William II of England
William II 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, 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."
Early years
William's date of birth is not known, but according to historian Frank Barlow it occurred by 1060. He was the third of four sons born to William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders, the eldest being Robert Curthose, the second Richard, and the youngest Henry. Richard died around 1075 while hunting in the New Forest. William succeeded to the throne of England on his father's death in 1087, but Robert inherited Normandy.William had five or six sisters. The existence of sisters Adeliza and Matilda is not absolutely certain, but four sisters are more securely attested:
- Adela, who married Stephen, Count of Blois;
- Cecily, who became a nun;
- Agatha, who died unmarried;
- Constance, who married Alan IV, Duke of Brittany.
According to William of Malmesbury, writing in the 12th century, William Rufus was "well set; his complexion florid, his hair yellow; of open countenance; different coloured eyes, varying with certain glittering specks; of astonishing strength, though not very tall, and his belly rather projecting."
Reign
England and France
The division of William the Conqueror's lands into two parts upon his death presented a dilemma for those nobles who held land on both sides of the English Channel. Since the younger William and his brother Robert were natural rivals, these nobles worried that they could not hope to please both of their lords and thus ran the risk of losing the favour of one ruler or the other, or both. The solution, as they saw it, was to unite England and Normandy once more under one ruler. The pursuit of this aim led them to revolt against William in favour of Robert in the Rebellion of 1088, under the leadership of the powerful Bishop Odo of Bayeux, who was a half-brother of William the Conqueror. As Robert failed to appear in England to rally his supporters, William won the support of the English with silver and promises of better government, and defeated the rebellion, thus securing his authority. In 1090, William decided to intervene in Normandy and started buying the allegiance of Norman barons in Upper Normandy, but his attempt to plot to take the city of Rouen in November that year failed. In 1091 he invaded Normandy, crushing Robert's forces and forcing him to cede a portion of his lands. The two made up their differences, and William agreed to help Robert recover lands lost to France, notably Maine. This plan was later abandoned, but William continued to pursue a ferociously warlike defence of his French possessions and interests to the end of his life, exemplified by his response to the attempt by Elias de la Flèche, Count of Maine, to take Le Mans in 1099.William Rufus was thus secure in his kingdom. As in Normandy, his bishops and abbots were bound to him by feudal obligations, and his right of investiture in the Norman tradition prevailed within his kingdom during the age of the Investiture Controversy that brought excommunication upon the Salian Emperor Henry IV. The king's personal power, through an effective and loyal chancery, penetrated to the local level to an extent unmatched in France. The king's administration and law unified the realm, rendering him relatively impervious to papal condemnation. In 1097 he commenced the original Westminster Hall, built "to impress his subjects with the power and majesty of his authority".
Religion
Less than two years after becoming king, William II lost his father's adviser and confidant, the Italian-Norman Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury who died in 1089. The king delayed appointing a new archbishop for many years, appropriating ecclesiastical revenues in the interim. In panic, owing to serious illness in 1093, William nominated as archbishop another Norman-Italian, Anselm – considered the greatest theologian of his generation – but this led to a long period of animosity between Church and State, Anselm being a stronger supporter of the Gregorian reforms in the Church than Lanfranc. William and Anselm disagreed on a range of ecclesiastical issues, in the course of which the king declared of Anselm, "Yesterday I hated him with great hatred, today I hate him with yet greater hatred and he can be certain that tomorrow and thereafter I shall hate him continually with ever fiercer and more bitter hatred."The English clergy, beholden to the king for their preferments and livings, were unable to support Anselm publicly. In 1095 William called a council at Rockingham to bring Anselm to heel, but the archbishop remained firm. In October 1097, Anselm went into exile, taking his case to the pope. The diplomatic and flexible Urban II, a new pope, was involved in a major conflict with Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, who supported Antipope Clement III. Reluctant to make another enemy, Urban came to a concordat with William, whereby William recognised Urban as pope, and Urban gave sanction to the Anglo-Norman ecclesiastical status quo. Anselm remained in exile, and William was able to claim the revenues of the archbishop of Canterbury to the end of his reign.
However, this conflict was symptomatic of medieval English politics, as exemplified by the murder of Thomas Becket during the reign of the later Plantagenet King Henry II and Henry VIII's actions centuries later, and as such should not be seen as a defect of William's reign in particular. Of course, contemporary churchmen were not above engaging in such politics: it is reported that when Archbishop Lanfranc suggested to William I that he imprison the rebellious Bishop Odo of Bayeux, he exclaimed "What! He is a clergyman." Lanfranc retorted "You will not seize the bishop of Bayeux, but confine the earl of Kent."
While there are complaints of contemporaries regarding William's personal behaviour, he was instrumental in assisting the foundation of Bermondsey Abbey, endowing it with the manor of Bermondsey, and it is reported that his "customary oath" was "By the Face at Lucca!".
War and rebellion
William Rufus inherited the Anglo-Norman settlement detailed in the Domesday Book of 1086, a survey undertaken at his father's command, essentially for the purposes of taxation, which was an example of the control of the English monarchy. If he was less effective than his father in containing the Norman lords' propensity for rebellion and violence, through charisma or political skills, he was forceful in overcoming the consequences. In 1095, Robert de Mowbray, the earl of Northumbria, refused to attend the Curia Regis, the thrice-annual court where the King announced his governmental decisions to the great lords. William led an army against Robert and defeated him. Robert was dispossessed and imprisoned, and another noble, William of Eu, accused of treachery, was blinded and castrated.In external affairs, William had some successes. In 1091 he repulsed an invasion by King Malcolm III of Scotland, forcing Malcolm to pay homage. In 1092 he built Carlisle Castle, taking control of Cumberland and Westmorland, which had previously been claimed by the Scots. Subsequently, the two kings quarrelled over Malcolm's possessions in England, and Malcolm again invaded, ravaging Northumbria. At the Battle of Alnwick, on 13 November 1093, Malcolm was ambushed by Norman forces led by Robert de Mowbray. Malcolm and his son Edward were killed, and Malcolm's brother Donald seized the Scottish throne. William supported Malcolm's son Duncan II, who held power for a short time, and then another of Malcolm's sons, Edgar. Edgar conquered Lothian in 1094 and removed Donald in 1097 with William's aid in a campaign led by Edgar Ætheling. Edgar recognised William's authority over Lothian and attended William's court. William made two forays into Wales in 1097. Nothing decisive was achieved, but a series of castles were constructed as a marchland defensive barrier.
In 1096 Robert Curthose joined the First Crusade. He needed money to fund this venture and pledged his lands in Normandy to William in return for a payment of 10,000 marks, which equates to about a quarter of William's annual revenue. In a display of the effectiveness of English taxation, William raised the money by levying a special, heavy, and much-resented tax upon the whole of England. He then ruled Normandy as regent in Robert's absence. Robert returned in September 1100, one month after William's death. As regent in Normandy, William campaigned in France from 1097 to 1099. He secured northern Maine but failed to seize the French-controlled part of the Vexin region. According to chronicler William of Malmesbury he was planning to invade the Duchy of Aquitaine at the time of his death.