William II of England
Encyclopedia
William II ( – 2 August 1100), the third son of William I of England
, was King of England
from 1087 until 1100, with powers over Normandy
, and influence in Scotland
. He was less successful in extending control into Wales. William is commonly known as William Rufus, perhaps because of his red-faced appearance.
Although William was an effective soldier, he was a ruthless ruler and, it seems, was little liked by those he governed: according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
, he was "hateful to almost all his people and odious to God." However, chronicle
rs tended to take a dim view of William's reign, arguably on account of his long and difficult struggles with the Church: these chroniclers were themselves generally products of the Church, and so might be expected to report him somewhat negatively. The particulars of his relationship with the people of England are not credibly documented. William was roundly denounced in his time and after his death for presiding over what was held to be a dissolute court, in terms which, in modern times, have raised questions over his sexuality. In keeping with Norman tradition, William scorned the English and their culture.
William seems to have been a flamboyant character, and his reign was marked by his bellicose temperament. He did not marry, nor did he produce any offspring, legitimate or otherwise. His chief minister was Ranulf Flambard
, whom he appointed Bishop of Durham in 1099: this was a political appointment, to a see
that was also a great fiefdom
.
, which would be inherited in due course by his elder brother, Robert Curthose. During his youth, he was educated under the eye of Lanfranc
, and seemed destined to be a great lord but not a king, until the death of the Conqueror's second son, Richard
, put William next in line for the English succession. His father's favourite son, William succeeded to the throne of England on his father's death, but there was always hostility between him and his eldest brother, though they became reconciled after an attempted coup in 1091 by the youngest brother, Henry
.
Relations between the three brothers had never been good. Orderic Vitalis
relates an incident that took place at L'Aigle
, in 1077 or 1078: William and Henry, having grown bored with casting dice, decided to make mischief by emptying a chamber pot onto their brother Robert from an upper gallery, thus infuriating and shaming him. A brawl broke out, and their father King William I
was forced to intercede to restore order.
, William Rufus was "well set; his complexion florid, his hair yellow; of open countenance; different coloured eyes
, varying with certain glittering specks; of astonishing strength, though not very tall, and his belly rather projecting."
, under the leadership of the powerful Bishop Odo of Bayeux, who was a half-brother of William the Conqueror. As Robert failed to appear in England to rally his supporters, William won the support of the English with silver and promises of better government, and defeated the rebellion, thus securing his authority. In 1091 he invaded Normandy, crushing Robert's forces and forcing him to cede a portion of his lands. The two made up their differences and William agreed to help Robert recover lands lost to France, notably Le Maine
. This plan was later abandoned, but William continued to pursue a ferociously warlike defence of his French possessions and interests to the end of his life, exemplified by his response to the attempt by Elias de la Flèche
, Count of Maine, to take Le Mans
in 1099.
Thus William Rufus was secure in what was then the most powerful kingdom in Europe, given the contemporary eclipse of the Salian emperors. As in Normandy, his bishops and abbots were bound to him by feudal obligations; and his right of investiture in the Norman tradition prevailed within his kingdom, during the age of the Investiture Controversy
that brought excommunication upon the Salian Emperor Henry IV
. Anglo-Norman royal institutions reached an efficiency previously unknown in medieval Europe, and the king's personal power, through an effective and loyal chancery
, penetrated to the local level to an extent unmatched in France. Without the Capetians
' ideological trappings of an anointed monarchy forever entangled with the hierarchy of the Church, the king's administration and law unified the realm, rendering him relatively impervious to papal condemnation.
's advisor and confidant, the Italian-Norman Lanfranc
, Archbishop of Canterbury
. After Lanfranc's death, the king delayed appointing a new archbishop for many years, appropriating ecclesiastical revenues in the interim. In panic owing to serious illness in 1093, William nominated as archbishop another Norman-Italian, Saint Anselm of Canterbury
— considered the greatest theologian of his generation — but this led to a long period of animosity between Church and State, Anselm
being a stronger supporter of the Gregorian reforms in the Church than Lanfranc. William and Anselm disagreed on a range of ecclesiastical issues, in the course of which the king declared of Anselm that "Yesterday I hated him with great hatred, today I hate him with yet greater hatred and he can be certain that tomorrow and thereafter I shall hate him continually with ever fiercer and more bitter hatred". The English clergy, beholden to the king for their preferments and livings, were unable to support Anselm publicly. In 1095 William called a council at Rockingham
to bring Anselm to heel, but the archbishop remained firm. In October 1097, Anselm went into exile, taking his case to the Pope. The diplomatic and flexible Urban II
, a new pope, was involved in a major conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor
Henry IV
, who supported an antipope
. Reluctant to make another enemy, Urban came to a concordat
with William Rufus, whereby William recognised Urban as pope, and Urban gave sanction to the Anglo-Norman ecclesiastical status quo. Anselm remained in exile, and William was able to claim the revenues of the archbishop of Canterbury to the end of his reign.
