WILLIAM 



0290 



WILLIAM 



Norman Conquest. William spent several 

 3'ears subduing the island. He hesitated at no 

 act which he thought would increase his power. 

 He took all the land from its English owners, 

 whether they had resisted him or not, and gave 



DOMAIN OP WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 



it to about twenty thousand of his Norman 

 followers, even to his menial servants. But he 

 saw that many of the Saxon institutions would 

 help him govern, and. these he retained. In 

 1072 he marched against the king of Scotland, 

 who had been encouraging English rebels, and 

 forced him to swear allegiance. Instead of di- 

 viding England into powerful duchies, accord- 

 ing to the usual feudal system, William re- 

 quired all the landholders to swear direct loy- 

 alty to the Crown. In this way he put down 

 anarchy and made the people united in their 

 allegiance to the Crown. To get knowledge 

 helpful in controlling his subjects he ordered 

 the preparation of the Domesday Book, de- 

 scribed elsewhere in these volumes. 



Though harsh in his measures, and placing 

 the unity of his kingdom above all moral con- 

 siderations, William tried to be fair, and soon 

 he gained the respect of the people. In an age 

 of wickedness he was a man of clean life, tem- 

 perance and piety. He was on the whole a wise 

 ruler, and the great French historian Guizot 

 says, "England owes her liberties to having 

 been conquered by the Normans." 



Consult Green's Conquest of England; Free- 

 man's William the Conqueror; Sten ton's William 

 the Conqueror. 



Related Subjects. The events of these reigns 

 will be more fully understood if the following 

 articles are consulted : 



Boyne, Battle of the Hastings, Battle of 



Domesday Book James, subhead James II 



England, subhead Eng- Louis, subhead Louis 



land Becomes Dan- XIV 



ish, then Norman Normans 



Feudal System Rotten Boroughs 



Harold, subhead Harold II 



William II (about 1056-1100), called Rufus, 

 meaning Red, because of his florid face, was 

 the son of William I, but was a king who is 

 never praised by historians. Though the chron- 

 iclers of his time, the monks, were prejudiced 

 because of his contempt for the Church and 

 exaggerate his failings, there is sufficient evi- 

 dence that he was an oppressive and unscrupu- 

 lous monarch. He had most of the ability and 

 determination of his father, the Conqueror, 

 without the latter's restraint of conscience. One 

 who lived in his times says, "He feared God but 

 little, man not at all." 



Rufus became king in 1087. In the first year 

 of his reign the barons revolted. By pledging 

 reforms he secured the support of the people, 

 defeated the nobles, and then ignored his prom- 

 ises. He refused to name a successor to the 

 deceased Archbishop of Canterbury, and seized 

 the revenues of the see. Later, frightened by ill- 

 ness, he appointed Anselm archbishop, but after- 

 wards the two quarreled almost continually. 

 William secured Normandy from his brother 

 Robert by foreclosing a loan, and extended its 

 borders by conquest. He also gained territory 

 from the kings of Scotland. 



William III (1650-1702), king of Great Brit- 

 ain and Ireland, better known as WILLIAM OF 

 ORANGE, who gained the English throne in the 

 "Glorious Revolution" of 1688. His life pur- 

 pose was the destruction of the power of the 

 French king, Louis XIV. When, in 1672, Louis 

 invaded Holland, William, whose family had 

 gained fame in the defense of its country, was 

 chosen as stadtholder, or ruler. By opening 

 the dykes he checked the French advance. For 

 the rest of his life he was engaged in almost con- 

 tinuous wars with Louis. Realizing the strength 

 of the opposition to James II, the last Roman 

 Catholic king of England, he attempted to win 

 that nation's support. Certain of James's ene- 

 mies sent an invitation to William, the "Cham- 

 pion of Protestantism," and in 1688 he landed 

 in England with an army of 14,000. As James's 

 oMest daughter, a Protestant, was William's 



