Playing as William the Conqueror

[Plato]

Having a go at the 1066 start with good ol' Willy. Taking England is dead easy, but keeping it is another matter: how do I handle all the factions and rebellions?

It's a total nightmare. And I have I don't know how many English duchies I just can't seem to handover to anyone - why? And also, should I start stripping the old Anglo-Saxon lords of their titles - I'm finding York to be a real pain?

[John Baller]

Occupy a lot of the counties during the invasion. Don't stop it at 100% warscore. You will get all the holdings for every county where you occupy a holding. After that you can give them out to whoever you want. If you don't occupy a lot of land, a lot of the existing dukes hold multiple duchies. You cant give out duchies someone else already holds. You probably also want to get reasons and revoke the Anglo vassals. They will have bad opinion penalty from you being a foreign conqueror in a sanctioned invasion.

[Plato]

I've tried playing through a few times. I find it becomes a real mess if Harold cedes first to Harald, so I'm racing against him.

So to prevent the ensuing rebellions and factions, I just need to occupy regions?

One problem I found is that when I get all these holding, I can hand out the baronies and counties fine - but the duchies I get, I can't seem to give to anyone. The option isn't there, even when clicking 'lower titles'.

[John Baller]

I think if you have the duchy title, but you don't have any of the counties in the duchy in your demesne, then you cant give it out to someone who isn't already a count+ by including the lower titles. You have to give someone a county first and then give them the duchy or give it to an existing count+ vassal.

An easy way to do the invasion of England is to invite good siege leaders and just siege 1 holding in a lot of counties. You can avoid fighting at first. Also follow Norway around and siege counties that he already occupied to get easier sieges.

It doesn't matter if Norway wins first. You will still be at war vs Norway after he wins. You can even go and occupy all of Norway also in that situation. If you occupy entire duchies or kingdoms it will destroy those titles though. If a lot of titles get destroyed it can cost a lot to recreate them.

[Captain Skinny]

Its all about trait manipulation to me. Boost up your prestige as quickly as you can, and give out gifts to any ruler that will accept them at a relatively cheap price, it'll buy you some time.
Then tutor your heir and make sure he's stacked in kind, just, gregarious, etc. Having a natty +20 to ever person's opinion of you will quell some of the rumblings, but not all.
Just my 2 cents.

[bri]

And also, should I start stripping the old Anglo-Saxon lords of their titles - I'm finding York to be a real pain?

Absolutely. Having wrong culture vassals is just asking for trouble so as soon as one gives you a reason get rid of them and find someone of your culture and religion to replace them.

[Chill°bucket]

Yes, a) conquer a good portion of land, and b) I normally switch my culture to the anglo-saxon. c) keep the smaller dukes satisfied and go for the bigger if they give a reason. d) try through marriages and to get naps, bribe, so you can best take down 1 by 1 the mightier dukes while others are at the moment silenced.

[Langkard]

Do it like William did. England went from having a handful of castles (mostly built by the previous king Edward the Confessor's French friends) to over 500 by the time William died. In other words, keep your vassals happy and the Saxons downtrodden until they've been properly assimilated into the Borg... er Norman way of doing things.