However, this conflict was symptomatic of medieval English politics, as exemplified by the murder of Thomas Becket
during the reign of the later Plantagenet king Henry II
, and indeed by Henry VIII
's actions centuries later, and as such should not be seen as a defect of William II's reign in particular. Of course, contemporary churchmen were themselves not above engaging in such politics: it is reported that, when Archbishop Lanfranc suggested to William I
that he imprison the rebellious bishop Odo of Bayeux, he exclaimed 'What! he is a clergyman'. Lanfranc retorted that 'you will not seize the bishop of Bayeux, but confine the earl of Kent': Odo was both bishop of Bayeux, and earl of Kent. Also, while there are complaints of contemporaries regarding William II's personal behaviour, he was instrumental in assisting the foundation of Bermondsey Abbey
, endowing it with the manor of Bermondsey; and it is reported that his "customary oath" was "By the Face at Lucca
!" It seems reasonable to suppose that such details are indicative of William II's personal beliefs.
, a survey undertaken at his father's command, essentially for the purposes of taxation, which could not have been undertaken anywhere else in Europe at that time, and is a sign of the control of the English monarchy. If he was less effective than his father in containing the Norman lords' propensity for rebellion and violence, through charisma, or political skills, he was forceful in overcoming the consequences. In 1095, Robert de Mowbray
, the earl of Northumbria
, refused to attend the Curia Regis
, the thrice-annual court where the King announced his governmental decisions to the great lords. William led an army against Robert and defeated him. Robert was dispossessed and imprisoned, and another noble, William of Eu
, accused of treachery, was blinded and castrated
.
In external affairs, William had some successes. In 1091 he repulsed an invasion by King Malcolm III of Scotland
, forcing Malcolm to pay homage. In 1092 he built Carlisle Castle
, taking control of Cumberland
and Westmoreland
, which had previously been claimed by the Scots. Subsequently, the two kings quarreled over Malcolm's possessions in England, and Malcolm again invaded, ravaging Northumbria. At the Battle of Alnwick
, on 13 November 1093, Malcolm was ambushed by Norman forces led by Robert de Mowbray. Malcolm and his son Edward were killed and Malcolm III's brother Donald
seized the throne. William supported Malcolm's son Duncan II
, who held power for a short time, and then another of Malcolm's sons, Edgar
. Edgar conquered Lothian
in 1094 and eventually removed Donald in 1097 with William's aid in a campaign led by Edgar Ætheling
. Edgar recognised William's authority over Lothian and attended William's court.
William made unsuccessful forays into Wales in 1096 and 1097.
In 1096, William's brother Robert Curthose joined the First Crusade
. He needed money to fund this venture, and pledged his Duchy of Normandy
to William in return for a payment of 10,000 marks—a sum equalling about a quarter of William's annual revenue. In a display of the effectiveness of English taxation, William raised the money by levying a special, heavy, and much-resented tax upon the whole of England. William then ruled Normandy as regent in Robert's absence—Robert did not return until September 1100, one month after William's death.
As regent for his brother Robert in Normandy, William campaigned in France from 1097 to 1099. He secured northern Maine
but failed to seize the French-controlled part of the Vexin
region. At the time of his death, he was planning to invade Aquitaine
, in southwestern France.
The most memorable event in the life of William Rufus was his death while hunting in the New Forest
: "The death of William Rufus", E. A. Freeman wrote in 1882, "is one of those events in English history which are familiar to every memory and come readily to every mouth". He was killed by an arrow through the lung, but the circumstances remain unclear.
On a bright August day in 1100, William organised a hunting trip in the New Forest. An account by Orderic Vitalis
describes the preparations for the hunt with the irony of afterthought:
On the subsequent hunt that afternoon, the party spread out as they chased their prey, and William, in the company of Walter Tyrell (or Tirel), Lord of Poix, and many other magnates. An arrow, perhaps grazing a stag, lodged in the breast of the king, who, falling forward drove it through his lung and died on the spot, without, the chroniclers note with grim satisfaction, time to confess his sins.
William's body was abandoned by the nobles at the place where he fell, because the law and order of the kingdom died with the king, and they had to flee to their English or Norman estates to secure their interests. William's younger brother, Henry
, hastened to Winchester to secure the royal treasury, then to London, where he was crowned within days, before either archbishop could arrive. The inscription on the Rufus Stone indicates that it was left to a local charcoal
-burner named Purkis, to take the king's body to Winchester Cathedral
on his cart. At Winchester, left without a bishop like many other sees, while the king garnered the income, hasty and simple obsequies were in charge of the cathedral prior.
According to the chroniclers, William's death was not murder. Walter and William had been hunting together when Walter let loose a wild shot that, instead of hitting the stag he aimed for, struck William in the chest. Walter tried to help him, but there was nothing he could do. Fearing that he would be charged with murder, Walter panicked, leapt onto his horse, and fled. A version of this tale is given by William of Malmesbury
:
The Anglo-Norman
chronicler Geoffrey Gaimar
provides a variant story of the king's death scene: dying from a battle wound and delirious, the desperate William kept calling out for the corpus domini (Lord’s body, i.e., the Eucharist
) until a huntsman acted as lay priest
and gave him flowering herbs as his viaticum
.
