William II of England
William II | |
---|---|
(more...) | |
Reign | 26 September 1087 – 2 August 1100 |
Coronation | 26 September 1087[1] |
Predecessor | William I |
Successor | Henry I |
Born | c. 1057 Normandy, Kingdom of France |
Died | 2 August 1100 (aged approximately 43–44) New Forest, Hampshire, England |
Burial | |
House | Normandy |
Father | William the Conqueror |
Mother | Matilda of Flanders |
William II (Anglo-Norman: Williame; c. 1057 – 2 August 1100) was King of England from 26 September 1087 until his death in 1100, with powers over Normandy and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales. The third son of William the Conqueror, he is commonly referred to as William Rufus (Rufus being Latin for "the Red"), perhaps because of his ruddy appearance or, more likely, due to having red hair.[2][a]
William was a figure of complex temperament, capable of both bellicosity and flamboyance. He did not marry nor have children, which – along with contemporary accounts – has led some historians to speculate on homosexuality or bisexuality.[4] He died after being hit by an arrow while hunting. Circumstantial evidence in the behaviour of those around him – including his younger brother Henry I – raises strong, but unproven, suspicions of murder.[5][6] Henry I hurriedly succeeded him as king.
Historian
Early years
William's exact date of birth is not known, but according to Frank Barlow it occurred by 1060.[8] He was the third of four sons born to William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders, the eldest being Robert Curthose, the second Richard, and the youngest Henry. Richard died around 1075 while hunting in the New Forest. William succeeded to the throne of England on his father's death in 1087, but Robert inherited Normandy.[9]
William had five or six sisters. The existence of sisters Adeliza and Matilda is not absolutely certain, but four sisters are more securely attested:
- Adela, who married Stephen, Count of Blois
- Cecily, who became a nun
- Agatha, who died unmarried
- Constance, who married Alan IV, Duke of Brittany.[10]
Records indicate strained relations between the three surviving sons of William I. William's contemporary, chronicler Orderic Vitalis, wrote about an incident that took place at L'Aigle in Normandy 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 had to intercede to restore order.[11][b]
According to William of Malmesbury, writing in the 12th century, 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."[12]
England and France
The division of William the Conqueror's lands into two parts upon his death presented a dilemma for those nobles who held land on both sides of the English 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.
William Rufus was thus secure in his kingdom. 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. The king's personal power, through an effective and loyal chancery, penetrated to the local level to an extent unmatched in France. The king's administration and law unified the realm, rendering him relatively impervious to papal condemnation. In 1097 he commenced the original Westminster Hall, built "to impress his subjects with the power and majesty of his authority".[16]
Religion
Less than two years after becoming king, William II lost his father's adviser and confidant, the Italian-Norman
However, this conflict was symptomatic of medieval English politics, as exemplified by the murder of
While there are complaints of contemporaries regarding William'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!"[d]
War and rebellion
William Rufus inherited the Anglo-Norman settlement detailed in the
In external affairs, William had some successes. In 1091 he repulsed an invasion by King
William made two forays into Wales in 1097. Nothing decisive was achieved, but a series of castles was constructed as a marchland defensive barrier.[22]
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, which equates to 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. He then ruled Normandy as regent in Robert's absence. Robert did not return until September 1100, one month after William's death.[23]
As regent 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. According to William of Malmesbury he was planning to invade the Duchy of Aquitaine at the time of his death.[24]
Death
William went hunting on 2 August 1100 in the New Forest, probably near Brockenhurst, and was killed by an arrow through the lung, although the circumstances remain unclear. The earliest statement of the event was in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which noted that the king was "shot by an arrow by one of his own men."[25] Later chroniclers added the name of the killer, a nobleman named Walter Tirel, although the description of events was later embroidered with other details that may or may not be true.[26] The first mention of any location more exact than the New Forest comes from John Leland, who wrote in 1530 that William died at Thorougham, a placename that is no longer used, but that probably referred to a location on what is now Park Farm on the Beaulieu estates.[27][28] A memorial stone in the grounds of Beaulieu Abbey, Hampshire, states "Remember King William Rufus who died in these parts then known as Truham whilst hunting on 2nd August 1100".
