introduction
The historical origin of Britain is in the British Isles, and the first inhabitants of the island were the Iberians who migrated from the Iberian Peninsula, and later the Celts were driven away, it is said that among the Celts, there was a group called the British, so this island was later called the British Island, this period was the period when the Romans continued to grow and develop, after the conquest of the Celts in Gaul, the Romans will pay attention to the British Island, after a lot of conquest, the British Island became a province of Rome.
In 43 BC, the Roman Emperor Claudius I conquered Britain and turned it into a Roman province
And Roman culture also took root on the british island, until the 5th century AD, the Romans ended their rule on the British island, the British island was occupied by the Anglo-Saxons, the Celts although they fought but helplessly failed to keep their homeland, around the seventh century AD, on the British island, slowly formed seven countries dominated by ano-Saxons, which is also the prototype of the early state in British history. There is constant competition between these countries.
The Seven Kingdoms Era
Until around the 9th century AD, the rising Kingdom of Wessex basically formed a dominance over several other small countries, and with the continuous use of troops, the Kingdom of Wessex unified the six kingdoms, and thus from this period, on the Island of Britain, the Kingdom of England was officially born. Although the nascent kingdom of England resisted the Viking attack, it ultimately failed to stop the Normans, the descendants of the Vikings, and William I, Duke of Normandy, conquered England and became king, bringing great changes to the kingdom of England.
William I the Conqueror and the Duchy of Normandy
Looking at history, between the 8th and 11th centuries AD, the greatest impact on Western Europe may be the Viking attack, they constantly invaded France (West Francia), England (Wessex Kingdom period), of which the Wessex Kingdom in a once inferior situation, finally defeated the Viking invasion, the 9th century Wessex Kingdom King Alfred defeated the Vikings several times, maintaining the rule of his country.
Alfred, King of the Kingdom of Wessex, defeated the Vikings several times
However, neighboring France was not so lucky, the Frankish kingdom was divided into three countries during the Carolingian dynasty, when the West Franconian kingdom in the west was often attacked by normans (descendants of the Vikings), and since Charles the Bald was not a monarch who was good at governing the country, he had no choice but to compromise with the Normans, and in 911 AD, King Charles III of West Francia ceded the coastal Normandy Peninsula to the Normans, on the basis of which the Normans established the Duchy of Normandy.
The Frankish kingdom was divided
Therefore, the Normans enjoyed the title of hereditary Duke of Normandy, although the Normans conquered France (West Francia), but they were still more dependent on France politically, and after the two sides gradually stabilized, the Normans, who originally inherited the fierce and powerful style of the Vikings, gradually began to absorb French culture, and gradually entered the process of civilized society, and the previous generations of monarchs of the Duchy of Normandy were also very successful, especially in the military absorption of French characteristics, and launched a series of expansions.
Norman attack on the Kingdom of West Francia
William I should be regarded as the seventh monarch of the Duchy of Normandy, but it is clear that if you want to become a qualified king, you can not just stand on the shoulders of your father, because first of all, William I was only 7 years old when he succeeded to the dukeship of Normandy, although the Normans have accepted the influence of the French civilization and have a more stable political system, but the fierceness in their bones has not completely faded, and whoever has the biggest fist can become a king.
William I the Conqueror
Obviously, William I's fist was not big enough, as a child, William was even assassinated because he was designated by his father as the heir, fortunately the assassin killed the wrong person at that time, William survived, but his enemies never stopped attacking him, in addition to secretly killing, and even intentionally or unintentionally spreading bad words about William I, because he was an illegitimate son, he was also called "Bastard William", and even after succeeding to the throne, the three guardians left by his father for him were also killed. But William grew up in such a chaotic environment as a child and eventually put down the rebellion, and one force that could not be ignored was France, which was very independent of the other French principalities.
Double Lion Coat of Arms of the Duke of Normandy
But the two still maintained a clan relationship on the surface, but in Western Europe there was basically no country that could compete with the Duchy of Normandy, so everyone wanted to participate in the political struggle of the Duchy of Normandy in order to achieve the benefits they wanted. King Henry I of France supported William's return to power, but he did not think at all that he had actually raised a wolf, although this wolf did not return to bite him, but after William I grew up, France could no longer get any benefits from the Duchy of Normandy, and William I grew stronger, expanding the influence of the Duchy of Normandy throughout Europe, so he later set his sights on the isolated island of Britain.