To the chroniclers – men of the Church – such an 'act of God
' was a just end for a wicked king. Over the following centuries, the obvious suggestion that one of William's enemies may have had a hand in this extraordinary event has repeatedly been made: chroniclers of the time point out themselves that Walter was renowned as a keen bowman, and thus was unlikely to have loosed such an impetuous shot. Moreover, William's brother Henry
, who was among the hunting party that day, benefited directly from William's death, shortly thereafter being crowned king. Modern scholars have reopened the question and some have found the assassination theory credible or compelling, but the theory is not universally accepted.
Abbot Suger
, another chronicler, who was Tirel's friend and sheltered him in his French exile, said later:
William's remains are in Winchester Cathedral, scattered among royal mortuary chests positioned on the presbytery screen, flanking the choir.
The inscription on the Rufus Stone reads:
The monument is made of stone. It was protected with a cast iron
cover in 1841 after repeated vandalism. A local house is named after it. The nearby inn is called after Sir Walter Tyrell
, William of Malmesbury
, and Eadmer
. Studies by Frank Barlow
and Emma Mason have replaced the judgmental Victorian account of Freeman, E.A., The Reign of William Rufus and the Accession of Henry the First (2 vols.), Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1882, in which the king is said to have combined 'the habits of the ancient Greek and modern Turk' with unseemly irreligion, and which portrays his realm anachronistically
as a precursor of the United Kingdom.
, The Paladin and The Wolf Time. The main character of the novels is Walter Tirel (or Tyrell), his supposed assassin, and the main thrust of the plot of the novels is that the assassination was engineered by Henry I.
The death of William Rufus is portrayed in Edward Rutherfurd
's 2000 fictionalised history of the New Forest
, The Forest
. In Rutherfurd's version of events, the king's death takes place nowhere near the Rufus Stone, and Walter Tyrrell is framed for it by the powerful Clare family. Also, Purkiss is a clever story teller who manages (much later) to convince Charles II that one of his ancestors had been involved.
William Rufus is a major character in Valerie Anand
's 1989 historical novel, King of the Wood (1989). He is also a major character in Parke Godwin's Robin and the King (1993), the second volume in Godwin's reinterpretation of the Robin Hood
legend. William Rufus and his relationship with Tyrell is mentioned and the manner of his death is included in Lammas Night
by Katherine Kurtz
. He is a character in Stephen R. Lawhead
's King Raven Trilogy about Robin Hood.
On television, William was portrayed by Peter Firth
in the 1990 play Blood Royal: William the Conqueror.
Singer Frank Turner
told the story of the death of William II in the song "English Curse" from his 2011 album "England Keep My Bones".
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
, was King of England
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
from 1087 until 1100, with powers over Normandy
Duchy of Normandy
The Duchy of Normandy stems from various Danish, Norwegian, Hiberno-Norse, Orkney Viking and Anglo-Danish invasions of France in the 9th century...
, and influence in Scotland
Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...
. He was less successful in extending control into Wales. William is commonly known as William Rufus, perhaps because of his red-faced appearance.
Although William was an effective soldier, he was a ruthless ruler and, it seems, was little liked by those he governed: according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...
, he was "hateful to almost all his people and odious to God." However, chronicle
Chronicle
Generally a chronicle is a historical account of facts and events ranged in chronological order, as in a time line. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, the purpose being the recording of events that occurred, seen from the perspective of the...
rs tended to take a dim view of William's reign, arguably on account of his long and difficult struggles with the Church: these chroniclers were themselves generally products of the Church, and so might be expected to report him somewhat negatively. The particulars of his relationship with the people of England are not credibly documented. William was roundly denounced in his time and after his death for presiding over what was held to be a dissolute court, in terms which, in modern times, have raised questions over his sexuality. In keeping with Norman tradition, William scorned the English and their culture.
William seems to have been a flamboyant character, and his reign was marked by his bellicose temperament. He did not marry, nor did he produce any offspring, legitimate or otherwise. His chief minister was Ranulf Flambard
Ranulf Flambard
Ranulf Flambard was a medieval Norman Bishop of Durham and an influential government minister of King William Rufus of England...
, whom he appointed Bishop of Durham in 1099: this was a political appointment, to a see
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
that was also a great fiefdom
Fiefdom
A fee was the central element of feudalism and consisted of heritable lands granted under one of several varieties of feudal tenure by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the...
.
Early years
William's exact date of birth is unknown, but it was sometime between the years 1056 and 1060. He was the third of four sons, born in his father's Duchy of NormandyDuchy of Normandy
The Duchy of Normandy stems from various Danish, Norwegian, Hiberno-Norse, Orkney Viking and Anglo-Danish invasions of France in the 9th century...
