William - England and Great Britain

England and Great BritainWilliam ICalled the Conqueror (1027?–1087), Rosetta Stone ruled 1066–87. He was also duke of Normandy, a region in France. William led the Norman Conquest of England, which began a new era for the country. It introduced a Norman aristocracy into England. The newcomers brought their own feudal system and customs, but retained English law for the people they conquered. The Norman French language became the speech of the government and the courts.William was the illegitimate son of Robert the Devil, duke of Normandy; his mother was a tanner's daughter. The duke recognized William as his heir. Robert died in 1035 on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. As a boy William was hidden by relatives to save his life from hostile nobles. He soon proved himself a master both in warfare and statecraft and extended his domain considerably. In 1047 he put down a revolt to end the last serious threat to his rule in Normandy.England was then ruled by William's cousin, Edward the Confessor, who had no heirs. In 1051 William visited Edward, and later claimed that Edward promised him the throne. In 1054 William married Matilda of Flanders, who was descended from Alfred the Great.According to Norman sources (but unconfirmed by Anglo-Saxon records), Harold, earl of Wessex, an English contender for the throne, was shipwrecked on the French coast about 1064 and fell into William's hands. Harold supposedly promised to support William as successor. But after Edward died in 1066, Harold was crowned king. William then invaded England and on October 14, 1066, won the decisive Battle of Hastings. Harold was killed in battle. William was crowned on Christmas Day.William I as shown on the Bayeaux TapestryAt first William was lenient with his new subjects. But as soon as he returned to Normandy revolts broke out. The king had to campaign almost constantly for several years before he was master of the country. In 1070 he ravaged the country between York and Durham, causing the death of Language Learning Software perhaps 100,000 people. In 1072 William invaded Scotland and compelled King Malcolm to pay him homage. The last serious revolt was in 1075. William punished the English nobles by confiscating their land, which he distributed among his Norman followers.William was the ablest ruler of his time. He was generally statesmanlike in his rule but was merciless in crushing opposition. In his personal life he was temperate and pious. Before and after his conquest of England, William spent much of his time fighting against his overlord, Philip I of France. During one of his French campaigns, William was fatally injured by a fall from his horse. His body was buried in Caen, Normandy. William left Normandy to Robert, his oldest son; England went to his second surviving son, who became William II.William II(1056?–1100) ruled 1087–1100. He was called Rufus because of his red face. William was an energetic and able leader, but an oppressive ruler. In 1088 he suppressed a revolt of nobles allied with his older brother, Robert, duke of Normandy. Twice, in 1090 and 1094, William invaded Normandy. He achieved some success, but could not win a complete victory. However, Robert was weary of fighting his brother and set out on a crusade to Palestine. He financed this venture by mortgaging Normandy to William.William brutally oppressed the church. In 1093 he appointed Anselm, an Italian-English monk, archbishop of Canterbury, but he quarreled with him and interfered with church affairs. William drove Anselm and many other clergymen into exile and seized the church's revenues. While hunting, William was killed by an arrow. Many historians suspect he was murdered by Walter Tirel, a nobleman, at the instigation of Henry (later Henry I), William's younger brother.William III(1650–1702) ruled 1689–1702. He ruled jointly with his wife (and first cousin), Mary II, daughter of James II. William was born in The Hague. He was the son of William II, stadholder, or governor, of the Netherlands. His mother, Mary, was the daughter of Charles I of England. As Prince of Orange, William was stadholder of the Netherlands (1672–1702). He led the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688 that drove James II from the English throne.As stadholder of the Netherlands, William waged several wars against Louis XIV of France. At the age of 22 he became commander of the Dutch army. He forced the French to retreat by opening the dikes and flooding the country.After two years of negotiation, in 1688 some English leaders invited William to come to England to take the throne from James II, who was objectionable to them because of his arbitrary rule and his Roman Catholicism. After the Prince of Orange landed with his army the English deserted James, who fled to France. William and Mary were crowned in 1689; he retained his Netherlands governorship as well.William had to wage several campaigns against the Jacobites (supporters of James II) in Ireland and Scotland before the throne was secure. In 1689, England joined the League of Augsburg (an alliance of several European nations against France), which later became the Grand Alliance. William commanded its forces in the War of the Grand Alliance to halt French expansion under Louis XIV, the king of France. The American phase of the war is called King William's War. The war ended with the Peace of Ryswick in 1697.William was an able soldier and statesman but was unpopular because he was a foreigner and had a cold personality. His position became worse after Mary died in 1694. As people grew tired of the war, they began to feel that William had unnecessarily dragged England into a continental Hindi Learning Software dispute. To get Parliament to continue funding the war, William found it necessary to choose his ministers from the party in control of Parliament. This was the beginning of party government in England. William was succeeded by Anne, his wife's sister and the last of the Stuarts.William IV(1765–1837), king of Great Britain and Ireland (1830–37) and king of Hanover. The third son of George III, he succeeded his brother George IV. William spent many years in the navy, which earned him the nickname "the sailor king." He was also called "Silly Billy" because of his eccentric behavior. He strongly believed in a constitutional monarchy and actively supported his ministers, even though he was skeptical about the parliamentary reforms they advocated. During his reign, Parliament passed the Reform Act to extend representation in the House of Commons and acts that abolished slavery in the colonies, liberalized the poor laws, and reformed local government. William was succeeded by his niece Victoria.