The life and deeds of William the Conqueror belong to the distant past, but the figure of the Norman duke who became king of England is of interest not only to professional historians. Having survived in the bloody whirlwind of wars and rebellions, the illegal offspring of the ruler of Normandy managed not only to restore order in his possessions with an iron hand, but also to seize the Kingdom of England, introducing feudal orders that were progressive for their time. Wilhelm was rude, cruel, uneducated, but his political flair and energy helped bring about the transformations in the political and cultural fields that defined Europe's development paths for hundreds of years to come.