Guillame William I Duke of Normandy the conqueror (the Bastard) King of ENGLAND

Birth:
14 Oct 1024
Falaise, Normandy, France
Chr:
Norman Conquest
Death:
9 Sep 1087
Seine et Marne, France
Burial:
Abt Sep 1087
St Stephen Abbey, Caen, Normandy
Marriage:
1050
Castle of Angi, Normandy, France
Notes:
                   See Note Page
BIOGRAPHY
During the reign of Edward the Confessor, from 1042-1066, England
became less and less united within itself.  Edward was a monastic
sort, not very interested in secular affairs, and had spent most of
his childhood in Normandy.  The power behind the throne was Godwin,
Earl of Wessex, who had persuaded the reluctant Edward to marry his
daughter.  Edward introduced Normans to church and state offices,
setting himself in opposition to his father-in-law.  Tom make matters
more volatile, he also stubbornly refused to give his wife a child,
and England an heir.  Godwin, in the year before his death, began to
rally popular support against the Norman influence; the power of that
cause then transferred to his son Harold, sometimes called Harold
Godwinson.
In 1027, the boy who would be William the Conqueror was born, the
illegitimate son of Duke Robert the Magnificent of Normandy and a
tanner's daughter. He became the Duke of Normandy at the age of seven;
at a young age he married his second cousin Matilda of Flanders, who
was descended on her mother's side from the House of Wessex.  William
was a second cousin of Edward the Confessor, who allegedly promised
him the throne of England in 1051.  Later, in 1064, William extorted a
similar promise from Harold Godwinson, who had the bad luck to have
been shipwrecked in Normandy.
Nonetheless, Harold fanned the controversy over Edward's
succession and built up a lobby for his own claim.  When Edward died
in his new palace at Westminster (built alongside his new abbey of the
same name), his nearest heir was Edgar Atheling, the grandson of
Edmund Ironside [# 2933].  Edgar was only a small boy, though, so the
Witan (council of regional leaders) chose Harold as the new king.
Harold may have been named successor by Edward on his deathbed.
However, Harold's tenuous claim to the throne encouraged both Norway
and Normandy to invade England.
Harold II of England first fought off the Norwegian invasion,
which was led in part by his own brother, Tostig.  Four days after the
defeat of the Scandinavian force at Stamford Bridge, William of
Normandy landed at Pevensey in Sussex.
The following is from Eric Delafield's book [IT:Kings & Queens of
England & Great Britain:IT]:
Harold and his mounted infantry headed south, reaching London in
four days.  Rather than wait for the unmounted infantry from the north
and a force from the south to join him, Harold decided to give battle
at once.  Fought seven miles northwest of Hastings, the battle lasted
all day and was close-run; only when a feint be the Normans induced
the English to abandon their shield-ring and Harold was killed by an
arrow through his eye did the invaders gain the upper hand.  Harold's
defeat ushered in an age that would leave none in doubt that England
had become an occupied country.
William's triumph over Harold was the decisive event in the
conquest of England, but it was only a prelude to the country's
subjugation.  Even during his coronation at Westminster on Christmas
Day 1066, a disturbance outside all but emptied the abbey.  It took
several years and campaigns of terror to subdue the whole country:
after the southwest was brought to heel, two rebellions in the north,
led by earls Edwin and Morcar, were successfully defeated.  The second
revolt, attempted after both earls had been pardoned, provoked a
savage response:  between York and Durham not a house or human being
visible to William's soldiers was spared.  When the Domesday survey
was carried out seventeen years later, many villages in the area were
still without an inhabitant.  The last assault on Norman hegemony came
from East Anglia where Hereward, a Fenman with an aptitude for
guerrilla warfare in that watery landscape, held out for some time on
the Isle of Ely.
Once England was secure, William turned his attention to Scotland
and Wales, invading the former in 1072 and compelling Malcolm III [#
2799] to do homage at Abernethy.  Three years later, he visited St.
David's, receiving submissions from the Welsh en route.
Physical evidence of the conquest soon appeared throughout
England:  Saxon peasants were forced to build mounds of earth (mottes)
on which fortresses of wood and later stone were erected.  In London
the domination of the White Tower reminded the independent Londoners
of the new limitations on their freedom.  From these bastions Normans
enforced the confiscation of estates and their redistribution amongst
those who had supported William's conquest.  Feudal baronies were
imposed as soon as each part of England was subjugated, resulting in
some barons holding lands in different parts of the country.  This had
the added advantage for the monarch of preventing the consolidation of
rival powers.  To this end the great earldoms of late Saxon England
were broken up and the shire, or county, became the principal unit of
administration, superintended by sheriffs and special commissioners.
Even the French-speaking barons resented the restrictions imposed
on their power by William's system of government, and as early as 1075
took up arms against him:  the Norman Earl of Hereford joined Ralph
