William+the+Conqueror

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__//**William the Conqueror ﻿**//__



__//**William the Conqueror **//__ William the Conqueror, one of the most influential leaders in the world not only changed the world then, but influenced the world today. The reason that he became so famous would be because of his early life, the battle of Hastings, and his life as the king of England.

//**__Life as Duke of Normandy__**// William the Conqueror had a really hard time as being the Duke of Normandy because of very many reasons. William had been born in the year of 1027 as an illegitimate son of Robert, Duke of Normandy. In 1035, at only age seven, William became the Duke of Normandy, but he had a very hard time because most people did not accept him as Duke of Normandy because he had been an illegitimate son of Robert and not a full blooded son. In 1047, the lords in Duchy tried to force a rebellion but obtained defeat by William’s army at Val-es dunes. After that, things started to go pretty good for William, and only at age 24 he became the mightiest feudal lor﻿d in all France. Also, in 1053, he got married to Matilda of Flanders, and they had nine children together. That makes up William the Conqueror’s life as the Duke of Normandy(Spartacus.Schoolnet).

//**__Battle of Hastings__** // The main thing that William the Conqueror became known for would be the Battle of Hastings. One day William decided to call a council of his finest men and told them that he would go on an expedition to conquer England. On October 14, 1066, William the Conqueror and his 7000 troops landed on the south tip of England while Harold, the king of England at the time had been defeating the Vikings at the same time William had been invading(Reeves 3). The Anglo-Saxon army, tired because of the Vikings had been defeated and Harold got killed in 1066. William, crowned king of England in Westminster became the first Norman king of England, and became known as William the Conqueror because of his great conquering of England(Daniels and Hysop 384).

//**__Life as King of England__**// Just like being the Duke of Normandy, it also became very tough being the king of England for William the Conqueror. He became king of England on Christmas day of 1066. After he became king, he went right to business and extruded the Anglo-Saxons from their homes and gave them to his Norman troops, and built castle like fortresses around them to protect them. Also, the Norman men wanted to marry the Anglo-Saxon women, but they spoke Latin, and the soldiers spoke French. The judge decided that they should just speak their own language and the most used words will be brought out and it will combine to what now is the English language. During the period in which William was king of England, he had a hard time with all of the rebellions. The Anglo-Saxons kept trying to rebel against William, but they obtained defeat every time. William had a very smart way of keeping track of who lived where and who did what. The way he did this was by creating a book called the Domesday Book. This book had a description of all the people and the lands of England. The book recorded information regarding ownership of animals and land(thenagain). The life of being king of England might have been hard, but it had been all worth it to William.



William the conqueror, one of the best overall kings must have been one of the greatest leaders in the history of the world. Almost everything ended up great for him including his life being the Duke of Normandy, fighting in the Battle of Hastings, and his life being the king of England.

__//**Works Cited**//__

"William the Conqueror : Biography." //Spartacus Educational - Home Page//. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.[].

"William I." //Comptons Encyclopedia and Fact-index//. Chicago: F.E Compton, 1973. Print.

Daniels, Patricia, and Stephen G. Hyslop. //National Geographic Almanac of World History / Patricia S. Daniels and Stephen G. Hyslop.// Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2003. Print.

"Battle of Hastings: 1066." //Then Again. . .// Web. 14 Apr. 2011. [].

 Reeves, M.E. //The Norman Conquest//. London: Longman Group Limited, 1959. Print.