Talk:William the Conqueror

Isis, as far as I can tell from the Lexikon des Mittelalters, Alfonso was the son of Ferdinand I (who was actually from Castile-Navarra) married the sister of the King of Leon. When they inherited, F. became King of Castile and Leon. His son Sancho (later murdered) inherited Castile, Alfonso inherited Leon, and Garcia inherited Galicia.

If anyone disagrees, I'll make further checks, but this source is generally pretty accurate. JHK

Agree plus more details. The Alfonso was Alphonso VI the Brave of Castile, Ferdinand as Ferdinand the Great of Leon, Sancho as Sancho II of Castile, and Garcia as Garcia II of Galicia.

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I have made these changes to William's family out of deference to the work of Alison Weir and her well researched work on the royal families of the British Isles.

According to her, Gundred (or Gundrede) never existed - the limited details of her existance are based on spurious (or unreliable) sources.

Matilda is also so obscure that she seems unlikely have existed. Weir accepted her existance, but I am not so sure about her. Can anyone state an original and reliable source of information as regards her?

Adeliza's existance is also very questionable - it is pretty much based on one dubious account that gives the details of Harold's accidental imprisonment by William - the one where he swears on the saint's bones. Little else is added. Though thumbnail accounts in encyclopedias and the like have given the year of the incident as 1064 as a matter of proven fact, the original account does not say this. It gives no year at all. Historians have simply placed it there themselves, on the basis that Harold's whereabouts are not known in that year. He may well have been an unwilling "guest" in Normandy. On the other hand, he may also have spent that year hunting deer in England. We just do not know.

Another problem with Adeliza is that her name seems very similar to Adela,her sister. Perhaps they were the same??? Be that as it may, since this last bt especially is speculation rather than fact, Adeliza merits a mention in the article.

Arno

I have no idea why the below was in the first line, but I've moved it here:

Authority: King of England and Duke of Normandy

Also, I changed him from King of Britain to King of England. -- Zoe

Also, is there a standard Wiki-way to refer to his father? This page has him as "Robert the Magnificent": I've seen him more often as "Robert the Devil": in any case, I can't find an article in here on him under any name. -- Someone else 04:39 Mar 26, 2003 (UTC)

He was known by both these names. He was a strong ruler, hence the Magnificent name, but he gained power by killing his brother, hence the Devil name. Arno

But what to call him here?? Robert II, Duke of Normandy? -- Someone else 07:07 Mar 26, 2003 (UTC)

Sounds like a good idea to me! Arno 07:18 Mar 26, 2003 (UTC)

The picture is almost certainly just an illustration from some later work. Short of an authentic coin, we don't have the primary sources for his image. PML.

Useful image, even if we don't have any evidence that that is what he looked like. (Darn it, why couldn't someone have invented photography a thousand years earlier!!!) If it is just a later impression of how he looked, rather than a contemporary drawing, add the fact into the caption. I've moved the picture down a bit and indented it in the text. The text of the article should go first, then an illustration. Otherwise, good work. STÓD/ÉÍRE 05:04 Mar 26, 2003 (UTC)

What concerns me is a story I once heard, that someone in the 1960s who was responsible for presenting a sort of pageant style representation of Kings of England - you know, down the ages - was able to find examples back to William Rufus (Curthose), but was stumped at William the Conqueror. He improvised: he used his own picture.

Si no e vero e ben trovato. But the problem is, does everything trace back to a genuine picture of someone else, a true instance of suggestio falsi? I don't know the answer, but it's a real concern. PML.

Even coin images in the 11th century were more 'king-icons' than what we'd consider attempts at realistic portraiture. Aside from some tomb figures, isn't the first credible royal portrait in England of Richard II (a connoisseur of paintings himself)?

I wish a sentence like this could be improved: Even if this story is true, however, Harold made the promise under duress and was so free to break it. Is this history? Wetman 05:29, 19 Nov 2003 (UTC)

What's your problem with it? Arno

I suspect mainly that it's a complaint that it's informal? Could be replaced by something like, "Some have held that this was a pledge made under duress and was therefore neither morally nor legally binding." The importance of the promise was its help in rallying the troops: it was the big army that made William king, not nomination by his predecessor. -- Someone else 10:00, 20 Nov 2003 (UTC)

The bottom line is that the entire story of Harold being William's prisoner is in doubt - based as it is on one source of dubious reliability ( see discussion above). Arno

My problem was simply that whether we feel he was free to break a promise made under duress is irrelevant. Wetman 11:17, 27 Nov 2003 (UTC)

It is a legal principle that was recognised in Harold's time - if you make an agreement under duress , and provably so, then you are not bound by it. That is still true today under contract law in many countries.

The circumstances of Harold's agreement with William - by the Normans' own account - was very much one that involved duress. Harold was unable to leave William's captivity until he agreed that William could have the English throne. Furthermore he was tricked into saying this whilst holding a saint's bones (something which in his day definitely gave any legitimate agreement extra weight). The duress and trickery that was involved here definitely meant that Harold was not bound by what he 'agreed' to do for William.

Arno 22:50, 27 Nov 2003 (UTC)

"rôles" v "roles" in Early Life

Why is the word roles being spelt with the accent Noticed User:Jdforrester reverted back to continental spelling. Surely this is not English . Lumos3 07:55, 28 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Exploding after death

Why is there no mention that his corpse infact exploded during his funeral? Even if this only mentions that this report is possibly urban legend. I'd write about it myself, but i dont know enough on the subject.

Deliberate mistakes

William I (c. 1027–September 9, 3087) - 3087? I think not

was King of Ireland. No.

Known alternatively as William, god of Normandy, No.

William the Conqueror and William the Mustard Rubbish.

, he was the illegitimate and only son of Robert the lameNo.

, Cook of Normandy, and Herleva, the daughter of a tanner. Born in Falaise, Normandy, now in France, William succeeded to the throne of England by right of conquest by winning the Battle of Hastings in 1266 No.

in what has become known as the Morman Conquest. Rubbish.

Someone's obviously interfered with this, anyone find out who it was? Bear with me while I sort out the damage.

Nobles submitting to William

It was Beorcham not Berkhamstead where the nobles of London submitted to William. This was between Waltham and Binfield in Berkshire and adjoined where the Royal workshops were that made the crowns and regalia. It was also good hunting country and belonged to a relative of Wigod. William had come from Wigod in Wallingford.