In the history of England, almost all kings were of foreign origin. The first dynasty in England, the Norman dynasty, was founded by the Normans from northern France.
In 911 AD, the Norman leader Lauron invaded part of France and established the Duchy of Normandy, which was recognized by France. The Normans also recognized their vassalship with France. Later, the Normans embraced Christianity, absorbed French culture, and even abandoned their own language to learn French. By the 11th century, the norman culture had become French.
At the beginning of the 11th century, England and Normandy were quite closely related. King Edward grew up in Normandy. His mother was a Nobleman of Normandy. Edward died in 1066 without heirs. The English nobleman Harold fought for the throne with William, Duke of Normandy.
William
At midnight on 27 September 1066, William's expeditionary force quietly approached and landed at Pervens Bay without any resistance. At this time, the gateway to england's southeastern coast was wide open, and there was no heavy defense until London, as Harold was celebrating in York to quell civil unrest. Harold rushed back to London as soon as he heard of William's invasion. However, due to the suddenness of the incident, Harold did not have time to mobilize on a large scale, and could only lead more than 5,000 troops around him to meet William.
On the night of October 13, the two sides met at Hastings and a fierce battle began. Harold chose the highest point on the back of the Mountain of Will as the seat of the command, and deployed his troops on both sides of the peak, forming a strong defense in the center, and the two wings were guarded by militia. Infantry with spears and axes formed a tight phalanx of shoulder-to-shoulder and shield-to-shield. William divided the army into three lines, left, center, and right, each divided into three phalanxes, the first line was archers, the second line was heavy infantry, and the third line was cavalry. He personally commanded the Normandy warriors in the center and raised the "holy flag" given by the Pope in front of the team.
At 9 a.m. on the 14th, the horns sounded in unison and the battle began. The Normans lined up and advanced along the hillside towards the summit. When the two armies approached, the Norman archers began to shoot arrows, and the English, protected by shields, attacked the enemy with spears, javelins, and tomahawks. The British were condescending and their weapons were sharp, inflicting severe damage on the Normans. William's left wing began to retreat down the hill, and the Normans in the center were also affected to retreat. In the confusion, William fell from his horse, but he immediately regained his composure, jumped on another horse, and shouted an attack to his men. The Normans regrouped, and under William's command, with cavalry in front and infantry in the rear, launched a second attack on the British. As a result, it was still impossible to break through the opponent's dense defenses. At this time, William changed his tactics and used a pretense to lead the enemy away from a strong and advantageous position, but Harold did not see through this plan, and lost his troops in pursuit, and his strength was weakened. William seized the plane and launched a final counteroffensive. Harold was killed by an arrow, and the British army was in disarray and collapsed. The Battle of Hastings ended in William's complete victory. William led his army to victory and drove straight in, occupying Canterbury, Westham, Sear, Guildford and other places, and then swept north.
The representative of the surrender of London submitted to William and honored him as king. On Christmas Day 1066, William was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey. Thus began the Norman rule over England.
In 1153, Matilda landed in England with her son Henry, and after several battles, he made a deal with Stephen, who continued to serve as king, succeeding henry to the throne. The following year Stephen died and Henry II succeeded to the throne, beginning the Plantagenet Dynasty's rule over Britain.
The Norman monarchs of England had the following four:
William I, 1066–1087, also known as King Conqueror.
William II, 1087–1100, son of William I.
Henry I, 1100–1135, son of William I.
Stephen, 1135–1154, grandson of William I.