Monarchy Since 1066

In this essay I will look at how the power of Monarchs has changed in Britain since 1066. I will explain how their power has changed and the differences between them. The first Monarch I will look at is William the Conqueror. William reigned from 1066 until 1087. There are many different qualities to William other than power, he was also very lucky and made good preparations. He won the battle of Hastings on the 14th of October 1066, which proves he is very powerful. One of the main reasons William won the battle is because of his good luck. William couldn’t cross the English Channel because the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, but luckily the wind changed at a perfect time for William and was able to go across the channel and land in Hastings. This was also lucky because Harold was still fighting in the North, so it gave William a lot of time to prepare for the battle, also some of Harold’s best soldiers had been killed fighting the Norwegians and the rest were exhausted and not ready for battle. At a key moment in the battle, Harold was killed. This was also lucky for William, because with Harold being killed, there was no leader for the English. This was an advantage for William to use his skilful tactics. One of the other main reasons was good leadership. William encouraged his army of brave men to use a clever tactic of retreating to make the English come down from the hill. This was a good tactic because if the English were not on top of the hill, then the Normans had a better chance of surrounding and killing them. Also William was very brave. At an awkward time in the battle he led his army back up the hill to attack the English. Finally, William won the battle of Hastings because of his good preparation. William had made a great army including a large number of knights on horses, which gave William and the Normans good attacking power. Also he had a large store of weapons and had built many ships to carry his army across the sea.