Born in Falaise, France, William was the illegitimate son of Robert I, duke of Normandy, and Arletta, a tanner's daughter, and he is therefore sometimes referred to as William the Bastard.# Upon the death of his father, the Norman nobles, honoring their promise to Robert, accepted William as his successor. Rebellion against the young duke broke out almost immediately, however, and his position did not become secure until 1047 when, with the aid of Henry I, king of France, he won a decisive victory over a rebel force near Caen.# This would set the course for the rest of his life.

During a visit in 1051 to his childless cousin, Edward the Confessor, king of England, William is said to have obtained Edward's agreement that he should succeed to the English throne.# In 1053, defying a papal ban, William married Matilda of Flanders, daug

After the death of King Edward in 1066, the witenagemot, otherwise known as the royal council, elected Harold, Earl of Wessex, king.# With this, William challenged the election of Harold as king. Determined to make good his claim, the throne of England, William secured the sanction of Pope Alexander II for a Norman invasion of England.# William and his army landed at Pevensey on September 28, 1066.# Then, on October 14, 1066, came one of the most fateful military engagements in English history, the Battle of Hastings.# The battle was fought between the national army led by Harold II and the invasion force led by William, Duke of Normandy. The royal force was composed exclusively of infantry, armed with spears, swords, and battle-axes. Meanwhile, William's sea borne forces included an infantry armed with crossbows and contingents of heavily armed cavalry.#

hter of Baldwin V, count of Flanders and a descendant of King Alfred the Great, thereby strengthening his claim to the crown of England.# The couple were quite happy in their marriage and Matilda was the first wife of an English king to have the title of queen.# On the other side, however, Henry I, fearing the strong bond between Normandy and Flanders resulting from the marriage, attempted in 1054 and again in 1058 to crush the duke, but on both occasions William defeated the French king's forces.

The year 1066 was a turning point in English history. William I, the Conqueror, and his sons gave England strong new leadership. Norman feudalism became the basis for redistributing the land among the conquerors, giving England a new French nobility and a new social and political structure. England turned away from Scandinavia towar

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Approximate Word count = 1142
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)