Would you shed a tear

at the death of a ruler who had instilled great fear?

It is fitting that a ruler who instilled great fear and who inflicted such pain and indignities on others should suffer the same fate. He would spend his last days in the most appalling agony, express fear and after death his body would be treated in a most undignified fashion.

William’s later years were troubling ones. Matilda had died in 1083 and the very same year his son Robert had rebelled against him. In addition he had become grossly overweight. In fact his obesity was what eventually killed him but not in the manner one might think.

Agony

In July of 1087, the French King had joked that William was so fat that he resembled a pregnant woman. When William learned of the insult he flew into a terrible rage and vowed to extract revenge from his nominal overlord. On August 15 whilst in the process of destroying the French town of Mantes in Vexin his horse stumbled and his huge stomach was smashed against the pommel of his mount. He suffered serious injury to his intestines and in immense pain was carried to the Priory of St Gervaise in Rouen.

Fear

Realising he was close to death, William appeared to repent the savagery that he wrought. For probably the first time in his life he actually experienced fear. He is reported to have said:

‘I tremble when I reflect on the grievous sins which burden my conscience… now about to be summoned before the awful tribunal of God…I am stained with the rivers of blood that I have shed.’

The indignity of it all!

William died on the morning of September 59th aged 59. As soon as he was dead the nobles who were gathered around his bed speedily departed back to their estates because they feared that with the Conqueror dead disorder would break out. They feared for their properties.

With everyone gone, the servants stripped the Conqueror’s room of any of value including his bed linen. He was left lying almost naked on the floor of the bedchamber.

It was decided that he would be buried at the Abbeye aux Hommes in Caen

A modern image of the Abbeye aux Hommes in Caen.

The funeral would prove to be an extremely undignified affair. Firstly as the cortege marched through Caen an unwelcome distraction in the form of a house fire occurred. When the funeral procession arrived at the Abbey they were confronted by a man who said that he had not been paid for part of the land where the Abbey now stood. He demanded immediate payment and the Conqueror’s body had to be laid down while the authorities which may have included William’s son, Henry checked if the man was telling the truth.

Oh!  How ghastly!

It transpired that he was, and then at last the body proceeded into the church.

‘Oh thank God, now we can finally bury him with dignity!

Er….. well!

The chapel was filled with people, perhaps they had made the effort out of a feeling of sincere grief. However the funerals of those regarded as  having been successful are normally well attended while those of people deemed unsuccessful tend to be less so.

William had gained an enormous amount of weight since the construction of the tomb, and it proved exceedingly difficult to fit the body in. As they did so, William’s bloated bowels suddenly burst and the smell was horrendous. People who one second, were on their knees praying solemnly for William’s soul, were the next leaping out of the pews running for the door liked scorched cats.

The priests concluded the funeral service at break neck speed.

William’s  tomb.

Keeping everyone in their role,

by a rigid method of social control!

 

The Feudal System.

Probably William’s most enduring legacy is his establishment of the feudal system which lives on today in the notorious English class system.

His first step was to confiscate the estates of the Saxon  nobility and give them to people that he could trust, his Norman barons. These men now became known as tenants in chief. In return for their lands the barons promised to fight for the King in the event of war. They also had to provide the King with an agreed number of  knights for forty days a year.

You must provide me with knights

for forty days and nights!

The barons then granted land to lower ranking barons who  were termed sub tenants. The sub tenants or lords of the manor were in turn  obliged to provide knights to the tenants in chief for forty days per annum.

The lords of the manor would then give land to the Saxon peasants in return for a specified number of services every year. These included working on the lord’s land for free for a certain number of days each year. This was greatly resented by the peasants.

While the lord of the manor feasted on a plate of roast pheasant!

The life for a Saxon peasant could  be extremely unpleasant!

 

William’s genius.

It is possible that a powerful baron with the vast estates that he received from William could challenge the king’s power. After all  with  the large number of knights at their disposal they might be well placed to represent a significant threat to the crown.

William made a point of ensuring that the lands of a baron were not concentrated in one area but spread across different parts of the country. Some of a baron’s lands might be in Kent, the rest could be in Wiltshire. This meant that any rebellious baron would find it difficult to gather his forces together in order to attack the King.

All doom and gloom?

We shall now take a look at

The Domesday book!

Ruling a country is some respects rather like running a business. A business man needs to know what funds he has at his disposal to finance his projects. A  ruler receives his revenue from taxation levied on the population, but William was not entirely sure whether or not people were paying their fair share of tax to the Royal Exchequer. Perhaps some people were short changing the king and if this was the case then it had to be stopped. The question was how to ensure that William was receiving what he was owed?

The solution?

Check out everyone’s true contribution?

In 1085, William sent his officials to virtually every village and town in England to find out exactly how much  land and livestock each and every person owned. The investigation was incredibly thorough, indeed exhaustive and in some areas greatly resented. As one chronicler observed:

‘There was not one ox nor one cow nor one pig which escaped notice.’

The results were compiled in a huge book entitled the Domesday Book.

The Domesday Book.

This was the family who to power in England ascended!

And from which the present royal family is descended!

England now had a new royal family. An exciting new development because King Edward the Confessor had had no children so there had been no ‘royals’ for decades. William had a formidable wife, a relatively large family including three sons who would engage in a fair degree of sibling rivalry even as adults. But  in common with their father would also become powerful rulers.

Mother Matilda  (1031-1083)

 

William was married to Matilda, daughter of the Duke of Flanders. William had not been Matilda’s first choice of husband. This honour fell to a Saxon noble, one Brithric who had once represented the English monarchy at her father’s court in Flanders. Matilda had developed a deep attachment to the handsome Saxon nobleman when she met him as a young woman. However it was a case of unrequited love because Britheric spurned Matilda’s amorous advances. The young woman was heartbroken.

To upset Tilly, well you really must be silly!

Can’t forget what happened to the man that she wanted instead of Duke Willie!

After the Norman conquest, Matilda persuaded William to strip Brithric of his possessions and have him imprisoned where he subsequently died.

Meet the children!

We need only mention the boys!

All three, once given power would avail themselves of its joys!

Robert Curthose ( Bobby short-legs (1051-1134

The eldest son, Robert would succeed his father as Duke of Normandy. Robert spent the first half of his life risking death on the battlefield and the second languishing in a Welsh jail at Cardiff castle having been imprisoned by his brother Henry. Despite a less comfortable life, he managed to reach the astonishing age of 83 which represented great longevity in the middle ages. However Robert’s incarceration was not entirely without achievement. He took the trouble to learn Welsh and wrote at least one poem in the language.

 

William Rufus (Rufus means ruddy complexion) c 1056 1100.

Wiilliam Rufus succeeded his father as  King of England and would  be killed by an arrow fired by a companion while hunting in the New Forest.

 

Henry Beauclerc (Beauclerc means good administrator) c1068 – 1135. 

Henry was the youngest of the three surviving sons of the Conqueror and the only one to be born in England. As the youngest son, He was not expected to inherit very much at all from his father. However Henry would become both Duke of Normandy, and King of England. With the death of William Rufus and his jailing of Robert, Henry ended up with Conqueror’s entire estate.

This was the beginning of the new dynasty that would rule England.