William the ConquerorMissing works citedWilliam the Conqueror was the bastard son of Robert the Devil, the sixth Norman duke, and a tanner's daughter named Arlette. In those days it was common for noble men to have children without marriage. Robert was eighteen or nineteen when he first saw William's mother, Arlette. He summoned her to come to his castle and Arlette went to live with Robert and stayed until he got rid of her. When William was about seven years old, his father made a pilgrimage to the holy city of Jerusalem. During the return journey from Jerusalem, “Robert was struck by a violent illness, due, it was implied, to the poison”. (Russell). Before Robert left on his journey, he had named William his heir. Upon Robert's death, William became the next Duke of Normandy. After his father's death, William was placed in the care of a guardian. These guardians were murdered. One of the most important guardians was the seneschal Osbern. It is known because his son William Fitz Osbern was William's friend and later became a lieutenant in his army. “The seneschal was eventually murdered in his bed in the very presence of the child; whereupon the boy duke was rescued by his mother's brother and hidden in the houses of peasants and the hovels of the poor. (Russell). William could not trust anyone in his father's family; they didn't want William to be the duke. Relatives from his mother's family were the ones who protected him when he was young. William's guardians decided that "they would make him into an effective fighter and politician". (Russell). It is to their credit that William was not murdered in his childhood, they kept him well protected.William fou...... middle of paper...... The English people never organized themselves nor united own forces to become a threat to William. In 1085 and 1086, William had a royal commission to compile the Domesday Book. “The Domesday Inquiry, so called because no one could escape its judgment.” (Blacksmith). Commissioners counted every person, animal, and the amount of land each person owned. He had this survey done so he could account for land ownership and know how much to tax people. In 1087, William was fighting at Mantes when he hit his swollen belly on the pommel of his saddle. This accident proved fatal. “William died in Rouen, the Norman capital, on 9 September 1087: he was buried in St. Stephen, his magnificent church in Caen.” (Blacksmith). After William's death his son William Rufus became king of England. He became William II.