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60 free William the Conqueror trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This William the Conqueror trivia quiz follows the illegitimate boy-duke of Normandy from Falaise to Westminster Abbey: guardians murdered in his bedchamber, a marriage the pope forbade, a papal banner, a fleet waiting weeks for the wind, the shield wall on Senlac Hill, the coronation on Christmas Day 1066, the Harrying of the North, the Domesday Book and a funeral in Caen that went horribly wrong. The easy questions cover the outline: his birthplace, his mother, his wife, the year, the king he killed, the survey he ordered. The harder half is for readers of Orderic Vitalis and David Bates: the grandfather who may have been a tanner, the battle of 1047, the two monasteries at Caen, the port the fleet sailed from, the marching pace of Harold's army, the feigned retreats, the gold offered for Harold's body, the crown worn in the ruins of York, the son who unhorsed him at Gerberoi, the danegeld rate per hide, the nineteen Channel crossings, the Salisbury Oath, the saddle pommel at Mantes, and the thigh bone that is all that survives of him. Every answer was checked against William the Conqueror's encyclopaedia entry before publishing. If you enjoy this, try our Battle of Hastings, medieval England and British monarchs quizzes next.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which Norman town was William born in 1027 or 1028?
Falaise
His mother's father, Fulbert of Falaise, may have been a tanner or an embalmer.
Q 02What was the name of William's mother, the mistress of Duke Robert I?
Herleva
She later married Herluin de Conteville and bore William's half-brothers Odo of Bayeux and Robert of Mortain.
Q 03By what unflattering nickname was the duke sometimes known because of his birth?
William the Bastard
Earlier dukes had also been illegitimate, and his father had the magnates swear fealty to him as heir.
Q 04William was a descendant of which Viking leader who was granted the lands around Rouen in 911?
Rollo
King Charles the Simple ceded the county of Rouen, the core of the later duchy.
Q 05How did William's father Duke Robert I die in 1035?
On the way home from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem
He died at Nicaea; his supporters had tried to talk him out of the journey.
Q 06How old was William when he became Duke of Normandy?
Seven or eight
Several of his guardians were murdered; one, Osbern, was killed in William's chamber while the boy slept.
Q 07Which guardian was slain in the young duke's own bedchamber while he slept?
Osbern
His uncle Walter was said to have hidden the boy in peasants' houses during the anarchy.
Q 08At which 1047 battle near Caen did William, helped by King Henry I of France, crush Guy of Burgundy's rebellion?
Val-ès-Dunes
He then proclaimed the Truce of God across the duchy to limit the days on which fighting was allowed.
Q 09Whom did William marry in the early 1050s, gaining a powerful ally?
Matilda of Flanders
The marriage produced four sons and five or six daughters, and contemporaries thought it a happy one.
Q 10Which pope forbade William's marriage at the Council of Rheims in 1049?
Leo IX
Papal sanction seems to have required each spouse to found a monastery in Caen.
Q 11What did William and his wife each found in Caen, apparently the price of papal approval to wed?
A monastery
William was later buried in his, the Abbaye-aux-Hommes.
Q 12Which half-brother did William make Bishop of Bayeux around 1049?
Odo
He later ruled England as regent, was made Earl of Kent, and was arrested in 1082 for allegedly wanting to be pope.
Q 13Which childless English king appears to have chosen William as his successor in 1051?
Edward the Confessor
William was the grandson of Edward's maternal uncle, Duke Richard II.
Q 21Roughly how many miles a day did Harold's army average on its march south to face William?
27
About 200 miles in about a week, after a stop of roughly a week in London.
Q 22On which hill did Harold's army form its shield wall on 14 October 1066?
Senlac
It is the site of the present-day town of Battle in East Sussex.
Q 23In which year was the Battle of Hastings fought?
1066
It began at about 9 am on 14 October and lasted all day.
Q 24What advantage did William's army have over Harold's at Hastings?
Q 14According to Norman sources, when did Harold Godwinson swear to uphold William's claim to England?
During the Breton campaign of 1064
No English source records the trip, and it may be Norman propaganda.
Q 15Which county did William secure control of by 1062–64 through his son Robert's betrothal?
Maine
He appointed a Norman to the bishopric of Le Mans in 1065.
Q 16Which pope, according to William of Poitiers, gave William a papal banner for the invasion?
Alexander II
Papal approval is only firmly attested after the conquest succeeded.
Q 17Whom did William leave in charge of Normandy while he invaded England?
His wife Matilda
He used her as regent again in 1075 during the Revolt of the Earls.
Q 18From which port did William's fleet finally sail for England?
Saint-Valery-sur-Somme
Adverse winds had kept the ships in port from early August until late September.
Q 19Three days before William landed, Harold beat which invaders at Stamford Bridge in 1066?
Harald Hardrada and Tostig
Harold's own brother died there alongside the Norwegian king.
Q 20Where did the Norman fleet land on 28 September 1066?
Pevensey Bay
William then moved a few miles east to build a castle as his base.
Cavalry and many archers
The two sides were roughly equal in numbers, but Harold had only foot soldiers and few if any archers.
Q 25Which of William's troops panicked and fled early at Hastings, prompting rumours that the duke was dead?
The Bretons
William rallied his men, and two further retreats were feigned to draw the English out.
Q 26How does the Bayeux Tapestry apparently show Harold dying?
With an arrow to the eye
That may be a later reworking; William of Jumièges claimed the duke himself killed Harold.
Q 27What did Harold's mother Gytha offer William for her son's body?
Its weight in gold
He refused and ordered the body thrown into the sea; Waltham Abbey later claimed it was secretly buried there.
Q 28Whom did some English clergy and magnates nominate as king after Harold's death?
Edgar the Ætheling
Their support was lukewarm, and he submitted to William at Berkhamsted in December.
Q 29On what day was William crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey?
Christmas Day 1066
He had first crossed the Thames at Wallingford and received the submission of Stigand and the earls.
Q 30How long did Exeter hold out against William's siege in the winter of 1067–68?
18 days
Harold's mother Gytha had been a focus of the resistance there.