The Life of William the Conqueror - Research Paper Example

Ever since he was crowned as the King of England on the Christmas day in 1066, William displayed a tremendous amount of valor, energy, determination, and ruthlessness in achieving his goals. Even though William was quite cruel and ruthless towards his enemies and people who disobeyed his laws, England owes much to his administrative and legislative reforms. It was William the Conqueror who “instituted his strategy for medieval warfare of building castles and went on to build many castles in England including his most famous, the Tower of London” (Biography of William the Conqueror).

Similarly, the Doomsday Book is very often regarded as another remarkable legacy of William the Conqueror as the book offers a clear-cut insight into the medieval life, customs, and manners. The life of William the Conqueror is worth analyzing when one deals with the early history of England. William was reported to have born as the illegitimate son of Duke Robert 1 of Normandy in either late 1027 or early 1028. In 1034, Duke Robert decided to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and he entrusted William into the care of his uncle Robert, archbishop of Rouen and his nobles and nominated him as the next Duke of Normandy (William 17).

Subsequently, William became the Duke of Normandy in 1035 after his father’s death when he was only seven years old. It was in the year 1051 that Edward the Confessor pledged William that he would be made his successor to the throne of England and in the next year William married Matilda of Flanders. In 1065, William was successful in gaining Harold Godwinson’s pledge of allegiance whereby Harold would assist him to assume the throne of England. However, things turned upside down after Edward the Confessor’s death when Harold tried to gain the throne of England in 1066.

This paved the way for the historical battle at Hastings. In 1066 William the conqueror obtained “support from the Pope for his invasion of England and the right to the English throne,” defeated Harold’s men at the battle of Hastings, suppressed all other rebellions within the nation, and on 25th December he was crowned as the King of England (Biography of William the Conqueror). From 1067 onwards William the Conqueror started constructing castles in various parts of the nation which included the well-known Exeter Castle and the Tower of London.

Even though he and the Normans faced strong rebellion at Exeter from Harold's mother Gytha in February 1067, Hereward the Wake and Harold's brother, the Earl Morcar at Peterborough in 1070, William could easily defeat the rebels. On May 11, 1068, William crowned his wife Matilda as the Queen of England. The Doomsday Book was published in 1086 and on September 9, 1087, the great conqueror met with death. One can never undermine the administrative as well as legislative reforms introduced by William the Conqueror in England.

In fact, the arrival of the Normans and the reign of William brought about radical changes to the course of English history as well. However, William never tried to replace the existing Anglo-Saxon laws with the Norman practices. On the other hand, he effectively blended the Norman laws with the Anglo-Saxon law and native customs.