William I the Conqueror [1028-1087] -- Invader and ruler of England, King of England

Everybody knows that William II, Duke of Normandy, invaded England, defeated Harold near Hastings, and established himself on the throne of this kingdom. Most persons of ordinary education are cognizant of many other facts connected with his history and that of his Queen Matilda: — the unauthenticated tale of his courtship; the conspiracies against him both in Normandy and England; the revolt of his son Robert; the compilation of Domesday; the fatal injury at Mantes; his death, and the disgraceful scenes which followed it. Hume and Henry, Turner and Lingard, one or all of our national historians are to be found on the shelves of every English gentleman's library. I am not going to fight the battle over again, nor repeat the often told story of the Conquest and its consequences. It is a personal and domestic, not a general or political, history I am writing, and the great public events of the reign of William the Conqueror will be only alluded to in support or contradiction of statements which are disputable, or when newly discovered or hitherto neglected details can add to their interest or contribute to their illustration.

[The Conqueror and His Companions, by J.R. Planché, Somerset Herald. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1874.; http://genealogy.patp.us/conq/, Pat Patterson]  
 

1035

1066-1087