9. "Be ye the avengers of noble blood"
In the morning of that day in 1066, he was Duke William of Normandy. Believing that his relative Edward the Confessor had bequeathed England to him, he went to go get it, bringing with him 7,000 troops under his command. Before heading out to confront King Harold II, William addressed his army, telling them of the insults levied on their families by Harold, shouting: "May the lightning of your glory be seen and the thunders of your onset heard from east to west, and be ye the avengers of noble blood!" At day's end, the Battle of Hastings was over, and William of Normandy became William the Conqueror, King of England.