William I, the Bastard King

The man who became known as William the Conqueror and gave us one of the most memorable dates in English history had a life full of conflict. Today, Hastings is the only battle in his turbulent life that is commonly remembered, but I hope you’ll enjoy the drama of the rest of his life.

Early Life

William was born in Falaise in 1027, as the ‘natural’ son of Robert the Magnificent (also known as Robert the Devil), sixth Duke of Normandy, and Arlette (also called Herleve in some records), the daughter of a local tanner. The story goes that Robert was struck by Arlette's beauty when he saw her washing in the stream that passed her father’s property at the foot of Falaise Castle. Others say that she charmed the Duke with her dancing. Such affairs had happened several times before within the Norman nobility, and the usual remedy was for the parents to get married, legitimising the child. In this case, in spite of having a younger daughter, Adelaide, with Arlette a few years later, Robert the Devil decided against that. It is impossible to know his reasons for that decision since he clearly accepted William as his son. However, William being named his heir was not completely unusual at the time and could have worked out nicely for everyone.

Robert instead persuaded Arlette to marry his friend Herluin de Conteville. She had two other sons from this marriage, Robert who became Count of Mortain, and Odo, who became the Bishop of Bayeux and later Earl of Kent.

Given that he had been given the nickname of ‘the Devil’ (though I’m guessing only by his enemies), it is perhaps not surprising that Duke Robert decided that he needed to do something to cleanse his soul of sin. To do this, he decided to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1034, in spite of the advice of his councillors. Before he left, he persuaded his barons to accept William as his heir, thus ensuring the succession in his mind at least. That might have been some comfort to him when he died on his return journey at Nicaea on the 2nd of July 1035.

That left William to inherit the title of Duke of Normandy at the tender age of seven.

William the Bastard, Seventh Duke of Normandy

William’s life was full of danger from the moment he inherited the dukedom. He was forced to learn how to navigate a very turbulent area's difficult and dangerous politics very quickly. At first, his care was given to Duke Alan of Brittany to see to his education while his great-uncle Robert, archbishop of Rouen ruled Normandy as regent. This might have continued peacefully enough had Archbishop Robert not died on March 16th, 1037. Duke Alan suddenly died on the 1st of October 1040, while besieging a rebel castle near Vimoutiers. According to Oderic Vitalis, he was poisoned by unnamed Normans.

After Duke Alan’s death, William became the charge of Gilbert of Brionne. A few months later, Gilbert was killed while riding near Eschafour. It is believed that two of those responsible for this death were Ralph of Wacy and Robert de Vitot, and afterwards, Gilbert’s sons fled to the court of Baldwin V, Count of Flanders.

Turchetil de Turqueville was William’s next guardian, although he was also killed within months of taking on the role. Then Osbern, the nephew of the wife of Duke Richard I and William’s steward, was killed while standing guard outside William’s door.

William’s uncle Walter, the brother of his mother, began to sleep in the boy’s bedchamber. He is said to have frequently had to grab William from his bed in the middle of the night and help him to escape, hiding in the homes of the poor to keep the boy safe from those who wanted him dead.

Then, in 1046, Guy of Burgundy led a rebellion and attempted to seize William at Valognes. William was very nearly taken captive and fled for his life to take refuge in the court of King Henry I of France.

Normandy was a nominal part of France, and the turmoil in the region had a very real chance of spreading across the kingdom. Therefore, Henry took the boy in when he was asked for aid, investing him with a knighthood. This exile did not last for very long. William was now old enough to be considered an adult, and more than willing to put the harsh lessons of his childhood into practice.

Battle of Val-ès-Dunes

King Henry I raised an army of roughly 10,000 men to help the young Duke, accepting that a revolt against a faithful vassal could easily lead to a direct threat to his own power. William could not raise nearly as many men, as in the minds of many of those who he should have been able to call upon for aid, he was a poor prospect against the army that Guy of Burgundy and his allies had raised.

In early 1047, the forces of Henry and William met up and they travelled to the plain of Val-ès-Dunes where they met the rebels. There are frustratingly few accounts of this battle. It appears to have been fought entirely between several small groups of cavalry, with little or no infantry or archers involved. What is certain is that Ralph Tesson defected to the side of William and Henry early in the battle, and it is certainly possible that this could have caused the rebel army a great deal of confusion.

William, never one to sit on the sidelines, was in the thick of the battle. He personally struck down a man named Hardez from Bayeux, who was a vassal of Rannulf of Avranches. Whether seeing this was the cause, or whether Rannulf simply saw that the battle was lost, he began a retreat. Seeing this, the other rebels panicked and they fled, chased by the victorious forces of King Henry and Duke William. Some were trampled by those who were fleeing, and many of the rebels were driven into drowning in the River Orne. Guy of Burgundy escaped, and holed up in the castle of Brionne, thus blocking William from gaining control of the eastern third of Normandy.

While this victory should really be handed to King Henry, as William was could never have raised the number of men needed to secure the victory, it was a beginning. He was no longer a child, and he was determined to secure his duchy. By any means necessary.

When I started this article, I thought it would be an easy thing to research and write. A month later, it has grown into a small series of articles that I hope you will be both entertained and educated by.