the Breton, Earl of East Anglia, and the Englishman Waltheof.  Their
rebellion was easily contained, but it was only the first of many.
Even William's eldest son, Robert, challenged his father in Normandy
in 1079, and William was at war with France in 1087 when his horse
stumbled at Mantes, giving him a fatal injury.
By his oath to observe the old Saxon laws and his imposition of
Continental feudal customs, William effectively prevented the monarchy
from exercising unlimited power, laying the groundwork for the
development of English laws and liberties.  The Church, too, stood
between the king and the barons, helping to uphold a balance of power
that did not infringe its own interests.  Lanfranc, William's new
Italian Archbishop, reorganized the English Church, and separate
Church courts were established to deal with offenses under canon law,
an action which was to cause much trouble for the Plantagenet kings.
William the Conqueror, 'that stark man' as his subjects called
him, was ruthless and cruel:  although only one person was executed in
his reign, thousands were mutilated - especially for breaches of the
game laws.  The 'New Forest' was created by him as a game park.  It
was said of him that 'he loved the tall, red deer, as if he were their
father.'  This penchant, however, was to sow the seed of trouble for
centuries:  in the eleventh century the Crown owned sixty-nine
forests, almost a third of the whole acreage of the kingdom.
Depriving those who lived in or near the forests of any rights in them
caused great resentment, and the severe punishments for infringing
forest law, enforced by the Forest Courts, fed through into the
draconian Game Laws of later centuries.
The Domesday survey, in 1086, was the most comprehensive and
detailed record of a country's physical resources produced in Europe
during the Middle Ages.  William conceived the idea while at
Gloucester for Christmas in 1085, though it was not referred to as
'Domesday' until the twelfth century, intended to signify that like
the Day of Judgment, there was no appeal.  Its primary purpose was to
maximize tax revenues; its secondary use was to provide the necessary
information for the efficient administration of the feudal system.
The task of gathering the data fell to Commissioners using the shire
courts and interviewing sworn juries, each made up of the priest, the
reeve (the lord's manager), and six villeins.  The survey covered the
entire county except for Durham, Northumberland, Westmorland,
Cumberland, northern Lancashire, London, Winchester and a few other
towns.  Its scope was exhaustive:  as the Saxon chronicler recorded,
'so narrowly did he cause the survey to be made that there was not one
single hide nor rood of land, nor - it is shameful to tell but he
thought it no shame to do - was there an ox, cow or swine that was not
set down in the writ.'  The two volumes are kept in the Public Record
Office at Kew, London.
The [IT:Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:IT] gives a good impression of
William's reign: 'He was mild to the good men that loved God, and
beyond measure severe to the men that gainsaid his will... It is not
to be forgotten that good peace he made in this land so that a man
might go over his kingdom with his bosom full of gold... and no man
durst slay another.'
It is not easy, if possible at all, to isolate and define the
heritage of the Norman Conquest.  Edward the Confessor himself was
more Norman than English.  Norman speech, habits and customs were
prevalent at his court.  But in the century after 1066 the followers
and descendants of William the Conqueror diverted the main stream of
national development and added a Latin strain to the mongrel blood of
Englishmen.
Had the conquest never happened, England would probably have
become part of the northern Scandinavian world.  For all its cruelty,
the conquest united England to western Europe and opened the
floodgates of European culture and institutions, theology, philosophy,
and science.
The conquest effected a social revolution in England.  The lands
of the Saxon aristocracy were divided up amongst the Normans, who by
about 1087 composed between 6,000 and 10,000 of a total population of
about one and a half million.  More important, each landowner had, in
return for his land, to make an oath of allegiance to the king, and
promise to provide him with mounted, armoured knights when required.
This introduction of the 'feudal system,' provided the whole basis for
medieval English society.
The Saxon machinery of government was, in large measure, retained
and immensely reinforced.  As well as giving the law a reputation for
impartiality, the Normans brought with them their military arts -
castle-building and fighting on horseback.  They also transmitted
large parts of the Saxon heritage - towns and villages, shires,
traditions of monarchy, the basic structure of language.  They took
over much that was indigenous and learned from the conquered.  They
created a strong monarchy which, in medieval times, was gradually to
complete the unification of England and obliterate the distinction
between Saxons and conquering Normans, so that only Englishmen
remained.
Facts about this person:
Record Change  November 01, 1999
Burial    1087
Caen, Normandy
Also called William II of Normandy. Duke of Normandy, which led to his
becoming the leader of the successful invasion of England. He reignedfrom
1066 to 1087 A.D.
Sources include but are not limited to;