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William's death in an illustration from the Grandes Chroniques de France (13th cent.)
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Morris Meredith Williams's illustration of the discovery of William's body (1915)[31]
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Memorial stone in the grounds of Beaulieu Abbey, Hampshire
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Tomb of William Rufus in Winchester Cathedral (1832)[32]
The king's body was abandoned by the nobles at the place where he fell. An arrow maker, Eli Parratt, later found the body. William's younger brother,
To the chroniclers, men of the Church, such an "act of God" was a just end for a wicked king, and was regarded as a fitting demise for a ruler who came into conflict with the religious orders to which they belonged.[35] Over the following centuries, the obvious suggestion that one of William's enemies had a hand in this event has repeatedly been made: chroniclers of the time point out themselves that Tirel was renowned as a keen bowman, and thus was unlikely to have loosed such an impetuous shot. Moreover, Bartlett says that rivalry between brothers was the pattern of political conflict in this period.[36] William's brother Henry was among the hunting party that day and succeeded him as king.
Modern scholars have reopened the question, and some have found the assassination theory credible or compelling,[37] but the theory is not universally accepted. Barlow says that accidents were common and there is not enough hard evidence to prove murder.[38] Bartlett notes that hunting was dangerous.[39] Poole says the facts "look ugly" and "seem to suggest a plot." John Gillingham points out that if Henry had planned to murder William it would have been in his interest to wait until a later time. It looked as though there would soon be a war between William and his brother Robert, which would result in one of them being eliminated, thus opening the way for Henry to acquire both England and Normandy through a single assassination.[40] Tirel fled immediately. Henry had the most to gain by his brother's death. Indeed, Henry's actions "seem to be premeditated: wholly disregarding his dead brother, he rode straight for Winchester, seized the treasury (always the first act of a usurping king), and the next day had himself elected."[41][42]
William's remains are in Winchester Cathedral, scattered among royal mortuary chests positioned on the presbytery screen, flanking the choir.[43] His skull appears to be missing, but some long bones may remain.[44]
Rufus Stone
A stone known as the "Rufus Stone", close to the
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.
That the spot where an Event so Memorable might not hereafter be forgotten; the enclosed stone was set up by John Lord Delaware who had seen the Tree growing in this place. This Stone having been much mutilated, and the inscriptions on each of its three sides defaced, this more Durable Memorial, with the original inscriptions, was erected in the year 1841, by Wm [William] Sturges Bourne Warden.
King William the Second, surnamed Rufus being slain, as before related, was laid in a cart, belonging to one Purkis,[e] and drawn from hence, to Winchester, and buried in the Cathedral Church, of that City.[48]
Contemporary assessment
William was an effective soldier, but he was a ruthless ruler and, it seems, was little liked by those he governed. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, he was "hated by almost all his people and abhorrent to God."[49] Chroniclers 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 clerics, and so might be expected to report him somewhat negatively. 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. The particulars of the king's relationship with the people of England are not credibly documented. Contemporaries of William, as well as those writing after his death, roundly denounced him for presiding over what these dissenters considered a dissolute court. In keeping with the tradition of Norman leaders, William scorned the English and the English culture.[50]
Sexuality
Contemporaries of William raised concerns about a court dominated by homosexuality and effeminacy, epitomised through seemingly "luxurious" attire and unusual footwear than with sexual practices.[51]
Citing the traditions of Wilton Abbey in the 1140s, Herman of Tournai wrote that the abbess had ordered the Scottish princess Edith (later Matilda, wife of Henry I) to become a nun in order to protect her from the lust of William Rufus, which angered Edith's father because of the effect it might have on her prospects of marriage.[52]
The historian Emma Mason has noted that while during his reign William himself was never openly accused of homosexuality, in the decades after his death numerous medieval writers spoke of this and a few began to describe him as a "sodomite".[53] Modern historians cannot state with certainty whether William was homosexual or not; however, he never took a wife or a mistress, or fathered any children. As a bachelor king without an heir, William would have been pressed to take a wife and would have had numerous proposals for marriage.[53] That he never accepted any of these proposals nor had any relations with women may show that he either had no desire for women, or he may have taken a vow of chastity or celibacy.[53]
Barlow said that the Welsh chronicles claim that Henry was able to succeed to the throne because his brother had made use of
Notes
- ^ De Miraculis Sancti Eadmundi is alone in calling him William Longsword.[3]
- ^ Barlow suggests that William and Henry probably urinated over Robert.[11]
- ^ According to Eadmer, an unusually well placed witness, William II "protested that Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury could not possibly keep at the same time both the allegiance which he owed to the King and obedience to the Apostolic See against the King's will."[19] Anselm found himself in similar conflict with William II's successor, Henry I, as also reported by Eadmer.
