William the Conqueror — The Norman Conquest

On October 14, 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, defeated the Anglo-Saxon King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings — the last successful invasion of England. Harold was killed (tradition says by an arrow to the eye), and William was crowned King of England on Christmas Day in Westminster Abbey. The Norman Conquest was the most transformative event in English history: William replaced the entire Anglo-Saxon aristocracy with Norman lords, built castles across the land (including the Tower of London), introduced feudalism, commissioned the Domesday Book (a comprehensive survey of English wealth), and imposed Norman French as the language of the court and law. For centuries, English was split: the ruling class spoke French while the common people spoke Old English. The merger of these languages eventually produced Middle English — and ultimately modern English, with its dual vocabulary (cow/beef, pig/pork, house/mansion). The Conquest connected England permanently to continental Europe and set the course of English history for the next millennium.