William the Conqueror invades England! Ahem, I mean, William the Conqueror, aka William I, King of England, invaded England on this day (Sept. 28) in 1066. I didn’t miss the anniversary this year, thanks to a tweet by the University of Illinois Undergraduate Library.
You can read a little more about it from the History Channel’s This Day in History.
You can learn even more in Andersen Library resources! Search HALCAT for books such as William the conqueror (online for UWW students & staff through EBSCO’s eBook Collection or, because it’s in the public domain, free for everyone through Project Gutenberg), William the Conqueror: The Norman impact upon England (3rd-floor Main Collection, DA197 .D6), and The making of the King, 1066 (3rd-floor Main Collection, DA154.85 .L6 1966a). Search article databases such as Humanities Full Text to find articles including: “William The Conqueror And Battle Abbey” (History Today, 1985, vol.35, pp.33-38) and “The Norman Conquest Through European Eyes” (English Historical Review, 1995, vol.110, pp.832-853).
I’ve always been a bit fond of William because he caused the impressive Domesday Book to be created, although that didn’t happen until 1086 and was all about identifying what money and military support were available to the King. Imagine, if you can, trying to conduct a “highly detailed survey and valuation of all the land held by the King and his chief tenants, along with all the resources that went with the land in late 11th century England” (from the National Archives web site, linked below). You can read about it in an article “The Making of Domesday Book” (History Today, 1986, vol.36, pp.21-25) or in the book The making of Domesday book (3rd-floor Main Collection, DA190 .D7 G3). Incredibly, this document has survived the ravages of time, and now it is even searchable online from The National Archives (UK). (From that web site you can also learn why it was nicknamed the Domesday Book.)
Has this whetted your appetite for more? Ask a librarian if you’d like assistance with finding additional material!