, which would be inherited in due course by his elder brother, Robert Curthose. During his youth, he was educated under the eye of Lanfranc
Lanfranc
Lanfranc was Archbishop of Canterbury, and a Lombard by birth.-Early life:Lanfranc was born in the early years of the 11th century at Pavia, where later tradition held that his father, Hanbald, held a rank broadly equivalent to magistrate...
, and seemed destined to be a great lord but not a king, until the death of the Conqueror's second son, Richard
Richard, Duke of Bernay
Richard of Normandy was the second son of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders, and a potential heir to the English throne. However, Richard predeceased his father and the throne was eventually inherited by his younger brother William II "Rufus"....
, put William next in line for the English succession. His father's favourite son, William succeeded to the throne of England on his father's death, but there was always hostility between him and his eldest brother, though they became reconciled after an attempted coup in 1091 by the youngest brother, Henry
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
.
Relations between the three brothers had never been good. Orderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis was an English chronicler of Norman ancestry who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th and 12th century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England. The modern biographer of Henry I of England, C...
relates an incident that took place at L'Aigle
L'Aigle
L'Aigle is a commune in the Orne department in Basse-Normandie in north-western France.This commune used to be known as Laigle. According to Orderic Vitalis, the nest of an eagle was discovered during the construction of the castle....
, in 1077 or 1078: William and Henry, having grown bored with casting dice, decided to make mischief by emptying a chamber pot onto their brother Robert from an upper gallery, thus infuriating and shaming him. A brawl broke out, and their father King William I
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
was forced to intercede to restore order.
Appearance
According to William of MalmesburyWilliam of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. C. Warren Hollister so ranks him among the most talented generation of writers of history since Bede, "a gifted historical scholar and an omnivorous reader, impressively well versed in the literature of classical,...
, William Rufus was "well set; his complexion florid, his hair yellow; of open countenance; different coloured eyes
Heterochromia
In anatomy, heterochromia refers to a difference in coloration, usually of the iris but also of hair or skin. Heterochromia is a result of the relative excess or lack of melanin...
, varying with certain glittering specks; of astonishing strength, though not very tall, and his belly rather projecting."
England and France
The division of William the Conqueror's lands into two parts presented a dilemma for those nobles who held land on both sides of the Channel. Since the younger William and his brother Robert were natural rivals, these nobles worried that they could not hope to please both of their lords, and thus ran the risk of losing the favour of one ruler or the other, or both. The only solution, as they saw it, was to unite England and Normandy once more under one ruler. The pursuit of this aim led them to revolt against William in favour of Robert in the Rebellion of 1088Rebellion of 1088
The Rebellion of 1088 occurred after the death of William the Conqueror and concerned the division of lands in the Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Normandy between his two sons William Rufus and Robert Curthose...
, under the leadership of the powerful Bishop Odo of Bayeux, who was a half-brother of William the Conqueror. As Robert failed to appear in England to rally his supporters, William won the support of the English with silver and promises of better government, and defeated the rebellion, thus securing his authority. In 1091 he invaded Normandy, crushing Robert's forces and forcing him to cede a portion of his lands. The two made up their differences and William agreed to help Robert recover lands lost to France, notably Le Maine
Maine (province)
Le Maine is one of the traditional provinces of France . It corresponds to the old county of Maine, with its center, the city of Le Mans.-Location:...
. This plan was later abandoned, but William continued to pursue a ferociously warlike defence of his French possessions and interests to the end of his life, exemplified by his response to the attempt by Elias de la Flèche
Elias I of Maine
Elias I , called de la Flèche or de Baugency, was the Count of Maine from 1093. He was the son of the lord of La Flèche, John de Beaugency, and his wife Paula, daughter of Herbert I, Count of Maine....
, Count of Maine, to take Le Mans
Le Mans
Le Mans is a city in France, located on the Sarthe River. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Mans. Le Mans is a part of the Pays de la Loire region.Its inhabitants are called Manceaux...
in 1099.
Thus William Rufus was secure in what was then the most powerful kingdom in Europe, given the contemporary eclipse of the Salian emperors. As in Normandy, his bishops and abbots were bound to him by feudal obligations; and his right of investiture in the Norman tradition prevailed within his kingdom, during the age of the Investiture Controversy
Investiture Controversy
The Investiture Controversy or Investiture Contest was the most significant conflict between Church and state in medieval Europe. In the 11th and 12th centuries, a series of Popes challenged the authority of European monarchies over control of appointments, or investitures, of church officials such...
that brought excommunication upon the Salian Emperor Henry IV
Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry IV was King of the Romans from 1056 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 until his forced abdication in 1105. He was the third emperor of the Salian dynasty and one of the most powerful and important figures of the 11th century...
. Anglo-Norman royal institutions reached an efficiency previously unknown in medieval Europe, and the king's personal power, through an effective and loyal chancery
Chancery (medieval office)
Chancery is a general term for a medieval writing office, responsible for the production of official documents. The title of chancellor, for the head of the office, came to be held by important ministers in a number of states, and remains the title of the heads of government in modern Germany,...
