Ancestor Spotlight · Norman maternal line
William the Conqueror
~1028–1087
Duke of Normandy who conquered England at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, founding the Norman dynasty on the English throne.
Editor’s Note
This page documents the founder of Norman England and the maternal Plantagenet descent that reaches him. Content matches the live Plantagenet Descent page (Rule #87). The line continues above him to Rollo and the Norman dukes, and below him through his granddaughter the Empress Matilda into the Plantagenet kings.
Relationship
William the Conqueror is the 26th-great-grandfather of John, Perry, and Patrick Long, via the Norman maternal line.
Biography
William, Duke of Normandy from 1035, claimed the English throne on the death of Edward the Confessor and crossed the Channel in 1066. His victory over Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, and his coronation at Westminster on Christmas Day, ended Anglo-Saxon rule and seated the House of Normandy on the English throne.
His reign remade England: the wholesale replacement of the Anglo-Saxon landholding aristocracy with Norman tenants, the building of castles across the country, and the Domesday survey of 1086 — the most detailed record of landholding in medieval Europe. He was a great-great-great-grandson of Rollo, the Norse founder of Normandy.
William enters this archive through the maternal line: his son Henry I, granddaughter the Empress Matilda, and her son Henry II carry the Norman blood into the Plantagenet dynasty. His FamilySearch record (9H17-VTZ) carries 65 source descriptions. The full chain is on the Plantagenet Descent page.
Key Accomplishments
- Duke of Normandy from 1035; King of England from 1066
- Won the Battle of Hastings, 14 October 1066 — the Norman Conquest
- Commissioned the Domesday Book, 1086
- Founder of the Norman royal dynasty of England; descendant of Rollo
Descent to the Brothers
The milestone anchors of the maternal descent — named anchors, not every generation. The complete generation-by-generation chain is on the Plantagenet Descent page. Click any PID to open the FamilySearch record.
Generation Count
Confidence
VERIFIED on William’s record (9H17-VTZ, 65 FamilySearch sources) and the Norman ducal and Plantagenet anchors above and below him, all enumerated on the Plantagenet Descent page. The 26th-great-grandfather depth follows the Phase-7 walk count.
External Links & Sources
- William the Conqueror — Wikipedia
- FamilySearch: William the Conqueror (9H17-VTZ, 65 sources)
- Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry (2nd ed., 2011)
- Internal: the full chain on the Plantagenet Descent page