In 1064, Earl Harold was shipwrecked upon the coast of Normandy. William kept him in honourable captivity until he had sworn upon holy relics to do all in his power to enforce William’s claim to the English throne. William knew very well that at that time it seemed that Harold, the most powerful man in England next to the king, would be designated Edward’s successor, which was what in fact happened. When, in the autumn of 1065, Edward was seen to be dying, the Witan considered all the claimants and decided that Harold, as the only man with the strength and maturity that befitted him to rule England, was the natural choice. Edward, on his deathbed, accordingly left his crown to Harold, who seized power in defiance of his oath to William.

William thereupon gathered an army, sailed to England, and defeated Harold on 14 October, 1066, at the Battle of Hastings.

At that time, there was only one living male representative of the ancient line of the Kings of Wessex, and that was the child Edgar the Atheling, the grandson of Edmund II. The Witan in London set him up as king as soon as they received the news of William’s victory at Hastings, but it quickly became obvious that Edgar’s impeccable claim to the throne would be no match for William’s determination to wear the crown of England. Edgar submitted to William within 6 weeks, and William was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day, 1066.

A new royal dynasty had been founded; the joining of England with Normandy brought England very much into the forefront of European affairs. William’s followers received lands and honours, and thus founded aristocratic dynasties of their own in their new realm. A new order prevailed: England was feudalised and its Church and legal system were overhauled, and all things Saxon were disdained by the conquering Normans.

William’s claim to the English throne had very little basis in dynastic terms. His great-aunt Emma had been wife to both Ethelred II and Canute, and William’s wife Matilda was a descendant of King Alfred. Those were his only links to the English royal line. William’s own ancestor, Rollo, who founded the duchy of Normandy in the 10th century, had been a Viking pirate. It was left to William’s son, Henry I, to ally himself in blood to the ancient line of Cerdic: in 1100, he married Edith, the niece of Edgar the Atheling, much to the disgust of his Norman barons, who sneeringly referred to the royal couple as ‘Godric and Godgifu’, old Saxon names now fallen into disrepute. Yet the marriage was popular with the common people, who were, after all, Saxon, and later Kings would acknowledge that it was fitting that the blood of Cerdic flowed in their veins.

William I

FATHER: Robert

Known as ‘the Devil’ or ‘the Magnificent’, he was the son of Richard II, Duke of Normandy, by Judith of Brittany, and was born in c.1008 in Normandy. He perhaps married Astrid, daughter of King Sweyn, in c.1027, but repudiated her almost at once. He succeeded his brother Richard III as Duke of Normandy on 6 August, 1028, and died on 2 or 22 July, 1035, on pilgrimage at Nicea in Bithynia. William I was his illegitimate son.

MOTHER: Herleva

Alternatively called Arlette, she was the daughter of Fulbert, a tanner of Falaise in Normandy, by his wife Duxia. She was born in c.1012. She is said to have been noticed by Duke Robert as she sat washing clothes in a river. Their liaison produced two children (

below). Herleva married Herluin, Viscount of Conteville, between c.1029 and 1035, and had four (or perhaps as many as six) further children ( below). She died in c.1050, and was buried in the Abbey of St Grestain in France.

SIBLINGS:

Adeliza

She was born perhaps in 1029, before her mother’s marriage to a Norman nobleman. She married firstly Enguerrand III, Count of Ponthieu ( d.1053), and had issue:

1  Adelaide (alive in 1096).

Adeliza married secondly Lambert of Boulogne, Count of Lens in Artois (who was killed in battle in 1054), in c.1053, and had issue:

2  Judith (1054/5–after 1086); she married Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria and Huntingdon (who was executed in 1076), and had issue, including Matilda, wife of David I, King of Scotland.

Adeliza married thirdly Odo II, Count of Champagne (disinherited in 1071), and had issue:

3  Stephen, Count of Aumale (before 1070–1121/30), who married Hawise, daughter of Ralph de Mortimer of Wigmore, and had issue.

Adeliza was styled Countess of Aumale in her own right from 1082. She died between 1087 and 1090.

William did not have any full brothers.

HALF-SIBLINGS (the children of his mother’s marriage):

1   Robert

He was born in 1030/1, and was created Count of Mortain in c.1049 or c.1056. He was probably created Earl of Cornwall in c.1066/7. He died on 8 December, 1090/1, and was buried in the Abbey of St Grestain, France.

Robert married, before 1066:

Matilda

She was the daughter of Roger of Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury, by Mabel, daughter of William, Seigneur of Alençon-Bellême. The date of her death is not known; she was buried in the Abbey of St Grestain in France.

Issue of marriage:

  (i)   William

He was born before 1084. He succeeded his father as Count of Mortain on 8 December, 1090/1, and married a lady called Adelaide, of whom nothing more is known. He died after 1140.

 (ii)   Emma

She married William IV, Count of Toulouse ( d.1094), and had issue.

Robert married secondly:

Almodis

She was perhaps a sister of Boson, Count of La Marche. After Robert’s death, she perhaps married Roger of Montgomery.

2   Odo

He was born between c.1031 and 1035. He entered the Church and was consecrated Bishop of Bayeux in Normandy around 1049 and before 23 April 1050. He was created Earl of Kent in 1066/7; he was deprived of this earldom, which was not forfeited, in 1082, but restored in 1087. He was again deprived of the earldom of Kent in 1088, and this time it was declared forfeit, Odo being banished from England. He died in February, 1097, at Palermo, Sicily, and was buried in Palermo Cathedral.

Odo had the following illegitimate issue:

1  John.

3   Emma(?)

Historians now think she was probably fictitious. She is said to have married Richard of Goz, Viscount of Avranches ( d.c.1082), and had issue:

1  Hugh, Viscount of Avranches, Earl of Chester ( c.1047–1101), who married Ermentrude, daughter of Hugh, Count of Clermont, and had issue. Hugh died a monk.

4   Muriel

She married either William, Count of La Ferté-Macé, or, more probably, Eudo de Capello, Viscount of the Côtentin (it is possible that she had an unnamed sister who married William, Count of La Ferté-Macé –

below). Muriel perhaps had issue by Eudo:

1  Muriel; she is said to have married Robert de la Haia (although there is no firm evidence for this).

Muriel’s date of death is not known; she was buried in the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

5   Sister(?)

Her existence is uncertain and her name unknown. She was possibly the sister who married William, Count of La Ferté-Macé.

6   Isabella

She married Henry, Count of Séez, and had issue:

1 St Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury ( d.1099).

WILLIAM I