, penetrated to the local level to an extent unmatched in France. Without the Capetians
House of Capet
The House of Capet, or The Direct Capetian Dynasty, , also called The House of France , or simply the Capets, which ruled the Kingdom of France from 987 to 1328, was the most senior line of the Capetian dynasty – itself a derivative dynasty from the Robertians. As rulers of France, the dynasty...
' ideological trappings of an anointed monarchy forever entangled with the hierarchy of the Church, the king's administration and law unified the realm, rendering him relatively impervious to papal condemnation.
Relations with the Church, and personal beliefs
Less than two years after becoming king, William II lost his father William IWilliam I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
's advisor and confidant, the Italian-Norman Lanfranc
Lanfranc
Lanfranc was Archbishop of Canterbury, and a Lombard by birth.-Early life:Lanfranc was born in the early years of the 11th century at Pavia, where later tradition held that his father, Hanbald, held a rank broadly equivalent to magistrate...
, Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
. After Lanfranc's death, the king delayed appointing a new archbishop for many years, appropriating ecclesiastical revenues in the interim. In panic owing to serious illness in 1093, William nominated as archbishop another Norman-Italian, Saint Anselm of Canterbury
Anselm of Canterbury
Anselm of Canterbury , also called of Aosta for his birthplace, and of Bec for his home monastery, was a Benedictine monk, a philosopher, and a prelate of the church who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109...
— considered the greatest theologian of his generation — but this led to a long period of animosity between Church and State, Anselm
Anselm of Canterbury
Anselm of Canterbury , also called of Aosta for his birthplace, and of Bec for his home monastery, was a Benedictine monk, a philosopher, and a prelate of the church who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109...
being a stronger supporter of the Gregorian reforms in the Church than Lanfranc. William and Anselm disagreed on a range of ecclesiastical issues, in the course of which the king declared of Anselm that "Yesterday I hated him with great hatred, today I hate him with yet greater hatred and he can be certain that tomorrow and thereafter I shall hate him continually with ever fiercer and more bitter hatred". The English clergy, beholden to the king for their preferments and livings, were unable to support Anselm publicly. In 1095 William called a council at Rockingham
Rockingham, Northamptonshire
Rockingham is a village and civil parish in the Corby district of Northamptonshire, England. It is just north of Corby, close by the border with Leicestershire and Rutland, near to Great Easton and Caldecott...
to bring Anselm to heel, but the archbishop remained firm. In October 1097, Anselm went into exile, taking his case to the Pope. The diplomatic and flexible Urban II
Pope Urban II
Pope Urban II , born Otho de Lagery , was Pope from 12 March 1088 until his death on July 29 1099...
, a new pope, was involved in a major conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
Henry IV
Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry IV was King of the Romans from 1056 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 until his forced abdication in 1105. He was the third emperor of the Salian dynasty and one of the most powerful and important figures of the 11th century...
, who supported an antipope
Antipope
An antipope is a person who opposes a legitimately elected or sitting Pope and makes a significantly accepted competing claim to be the Pope, the Bishop of Rome and leader of the Roman Catholic Church. At times between the 3rd and mid-15th century, antipopes were typically those supported by a...
. Reluctant to make another enemy, Urban came to a concordat
Concordat
A concordat is an agreement between the Holy See of the Catholic Church and a sovereign state on religious matters. Legally, they are international treaties. They often includes both recognition and privileges for the Catholic Church in a particular country...
with William Rufus, whereby William recognised Urban as pope, and Urban gave sanction to the Anglo-Norman ecclesiastical status quo. Anselm remained in exile, and William was able to claim the revenues of the archbishop of Canterbury to the end of his reign.
However, this conflict was symptomatic of medieval English politics, as exemplified by the murder of Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...
during the reign of the later Plantagenet king Henry II
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
, and indeed by Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
's actions centuries later, and as such should not be seen as a defect of William II's reign in particular. Of course, contemporary churchmen were themselves not above engaging in such politics: it is reported that, when Archbishop Lanfranc suggested to William I
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
that he imprison the rebellious bishop Odo of Bayeux, he exclaimed 'What! he is a clergyman'. Lanfranc retorted that 'you will not seize the bishop of Bayeux, but confine the earl of Kent': Odo was both bishop of Bayeux, and earl of Kent. Also, while there are complaints of contemporaries regarding William II's personal behaviour, he was instrumental in assisting the foundation of Bermondsey Abbey
Bermondsey Abbey
Bermondsey Abbey was an English Benedictine monastery. Most widely known as an 11th-century foundation, it had a precursor mentioned in the early 8th century, and was centred on what is now Bermondsey Square, the site of Bermondsey Market, Bermondsey in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast...
, endowing it with the manor of Bermondsey; and it is reported that his "customary oath" was "By the Face at Lucca
Holy Face of Lucca
The Holy Face of Lucca is a venerated wooden corpus of a crucifix, located in the free-standing octagonal Carrara marble chapel , which was built in 1484 by Matteo Civitali, the sculptor-architect of Lucca, to contain it. The tempietto stands in the right-hand nave of the cathedral of San...
