William the Conqueror

His friends called him Duke of Normandy; his subjects: William the Bastard; history chose to call him William the Conqueror. No one dared to call him the Conqueror to his face. He claimed that he was the rightful king and that the Conquest was the only way to have this right. He was born in Falaise, Normandy (present day France) in the year 1028. He was born of his mother, Arlette, from Falaise, and his father: …

…a ruler. He was very ruthless in his acts and there is almost no doubt that his loss at Hastings occurred very much because of Harold's bad mistakes. His strong leadership was shown when he commanded both Normandy and England and keeping both of those countries very much under control. He showed courage at times and other times he didn't, but overall, he left both England and France with a large part of their history.