Ancestral File and the IGI, International Genealogical Index,both
resource systems developed and solely owned by The Church of JesusChrist of
Latter Day Saints.
The English House of Wessex; Including Danes and Norman descent, apart of
Bloodline of the Holy Grail, by Laurence Gardner (1996) page(s) 416;ISBN
1-85230-870-2.
Individual:
The Oxford History of Britain by Kenneth Morgan, 1984, pp.101-144.
The Kings and Queens of England by Nicholas Best, 1995, p.9.
Western Europe in the Middle Ages,300-1475by Tierney, 1978,pp.178-183.
(King of England, 1066-1087)
France in the Middle Ages,987-1460 by George Duby,1987, chart 6.
Royal Ancestors by Michel Call, 1989, Chart # 11420.
Reigned 1066-1087. Duke of Normandy 1035-1087. Invaded England defeated and
killed his rival Harold at the Battle of Hastings and became King. The Norman
conquest of England was completed by 1072 aided by the establishment of
feaudalism under which his followers were granted land in return for pledges
of service and loyalty. As King William was noted for his efficient if harsh
rule. His administration relied upon Norman and other foreign personnell
especially Lanfranc Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1085 started Domesday Book.
William, now known to us as The Conqueror, was known to his
contemporaries as William the Bastard.  His mother Herleva, bore
the only son of Robert, Duke of Normandy, in the year 1028.
After William's birth his mother was married to one of Robert's
followers and had two more sons, Robert and Odo.  Although
William was illegitimate, the Duke, soon to leave on a
pilgrimage to Jerusalem, persuaded the barons of Normandy to
recognize William's birthright.  On his way home, robert was
killed and at the age of seven William became Duke of Normandy.
Because of William's young age, his ascenion meant unrule for
approximately 10 years.  Although plots to kill or capture were
aloft, William survived and in the mid 1040's started to rule
for himself.  Normandy was constantly at war during these years,
whether it be rebel bands of Normans or William's neighbors and
William gained a reputation as a ruthless campaigner.  It was at
this time that William asked Count Baldwin of Flanders  (one of
William's few allies) for the hand of his daughter Matilda.  The
Count approved, but the Pope refused marriage on the grounds
that William and Matilda were too closely related
(consanguinity).  But William went ahead with the marriage not
only because of the important alliance with Flanders, but
because he was in love.  According to contemporary accounts
William was never unfaithful to Matilda and she bore him nine
children.  They were also an odd-looking couple.  The skeletal
remains found in their graves show that William was about 5'10
and Matilda 4'2.
In 1050 Edward the Confessor, King of England and a distant
relative to William, dangled the promise of the English throne
before William if he would only support Edward in his dispute
with Earl Godwin, Edward's father-in-law.  However, although
monarchs were not yet chosen by strict rules of heredity, there
were other candidates of English blood who were more closely
related to Edward, namely Harold, son of Earl Godwin and brother
of Edward's wife Edith.  As could have been predicted, by 1066
Edward reconciled with Godwin and on his deathbed named Harold
as his successor.  William was incensed.  Not only did Edward
promise him the throne, William asserted, but Harold had sworn
allegiance to him when he visited Normandy two years earlier. It
was this sworn allegiance that branded Harold' a usurper and a
perjurer, and William was granted papal approval to invade
England and claim his rights.
William's preparation for battle may have won him England before
heever set foot on the island fortress.  Normandy, a small
duchy, could not supply all the men needed for an expedition of
this size, but the prospect of invading England, with it's
natural resources and wealth, was an appealing one.  Soldiers
and freelances from all over France and Flanders joined the
campaign.  William's ranks swelled, and throughout the spring
and summer he built ships and gathered supplies.  By August
William was ready to sail, but the winds of the English Channel
were against him.  He waited throughout August and september,
all the while cursing the weather, yet unaware that his biggest
problems were being solved for him.  If William had landed and
managed to defeat the English army, he would have moved forward
only to encounter Harold Herdrada of Norway, who arrived in
September also to conquer England.  Instead, as Harold waited
for William to land in Penvensey, he heard of the Norse invasion
and marched north to meet Harold Hardrada on 25 September.  Two
days later William set sail and made an unopposed landing at
Pevensey.  Harold Godwinsson rushed back to meet William, and
the two armies met at Hastings on 14 October.
The Battle of Hastings left William victor and Harold dead. With
no leader, further English resistance was futile.  The English
barons submitted to William, and on Christmas day 1066, William
was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.  But the
English submission did not last long.  Soon, after one revolt
after another broke out, but each rebellion was met with swift
defeat and equally swift retribution.  English estates were
confiscated and given to Normans.  By 1071 the native English
ruling class was wiped out.  England was now ruled 
                  