- OUP, 1970, pg. 164
Citations
- ^ Tout, An Advanced History of Great Britain from the Earliest Times to 1918, p. 94
- ^ Barlow 2000, pp. 11–12.
- ^ Mason, King Rufus: The Life and Murder of William II of England, p. 10
- ^ Mason, King Rufus: The Life and Murder of William II of England, p. 16
- ^ Mason, King Rufus: The Life and Murder of William II of England, pp. 9–11
- ^ Cripps, T. (2023). "William II (Rufus)". Historic UK. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
He died not long after. It has been argued that his death was an assassination plot by his brother Henry, who not long after his older brother's death, raced to...
- ^ Barlow, Frank (2004). "William II (c.1060–1100)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 28 November 2013. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Barlow 2000, pp. 3.
- ^ Douglas William the Conqueror p. 393
- ^ Douglas William the Conqueror p. 395
- ^ a b Barlow 2000, pp. 33–34.
- ^ William of Malmesbury History of the Norman Kings p. 70
- ^ Carpenter, Struggle for Mastery, p. 125 f.
- ^ a b Carpenter, Struggle for Mastery, p. 129.
- ^ Barlow 2000, pp. 402–406.
- JSTOR 861585. (subscription required)
- ^ Bosanquet (tr.) Eadmer's History p. 53
- ^ Carpenter Struggle for Mastery p. 132
- ^ Bosanquet (tr.) Eadmer's History p. 54
- ^ William of Malmesbury History of the Norman Kings, p. 60
- ^ Carpenter, Struggle for Mastery, p. 131.
- ^ Philip J. Potter, Gothic Kings of Britain: The Lives of 31 Medieval Rulers, 1016–1399 (2009), p. 47.
- ^ "Robert II | duke of Normandy". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- ^ Gillingham, William II, p.97
- ^ Quoted in Barlow 2000, p. 421
- ^ Barlow 2000, pp. 420–423.
- ISBN 0-9526120-5-4.
- ISBN 0-9526120-5-4.
- ^ Doyle (1864), p. 123.
- ^ Ridpath, John Clark (1895), Cyclopedia of Universal History, Boston: Balch Brothers & Co., p. 644.
- ^ Wilmot-Buxton, Ethel M. (1915), Anselm (PDF), London: George G. Harrap & Co., p. 164
- ^ Chambers, Robert (1832). The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in Connection with the Calendar, Including Anecdote, Biography, & History, Curiosities of Literature and Oddities of Human Life and Character, Volume 2. London: W. & R. Chambers Limited. p. 161.
- ^ Doyle, James E. (1864), A Chronicle of England B.C. 55–A.D. 1485, London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green, p. 125.
- ISBN 0-9526120-5-4.
