History of England questions

William I, usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087.

The Hundred Years' War was a long struggle between England and France over succession to the French throne. It lasted from 1337 to 1453, so it might more accurately be called the "116 Years' War."

Henry divorced two of his wives (Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves), he had two of his wives executed (Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard) and one of his wives (Jane Seymour) died shortly after childbirth. His last wife (Catherine Parr) outlived him.

The Luddites were a secret oath-based organization of English textile workers in the 19th century, a radical faction of which destroyed textile machinery as a form of protest. Luddites feared that the time spent learning the skills of their craft would go to waste, as machines would replace their role in the industry. The term 'luddite' continues to be used today and refers to someone who is opposed to new technology.

The sword Joyeuse as preserved today is a composite of various parts added over the centuries of use as coronation sword. But at the core, it consists of a medieval blade of Oakeshott type XII, mostly dated to about the 10th century. Martin Conway argued the blade might date to the early 9th century, opening the possibility that it was indeed the sword of Charlemagne.

The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman conquest of England.

Frenchmen started to eat breakfast at the eyes of the tired and hungry enemy. King's Henry V army stood quietly, waiting for the Frenchmen to attack.

The Battle of the Somme was fought by the armies of the British and French empires against the German Empire. More than three million men fought in this battle and one million men were wounded or killed, making it one of the bloodiest battles in human history.

Golden Hind was an English galleon best known for her privateering circumnavigation of the globe between 1577 and 1580, captained by Sir Francis Drake. She was originally known as Pelican, but was renamed by Drake mid-voyage in 1578, in honour of his patron, Sir Christopher Hatton, whose crest was a golden 'hind' (a female red deer).

Following the defeat of the Parliament army at the battle of Worcester in 1651, the future king of England, Charles II Stuart sought hideaway on an oak to save himself from Cromwell's soldiers.