Born
1028
Died
1087
Nationality
Norman
Events involving William the Conqueror (14)
1064
ID: 2575
Harold's visit to Normandy - allegedly swears oath to support William's claim to throne (Norman sources)
ID: 2575
1066
ID: 2583
September 28, 1066
William lands at Pevensey - 7,000 Normans land while Harold in York, builds castle, ravages Sussex
ID: 2583
1066
ID: 2585
October 14, 1066
Battle of Hastings - all-day battle, Harold killed by arrow to eye (tradition), Norman Conquest begins
ID: 2585
1066
ID: 2586
December 1066
Submission at Berkhamsted - Edgar Atheling and English nobles submit to William, path to throne clear
ID: 2586
1066
ID: 2587
December 25, 1066
William crowned King of England - coronation at Westminster on Christmas Day, soldiers think riot and burn houses
ID: 2587
1069
ID: 2588
Harrying of the North - William devastates Yorkshire, 100,000 die from famine, land desolate for decades
ID: 2588
1070
ID: 5816
William the Conqueror retains shire reeve system - Normans call them 'sheriffs' (shire-reeve), expand their powers as direct royal agents
ID: 5816
1072
ID: 5817
Sheriffs established as crown's counter to feudal lords - collect taxes directly for king even from lands granted to nobles, preventing alienation of royal revenues
ID: 5817
1078
ID: 2589
Tower of London White Tower begun - massive Norman keep, symbol of conquest and royal power
ID: 2589
1085
ID: 2590
Domesday Book commissioned - comprehensive survey of English land ownership for taxation, completed 1086
ID: 2590
1086
ID: 5833
Domesday Book shows social change - most ceorls now recorded as villeins (unfree peasants), Norman conquest degrades Saxon freemen
ID: 5833
1086
ID: 5834
Domesday records land measurements - southern England uses hides, Danelaw uses carucates (ploughlands), both equal ~120 acres
ID: 5834
1087
ID: 5835
Thegns become knights - Norman feudalism transforms Anglo-Saxon thegns into knights, similar military obligations but different legal status
ID: 5835
1087
ID: 2591
September 9, 1087
Death of William the Conqueror - dies from injury falling from horse, buried at Caen
ID: 2591