!" It seems reasonable to suppose that such details are indicative of William II's personal beliefs.
War and rebellion
William Rufus inherited the Anglo-Norman settlement detailed in the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
, a survey undertaken at his father's command, essentially for the purposes of taxation, which could not have been undertaken anywhere else in Europe at that time, and is a sign of the control of the English monarchy. If he was less effective than his father in containing the Norman lords' propensity for rebellion and violence, through charisma, or political skills, he was forceful in overcoming the consequences. In 1095, Robert de Mowbray
Robert de Mowbray
Robert de Mowbray , a Norman, was Earl of Northumbria from 1086, until 1095, when he was deposed for rebelling against William Rufus, King of England. He was the son of Roger de Mowbray and nephew of Geoffrey de Montbray, bishop of Coutances...
, the earl of Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
, refused to attend the Curia Regis
Curia Regis
Curia regis is a Latin term meaning "royal council" or "king's court."- England :The Curia Regis, in the Kingdom of England, was a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics that advised the king of England on legislative matters...
, the thrice-annual court where the King announced his governmental decisions to the great lords. William led an army against Robert and defeated him. Robert was dispossessed and imprisoned, and another noble, William of Eu
William of Eu
William of Eu, Count of Eu was a first generation Anglo-Norman aristocrat and rebel.Along with William of Aldrie, he conspired with Roger de Lacy and Robert de Mowbray to murder William II and install the king's cousin Stephen of Aumale....
, accused of treachery, was blinded and castrated
Castration
Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses the functions of the testicles or a female loses the functions of the ovaries.-Humans:...
.
In external affairs, William had some successes. In 1091 he repulsed an invasion by King Malcolm III of Scotland
Malcolm III of Scotland
Máel Coluim mac Donnchada , was King of Scots...
, forcing Malcolm to pay homage. In 1092 he built Carlisle Castle
Carlisle Castle
Carlisle Castle is situated in Carlisle, in the English county of Cumbria, near the ruins of Hadrian's Wall. The castle is over 900 years old and has been the scene of many historical episodes in British history. Given the proximity of Carlisle to the border between England and Scotland, it...
, taking control of Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
and Westmoreland
Westmoreland
Westmoreland is a historic county in England. It may also refer to:-Places:Australia*Westmoreland County, New South WalesCanada*Westmorland County, New BrunswickJamaica*Westmoreland, Jamaica, a parishNew Zealand...
, which had previously been claimed by the Scots. Subsequently, the two kings quarreled over Malcolm's possessions in England, and Malcolm again invaded, ravaging Northumbria. At the Battle of Alnwick
Battle of Alnwick (1093)
The Battle of Alnwick is one of two battles fought near the town of Alnwick, in Northumberland, England. In the battle, which occurred on 13 November 1093, Malcolm III of Scotland, also known as Malcolm Canmore, was killed together with his son Edward, by an army of knights led by Robert de...
, on 13 November 1093, Malcolm was ambushed by Norman forces led by Robert de Mowbray. Malcolm and his son Edward were killed and Malcolm III's brother Donald
Donald III of Scotland
Domnall mac Donnchada , anglicised as Donald III, and nicknamed Domnall Bán, "Donald the Fair" , was King of Scots from 1093–1094 and 1094–1097...
seized the throne. William supported Malcolm's son Duncan II
Duncan II of Scotland
Donnchad mac Maíl Coluim was king of Scots...
, who held power for a short time, and then another of Malcolm's sons, Edgar
Edgar of Scotland
Edgar or Étgar mac Maíl Choluim , nicknamed Probus, "the Valiant" , was king of Alba from 1097 to 1107...
. Edgar conquered Lothian
Lothian
Lothian forms a traditional region of Scotland, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills....
in 1094 and eventually removed Donald in 1097 with William's aid in a campaign led by Edgar Ætheling
Edgar Ætheling
Edgar Ætheling , or Edgar II, was the last male member of the royal house of Cerdic of Wessex...
. Edgar recognised William's authority over Lothian and attended William's court.
William made unsuccessful forays into Wales in 1096 and 1097.
In 1096, William's brother Robert Curthose joined the First Crusade
First Crusade
The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...
. He needed money to fund this venture, and pledged his Duchy of Normandy
Duchy of Normandy
The Duchy of Normandy stems from various Danish, Norwegian, Hiberno-Norse, Orkney Viking and Anglo-Danish invasions of France in the 9th century...
to William in return for a payment of 10,000 marks—a sum equalling about a quarter of William's annual revenue. In a display of the effectiveness of English taxation, William raised the money by levying a special, heavy, and much-resented tax upon the whole of England. William then ruled Normandy as regent in Robert's absence—Robert did not return until September 1100, one month after William's death.
