Territorial evolution of France face up to the formidable challenge with which they were presented. The Duke of Normandy William the Conqueror became King of England in 1066 through his victory at Hastings over the Saxons. On the extinction of his male line of descent, his heir was the Duke of Anjou, Henry Plantagenet, grandson by his mother of Henry I of England. Two months before he ascended to the English throne, as Henry II, he married Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, the richest heiress in the French kingdom and ex-wife of the King of France. The kings of France nevertheless, held some trump cards:
William, Duke of Opava of Opava after Bolko's death from the latter's brother Nicholas I and in 1464, he purchased the other 2/3 in Opole in 1464 from John II, thereby considerable increasing his political and economic influence in Silesia. William of Troppau died in 1452. He was buried in the Holy Spirit Church in Opava. William was married with Salome, a daughter of the East Bohemian nobleman Půta III of Častolovice and his wife, Anna, the daughter of Albert of Koldice. They had the following children: William, Duke of Opava Duke William of Opava (; – 15 August 1452) was a member of