William the Conqueror

“William the Conqueror (1066-1087), as represented on his seal. Although William really ruled ‘as king by the edge of the sword,’ he preferred to base his title on the promise of Edward the Confessor rather than on force of arms; and he adhered to far as possible to Anglo-Saxon usages, causing himself to be crowned at Westminster and binding himself to frame good laws and observe justice, as his predecessors had done. In fact he professed to regard himself as the lawful successor of the Anglo-Saxon kings, and not merely as a feudal conqueror. He had great difficulty in making the people recognize him as such, but when this was once done, he was a far more powerful ruler as king of England than he was as Norman duke."—Colby, 1899

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