Before the Normans invaded England in 1066, England was run by the rule of the Anglo Saxons. During this rule, England was considered to be one of the best running countries of the world.
Talking about the Normans, if we compare the military strength of the Normans to the Anglo Saxons, it is said the military forces of Normans were about three centuries ahead to the military forces of the Anglo Saxons.
While the Anglo Saxons made use of spears, axes specially designed for battles and swords, the Normans had the advanced use of horses and archers along with the said weapons of the Anglo Saxons. This not only led to the successful invasion of Normans on England but also made England the richest country and the most powerful country in terms of military forces within Europe.
But, with this good aspect came a fearful aspect for the locals of England. The locals who lived in England not only lived with fear always before the Normans but also were always subjected to a ruthless regime.
Let us now have information about the four top most and strongest kings of Normans who ruled over England.
The Norman monarchs of England and Normandy were:
Contents
William the Conqueror, 1066–1087
William II, 1087–1100 (not Duke of Normandy)
Henry I, 1100–1135; 1106–1135
Matilda, 1135–1153
Stephen (non-agnatic; a member of the House of Blois), 1135–1154
The Norman Kings of England
The Conqueror, William 1st
Talking about who was the first Norman king of England, William 1st, the Conqueror is the one who successfully invaded England and earned victory over the Anglo Saxons. He was of age 38 when he was crowned as the King of England.
The reign of William 1st was from the year 1066 to the year 1087. The background of war of William 1st was immensely powerful as he survived and protected his nation from the age of 7 when he became the Duke of Normandy. The concept which William 1st followed to rule England was the Feudal System.
In this system, the king is the owner of all the resources of a country and any people wanting to use it for any kind of activity had to take it on rent from the king. In this process, William 1st rented out all of the land to the Barons and in return asked the Barons to supply him with all the military requirements as and when required. The Barons in turn rented the land they wanted to outsource to the farmers and the other people.
In 1087, William 1st died in the battlefield while battling the King of France and his body is said to be buried in the Caen Cathedral in Normandy.
William Rufus or William 2nd
During Roberts’s (elder bother of William Rufus) rule over Normandy, William Rufus was crowned as the King of England. Though, the church of England and the people of England always wanted Robert to be the king. This is because Robert was a noble man of great religious beliefs and background and on the other hand, William Rufus had a ruthless temperament.
Also, the church of England never supported the homosexual approach of lifestyle of William Rufus. William Rufus ruled England from the year 1087 to the year 1100 and in this time period, he also extended the territory of England to the Wales.
When Malcolm III, the Scottish king attacked England, William Rufus not only defeated him but also forced Malcolm III to pay homage to him. William Rufus was at the age of 31 when he was crowned to be the King of England.
William Rufus died when he went for hunting with an arrow struck at his back. The death was mysterious as no one ever reported it and his team left him dead and went until his body was discovered by a local farmer.
Many say he was deliberately killed while many claims his dead to be an accident with no such proven evidences. As William Rufus was homosexual, he had no children.
Henry 1st
As Robert was absent in crusading, his younger brother gained the throne of England after William Rufus. He not only became the King of England, but also became the king of Normandy after getting into pacts of peace with the Duke of Flanders as well as the king of France.
Henry divided the country of England into two ruling kingdoms to make his daughter Matilda the first ever Queen to rule England. Due to this plan of Henry 1st, there was a reverse impact of civil war within the country.
After William Rufus died, Robert was the one who was about to be crowned as the King of England. But since he was still away, Henry 1st (the youngest son of William 1st the conqueror) saw his opportunity to the throne and claimed it coming from a different part of the New Forest.
Henry 1st ruled from 1100 to 1135 and was crowned to be the king of England at the age of 32. His friendship with his elder brother Robert didn’t quite last for long as he was forced to be into battle with Robert, where he defeated his elder brother and claimed the Duke of Normandy.
Stephen
Stephen and the barons both agreed to a fact that after Henry 1st, Matilda should have been the overall queen of England. However, Henry 1st chose Stephen to be the king. This in fact later proved that Stephen emerged to be the worst ever king England had.
This also emerged into a rivalry between Matilda and Stephen which rose to a highly intensive civil war between England. In the year 1141, Matilda used to nominally rule England but then gave up and retired settling in Germany due to the useless king Stephen along with the support of the Barons. His action of allowing the barons to build castle in his own land also led to a fight between one another always.
The entire reign of king Stephen was within the civil war of England as he neither was able to make settlements with Matilda nor could he guarantee the support of the barons as they were also busy in fighting themselves.
These are the main reasons as to why he was considered to be the worst king of England as he never was really able to gather peace in England.