Matilda Countess of Flanders Queen of ENGLAND, HRH
Birth:
1035
Flandres, France
Death:
2 Nov 1083
Caen, Calvados, France
Burial:
2 Nov 1083
Caen, Calvados, France, Calvados
Notes:
                   Aka, Maud.Aka, Countess of Flanders.
Sources include but are not limited to;
Ancestral File and the IGI, International Genealogical Index,both
resource systems developed and solely owned by The Church of JesusChrist of
Latter Day Saints.
See Note Page
Facts about this person:
Record Change  November 01, 1999
                  
Children
Marriage
1
Gundred Matilda Princess of ENGLAND, HRH
Birth:
1053
Normandy, France
Death:
27 May 1085
Castle Acre, Norfolkshire, England
 
Marr:
 
Notes:
                   Princess of England. Daughter of William The Conquerer, King ofEngland.
Sources include but are not limited to;
Ancestral File and the IGI, International Genealogical Index,both
resource systems developed and solely owned by The Church of JesusChrist of
Latter Day Saints.
It was thought that Matilda (Gundred) married William de Warren, 1st Earl
of Surrey. That has since been disproved. For details see Early Yorkshire
Charters by C.T.Clay or Ã[per mille]tudes sur Quelques Points de l'Histoire de
Guillame le Conquérant by H. Prentout described under Surrey in The
Complete Peerage by G.E. Gibbs.
                  
2
Birth:
1054
Normandy, France
Death:
10 Feb 1134
Cardiff, Glamorganshire, Wales
Notes:
                   Source includes, but is not limited to:
Ancestral File and the IGI, International Genealogical Index,both
resource systems developed and solely owned by The Church of JesusChrist of
Latter Day Saints.
                  
3
Richard I Duke of Bernay Prince of ENGLAND, HRH
Birth:
Abt 1054
Normandy, France
Death:
1081
New Forest, Hampshire, England
 
Marr:
 
Notes:
                   Sources include but are not limited to;
Ancestral File and the IGI, International Genealogical Index,both
resource systems developed and solely owned by The Church of JesusChrist of
Latter Day Saints.
                  
4
Adeliza a nun ENGLAND
Birth:
1055
Death:
 
Marr:
 
5
Cecilia of Holy TrinityAbbess of Caen Princess of ENGLAND, HRH
Birth:
Abt 1055
Normandy, France
Death:
30 Jul 1126
Caen, Calvados, France
 
Marr:
 
Notes:
                   Source includes, but is not limited to:
Ancestral File and the IGI, International Genealogical Index,both
resource systems developed and solely owned by The Church of JesusChrist of
Latter Day Saints.
                  
6
Margaret I Princess of ENGLAND, HRH
Birth:
1059
Normandy, France
Death:
Bef 1112
 
Marr:
 
Notes:
                   Sources include but are not limited to;
Ancestral File and the IGI, International Genealogical Index,both
resource systems developed and solely owned by The Church of JesusChrist of
Latter Day Saints.
                  
