Topzle Topzle

William II of England

Updated: Wikipedia source

William II of England

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 his 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, because he had red hair. William was a figure of complex temperament, capable of both bellicosity and flamboyance. He did not marry or have children, which – along with contemporary accounts – has led some historians to speculate on his sexuality. 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. Upon William's death, Henry immediately seized the treasury and had himself crowned king. Historian Frank Barlow writes that William was a "rumbustious, devil-may-care soldier, without natural dignity or social graces, with no cultivated tastes and little show of conventional religious piety or morality – indeed, according to his critics, addicted to every kind of vice, particularly lust and especially sodomy." On the other hand, he was a wise ruler and victorious general, Barlow writes: "His chivalrous virtues and achievements were all too obvious. He had maintained good order and satisfactory justice in England and restored good peace to Normandy. He had extended Anglo-Norman rule in Wales, brought Scotland firmly under his lordship, recovered Maine, and kept up the pressure on the Vexin."

Infobox

Reign
26 September 1087 – 2 August 1100
Coronation
26 September 1087
Predecessor
William I
Successor
Henry I
Born
c. 1057Duchy of Normandy
Died
2 August 1100 (aged approximately 43–44)New Forest, Hampshire, England
Burial
Winchester Cathedral
House
Normandy
Father
William the Conqueror
Mother
Matilda of Flanders

Tables

· External links
Regnal titles
Regnal titles
William RufusHouse of NormandyBorn: c. 1056 Died: 2 August 1100
Regnal titles
Preceded byWilliam I
Preceded byWilliam I
William RufusHouse of NormandyBorn: c. 1056 Died: 2 August 1100
Preceded byWilliam I
William RufusHouse of NormandyBorn: c. 1056 Died: 2 August 1100
King of England 1087–1100
William RufusHouse of NormandyBorn: c. 1056 Died: 2 August 1100
Succeeded byHenry I
William RufusHouse of NormandyBorn: c. 1056 Died: 2 August 1100
Regnal titles
Preceded byWilliam I
King of England 1087–1100
Succeeded byHenry I

References

  1. Barlow suggests that William and Henry probably urinated over Robert.
  2. According to Eadmer, an unusually well placed witness, William II "protested that Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury could
  3. For a discussion of such blasphemous oaths, see Barlow 2000, pp. 116–118. An alternative, pagan interpretation of this o
  4. The claim was first made by a certain Mr Purkis of the family of charcoal-burners and cottagers remaining at the same sp
  5. An Advanced History of Great Britain from the Earliest Times to 1918
  6. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
    http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29449
  7. Barlow 2000, p. 3.
  8. Douglas William the Conqueror p. 393
  9. Douglas William the Conqueror p. 395
  10. Barlow 2000, pp. 33–34.
  11. William of Malmesbury History of the Norman Kings p. 70
  12. Carpenter, Struggle for Mastery, pp. 125f.
  13. Carpenter, Struggle for Mastery, p. 129.
  14. Barlow 2000, pp. 273–275.
  15. Barlow 2000, pp. 402–406.
  16. The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/861585
  17. Bosanquet (tr.) Eadmer's History p. 53
  18. Carpenter Struggle for Mastery p. 132
  19. Bosanquet (tr.) Eadmer's History p. 54
  20. William of Malmesbury History of the Norman Kings, p. 60
  21. Carpenter, Struggle for Mastery, p. 131.
  22. Philip J. Potter, Gothic Kings of Britain: The Lives of 31 Medieval Rulers, 1016–1399 (2009), p. 47.
    https://books.google.com/books?id=h_zW8TBBVQkC&pg=PA47
  23. Encyclopedia Britannica
    https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-II-duke-of-Normandy
  24. Gillingham, William II, p. 97
  25. Quoted in Barlow 2000, p. 421
  26. Barlow 2000, pp. 420–423.
  27. The Death of Rufus
  28. The Death of Rufus
  29. Doyle (1864), p. 123.
  30. Cyclopedia of Universal History
    https://archive.org/details/cyclopediauniver197274ridp
  31. Anselm
    https://www.heritage-history.com/site/hclass/british_middle_ages/ebooks/pdf/wilmotbuxton_anselm.pdf
  32. 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, Vol. 2
    https://books.google.com/books?id=K0UJAAAAIAAJ&q=Robert+Chambers+1832
  33. A Chronicle of England B.C. 55–A.D. 1485
    https://books.google.com/books?id=YcM_AAAAYAAJ
  34. The Death of Rufus
  35. Plumtree, James. "Stories of the Death of Kings: Retelling the Demise and Burial of William I, William II and Henry I",
    https://www.academia.edu/3123675/Stories_of_the_Death_of_Kings_Retelling_the_Demise_and_Burial_of_William_I_William_II_and_Henry_I
  36. Robert Bartlett, England under the Norman and Angevin Kings 1075–1225 (2000) p. 6
  37. Grinnell-Milne Killing of William Rufus
  38. Barlow 2000, pp. 408–432.
  39. Robert Bartlett, England under the Norman and Angevin Kings 1075–1225 (2000) p. 240
  40. John Gillingham, "The Early Middle Ages" in The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain ed. Kenneth O. Morgan, Oxford Univ
  41. Austin Lane Poole, From Domesday Book to Magna Carta 1087–1216 (1955) pp. 113–114
  42. Speculum
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/2856221
  43. King Rufus: The Life and Murder of William II of England
  44. Winchester Cathedral website
    http://winchester-cathedral.org.uk/history-treasures/royal-connections/
  45. The Death of Rufus
  46. The Death of Rufus
  47. Timbs Historic Ninepins p. 92
  48. Rodgers and Parson "New Forest" English Woodland p. 51
  49. Hollister Henry I pp. 102–103
  50. Garmonsway (ed.) Anglo-Saxon Chronicle p. 235
  51. Cantor Civilization of the Middle Ages pp. 280–284
  52. Mason, King Rufus: The Life and Murder of William II of England, pp. 9–25
  53. Seeing Sodomy in the Middle Ages
    https://books.google.com/books?id=e6J0BgAAQBAJ
  54. Elizabeth M. Tyler, "Edith Becomes Matilda", England in Europe: English Royal Women and Literary Patronage, C. 1000–C. 1
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt1whm96v.14
  55. Barlow 2000, p. 109.
Image
Source: —
Tip: Wheel or +/− to zoom, drag to pan, Esc to close.