William I. Or William the Conqueror. Or William of Normandy, William the Norman, or William the Bastard….

So our first King in our series is William… you can choose which of the names above you want to give him.

Interesting for a history of British monarchs to start with a king who was not British, he was from Normandy, an area in the north of present-day France, where his father was the ruling Duke, with William taking power in 1035 after his father died aged only about 7! Although in truth he had protectors for quite a while growing up and by the time he was 20 he was a formidable (and cruel) warrior ready to rule on his own.

Confusing eh? But he did become King of England in 1066 and that is what is important to us now.

So, how did he exactly manage to become King of England? Well, it is a tale worthy of a Hollywood film. Here we go! A bit before William became King there was another King of England called Edward the Confessor. He was called ‘the Confessor’ because it was said that he was very religious, and it appears he promised the throne to two different men. One was his brother-in-law, an English man called Earl Harold Godwinson, and the other was our William a distant cousin and a friend. When Edward was a child he fled to Normandy because his father, AEthelred, had been overthrown by the Vikings, and the two became friends and then in 1051 Edward, who had no children (or heirs) to take the crown, supposedly wrote a letter to William naming him as his heir. On top of that, old Harold (brother-in-law to Edward) had been travelling to France, was shipwrecked, and then was captured by a neighbour of William of Normandy, the Count of Ponthieu, who delivered him safely to William, and William, sly dog that he was, managed to get Harold to agree to helping William secure the English throne. So did Harold keep his promise? Hollywood would call for some treachery – and indeed Harold reneged on his promise to help William after Edward named Harold his successor on his deathbed, Harold wasted no time and had himself crowned King of England the very next day!

And how do you think our William, that cruel and formidable warrior reacted to this? Well he thought ‘I’m not having that!’ and he started planning to invade this little island, to fight Harold’s armies, to kill the king, and to be accepted as king of England. Not an easy thing to do.

So Harold got together a fleet of 700 boats, the support of his neighbours, and he even got permission from the Pope, leader of the Roman Catholic Church, which had a huge influence over the whole of Europe at this time, to fight under the banner of the Papacy. Imagine standing on the shore of Southern England, at Pevensey Bay, in September 1066, and seeing all those Norman ships sailing towards you. It must have been terrifying. William and his men marched up to Battle, named so because it was there that the great battle, the Battle of Hastings of 1066 took place between Harold’s men (who were tired because they had been caught off guard by William and had to march 200 miles quickly to meet William’s army) and William’s men. Thousands died, there was blood, guts and gore. But the Normans got the upper hand, and Harold was killed, it is said, by an arrow going through his eye. Brutal stuff. And William had himself crowned King William I of England in Westminster Abbey, Edward the Confessor’s Church (you can visit the Abbey on this tour here.)

Pretty dramatic, eh? William had won the day, but there was still much to be done. Now he had to be accepted as King, but he was happy to just beat the English (or Anglo-Saxon’s) into submission. Which is pretty much what he did. He built castles and cathedrals in stone all over the country (visit the Tower of London!), showing his military power, and his power over the spiritual realm (remember he had fought under the Papal banner). He also invited over all his noble friends, and put them in positions of power all over the country, often getting rid of the local, English rulers. And then there was the Harrying of the North in the winter of 1069-70 (Game of Thrones stuff adults), where he put down trouble makers in the North of England (the areas including and around Yorkshire) by destroying everything - burning fields and villages, slaughtering livestock, killing people, ruining food stores and stealing anything and everything…and tens of thousands died. Brutal stuff.

And it worked. William got control of the country and things settled down. Normans and Anglo-Saxons learnt to live together, and the two cultures mixed – so for example in the English language words like beef pork, pensive and royal all come from those invading Normans.

Perhaps not so exciting, but pretty incredible when you stop and think about it, he commissioned something called the Domesday Book in 1086. This was a massive survey of ALL the land and holdings in England. Yup, that’s right, ALL OF IT, the whole country. 1000 years ago. They didn’t have cars, or excel spread sheets, or calculators, they travelled on foot, travelling by horse and wrote it all out by hand. Amazing, isn’t it? and not only is it amazing, it is also an incredible historical record – nothing like it was done again for another 800 years or so. Amazing!

And once England was secured, William headed back to Normandy, probably feeling happy in his achievements and being celebrated as one of the greatest warriors of his day. But he didn’t have a very dignified end. One day in 1087 he was riding his horse and he was thrown against the saddle, he grew sick from his injuries and died. At his funeral his stomach exploded. The priest and all the congregation ran from the church because the smell was so bad. Poor William.

And what did that mean for England? It meant his son would become king. William Rufus. And we will hear about him next time.