7
William II Rufus King of ENGLAND, HRH
Birth:
Abt 1060
Normandy, France
Death:
1 Aug 1100
New Forest, Hampshire, England
 
Marr:
 
Notes:
                   Aka, Rufus.
Sources include but are not limited to;
Ancestral File and the IGI, International Genealogical Index,both
resource systems developed and solely owned by The Church of JesusChrist of
Latter Day Saints.
                  
8
Birth:
1061
Normandy, France
Death:
13 Aug 1090
England
Notes:
                   Source includes, but is not limited to:
Ancestral File and the IGI, International Genealogical Index,both
resource systems developed and solely owned by The Church of JesusChrist of
Latter Day Saints.
                  
9
Birth:
1062
Normandy, France
Death:
1137
Marsilly, Charente-Maritime, France
Notes:
                   Aka,Alice.
Source includes, but is not limited to:
Ancestral File and the IGI, International Genealogical Index,both
resource systems developed and solely owned by The Church of JesusChrist of
Latter Day Saints.
                  
10
Agatha Matilda Princess of ENGLAND, HRH
Birth:
Abt 1064
Normandy, France
Death:
Bef 1080
Calvados, France
 
Marr:
 
Notes:
                   Source includes, but is not limited to:
Ancestral File and the IGI, International Genealogical Index,both
resource systems developed and solely owned by The Church of JesusChrist of
Latter Day Saints.
                  
11
Anna Princess of ENGLAND, HRH
Birth:
Abt 1066
Normandy, France
Death:
 
Marr:
 
Notes:
                   Source includes, but is not limited to:
Ancestral File and the IGI, International Genealogical Index,both
resource systems developed and solely owned by The Church of JesusChrist of
Latter Day Saints.
                  
