1. Ancient Britain

Contenders for the Throne

Harald III of Norway - had blood ties to the Anglo-Saxon family.

William the Bastard, the Duke of Normandy, - blood ties to king Aethelred. Harold Godwinson, an English nobleman, was believed to have been appointed king of England by king Edward the Confessor on his deathbed.

England Defeated

Invasion was the result of this situation. Harold II managed to defeat Harald of Norway at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, but fell in battle against William of Normandy at Hastings.

 William was crowned on Christmas Day, 1066. In history he is known as William the Conqueror.

Consequences of the Conquest

The Norman Conquest tied England more closely with Continental Europe and away from Scandinavian influence;

it created one of the most powerful monarchies in Europe and the most sophisticated governmental system in Europe;

it changed the English language and culture and set the stage for a long future of English-French conflict.

It remains the last successful military

A Bit of Language History

The predominant spoken tongue of England began to lose much of its Germanic and Norse vocabulary, although it retained Germanic sentence structure in many cases.

The Domesday book

Another direct consequence of the invasion was the near total loss of AngloSaxon aristocracy, and Anglo-Saxon control over the Church in England.As William subdued rebels, he confiscated their lands and gave them to his Norman supporters. By the time of the Domesday book, only two English landowners of any note survived the purges.

Reference

http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/ http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/ http://en.wikipedia.org http://www.bbc.co.uk/history http://www.british-history.ac.uk/ https://www.english-heritage.org.uk http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/history- britain/