King William ENGLAND, II ¹

   Other names for William were "The Red", ENGLAND King and "Rufus".

   Ancestral File Number: 8XHZ-ZQ.

   General Notes:

"Rufus", "The Red", King of ENGLAND Reigned 26 Sep 1087-1100.

BOOKS
Kings and Queens of Great Britain, Genealogical Chart, Anne Taute and Romilly Squire, Taute, 1990: "William II Rufus or the Red, Reigned 1087, Killed in the New Forest 1100."

The Political History of England, Vol II, George Burton Adams Longmans Green and Co, 1905, Ch I, p80:
[1095] "...There were reasons enough in the heavy oppressions of the reign why men should wish to rebel agains William, but he was sofixed in power, so resolute in action, and so pitiless towards the victims of his policy, that the forming of a dangerous combination against him was practically impossible.
"The contemporary historians of his reign tell us much of William's personality, bothin set descriptions and in occasional reference and anecdote. It is evident that he impressed in an unusual degree the men of his own time, but it is evident also that this impression was not so much made by his genius as aruler or a soldier, by the possession of the gifts which a great king would desire, as by something in his spirit and attitude towards life which was new and strange, something out of the common in words and action, which startled or shocked men of the common level and seemed at times to verge upon the awful. In body he was shorter than his father, thick-set and heavy, and his red face gave him the name Rufus by which he was then and still is commonly known. Much of his father's political and military ability and strength of will had descended to him, but not his father's character and high purpose. Every king of those times thought chiefly of himself, and looked upon the state as his private property; but the second William more than most...But the ordinary doings of a gyrant were not the worst things about William Rufus. Effeminate fashions, vices horrible and unheard-of in England, flourished at his court and threatened to corrupt the nation. The fearful profanity of the king, his open and blasphemous defiance of God, made men tremble..."
p110: "...In 1097 William had sent Edgar the atheling to Scotland with an army, King Donald had been overthrown, and Edgar's nephew, hemself named Edgar, with the support of the English king, had been made king..."
"...On August 2, 1100, William rode out to hunt in the New Forest as was his frequent custom. In some way, how we do not know, but probably by accident, he was himself shot with anarrow by one of his company, and died almost instantly...The king's body was brought to Winchester, where it was buried in the old minster, but without the ordinary funeral rites. One of his companions that day, Walter Tirel, a French baron..., was thought to have been responsible for his death...,but he afterwards solemnly declared, when ther would have been no danger to himself in confession, that it was not his arrow that slew the king, and whose it was will never be known."

TheOxford Book of Royal Anecdotes, Elizabeth Longford, 1991, Oxford Univ Press, pxix: "Normans and Plantagenets Genealogy: William II, Rufus (The Red), reigned 1087-1100."

A History of the English Speaking People Winston S Churchill Vol I The Birth of Britain Dodd Mead & Co p170:
"When death drew near [For William the Conqueror] his sons William and Henry came to him. William, whose one virtue had been filial fidelity, was named to succeed the Conqueror in England..."
p179: "...Under his son William, dubbed Rufus, the Red, it was not less harsh, but also capricious. Moreover, the accession of the Conqueror's second surviving son to the throne of England did not pass without dispute. William I's decision to divide hisenglish from his Norman lands brought new troubles in its train...Both Duke Robert and William II were dissatisfied with the division, and their brotherly ties did not mitigate their covetous desires..."
p181: "At home Rufus's extortions and violent methods had provoked the baronage throughout his reign. In August 1100 he was mysteriously shot through the head by an arrow while hunting in the New Forest, leaving a memory of shameless exactions and infamous morals, but also a submissive realm to his successor..."

The Wall Chart of World History, Edward Hull, 1988, Studio Edition, England 1087: "King of England 1087-1100, II Rufus (Red hair), Shot by arrow accidentally..."

The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England, Antonia Fraser, 1975, Alfred Knopf, p24: "William II Rufus 1057-1100..."

The Story of Civilization, Will Durant, Vol IV, The Age of Faith, Bk V, TheClimax of Christianity, Ch XXV, The Recovery of Europe, Sec VIII, England, p669: "[After the Conqueror's death] a younger son, William Rufus (the Red 1087-1100), was crowned King of England on promising good behavior to his anointer and minister Lanfranc. He ruled as a tyrant till 1093, fell sick, promised good behavior, recovered, and ruled as a tyrant till he was shot to death, while hunting, by an unknown hand..."

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File Ver 4.10 8XHZ-ZQ.

   Marriage Information:

William married Concubine England William II.