Birth
Born circa 1028 in Falaise, Normandy, France, William the Conqueror was an illegitimate child of Robert I, duke of Normandy, who died in 1035 while returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
Born circa 1028 in Falaise, Normandy, France, William the Conqueror was an illegitimate child of Robert I, duke of Normandy, who died in 1035 while returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
At the age of 8, William the Conqueror became duke of Normandy.
The king knighted William, still in his teens, in 1042. Taking a new stand on political events, William finally gained firm control of his duchy (although his enemies commonly referred to him as "The Bastard" due to his illegitimate birth). By 1064, he had conquered and won two neighboring provinces—Brittany and Maine. In the meantime, the childless king of England—Edward the Confessor, whose mother was a sister of William's grandfather—promised William succession to the English throne.
Matilda of Flanders (French: Mathilde de Flandre; Dutch: Mathilda van Vlaanderen) ( c. 1031 – 2 November 1083) was the wife of William the Conqueror and, as such, Queen of England. She bore William nine children, including two kings, William II and Henry I. 1051 - November 2, 1083 - (married)
Henry I of England
Born: September 1068, Selby, United Kingdom
Died: December 1, 1135, Lyons-la-Forêt, France
William II of England
William was born in around 1056 and almost nothing is known about his childhood. At his death in 1087, William I bequeathed his original inheritance, the Duchy of Normandy, to his eldest son, Robert Curthose.
Dec 25, 1066
After the Battle of Hastings, in 1066, he was crowned king of England. On October 14, 1066, the two armies met in the famous Battle of Hastings. King Harold and his two brothers were killed in the battle, and since no one of stature remained to raise a new army, William's path to the throne was clear. He was crowned king of England on Christmas Day.
William ruled England until his death, on September 9, 1087, in Rouen, France.