Talk:William the Conqueror

This  level-4 vital article is rated FA-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
It is of interest to multiple WikiProjects.Biography: Military / Royalty and Nobility / Core

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.
	This article is supported by the military biography work group (assessed as Top-importance).
	This article is supported by WikiProject Royalty and Nobility (assessed as Top-importance).
	This article is listed on the project's core biographies page.

Channel Islands High‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Channel Islands, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Channel Islands on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

England Top‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject England, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of England on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

English Royalty Top‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject English Royalty. For more information, visit the project page.
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

France High‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject France, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of France on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Jersey High‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Jersey, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Jersey on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

London High‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject London, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of London on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Middle Ages Top‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Middle Ages, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the Middle Ages on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Military history: Biography / British / European / French / Medieval

	This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.
Associated task forces: /  Military biography task force British military history task force European military history task force French military history task force Medieval warfare task force (c. 500 – c. 1500)

Normandy Top‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Normandy, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Normandy on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Norse history and culture High‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Norse history and culture, a WikiProject related to all activities of the North Germanic peoples, both in Scandinavia and abroad, prior to the formation of the Kalmar Union in 1397. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

          Other talk page banners

Move discussion in progress

There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:William I (disambiguation) which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 18:32, 10 August 2023 (UTC)

"Last words"

David Douglas in William the Conqueror says that Wiliam's last words were "I commend myself to Mary the holy Mother of God, my heavenly Lady, that by her intercession I may be reconciled to her Son our Lord Jesus Christ." Mark Hagger concurs, although he just says that "just as the bells of the cathedral were ringing for prime, William the Conqueror raised his eyes to heaven, commended his soul to St Mary, and died." David Bates, speaking of the two sources describing Wiliam's death, says "There are two accounts of the scene at William the Conqueror's deathbed, but neither of them is fully trustworthy. Far and away the best is Orderics, even though the lengthy speeches he gives are more an indication of what he thought should happen when a great princes died, than of what actually took place. The second, the so-called 'De Obitu Willelmi' is a tract, written in the early twelfth-century, which has been shown to have been copied almost word for word from two ninth-century sources, with the names being changed where necessary. It is of little value. We have to rely on Orderic for most of the basic facts, with some extra evidence supplied by William of Malmesbury and in a charter." - so none of the three academic biographies of William done in the last 60 years support the speech given by the youtube source. Ealdgyth (talk) 18:49, 29 May 2024 (UTC)

Pinging Stickhandler who has re-added the speech. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 19:55, 29 May 2024 (UTC)

Danegeld link

Would someone with edit privs mind please add brackets around Danegeld to link the article? 142.183.237.6 (talk) 19:10, 26 June 2024 (UTC)

It was already linked at its first occurrence. Celia Homeford (talk) 08:56, 27 June 2024 (UTC)

Is there a reason his name isn't noted in Norman French?

I realize this is a British English article, but shouldn't his name at birth be noted (in parenthesis at least) in the language he spoke? CRoseJ (talk) 04:07, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

See footnote a, where the name is given in Old Norman. Celia Homeford (talk) 09:00, 9 August 2024 (UTC)