INTRODUCTORY.
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LANDING IN ENGLAND OF WILLIAM OF NORMANDY. (From the Bayeux Tapestry.)
CHAPTER XLI.
THE NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND.
Introductory.—The history of the Normans—the name, it will be recalled, of the transformed Scandinavians who settled in Northern Gaul (see p. 413)—is simply a continuation of the story of the Northmen. The most important of the enterprises of the Normans, and one followed by consequences of the greatest magnitude not only to the conquered people, but indirectly to the world, was their conquest of England.[1]
Events leading up to the Conquest.—In the year 1066 Edward the Confessor died, in whose person, it will be recalled, the old English line was restored after the Danish usurpation (see p. 412). Immediately the Witan, that is, the assembly of the chief men
- ↑ Not long before the Normans conquered England, they succeeded in gaining a foothold in the south of Italy, where they established a sort of republic, which ultimately included the island of Sicily. The fourth president of the commonwealth was the celebrated Robert Guiscard (d. 1085), who spread the renown of the Norman name throughout the Mediterranean lands. This Norman state, converted finally into a kingdom, lasted until late in the twelfth century (1194).
