"We, conquered by William, have liberated the Conqueror’s land." So reads the memorial to the British war dead at Bayeaux, Normandy. Commemorating those who gave their lives to free France in 1944, it also serves to remind us of an earlier conflict. For the English, the Norman conquest remains deeply embedded in the national psyche. As the last contested military invasion to have succeeded in conquering this proud island nation, the date of 1066 is the one every citizen can remember. For them, William will forever be the “Conqueror”, the last invader to beat them in an open fight. For others, notably the French, he is the “Bastard”, a reference not only to his lineage.

For hundreds of years, the Anglo-Saxons—who had been harassing the Saxon Shore as pirates—began to settle in Britain, creating a patchwork of little kingdoms and starting a new era of English history. Several early medieval historians, writing well after the events, said the Anglo-Saxons were invited to Britain to defend the region from the northern tribes and ended up taking over. The Venerable Bede (672 or 673-735) said in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (“Ecclesiastical History of the English People”) that in the year 449, “The British consulted what was to be done and where they should seek assistance to prevent or repel the cruel and frequent incursions of the northern nations. They all agreed with their king Vortigern to call over to their aid, from the parts beyond the sea, the Saxon nation.... The two first commanders are said to have been Hengist and Horsa.”

However they came to control most of England, the Anglo-Saxons became the dominant power in the region for nearly 500 years, and the strength of their cultural influence could be felt even after William the Conqueror won the Battle of Hastings and became the first Norman ruler on the island.

Of course, William’s conquest of the island arguably made him the most important figure in shaping the course of English history, but modern caricatures of this vitally important medieval figure are largely based on ignorance. William is a fascinating and complex figure, in many ways the quintessential warrior king of this period. Inheriting the Duchy of Normandy while still an infant and forced to fight for his domain almost ceaselessly during his early years, William went on to conquer and rule England, five times larger and three times wealthier. In doing so, he demonstrated sophisticated political and diplomatic skill, military prowess and administrative acumen. Although he lived by the sword, he was a devout man who had only one wife, to whom he remained faithful.

William is one of history’s most famous conquerors, but the efforts to consolidate his rule in England were complicated from the start, both due to external enemies and those jockeying for his position while he was still alive. William ultimately decided to split Normandy and England. His son Robert, still in open revolt, would nonetheless inherit Normandy, while the next in line, his second son William, would rule England. The two states that William left behind were hardly united or at peace. Soon after his death, Odo conspired with Robert to oust his brother from the English throne and re-establish a united state, but the revolt failed, and King William “Rufus” II would rule England until his suspicious death in 1100. His younger brother Henry inherited the throne, and in 1106 he imprisoned Robert after their sibling battle at Tinchebray had achieved unity once more, but any political unity would not last long.