12
Birth:
Sep 1068
Selby, Yorkshire West Riding, England
Death:
1 Dec 1135
St. Denis-Le-Fermont, Gisors, Normandy
Notes:
                   See Note Page
BIOGRAPHY
Eric Delderfield:
The youngest and only English-born son of William the Conqueror,
Henry had suffered at the hands of both his brothers by the time he
took the throne of England.  Though the ablest of the three, he was
capable of cruelty and deceit, and his greed exceeded even that of
William II.  Nonetheless, he was a capable and efficient ruler, who
like Rufus realized the value of English support against the barons
and against his elder brother.  To help secure their allegiance he
wisely renounced the oppressive policies of his dead brother, issuing
a charter of liberties that promised to restore the laws of his father
and King Edward the Elder.  Anselm was recalled to Canterbury, and
Ranulf was imprisoned.  And, he astutely married Matilda, the daughter
of Malcolm, King of Scotland, which made for peace with Scotland and
pleased the English, Matilda being the great-granddaughter of Edmund
Ironside.  Henry's promises proved as worthless as those of William
II, the exigencies of his costly wars and growing bureaucracy taking
precedence over the restoration of rights.  Though the death penalty
for crimes against property was restored and sentences were often
savagely harsh, they were not arbitrary as they had been under Rufus.
All was done within the law.
The prospect of war with Normandy after Robert's return from the
crusade was precipitated by the escape from prison of Ranulf, who
persuaded Robert that the barons would support him if he invaded
England.  Robert landed at Portsmouth, and at Alton in Hampshire the
Norman army met the local fyrd.  Henry was able to prevent combat by a
few promises, which he was not to keep, but Robert of Belleme, the
most powerful baron in England, continued with his brothers to oppose
the king and had to be defeated.
In exile in Normandy, Robert of Belleme formed the nucleus of a
growing band of dispossessed and disenchanted barons whom Duke Robert
was powerless to control, even if he had the inclination to do so.
Henry used his brother's weakness as a pretext to invade Normandy in
1105, in order to destroy the external threat posed by the barons.
After a slow start and unsuccessful negotiations to avoid combat,
Henry routed the Norman forces at Tinchebrai, thereby uniting England
and Normandy.  Henry's brother spent the rest of his life imprisoned,
first at Devizes and later at Cardiff.  Surprisingly, Henry did not
imprison or constrain his nephew William the Clito, whom many Normans
regarded as Robert's rightful successor; for the rest of Henry's
reign, William provided the cause for further fighting between
Normandy and rebellious barons in alliance with Louis VI, King of
France.  When Louis appealed to the Pope on behalf of William the
Clito's claim, Henry's brilliant use of dynastic marriages paid off:
the Pope was keen to make peace with the Holy Roman Emperor, to whom
Henry's daughter Matilda [# 3032] was married, so he was naturally
reluctant to offend his father-in-law.  William the Atheling, Henry's
only legitimate son and heir to the English throne, was accepted as
heir to Normandy too.
The conflict between king and church continued under Henry,
principally over the right to appoint bishops, which both claimed.
The Pope had granted William I the right to invest his own bishops,
but had no wish to extend that concession to his sons.  After years of
negotiations in a more polite refrain than that between Anselm and
William II, a compromise was reached that still left Henry with
substantial influence and income from sees.
A major contribution to England's institutions was Henry's
reorganization of the judicial system and the methods of raising
taxes.  He greatly expanded the scope of the Curia Regis (King's
Court), in future acting as an advisory body and as a court of law, as
well as supervising taxation.  Members of this court were sent out to
bring even the remote districts into contact with royal taxation, as
well as to make people familiar with royal justice.  The extension of
the Curia Regis's powes paved the way for its evolution into a
Parliament, its inner members forming the Privy Council and the King's
Bench.  Henry's greatest agent was Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, who it
is said commended himself to the king by the speed with which he could
get through church services.  Roger was once a poor Norman priest, and
an example of the way Henry appointed humble men of ability.
In 1120 Henry's legitimate son was drowned in the tragedy of the
White Ship.  It was expected that Henry would nominate his favorite
nephew, Stephen of Blois; but instead, to English dismay, he chose as
his successor his daughter Matilda, who had married as her second
husband Geoffrey, Count of Anjou [# 3031].  (Though Henry had
remarried, no children were born.)  But when Henry died in 1135 of a
surfeit of lampreys, the Council, considering a woman unfit to rule,
offered the throne to Stephen.
Stephen reigned after Henry for 19 troublesome years.
Facts about this person:
Record Change  October 30, 1999
REF: British Monarchy Official Website: After William's death while hunting in the New Forest in 1100, his younger brother, Henry I (reigned 1100-35), succeeded to the throne. By 1106 he had captured Normandy from his brother,
Robert, who then spent the last 28 years of his life as his brother's prisoner. An energetic and decisive ruler, Henry centralised the administration of
England and Normandy in the royal court, and extended royal powers of patronage.
Acceded 1100-1135.
Henry I
William's younger brother Henry (reigned 1100-35) succeeded to the throne. He was crowned three days after his brother's death, against the possibility that his eldest brother Robert might claim the English throne. After the decisive battle of Tinchebrai in 1106 in France, Henry completed his conquest of Normandy from Robert, who then (unusually even for that time) spent the last 28 years of his life as his brother's prisoner. An energetic, decisive and occasionally cruel ruler, Henry centralised the administration of England and Normandy in the royal court, using 'viceroys' in Normandy and a group of advisers in England to act on his behalf when he was absent across the Channel. Henry successfully sought to increase royal revenues, as shown by the official records of his exchequer (the Pipe Roll of 1130, the first exchequer account to survive). He established peaceful relations with Scotland, through his marriage to Mathilda of Scotland.
Henry's name 'Beauclerc' denoted his good education (as the youngest son, his parents possibly expected that he would become a bishop); Henry was probably the first Norman king to be fluent in English. In 1120, his legitimate sons William and Richard drowned in the White Ship which sank in the English Channel. This posed a succession problem, as Henry never allowed any of his illegitimate children to expect succession to either England or Normandy. Henry had a legitimate daughter Matilda (widow of Emperor Henry V, subsequently married to the Count of Anjou). However, it was his nephew Stephen (reigned 1135-54), son of William the Conqueror's daughter Adela, who succeeded Henry after his death allegedly caused by eating too many lampreys (fish) in 1135, as the barons mostly opposed the idea of a female ruler.[bellchance.ged]
Contemporaries: Louis VI (Louis the Fat, King of France, 1108-1137), Roger of Salisbury, Anselm (Archbishop of Canterbury), Pope Pascal II
Henry I, the most resilient of the Norman kings (his reign lasted thirty-five years), was nicknamed Beauclerc (fine scholar) for his above average education. During his reign, the differences between English and Norman society began to slowly evaporate. Reforms in the royal treasury system became the foundation upon which later kings built. The stability Henry afforded the throne was offset by problems in succession: his only surviving son, William, was lost in the wreck of the White Ship in November 1120.
