William the Conqueror

William the Conqueror, sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, as William I, reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was Duke of Normandy, as William II, from 1035 onward, and by 1060, following a long struggle, his hold on Normandy was secure. In 1066, following the death of Edward the Confessor, William invaded England, leading a Franco-Norman army to victory over the Anglo-Saxon forces of Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, and suppressed subsequent English revolts in what has become known as the Norman Conquest; the rest of his life was marked by struggles to consolidate his hold over England and his continental lands, and by difficulties with his eldest son, Robert Curthose. William was the son of the unmarried Duke Robert I of Normandy and his mistress Herleva, and his illegitimate status and youth caused some difficulties for him after he succeeded his father, as did the anarchy that plagued the first years of his rule.