William I
William the Conqueror was the first Norman King of England.
He defeated Saxon king Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 ushering in the Norman Conquest, from which he gets his nickname.
The Normans, from Normandy in Northern France, became the rulers of England and overlords of the mostly Saxon people living there. As part of his subjugation of his new lands, William began a programme of castle building – something else he brought over from France with him – including, in 1068, the beginning of construction of a castle at Nottingham, high on the sandstone rock. He died in 1087 but before his death he ordered the Doomsday Book be created – the first great survey of England to be carried out.
