Page "William the Conqueror" Paragraph 82

William's reign has caused historical controversy since before his death.

William of Poitiers wrote glowingly of William's reign and its benefits, but the obituary notice for William in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle condemns William in harsh terms.

In the years since the Conquest, politicians and other leaders have used William and the events of his reign to illustrate political events throughout English history.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England, Archbishop Matthew Parker saw the Conquest as having corrupted a purer English Church, which Parker attempted to restore.

During the 17th and 18th centuries some historians and lawyers saw William's reign as imposing a " Norman yoke " on the native Anglo-Saxons, an argument that continued during the 19th century with further elaborations along nationalistic lines.

These various controversies have led to William being seen by some historians either as one of the creators of England's greatness or as inflicting one of the greatest defeats in English history.

Others have viewed William as an enemy of the English constitution, or alternatively as its creator.