William descended from the Normans, Vikings settled in northern France in 911 when the French king granted land to Rollo. When Edward the Confessor died childless and the English nobles chose Harold Godwinson, William claimed Edward had promised him the throne and Harold had sworn to back him, and he gathered a fleet that contrary winds held in Normandy for weeks. Harold waited on the south coast until Harald Hardrada landed in Yorkshire, then marched almost 200 miles in about nine days to win at Stamford Bridge. Three days later the wind turned, and on September 28, 1066, William landed unopposed at Pevensey and began burning Harold’s own estates around Hastings.
On October 14 Harold’s shield wall held Senlac Hill until Breton troops fled, William pushed back his helmet to show he was alive, and repeated feigned retreats drew the English into the open. Harold was killed, and William was crowned on Christmas Day 1066 after the submission at Berkhamsted. Revolts in Exeter, Mercia and Northumbria followed, and in 1069 and 1070 he ordered the Harrying of the North, burning crops, livestock and villages to cause famine. Motte-and-bailey castles, the Domesday Book of 1086 and the replacement of English bishops with men such as Lanfranc completed the takeover.
- After devastating the north, William wore his crown in the ruins of York on Christmas Day 1069.
- By 1086 only about 5 percent of land south of the River Tees remained in native English hands.
- William declared all land in England his by conquest and leased it back to barons for quotas of knights.
- About 28,000 slaves appear in Domesday, and slavery largely vanished within a century as peasants were pushed into serfdom.
- Exiled English nobles joined the Byzantine Varangian Guard and founded Black Sea settlements called New London and New York.
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