The Conquest of England was a turning point in English history. The Normans, led by William the Conqueror, began the Conquest of England at the battle of Hastings in 1066. The English army was weary from putting down a rebellion in the north, and less in numbers because the levies duty time had expired, and so, though they fought bravely, the Saxons lost the battle. William proceeded to take over all of England and the King of England and Duke of Normandy became one.
The Conquest of England by the Normans had been expected by the English for a long time. Harold Godwinson, the English monarch at the time, had put all of his forces on defense, ready for when William the Conqueror might arrive. The problem was this: there was a maximum time that the king could force the levies to stay with his army, and that time was reached before William arrived. Because of this, Harold lost a large portion of his army. Not only that, but the Danes from the north had forced Harold’s Earls to surrender, and the Danes continued marching south. So Harold had to rally his troops and march them quickly to the north border of England where the Danes were invading, leaving the south coast, where William would be landing, unguarded. Harold’s troops quickly dealt with the rebellion of the Earls and the marching of the Danes only to receive word that William’s ships had been spotted on the horizon. He marched his weary army to attempt to defend England, but his troops were now very, very weary. They arrived just in time to get the high ground. The battle raged all day. The weary Saxons were outnumbered. Although the Normans had to climb a hill, (normally a great advantage in battle, and it was no different here), the Saxon army was weary, outnumbered, and hungry. It is a miracle they were able to hold William off all day before an arrow wounded Harold. William finally overcame the Saxons, and the Conquest of England had begun, and the Battle of Hastings was lost.
Because most of the English army had been crushed at Hastings, there wasn’t a lot of resistance to William. The Sheriff of London put up a fight, but ultimately lost to William. William traveled north, conquering city after city, squashing rebellion after rebellion, until all of England was lost. William crowned himself the King of England on Christmas Day, 1066. The King of England and the Duke of Normandy had become one Monarch over two kingdoms.
England and France had an interesting link for many years. All of the English Royalty were now French Nobles. Because the court spoke French, a lot of French words became part of the English language. The Normans also introduced new kinds of castles as strongholds against rebellions. England was ruled by the Normans for many many years. Eventually, England broke free of French rule, but only after at least three hundred years of it.