On
August 02, 1100 about sunset, a group of men were finishing a stag hunt. On any
other day in medieval England, a party of nobles searching for a deer probably
wouldn’t have turned any heads but in this case the group included William Rufus,
also known as King William II. Along with William was his brother Henry, Walter
Tirel, the Count of Poix, and William de Breteuil. At the end of the hunt, one of the men would be lying on the forest floor, dead, with an arrow impaled in his chest.
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| King William Rufus |
William
had been the favorite son of his father, the legendary William the Conqueror.
William the First had three possible heirs to the throne: his namesake: William Rufus (called that for
his red hair and equally hot temper), Robert Curthose (named for his style of
dress), and Henry. The King’s plan had
been to split his kingdom, giving England to Rufus and Normandy (the mainland)
to Robert. Poor Henry would be left with nothing but a bequest of 5,000 pounds
in silver (oh, the shame of it).
William
II was crowned King on the 26th of September, 1087.
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| Great Seal of William Rufus |
It’s
easy to be an armchair quarterback and look on Rufus’ decisions now. The new
King took his dying father’s advice instead of making his own choices. William
I advocated freeing Bishop Odo (the brother of William I) and gaining the
support of the people. Of course, with the coronation came the normal uprisings
and protests from those on the sides of the opposition (hey, wouldn’t Robert or
Henry make a better King?). One wonders why William the First split hairs (and
his realm) and why he put off making the tough choices. The Conqueror couldn’t
be bothered letting Odo out himself after arresting him for corruption. These
decisions took a toll on the Crown coffers. Even worse, Odo turned traitor when
he joined with Curthose in a rebellion in 1088.
So much
for loyalty.
Then
there were those whispers about the
red-haired wonder King and his special friends. Why hadn’t William taken a wife
yet? Was it possible William was just focused on getting his real in order or
was he a homosexual? No one truly can say and we certainly can’t judge people
from one age by our modern standards. Comparisons can be made between Rufus and
Edward II. Both Kings enjoyed nice clothes (the horror!) and pursued activities
of leisure. William’s Court was known for colorful and fancy clothing and long
hair worn by the men. The Church frowned on the frivolous behavior – going as
far as to ban long hair on men!
Modern
books and movies tend to think that feudalism was the mainstay of life
throughout the ancient world, especially medieval Europe but that’s not the
case. Feudalism was getting its start in the early eleventh century. William
Rufus made changes to the laws of the land. One of the harshest was to put in
tougher penalties for poaching by torture or death. Considering the lands had
been experiencing a series of droughts, this didn’t go over very well. He
increased taxation on the lands owned by the church. Again, not a popular
ruling by a less than pious leader. The King did treat his favorite, Robert
fitz Hamo Lord of Gloucester and Bristol, better than many of the other barons.
Contemporaries claimed the two were closer than brothers and never far apart.
William even granted fitz Hamo lands that belonged to his mother. That must
have irked Robert and Henry a tad.
So, this
brings us back to the day in the forest. It is said prior to the fateful day
Rufus had nightmares which included a bloodied monk. The final night if his life, Rufus partied
hard and ordered candles burnt all night to stave off nightmares. The group
split up: Rufus and Tirel together and the others in a second group.
According
to the official story, Tirel saw a stag and took aim. He missed with his first
arrow and lined up with a second arrow to try again when a different deer ran
by the royal party. The projectile was drawn with enough force it took hair
from the stag as it passed over its back and slammed into the chest of the
King. Rufus was said to try and remove the arrow in shock but soon toppled over
dead.
Tirel
panicked and fled the country for France. Henry saw an opportunity. Spurring
his horse, he stopped briefly in Winchester, where he snatched up the royal
treasury and then rode on to London and was crowned the new King on August 5th
before Robert could even make a claim (he was older than Henry and was the heir
to Rufus). Sadly, the body of Rufus was left on the forest floor. A couple of
servants gathered up the corpse of their former monarch and brought the body to
St. Swithan, Winchester.
Which
brings us to the big question: was William’s death an accident or was it
murder? Did a conspiracy to kill Rufus exist? The King was heard to say he’d
had premonitions of his death and he was told not to go hunting that day. Did
the person who told him to stay home have knowledge of the plans?
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| Death of Rufus |
Henry
had a motive and he certainly didn’t waste any time leaving the scene of the
incident. Remember that as the youngest, he was only given silver by his
father. By all rights, the crown should have gone to Robert but he was on
Crusade and had not yet returned to England. The shrewd Henry knew his older
brother wasn’t due back any time soon. Henry could claim the incident was
strictly an accident and hunting accidents happened frequently. How difficult
would it be to arrange one to rid the country of a bad king – especially one
the Church and barons disagreed with? We have to consider that in the time
period this occurred, the Church declared anyone with a dissenting opinion as
immoral in lacking in piety. Again, we can’t judge ancients by our modern
standards.
 |
| Henry I |
There is
no record of him displaying any great display of grief over his brother’s
death. One can certainly see why Walter Tirel took off. Regicide, whether
encouraged by the future monarch or not, was still a crime punishable by death.
Tirel later swore he wasn’t even with the hunting party, much less the one who
shot the arrow. A chronicler, Geoffrey Gaimer, claimed that another person,
Gerald of Wales, was the true suspect. Regardless of which man let the arrow
fly, Henry didn’t pursue any actions.
For more
about William Rufus and his brothers:
By the
face of Lucca
By
Stuart Boydell
Medieval
History Magazine, Issue 6, February 2004
The
Saxon and Norman Kings
By Christopher
Brooks
1963
(1996 Barnes & Noble edition)
ISBN #
0-7607-0000-1
For more
on Walter Tirel:
Stay safe
out there!
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