House of Normandy
In 1066 William II, Duke of Normandy, a vassal to the King of France and first-cousin once-removed of Edward the Confessor, invaded and conquered England in the Norman Conquest of England, and made permanent the recent removal of the capital from Winchester to London. Following the death of King Harold II in the decisive Battle of Hastings on 14 October, the Anglo-Saxon Witenagemot elected Edgar the Ætheling king in Harold's place, but Edgar was unable to resist the invaders and was never crowned. William was crowned King William I of England on Christmas Day 1066, and is today known as William the Conqueror, William the Bastard or William I.
It was only from the reign of William and his descendents that monarchs took regnal numbers in the French fashion, though the earlier custom of distinguishing monarchs by nicknames did not die out by consequence.
| Name | Portrait | Birth | Marriages | Death | Claim |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| William I 25 December 1066–1087 |
c. 1028 Falaise Castle son of Robert I, Duke of Normandy, and Herleva |
Matilda of Flanders Chapel Notre Dame of the castle in Eu, Normandy 1053 ten children |
9 September 1087 Rouen aged about 59 after wounding himself on the saddle when his horse stumbled. Buried at Saint Etienne Abbey (Abbaye aux Hommes) of Caen |
Supposedly named heir by Edward the Confessor in 1052 (de facto right of conquest) |
|
| William II 26 September 1087–1100 |
c. 1060 Normandy son of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders |
unmarried | 2 August 1100 New Forest aged about 40 when shot by an arrow, events still unclear. |
son of William I (appointment) |
|
| Henry I 5 August 1100–1135 |
September 1068 Selby son of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders |
(1) Edith otherwise Matilda of Scotland Westminster Abbey 11 November 1100 four children (2) Adeliza of Louvain Windsor Castle 29 January 1121 no children |
1 December 1135 Castle of Lyons-la-Forêt (Saint-Denis-en-Lyons) aged 67 apparently from eating a surfeit of lampreys. Buried at Reading Abbey |
son of William I; (seizure of the crown) |
Read more about this topic: List Of English Monarchs
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