Mora was the name of William the Conqueror's flagship, the largest and fastest ship in his invasion fleet of 700 or more ships [lower-alpha 1] used during the Norman conquest of England in 1066.
Mora was a ship of Drakkar design and clinker construction built at Barfleur in Normandy, [1] a gift of Matilda of Flanders to her husband William the Conqueror in the summer of 1066. [2] She was a larger ship and carried ten knights with their entourages and equipment. [lower-alpha 2] The ship was captained by Stephen Fitz Airard, [3] meaning the son of Airard, [lower-alpha 3] who remained her captain until William's death in 1087. [4] Stephen received lands in Hampshire, Berkshire, and Warwickshire as reward for his services in the English campaign of 1066. [5] Orderic Vitalis describes the ship: "it had for its figurehead the image of a child, gilt, pointing with its right hand towards England, and having in its mouth a trumpet of ivory. [6] Mora carried multicoloured sails and at the top of the mainmast was the papal banner, consecrated and sent to William from Rome. [7] The banner was described as "a square white banner charged with a gold cross within a blue border."
On the evening of 27 September 1066, before sunset according to William of Poitiers, Duke William's invasion fleet embarked for England with the Mora in the lead. [8] She carried a lantern on her mast so she could be seen and a horn was blasted as a signal to the other ships following. [8] Mora, larger than the other ships, was also much faster. William found himself in mid-channel, alone, with no other ships in sight at daybreak. Waiting for the others to catch up, he had breakfast with wine. Once the others were in sight the fleet proceeded to Pevensey in Sussex. [8]
According to Elisabeth van Houts, the meaning of the name isn't known although there have been several suggestions. [9] She might have been named for the Morini , ancient inhabitants of Flanders, as a reference to Matilda's Flemish origins. [9] The Latin word mora has several meanings, none of which seem likely. These range from 'delay' or 'pause' to 'foolish' or 'foolish woman'. Also is the possibility that Mora was an anagram of Amor. [9]
There is a more detailed analysis of the multiple meanings and possible origins of the name in the academic paper "The multiple meanings of Mora, the flagship of William the Conqueror" by Elisabeth Waugaman, who in particular links it with the Stone of Mora, once connected with coronations in what is now Sweden. By naming the ship Mora, Elisabeth Waugaman suggests Matilda hoped to strengthen her husband's claims to royal legitimacy in the eyes of his many followers and potential critics. [10]
A French project announced in 2022 intends to build a seaworthy replica of Mora in Honfleur, Normandy. The project will cost 13 million dollars. The goal is to complete the ship by 2027 in order to sail the Channel on the 1,000th anniversary of William the Conqueror's birth. [11] [12]
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. A descendant of Rollo, he was Duke of Normandy from 1035 onward. By 1060, following a long struggle to establish his throne, his hold on Normandy was secure. In 1066, following the death of Edward the Confessor, William invaded England, leading an army of Normans to victory over the Anglo-Saxon forces of Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, and suppressed subsequent English revolts in what has become known as the Norman Conquest. The rest of his life was marked by struggles to consolidate his hold over England and his continental lands, and by difficulties with his eldest son, Robert Curthose.
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. It took place approximately 7 mi (11 km) northwest of Hastings, close to the present-day town of Battle, East Sussex, and was a decisive Norman victory.
Matilda of Flanders was Queen of England and Duchess of Normandy by marriage to William the Conqueror, and regent of Normandy during his absences from the duchy. She was the mother of nine children who survived to adulthood, including two kings, William II and Henry I.
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Robert, Count of Mortain, first Earl of Cornwall of 2nd creation was a Norman nobleman and the half-brother of King William the Conqueror. He was one of the very few proven companions of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings and as recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 was one of the greatest landholders in his half-brother's new Kingdom of England.
Robert I, known as Robert the Frisian, was count of Flanders from 1071 until his death in 1093. He was a son of Baldwin V, Count of Flanders, and the younger brother of Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders. He usurped the countship after defeating his nephew Arnulf III and his allies, which included King Philip I of France, Count Eustace of Boulogne and the counts of Saint-Pol and Ardres at the Battle of Cassel. He subsequently made peace with Philip, who became his stepson-in-law, but remained hostile to his sister Matilda and her husband William the Conqueror, who was king of England and duke of Normandy.
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Richard I, also known as Richard the Fearless, was the count of Rouen from 942 to 996. Dudo of Saint-Quentin, whom Richard commissioned to write the "De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum", called him a dux. However, this use of the word may have been in the context of Richard's renowned leadership in war, and not as a reference to a title of nobility. Richard either introduced feudalism into Normandy or he greatly expanded it. By the end of his reign, the most important Norman landholders held their lands in feudal tenure.
Gundred or Gundreda was the Flemish-born wife of an early Norman baron, William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey. She and her husband established Lewes Priory in Sussex.
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The Carmen de Hastingae Proelio is a 20th-century name for the Carmen Widonis, the earliest history of the Norman invasion of England from September to December 1066, in Latin. It is attributed to Guy, Bishop of Amiens, a noble of Ponthieu and monastically-trained bishop and administrator close to the French court, who eventually served as a chaplain for Matilda of Flanders, William the Conqueror's queen. Bishop Guy was an uncle to Guy I, Count of Ponthieu, who figures rather prominently in the Bayeux Tapestry as the vassal of Duke William of Normandy who captured Harold Godwinson, later to become King Harold II of England, in 1064.
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Robert, Count of Eu and Lord of Hastings, son of William I, Count of Eu, and his wife Lesceline. Count of Eu and Lord of Hastings.