The first years of Henry's reign were concerned with subduing Normandy. William the Conqueror divided his kingdoms between Henry's older brothers, leaving England to William Rufus and Normandy to Robert. Henry inherited no land but received £5000 in silver. He played each brother off of the other during their quarrels; both distrusted Henry and subsequently signed a mutual accession treaty barring Henry from the crown. Henry's hope arose when Robert departed for the Holy Land on the First Crusade; should William die, Henry was the obvious heir. Henry was in the woods hunting on the morning of August 2, 1100 when William Rufus was killed by an arrow. His quick movement in securing the crown on August 5 led many to believe he was responsible for his brother's death. In his coronation charter, Henry denounced William's oppressive policies and promising good government in an effort to appease his barons. Robert returned to Normandy a few weeks later but escaped final defeat until the Battle of Tinchebrai in 1106; Robert was captured and lived the remaining twenty-eight years of his life as Henry's prisoner.
Henry was drawn into controversy with a rapidly expanding Church. Lay investiture, the king's selling of clergy appointments, was heavily opposed by Gregorian reformers in the Church but was a cornerstone of Norman government. Henry recalled Anselm of Bec to the archbishopric of Canterbury to gain baronial support, but the stubborn Anselm refused to do homage to Henry for his lands. The situation remained unresolved until Pope Paschal II threatened Henry with excommunication in 1105. He reached a compromise with the papacy: Henry rescinded the king's divine authority in conferring sacred offices but appointees continued to do homage for their fiefs. In practice, it changed little - the king maintained the deciding voice in appointing ecclesiastical offices - but it a marked a point where kingship became purely secular and subservient in the eyes of the Church.
By 1106, both the quarrels with the church and the conquest of Normandy were settled and Henry concentrated on expanding royal power. He mixed generosity with violence in motivating allegiance to the crown and appointing loyal and gifted men to administrative positions. By raising men out of obscurity for such appointments, Henry began to rely less on landed barons as ministers and created a loyal bureaucracy. He was deeply involved in continental affairs and therefore spent almost half of his time in Normandy, prompting him to create the position of justiciar - the most trusted of all the king's officials, the justiciar literally ruled in the king's stead. Roger of Salisbury, the first justiciar, was instrumental in organizing an efficient department for collection of royal revenues, the Exchequer. The Exchequer held sessions twice a year for sheriffs and other revenue-collecting officials; these officials appeared before the justiciar, the chancellor, and several clerks and rendered an account of their finances. The Exchequer was an ingenious device for balancing amounts owed versus amounts paid. Henry gained notoriety for sending out court officials to judge local financial disputes (weakening the feudal courts controlled by local lords) and curb errant sheriffs (weakening the power bestowed upon the sheriffs by his father).
The final years of his reign were consumed in war with France and difficulties ensuring the succession. The French King Louis VI began consolidating his kingdom and attacked Normandy unsuccessfully on three separate occasions. The succession became a concern upon the death of his son William in 1120: Henry's marriage to Adelaide was fruitless, leaving his daughter Matilda as the only surviving legitimate heir. She was recalled to Henry's court in 1125 after the death of her husband, Emperor Henry V of Germany. Henry forced his barons to swear an oath of allegiance to Matilda in 1127 after he arranged her marriage to the sixteen-year-old Geoffrey of Anjou to cement an Angevin alliance on the continent. The marriage, unpopular with the Norman barons, produced a male heir in 1133, which prompted yet another reluctant oath of loyalty from the aggravated barons. In the summer of 1135, Geoffrey demanded custody of certain key Norman castles as a show of good will from Henry; Henry refused and the pair entered into war. Henry's life ended in this sorry state of affairs - war with his son-in-law and rebellion on the horizon - in December 1135.
The Wreck of the White Ship
On the 25th November 1120 a disaster struck in the English Channel which had a dramatic effect, not only on the families of those involved, but on the very fabric of English Government.
The Norman dynasty had not long established itself on the English throne and King Henry I was eager that his line should continue to wear the crown for many generations to come. Despite having numerous bastard offspring, he had but two surviving legitimate children and his hopes for his family were firmly secured by the birth of his only son, William the Aethling: called by the Saxon princely title to stress that his parents had united both Saxon and Norman Royal Houses. William was a warrior prince who, even at the age of seventeen, fought alongside his father to reassert their rights in their Norman lands on the Continent.
After the successful campaign of 1119 which culminated in King Louis VI of France's defeat and humiliation at the Battle of Brémule, King Henry and his entourage were finally preparing to return to England. Henry was offered a fine vessel, the White Ship, in which to set sail for England, but the King had already made his travelling arrangements and suggested that it would be an excellent choice for his son, William.
As the rising star of the Royal Court, Prince William attracted the cream of society to surround him. He was to be accompanied by some three hundred fellow passengers: 140 knights and 18 noblewomen; his half-brother, Richard; his half-sister, Matilda the Countess of Perche; his cousins, Stephen and Matilda of Blois; the nephew of the German Emperor Henry V; the young Earl of Chester and most of the heirs to the great estates of England and Normandy. There was a mood of celebration in the air and the Prince had wine brought aboard ship by the barrel-load to help the party go with a swing. Both passengers and crew soon became highly intoxicated: shouting abuse at one another and ejecting a group of clerics who had arrived to bless the voyage. Some passengers, including Stephen of Blois, who was ill with diarrhoea, appear to have sensed further trouble and decided to take a later craft.
The onboard revelries had delayed the White Ship's departure and it only finally set out to sea, after night had already fallen. The Prince found that most of the King's forces had already left him far behind yet, as with all young rabble-rousers, he wished to be first back home. He therefore ordered the ship's master to have his oarsmen row full-pelt and overtake the rest of the fleet. Being as drunk as the rest of them, the master complied and the ship soon began to race through the waves.
An excellent vessel though the White Ship was, sea-faring was not as safe as it is today. Many a boat was lost on the most routine of trips and people did not travel over the water unless they really had to. With a drunken crew in charge moreover, it seems that fate had marked out the White Ship for special treatment. It hit a rock in the gloom of the night and the port-side timbers cracked wide-open to reveal a gaping whole.
Prince William's quick-thinking bodyguard immediately rushed him on deck and bundled him into a small dinghy. They were away to safety even before the crew had begun to make their abortive attempts to hook the vessel off the rocks. However, back aboard ship, the Prince could hear his half-sister calling to him, begging him not to leave her to the ravages of the merciless sea. He ordered his little boat to turn round, but the situation was hopeless. As William grew nearer once more, the White Ship began to descend beneath the waves. More and more people were in the water now and they fought desperately for the safety of the Royal dinghy. T
                  
