While the danger was still impending he took in hand (1o85) the compilation of Domesday Book (q.v.). In 1087 he invaded the French Vexin to retaliate on the garrison of Mantes for raids committed on his territory. He sacked and burned the town. But as he rode out to view the ruins his horse plunged on the burning cinders and inflicted on him an internal injury. He was carried in great suffering to Rouen and there died on Sept. 9, 1087. He was buried in St. Stephen's at Caen. A plain slab still marks the place of his tomb, before the high altar; but his bones were scattered by the Huguenots in 1562.
Character.—In a profligate age William was distinguished by the purity of his married life, by temperate habits and by a sincere piety. His most severe measures were taken in cold blood, as part of his general policy; but his natural disposition was averse to unnecessary bloodshed or cruelty. His one act of wanton devastation, the clearing of the New Forest, has been grossly exaggerated. He was avaricious, but his church policy (see article ENGLISH HISTORY) shows a disinterestedness as rare as it was honourable. In personal appearance he was tall and corpulent, of a dignified presence and extremely powerful physique, with a bald forehead, close-cropped hair and short moustaches.
By Matilda (d. 1083), William had four sons, Robert, duke of Normandy, Richard (killed whilst hunting), and the future kings, William II. and Henry I., and five or six daughters, including
Adela, who married Stephen, count of Blois.
Of the original authorities the most important are the Gesta Willelmi, by William of Poitiers (ed. A. Duchesne in Historiae Normannorum scriptores, Paris, 1619) ; the Winchester, Worcester and Peterborough texts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (ed. B. Thorpe, "Rolls" series, 2 vols., 1861, and also C. Plummer, 2 vols., Oxford, 1892-99) ; William of Malmesbury's De gestis regum (ed. W. Stubbs, "Rolls" series, 2 vols., 1887-89) ; William of Jumieges' Historia Normannorum (ed. A. Duchesne, op. cit.) ; Ordericus \Titans' Historia ecclesiastica (ed. A. le Prevost, Soc. de l'histoire de France, 5 vols., Paris, 1838-55). Of modern works the most elaborate is E. A. Freeman's History of the Norman Conquest, vols. iii.–v. (Oxford, 187o-76). Domesday Book was edited in 1783-1816 by H. Farley and Sir H. Ellis in four volumes. Of commentaries the following are important: Domesday Studies (ed. P. E. Dove, 2 vols., i888-91) ; J. H. Round, Feudal England (1895) ; F. W. Maitland, Domesday Book and Beyond (Cambridge, 1897) ; P. Vinogradoff, English Society in the Eleventh Century (Oxford, 5908). See also F. M. Stenton, William the Conqueror (1908) ; R. Francis, William the Conqueror (1915) ; M. de Ranchi, Apologie pour Guillaume le Conquerant (1919) S. H. Benton, From Coronet to Crown (1926). (H. W. C. D.)