The feud between William I and Harold II
Before William I conquered the Kingdom of England in 1066 AD, the history of the British Isles has gone through several important periods, in addition to the early Viking invasion, there is also the invasion of the Nordic power of the Kingdom of Denmark, because Denmark itself inherited the strength of the Vikings, the Anglo-Saxons are not opponents at all, and even the entire territory of the Kingdom of England was occupied in 1016, until the rise of Edward I the Confessor in 1042, and the Kingdom of England was restored.
Edward the Confessor
A major key factor in the successful restoration of Edward the Confessor was the support of the Duke of Normandy (who was not yet the reign of William I at the time), and after the Danish occupation of LinkedIn Gran, Edward and his mother were sent to the Duchy of Normandy, when the Danish King came to England, in order to prevent the anglo-Saxons from returning, he once married the Duchy of Normandy, and promised that the children born would inherit the power of the King of England in the future. However, the Danish king ultimately failed to fulfill this promise, and after Edward's father (king of England) was killed by Harold I, who later succeeded him, Edward had to continue to flee with his mother.
With the support of the Normans, Edward succeeded him as King of England
With the death of Harold I, Danish rule in England finally came to an end, and Edward returned to England to succeed him as king, and because of the support of the Normans, Edward himself was extremely close to the Normans. However, after Edward succeeded to the throne, the interior was basically very unstable, because the Danish-dominated forces were still very powerful, especially the forces led by the Father and Son of Count Godwin, the contradictions between the two sides became larger and larger, and finally became public, Edward and the Father and Son of The Earl of Godwin (and the Kingdom of Norway assisted) armies fought fiercely, the result of the war was Edward compromised and gave way, Earl Godwin died of illness, and his son Harold II inherited the power of his father.
Harold II held a coronation ceremony at York Minster
Harold II was a very ambitious man, during Edward's reign, Harold II could only secretly accumulate his own strength and constantly fight against William I, Duke of Normandy, but on the surface he had to compromise with William I, and in order to gain the power of the Kingdom of England, William I also married his daughter to him, but Harold II himself had a deep hostility to the Normans.
Harold II was killed at the Battle of Hastings and succeeded william I as King of England
After the death of Edward I, there were no heirs, Harold II waited until this day, immediately declared himself king of England, met with the dissatisfaction of William I of the Kingdom of England and King Harald III of Norway, the two sides broke out of war, although in the Battle of Stamford Bridge, Harold II defeated Norway, but he was also seriously injured, defeated by William I who came later, as an ambitious schemer, Harold II was also killed in the war.
William the Conqueror's influence on the King of England
As a place far from the origin of Mediterranean civilization, The cultural tradition of Britain comes from three aspects, the first is the early Iberians, but the Iberians have not left a written record; the second is the Celts, in the formation of civilization, the Celts have a very important significance for the early historical development of Britain; and the third is the Germans, who are mainly Anglo-Saxons, if you add the Roman conquest of the British Island.
Before William the Conqueror, England was always the fate of being conquered
It can be seen that before William I conquered England, England was always constantly conquered by various peoples, and their civilization ecology was very unstable in a certain historical period, but with the arrival of the Normans, the history of the Kingdom of England changed, and the Normans were untamed and brave and warlike in their bones, which made England change from the 11th century from being invaded to an invading country, and even replaced Spain as an empire that never set in the era of geographical discovery. William I played a very important role in this.
The Norman invasion changed the course of British history
William I changed the previous state of division when the Germans ruled England, the implementation of the monarchy under the feudal system, of which the feudal system was learned from France, unlike the divided Europe in the medieval period, William I strengthened the centralization of power during his reign, so that the Kingdom of England has always maintained a high combat effectiveness, English in this period also fully absorbed the characteristics of the French language (in history, French played a very important role in the development of English, this change originated in the william I period), As a result, Britain gradually moved from an alien land to a civilized society.
The three golden lions in the upper left and lower right parts of the British Royal Coat of Arms are derived from the "double lion pattern" of the Duke of Normandy.
It is worth mentioning that the Duchy of Normandy, although William I became King of England, still retained the title of Duke of Normandy and was loyal to France (although France itself did not recognize), as France continued to grow stronger, although they recovered the land area of the Duchy of Normandy, they still retained some of the islands, the title of Duke of Normandy was always inherited between the British royal family, but its diplomatic authority was administered by the United Kingdom, and the influence of William the Conqueror was far more than that, From then on, Britain became involved in the disputes on the European continent and became a powerful country that occupied a decisive role in the development of the world.