Guillame Le Conquerant

A fascinating historical figure was William the Conquerer.  Even over a thousand years after his lifetime, his influence is all over Normandy and apparently England as well.  Below is a depiction of his father, Robert Le Magnifque.  William was the illegitimate son of Robert and thus was dubbed William the Bastard.

Nevertheless, William survived assassination plots when he was a teenager, fleeing in the middle of the night.  Time and again he had to prove himself against rebellious lords while quite young to solidify his claim to the position of Duke of Normandy.  He was a consummate warrior and was up to the task.

He married Mathilde of Flanders.  It brought together vast areas.  Nevertheless, our guide portrayed them as truly in love.  William never took a mistress and had 9 children with Mathilde.

We visited his castle in Falaise.  It is truly one of our favorite castles.  Much of the area is still preserved.  You can easily spend an entire day here with all the information they provide in an interesting manner.  You take an iPad they provide into each room.  As you rotate within each room 360 degrees, photo images of that exact spot in the room fully furnished appears on your iPad, although the furniture and tapestries are not actually there.  We loved doing this at our own pace, as you can punch buttons on the iPad to give you loads of additional information on many topics related to the room and its history and purpose.  If you are a history buff, this is incredible.

At the bottom of the main statute, are the previous Dukes of Normandy.  Ron is standing by Rollon for whom he thinks he was named.

Afterward we snuck into a lovely garden themed little restaurant for lunch that had already completed their lunch service.  Nevertheless, they quickly threw together a wonderful lunch to accommodate us of oysters and other wondrous things.

They finished with a complimentary drink of a mixture of Calvados (a drink cultivated in Normandy) with fruits.  All in all, a fabulous visit.  We recommend Falaise for a stop if you are ever in the region.

There is another castle site in Caen that has some of the history of William and his family.  William had a castle at the spot, and the keep that remains was built by William's son, Henry I of England.  Now, for Barbara an interesting connection was revealed.  As you may know from previous posts, Eleanor of Aquitaine is one of Barbara's cherished historical personages.  William the Conquerer was the great grandfather of her husband, Henry II of England.  Eleanor's father in law was Geoffrey Plantagenet who married Empress Mathilde.  Eleanor was also Queen of France before she was Queen of England.

During the bombing of WWII, some of the remnants were destroyed, but a keep remains.

We also visited the Bayeux Tapestry 270 feet long which was woven at the actual time of 1066 to commemorate and recount events leading up to and including the Battle of Hastings.  This is a very famous historical "document" known throughout France.

The tapestry contains about 50 different scenes and one researcher has counted that there are 632 human figures in it, 202 horse, 55 dogs, 505 other creatures (some clearly mythical beasts), 37 buildings, 41 ships, 49 trees and nearly 2000 Latin letters.

Though some historians have stated that the tapestry is nothing more than Norman propaganda - somehow excusing William's right to invade and conquer England - some parts of it are less than pro-Norman as one section shows a mother and child being forced out of the burning home (set alight by Norman soldiers) as William's army advanced across Kent. The scale of the damage done to the area surrounding Hastings can be seen in the figures contained in the Domesday Book.