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 Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Harburg France and England and then enrolled with his brothers at the University of Helmstedt. In 1594, he again went on a journey that took him through Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Italy, Holland, Denmark and Livonia. William Augustus kept a journal about his travels. After the death of his father, he took up the government of Harburg jointly with his brothers Christopher and Otto III. After they died, he ruled alone. In 1618, William Augustus began the construction of the palace at Moisburg. After the death of the Duke Frederick Ulrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, he received the County of Hoya from his inheritance.