History of the Monarchy

William I (William the conqueror)

Born in 1027 (Falais) 
Ascended in 1066
Died in 1087, aged 60 
Reigned for 21 years
Married to Matilda of Flanders, who gave birth to 4 sons and 5 daughters.

William the Conqueror was the illegitimate son of Duke Robert the Magnificent and a tanner's daughter. He married Matilda of Flanders and they had four sons and five daughters.

William killed Harold in the battle of Hastings in 1066 and demanded London's surrender. However, it was only after a siege and after much land was laid waste that London conceded Williams's kingship of England. William, crowned king in 1066, was the last conqueror on English soil. He was the first king to be crowned at Westminster Abbey.

The Domesday Book was compiled as a list of every taxable thing in England and was compiled in 1086. 

William I was said by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to be "...mild to the good men that loved God, and severe beyond measure to the men that gainsaid his will ... It is not forgotten that good peace he made in this land so that a man might go over his kingdom with his bosom full of gold ... and no man durst slay another".