562?

Measurement of the femur suggested he stood about 5 ft 10 in.

Which of William's foundations in Caen was he buried in?

Everyone at his deathbed rushed off to their own affairs, leaving the clergy of Rouen to arrange the transfer.

According to Orderic Vitalis, what did William try and fail to learn late in life?

He was no patron of scholars; his real passion was hunting.

How many illegitimate children is William known to have fathered?

His marriage was unusually affectionate for a medieval king, with no sign of infidelity.

How was William described physically by contemporaries?

He grew very fat in old age but could still draw bows that others could not.

According to English sources, which archbishop crowned Harold in January 1066?

Norman sources insisted it was the uncanonical Stigand, which suited their propaganda.

Which Danish king's threatened 1085 invasion of England prompted William to levy the danegeld?

The threat ended when the king died in July 1086.

What did 17th- and 18th-century writers call the oppression they believed William imposed on Saxons?

Historians still argue whether the Conquest was the most radical change in Europe between Rome's fall and the 20th century.

At which 1106 battle did Henry capture his brother Robert, reuniting England and Normandy?

The two had fought over the inheritance since William Rufus's death in 1100.

Whom did William's daughter Adela marry?

Her sister Constance married the Duke of Brittany as part of William's search for allies against France.

Which English legal instrument, unknown on the continent, did William keep using after 1066?

William never tried to merge England and Normandy into one realm with one set of laws, so English shires kept their sheriffs too.