KING WILLIAM II SON OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR DUKE OF NORMANDY

King William II, commonly known as William Rufus, ruled England from 1087 until his death in 1100, when he was killed by an arrow whilst hunting in the New Forest. There has been much speculation down the centuries as to whether he was the victim of an accident or murder.

After the Norman conquest, William Duke of Normandy, spent most of his time in Normandy, ruling England through his writs.

On 9th September 1087, he was thrown from his horse whilst riding through the ruins of the town of Mantes, which had been sacked after he had successfully lay siege to it.

Robert, the eldest son of the conqueror, automatically succeeded his father to become Duke of Normandy. However, William having conquered England for himself, felt he could do as he pleased with the succession in that land.

He dispatched his third son, also named William (nicknamed Rufus, or the red king, due to his ruddy complexion which contrasted sharply with his long blond hair) to England to succeed him on the English throne.

Contemporary reports suggest, that King William II was interested only in hunting, feasting and the power he exerted over his subjects, who hated him in return.

He did not marry and produced no heirs, preferring instead, in the words of the Chronicler, William of Malmesbury, to fill his court and surround himself with effeminate young men.

King William II's chief minister was Ranulf Flambard, who administered England for the monarch.

He oversaw the construction of a new hall at Westminster (the Palace of Westminster) in 1097, which still survives today, a wall around the White Tower (Tower of London) and the commencement of Old St. Paul's Cathedral in London, the construction of which was started by Maurice, the bishop of London and took from 1087 until 1314 to construct.

A replacement to London Bridge which had been destroyed in a tornado in 1091 was also carried out during the reign of King William II and was also overseen by Ranulf Flambard.

By modern assessments of the contemporary reports, it was a powerful tornado which visited London in 1091, killing two people. It completely demolished the wooden London Bridge and severely damaged St. Mary-le-Bow Church.

The force of the storm was such that four rafters twenty six feet (7.9 metres) long were driven into the ground with such force that only four feet (1.2 metres) could be seen protruding above the surface. Many other churches were also destroyed along with over six hundred houses.

William Rufus, was very unpopular with both his subjects and the church. To pay for his military campaigns in Normandy against his brothers, Robert Curthose and Henry Beauclerc, he imposed extremely heavy taxation on the people of England.

Neither would he shirk from taking money from the monasteries when he needed any. When his barons complained that they could not afford to pay the taxes he levied on them, his response was to tell them to go and rob the shrines of the saints.

In 1095 Pope Urban II announced the First Crusade, William's brother Robert was determined to go. In order to raise the funds he offered the Duchy of Normandy to William Rufus for three years in return for ten thousand marks.

King William II raised this money, again by taxing his subjects extremely harshly. He was loathed by most of his subjects, rich, poor, churchmen alike. They all had a grievance against him.

William died on 2nd August 1100, while hunting in the New Forest in England. He was killed by an arrow in the chest, but under what circumstances he met his death will never be known.

With the king were Gilbert de Clare (the grandfather of Richard de Clare, who would become immortalised as Strongbow), his younger brother Roger and Walter Tyrell (or tirel), who was married to the de Clare's sister. Also present that day was William Rufus' younger brother Henry.

An arrow was fired by Walter Tirel at a stag which missed the target and hit King William in the chest killing him almost instantly. Tirel, it appears jumped on his horse, made off at great speed and escaping to France, never returned to England again.

Here is an account by the English Chronicler Orderic Vitalis, the writer of one of the great contemporary chronicles of eleventh and twelfth century England and Normandy.

Orderics' main interest was in the three sons of William the Conqueror, who were, Robert the Duke of Normandy and his two brothers, both of them kings of England, William Rufus and King Henry I.

Describing the preperations for the hunt which William Rufus had organised for 2nd August, Orderic writes: 'an armourer came in and presented to William six arrows. The King immediately took them with great satisfaction, praising the work, and unconscious of what was to happen, kept four of them himself and held out the other two to Walter Tirel... saying 'It is only right that the sharpest be given to the man who knows how to shoot the deadliest shots.'

During the hunt, William and Walter Tirel the Lord of Poix, became seperated from the others. The body of William was found by a local group of peasants the next day with an arrow in his chest.

There is a stone marking the spot where he is supposed to have fallen. It is known as the Rufus stone and the inscription reads:

Here stood the oak tree, on which an arrow shot by Sir Walter Tyrrell at a stag, glanced and struck King William II, 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.

So, the body of King William II had been abandoned by Walter Tirel and the rest of the nobles, just leaving him where he had fallen.

However, there is no great surprise in the action they had taken, for each and every one of them had to get back to their estates in order to secure their own interests. Law and order had died in the kingdom along with the king.

Henry, the younger brother of King William II, raced to Winchester to secure the treasury and then on to London at full speed, to be crowned within days on 5th August 1100.

Some chroniclers accepted the death of King William II was an accident. Here is a version as told by William of Malmesbury:

'The day before the king died he dreamed that he was let blood by a surgeon, and that the stream, reaching to heaven, clouded the light and intercepted the day. ...he suddenly awoke, commanded a light to be brought, and forbade his attendants to leave him... After dinner he went into the forest, attended by few persons... [Walter Tirel] alone had remained with him, while the others, employed in the chase, were dispersed as chance directed. The sun was now declining, when the king, drawing his bow and letting fly an arrow, slightly wounded a stag which passed before him; and, keenly gazing, followed it, still running, along time with his eyes, holding up his hand to keep off the power of the sun's rays. At this instant Walter [attempted] to transfix another stag... [but] unknowingly, and without power to prevent it, O gracious God! pierced [the king's] breast with a fatal arrow'.

'On receiving the wound the king uttered not a word; but breaking off the shaft of the weapon where it projected from his body, and then falling upon the wound, he accelerated his death. Walter immediately ran up, but as he found him senseless and speechless he leaped swiftly upon his horse, and escaped by spurring him to his utmost speed. Indeed there was none to pursue him, some conniving at his flight, others pitying him, and all intent on other matters. Some began to fortify their dwellings, others to plunder, and the rest to look out for a new king'.

'A few countrymen (peasants) conveyed the body, placed on a cart, to the cathedral at Winchester, the blood dripping from it all the way. Here it was committed to the ground within the tower, attended by many of the nobility... Next year the tower fell... [William Rufus] died in [1100]... aged above forty years... He was a man much to be pitied by the clergy, for throwing away the soul they laboured to save; to be beloved by stipendiary soldiers for the multitude of his gifts; but not to be lamented by the people, because he suffered their substance to be plundered'.

The chroniclers in fact thought that such an Act of God was a just and fitting end for a wicked king, but they also made it clear that Walter Tirel was renowned as an excellent bowman and it was very unlikely that he could have fired such a rash or impulsive shot. Whether it was an accident or murder we shall never know. What we do know though, is that the brother of King William II Henry Beauclerc benefited directly from the death of his brother.

He was crowned king three days later, having wasted not one minute in racing to Winchester,

The de Clares also gained an enormous amount of benefit from the king's death, being amply rewarded by the new king Henry I for their loyalty.

Although Walter Tirel was living in self imposed exile and never did return to England, his son was allowed to keep all of his estates.

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