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 the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg William the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg Wilhelm (4 July 1535 – 20 August 1592), called William the Younger (""), was Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Prince of Lüneburg from 1559 until his death. Until 1569 he ruled together with his brother, Henry of Dannenberg. William was the son of Ernest I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. On 12 October 1561 he married Dorothea of Denmark (29 June 1546 Kolding–6 January 1617 Winsen), daughter of Christian III of Denmark and Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg. In 1582, William began suffering from fits of insanity. These fits caused his wife to flee him in 1584 for her