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Views William II

WILLIAM II 1087 - 1100

William surnamed Rufus from his red hair, third son of William the Conqueror, born in Normandy in 1056, and crowned at Westminster in 1087 on the death of his father. Reigned 13 years. - Died unmarried 1100

DOMINIONS

William succeeded according to his father's disposition, and by the general consent of people in England, to the kingdom of England, and his elder brother Robert to the Duchy of Normandy, separating England again for the time from any foreign dominion. In 1090 by conquest, and in 1091 by treaty, William acquired many places in Normandy from Robert, and in 1095 Robert mortgaged the whole Duchy to him to obtain money for the Crusade. In 1092 William conquered Cumberland, and planted colonists from Southern England in the neighbourhood of Carlisle. In 1090 he gave license to his barons to make conquests in Wales. Most of the lower and coast country of South Wales round to Cardigan Bay, the eastern frontiers, the northern coast and Anglesey, were conquered in consequence; and though the Welsh partly recovered these conquests in 1092, and subsequently, the hold of the Norman adventurers was never completely shaken off .

PRINCIPAL EVENTS

William known as Rufus, because of his flaming hair, hastened to England, where he was crowned king.The Norman barons were discontented with this arrangement, and sought to make his eldest brother Robert king of England, but this project was defeated by William, who secured the aid of Lanfranc archbishop of Canterbury, and the English nobles. Having repressed the conspiracy he forced the Norman barons to withdraw to Normandy and confiscated their English estates. He gained the support of many of the English, because he promised them relief from their taxation. Soon, however, it was found that William was not a man to keep his promise. In fact, he was probably one of the worst kings ever to sit on the English Throne.

Robert, now Duke of Normandy, had no interest in who was King of England; but William, on the other hand, was anxious to rule over Normandy as well. In 1090 he sent an army into Normandy, while he himself crossed the Channel the following year. A reconciliation was effected between the two brothers, and about this time there was trouble in the East, where the Turks were molesting the Christians, who were on pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Soon it was decided by the Christian leaders of Europe, that there should be a crusade to the Holy Land, to attempt to break the power of the Turks. Robert of Normandy was anxious to go on this crusade, but he needed money. and in 1096 Robert mortgaged Normandy to his brother for five years for a sum sufficient to enable him to join a crusade to the Holy Land . In the meantime, the king was becoming more and more disliked at home, for the barons found him to be a bully, who could not keep the promises he had made.

Moreover, the people also found that they were being oppressed by the king and they resented it Rufus also managed to quarrel with the Church. William I, his father, had established the Archbishop Lanfranc at Canterbury, and he was still holding this office, when Rufus became king. When Lanfranc died, he seized the estates connected with the vacant bishoprics and abbeys.

William called another Bishop, Anselm, from France, to become Archbishop of Canterbury. Characteristic of William's reign was his contention with Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, regarding church property and the sovereignty of the pope. The king looked upon the lands and wealth of the Church with envy, and told the Archbishop that some of them should be his. Anselm, who was very popular with the people, fled to France, and yet another grudge against the king was found.

Like his father, the king was very fond of hunting, he met his death [1100] while hunting in the New Forest, by an arrow shot accidentally or otherwise from the bow of a French gentleman named Sir Walter Tyrrel.who, fearing for his life, fled to France, leaving the body of William where it lay. Later in the day, a peasant discovered the body, which was placed in a collier's cart and taken to Winchester, where it was laid to rest in the cathedral church of St. Swithin. When, seven years later, the tower of the cathedral collapsed, it was said that it proved that the king was not fit to have had a Christian burial.

As a reminder of the king William a stone, may be seen in the New Forest, which was erected on the spot where he was slain. Part of the inscription on reads as follows:-

" Here stood the oak-tree on which an arrow, shot by Sir Walter Tyrrel at a stag, glanced off, and struck King William the Second, surnamed Rufus, on the breast; of which stroke he instantly died, on 2nd August ".

Rufus is responsible for the re-building of London-Bridge, the Tower, and Westminster Hall. (Now part of the Houses of Parliament, and where recent sovereigns have lain in state before their funerals.)

WARS

With the party of Robert, 1087-1090 and 1094-5. With Maine and Anjou, 1096-99.

OFFICIALS

Archbishops. - Lanfranc, d.1089 - see vacant four years. Anselm, 1093.
Justiciars. - Odo of Bayeux, 1087 - 1088; William de St. Carileph, Bishop of Durham, 1088;
Ranulf Flambard, after-wards, in 1099, Bishop of Durham, 1094 -1100.
Chancellors . - William Giffard, 1087; Robert Bloett, 1090; Waldric, 1093; William Giffard, 1094-1100.

ACTS AND DOCUMENTS

There are no constitutional acts of William's reign.