- ^ Plumtree, James. "Stories of the Death of Kings: Retelling the Demise and Burial of William I, William II and Henry I", Southern African Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 21 (2012 for 2011), pp. 10–17 [1]
- ^ Robert Bartlett, England under the Norman and Angevin Kings 1075–1225 (2000) p 6
- ^ Grinnell-Milne Killing of William Rufus
- ^ Barlow 2000, pp. 408–432.
- ^ Robert Bartlett, England under the Norman and Angevin Kings 1075–1225 (2000) p. 240
- ^ John Gillingham, "The Early Middle Ages" in The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain ed. Kenneth O. Morgan, Oxford University Press 1984, p.115
- ^ Austin Lane Poole, From Domesday Book to Magna Carta 1087–1216 (1955) p 113-14
- ^ C. Warren Hollister, "The Strange Death of William Rufus," Speculum (1973) 48#4 pp. 637–653 in JSTOR
- ^ "Royal connections". Winchester Cathedral website. Dean and Chapter of Winchester Cathedral. 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2011.
- ISBN 0-9526120-5-4.
- ^ ISBN 0-9526120-5-4.
- ^ Timbs Historic Ninepins p. 92
- ^ Rodgers and Parson "New Forest" English Woodland p. 51
- ^ Hollister Henry I pp. 102–103
- ^ Garmonsway (ed.) Anglo-Saxon Chronicle p. 235
- ^ Cantor Civilization of the Middle Ages pp. 280–284
- ISBN 9780226169262.
- ^ Elizabeth M. Tyler, “Edith Becomes Matilda”, England in Europe: English Royal Women and Literary Patronage, C.1000–C.1150, University of Toronto Press, Toronto; Buffalo; London, 2017, pp. 302–353, 308. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt1whm96v.14. Accessed 4 May 2020.
- ^ a b c Mason, King Rufus: The Life and Murder of William II of England, pp. 9–25
- ^ Barlow 2000, p. 109.
References
- ISBN 0-300-08291-6.
- Bosanquet, G. (1964). Eadmer's History of Recent Events in England. Cresset.
- Cantor, Norman F. (1993). The Civilization of the Middle Ages. Harper Collins. ISBN 0-06-092553-1.
- ISBN 0-14-014824-8.
- Douglas, David C. (1964). William the Conqueror: The Norman Impact Upon England. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
- Freeman, Edward Augustus (1882). The Reign of William Rufus and the Accession of Henry the First. Clarendon Press.
- Garmonsway, G.N. (1972). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Dent, UK: Dutton.
- Gillingham, John (2015). William II (Penguin Monarchs): The Red King. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin. ISBN 978-0141978550.
- Grinnell-Milne, Duncan (1968). The Killing of William Rufus: An Investigation in The New Forest. Newton Abbot, UK: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5839-1.
- S2CID 162819807.
- Mason, Emma (2008). King Rufus: The Life and Murder of William II of England. Stroud, Gloucestershire: History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-4635-6.
- Mason, Emma (2005). William II: Rufus, the Red King. Stroud, UK: Tempus. ISBN 0-7524-3528-0.
- Mason, Emma (1977). "William Rufus: myth and reality". .
- Plumtree, James (2012). "Stories of the Death of Kings: Retelling the Demise and Burial of William I, William II and Henry I". Southern African Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies. 21: 1–30.
- Rodgers, John & Parson, Elsie Clews. "The New Forest". The English Woodland (Second ed.).
- Timbs, John (1869). Historic Ninepins: A book of curiosities. London.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Tout, Thomas Frederick (1920). "William II., Rufus (1087–1100)". An Advanced History of Great Britain from the Earliest Times to 1918. Longmans, Green, and Company. p. 94.
- Warren, W. L. (1959). "The Death of William Rufus". History Today. 9.
- ISBN 9780947992309.
External links
- William II at the official website of the British monarchy
- William II at BBC History
- Portraits of King William II ('Rufus') at the National Portrait Gallery, London