As regent for his brother Robert in Normandy, William campaigned in France from 1097 to 1099. He secured northern Maine
Maine (province)
Le Maine is one of the traditional provinces of France . It corresponds to the old county of Maine, with its center, the city of Le Mans.-Location:...
but failed to seize the French-controlled part of the Vexin
Vexin
The Vexin is a historical county of northwestern France. It covers a verdant plateau on the right bank of the Seine comprising an area east-to-west between Pontoise and Romilly-sur-Andelle , and north-to-south between Auneuil and the Seine near Vernon...
region. At the time of his death, he was planning to invade Aquitaine
Aquitaine
Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...
, in southwestern France.
Death in the New Forest
New Forest
The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire....
: "The death of William Rufus", E. A. Freeman wrote in 1882, "is one of those events in English history which are familiar to every memory and come readily to every mouth". He was killed by an arrow through the lung, but the circumstances remain unclear.
On a bright August day in 1100, William organised a hunting trip in the New Forest. An account by Orderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis was an English chronicler of Norman ancestry who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th and 12th century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England. The modern biographer of Henry I of England, C...
describes the preparations for the hunt with the irony of afterthought:
On the subsequent hunt that afternoon, the party spread out as they chased their prey, and William, in the company of Walter Tyrell (or Tirel), Lord of Poix, and many other magnates. An arrow, perhaps grazing a stag, lodged in the breast of the king, who, falling forward drove it through his lung and died on the spot, without, the chroniclers note with grim satisfaction, time to confess his sins.
William's body was abandoned by the nobles at the place where he fell, because the law and order of the kingdom died with the king, and they had to flee to their English or Norman estates to secure their interests. William's younger brother, Henry
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
, hastened to Winchester to secure the royal treasury, then to London, where he was crowned within days, before either archbishop could arrive. The inscription on the Rufus Stone indicates that it was left to a local charcoal
Charcoal
Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...
-burner named Purkis, to take the king's body to Winchester Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral at Winchester in Hampshire is one of the largest cathedrals in England, with the longest nave and overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe...
on his cart. At Winchester, left without a bishop like many other sees, while the king garnered the income, hasty and simple obsequies were in charge of the cathedral prior.
According to the chroniclers, William's death was not murder. Walter and William had been hunting together when Walter let loose a wild shot that, instead of hitting the stag he aimed for, struck William in the chest. Walter tried to help him, but there was nothing he could do. Fearing that he would be charged with murder, Walter panicked, leapt onto his horse, and fled. A version of this tale is given by William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. C. Warren Hollister so ranks him among the most talented generation of writers of history since Bede, "a gifted historical scholar and an omnivorous reader, impressively well versed in the literature of classical,...
:
The Anglo-Norman
Anglo-Norman
The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...
chronicler Geoffrey Gaimar
Geoffrey Gaimar
Geoffrey Gaimar , was an Anglo-Norman chronicler. Gaimar's most significant contribution to medieval literature and history is as a translator from Old English to Anglo-Norman. His L'Estoire des Engles translates extensive portions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as well as using Latin and French...
provides a variant story of the king's death scene: dying from a battle wound and delirious, the desperate William kept calling out for the corpus domini (Lord’s body, i.e., the Eucharist
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
) until a huntsman acted as lay priest
Laity
In religious organizations, the laity comprises all people who are not in the clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained legitimate clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the...
and gave him flowering herbs as his viaticum
Viaticum
Viaticum is a term used especially in the Roman Catholic Church for the Eucharist administered, with or without anointing of the sick, to a person who is dying, and is thus a part of the last rites...
.
To the chroniclers – men of the Church – such an 'act of God
Act of God
Act of God is a legal term for events outside of human control, such as sudden floods or other natural disasters, for which no one can be held responsible.- Contract law :...
' was a just end for a wicked king. Over the following centuries, the obvious suggestion that one of William's enemies may have had a hand in this extraordinary event has repeatedly been made: chroniclers of the time point out themselves that Walter was renowned as a keen bowman, and thus was unlikely to have loosed such an impetuous shot. Moreover, William's brother Henry
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
, who was among the hunting party that day, benefited directly from William's death, shortly thereafter being crowned king. Modern scholars have reopened the question and some have found the assassination theory credible or compelling, but the theory is not universally accepted.
Abbot Suger
Abbot Suger
Suger was one of the last Frankish abbot-statesmen, an historian, and the influential first patron of Gothic architecture....
, another chronicler, who was Tirel's friend and sheltered him in his French exile, said later:
William's remains are in Winchester Cathedral, scattered among royal mortuary chests positioned on the presbytery screen, flanking the choir.
The Rufus Stone
A stone known as the Rufus Stone marks the spot where he supposedly fell.The inscription on the Rufus Stone reads:
Here stood the oak tree, on which an arrow shot by Sir Walter Tyrrell at a stag, glanced and struck King William the Second, surnamed Rufus, on the breast, of which he instantly died, on the second day of August, anno 1100. King William the Second, surnamed Rufus, being slain, as before related, was laid in a cart, belonging to one Purkis, and drawn from hence, to Winchester, and buried in the Cathedral Church, of that city.
