(I'm posting this a few days early, as I will be gone on December 25 and wanted everyone to be able to enjoy the post now.)

On Christmas Day, December 25, 1066, William the Conqueror achieved his highest dream--his coronation as the first Norman king of England. He had waited and worked for this moment since Edward the Confessor had promised him the throne in about 1051. Unfortunately, it required the death of Harold and the loss of many Saxon and Norman lives at the Battle of Hastings and various other skirmishes after that for William to achieve his dream.

Here is a picture of William at his coronation:

His coronation was not without incident, however. During the coronation, fires broke out amongst the neighboring houses because the Normans didn't understand that the Saxons were saying "yes" when asked if they accepted William as their king. The Normans thought they were protesting against William's coronation, and set fire to the houses to bring the Saxons to heel.

The coronation continued, however, and William was crowned by Aldred, the Archbishop of York, because Stigand, the Archbishop of Canterbury who usually crowned kings was in disgrace because he had crowned Harold and was under papal displeasure for doing so. Here is a picture of William leaving his coronation:

William's position as king was further enhanced when in 1068, his wife and duchess, Matilda of Flanders, was crowned Queen of England--the first woman to actually be crowned queen in English history (other women such as Emma and Edith had been queens, but Matilda was the first to be acutally crowned.)

William was not the second famous medieval leader to be crowned on Christmas day. Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 800 A. D. There is a good article about these Christmas coronations at About.com, here: