William the Conqueror
King of England from 1066 to 1087, Duke of Normandy from 1035 to 1087 (1028-1087) · France · Historical Figures · Died at 58
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Something wrong?The illegitimate son of a Norman duke who seized the English throne by force in 1066, ending Anglo-Saxon rule in a single October afternoon at Hastings. His conquest didn't just change a dynasty - it rewired the language, law, and landed power of an entire island.
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Château de Falaise in Falaise, Lower Normandy, France; William was born in an earlier building here.
Diagram showing William's family relationships. Names with "---" under them were opponents of William, and names with "+++" were supporters of William. Some relatives switched sides over time, and are marked with both symbols.
Column at the site of the Battle of Val-ès-Dunes in 1047
Image from the Bayeux Tapestry showing William with his half-brothers. William is in the centre, Odo is on the left with empty hands, and Robert is on the right with a sword in his hand.
The signatures of William I and Matilda are the first two large crosses on the Accord of Winchester from 1072.
Family relationships of the claimants to the English throne in 1066, and others involved in the struggle. Kings of England are shown in bold.
Scene from the Bayeux Tapestry whose text indicates William supplying weapons to Harold during Harold's trip to the continent in 1064Family
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Born around 1028 to an unmarried duke and his mistress, William inherited Normandy at seven and spent his youth dodging rival nobles who fought over the child and the duchy itself. By 1047 he'd crushed a rebellion; by 1060 his grip was firm. When his cousin Edward the Confessor died childless in January 1066, William argued the throne had been promised to him - Harold Godwinson took it anyway. William sailed that September with a Franco-Norman fleet, killed Harold at Hastings on 14 October, and was crowned king by Christmas. He spent the next decade putting down English revolts, most of his reign shuttling between the island and the continent, and his final years tangling with his eldest son and fending off Danish threats. In 1086 he commissioned the Domesday Book, a meticulous record of who owned what. He died the next September during a campaign in northern France, his body sent to Caen, his lands split between two sons.
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