The monument is made of stone. It was protected with a cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
cover in 1841 after repeated vandalism. A local house is named after it. The nearby inn is called after Sir Walter Tyrell
Sources
Major sources for William Rufus include Orderic VitalisOrderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis was an English chronicler of Norman ancestry who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th and 12th century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England. The modern biographer of Henry I of England, C...
, William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. C. Warren Hollister so ranks him among the most talented generation of writers of history since Bede, "a gifted historical scholar and an omnivorous reader, impressively well versed in the literature of classical,...
, and Eadmer
Eadmer
Eadmer, or Edmer , was an English historian, theologian, and ecclesiastic. He is known for being a contemporary biographer of his contemporary archbishop and companion, Saint Anselm, in his Vita Anselmi, and for his Historia novorum in Anglia, which presents the public face of Anselm...
. Studies by Frank Barlow
Frank Barlow (historian)
Frank Barlow CBE FBA FRSL was a British historian, known particularly for biographies of medieval figures.Barlow studied at St John's College, Oxford. He was Professor of History at the University of Exeter from 1953 until he retired in 1976 and became Emeritus Professor...
and Emma Mason have replaced the judgmental Victorian account of Freeman, E.A., The Reign of William Rufus and the Accession of Henry the First (2 vols.), Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1882, in which the king is said to have combined 'the habits of the ancient Greek and modern Turk' with unseemly irreligion, and which portrays his realm anachronistically
Anachronism
An anachronism—from the Greek ανά and χρόνος — is an inconsistency in some chronological arrangement, especially a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other...
as a precursor of the United Kingdom.
Fictional treatments
William is indirectly the subject of two historical novels by George ShipwayGeorge Shipway
George Shipway was a British author best known for his historical novels, but he also tried his hand at political satire in his book The Chilian Club.Shipway was born in 1908, and served in the Indian Cavalry until 1946. He died in 1982...
, The Paladin and The Wolf Time. The main character of the novels is Walter Tirel (or Tyrell), his supposed assassin, and the main thrust of the plot of the novels is that the assassination was engineered by Henry I.
The death of William Rufus is portrayed in Edward Rutherfurd
Edward Rutherfurd
Edward Rutherfurd is a pen name for Francis Edward Wintle known primarily as a writer of epic historical novels...
's 2000 fictionalised history of the New Forest
New Forest
The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire....
, The Forest
The Forest (novel)
The Forest is a historical novel by Edward Rutherfurd, published in 2000. Drawing on the success of Rutherfurd's other epic novels this went on to sell well and appeared in numbers of bestseller lists.-Plot summary:...
. In Rutherfurd's version of events, the king's death takes place nowhere near the Rufus Stone, and Walter Tyrrell is framed for it by the powerful Clare family. Also, Purkiss is a clever story teller who manages (much later) to convince Charles II that one of his ancestors had been involved.
William Rufus is a major character in Valerie Anand
Valerie Anand
-Fiction:Under the pen name Fiona Buckley she writes the series of historical mysteries, set in the reign of Elizabeth I of England, featuring "Ursula Blanchard"...
's 1989 historical novel, King of the Wood (1989). He is also a major character in Parke Godwin's Robin and the King (1993), the second volume in Godwin's reinterpretation of the Robin Hood
Robin Hood
Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
legend. William Rufus and his relationship with Tyrell is mentioned and the manner of his death is included in Lammas Night
Lammas Night
Lammas Night is a fantasy novel by American-born author Katherine Kurtz, first published in paperback by Ballantine Books in December 1983. The first hardcover edition was issued by Severn House in 1986.-Plot summary:...
by Katherine Kurtz
Katherine Kurtz
Katherine Kurtz is the author of numerous fantasy novels, most notably the Deryni novels. Although born in America, for the past several years, up until just recently, she has lived in a castle in Ireland...
. He is a character in Stephen R. Lawhead
Stephen R. Lawhead
Stephen R. Lawhead, born , is a best-selling American writer known for his works of fantasy, science fiction, and more recently, historical fiction, particularly Celtic historical fiction...
's King Raven Trilogy about Robin Hood.
On television, William was portrayed by Peter Firth
Peter Firth
Peter Firth is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Sir Harry Pearce in the BBC show Spooks, of which he is the only actor to have starred in every episode of the show's 10 series lifespan...
in the 1990 play Blood Royal: William the Conqueror.
Singer Frank Turner
Frank Turner
Frank Turner is an English folk/punk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke, Winchester. Initially the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, Turner embarked upon a primarily acoustic-based solo career following the band's split in 2005. To date, Turner has released four solo albums, two rarities...
told the story of the death of William II in the song "English Curse" from his 2011 album "England Keep My Bones".
England Keep My Bones
England Keep My Bones is the fourth studio album by London-based singer-songwriter Frank Turner, released on June 6, 2011, on Xtra Mile in the United Kingdom, and on June 7, 2011, on Epitaph Records worldwide...