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Guillame William I Duke of Normandy the conqueror (the Bastard) King of England - Matilda Countess of Flanders Queen of England, Hrh

Guillame William I Duke of Normandy the conqueror (the Bastard) King of England was born at Falaise, Normandy, France 14 Oct 1024. His parents were Robert I the Magnificent Duke of Normandy and Harlette Falaise, Lady.

He married Matilda Countess of Flanders Queen of England, Hrh 1050 at Castle of Angi, Normandy, France . Matilda Countess of Flanders Queen of England, Hrh was born at Flandres, France 1035 daughter of Baldwin V Flanders, Count of Flanders Sir and Adelaide (Adelex) France, Capet Havoise Countess of Auxerre Lady Princess of FranceHRH .

They were the parents of 13 children:
Gundred Matilda Princess of England, Hrh born 1053.
Robert II Curthose Duke of Belle Normandy Prince of England, Sir born 1054.
Richard I Duke of Bernay Prince of England, Hrh born Abt 1054.
Adeliza a nun England born 1055.
Cecilia of Holy TrinityAbbess of Caen Princess of England, Hrh born Abt 1055.
Margaret I Princess of England, Hrh born 1059.
William II Rufus King of England, Hrh born Abt 1060.
Constance I Princess of England, Hrh born 1061.
Adaele Princess of England, Countess of BloisHRH born 1062.
Agatha Matilda Princess of England, Hrh born Abt 1064.
Anna Princess of England, Hrh born Abt 1066.
Henry I Beauclerc Plantagenet, King of England born Sep 1068.
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Guillame William I Duke of Normandy the conqueror (the Bastard) King of England died 9 Sep 1087 at Seine et Marne, France .

Matilda Countess of Flanders Queen of England, Hrh died 2 Nov 1083 at Caen, Calvados, France .