Introduction

The children of William I (William the Conquerer) did not have an easy time of it.

The brothers were often at loggerheads over who should rule Normandy and England after their father died.

Two were killed in hunting accidents but it is the death of William Rufus that stands out. He was after all the ruling King of England when he was killed.

On 2 August 1100, William Rufus was killed in a hunting accident in the New Forest. This is one of the few facts known to this day.

You would have thought that the death of the King would have been documented at that time but unfortunately there do not appear to be any eye witness accounts. You have to imagine the scene where most people present fled the scene as fast as they could!

His brother Henry was in the hunting party and it is said that he left in haste to claim the throne as Henry I. It appears that Henry remained silent on the matter.

It was left to chroniclers to give their accounts well after the event. Some of the accounts are it seems to me excessively detailed and fanciful. We are left with a narrative that is widely accepted but has led to speculation, conjecture and conspiracy theories.

It remains arguably one of the greatest mysteries/potential crimes of all time.

As things stand, we do not appear to know with any certainty:

1. Where the hunting lodge was
- this may have been relatively near where the Royal hunting party hunted that day

2. where the hunting accident took place
- the debate is whether the Rufus Stone marks the spot or the accident occurred nearer Beaulieu Abbey

3. who was in the hunting party
- by definition one of the party fired the arrow that killed William Rufus

4. Who fired the arrow which killed William Rufus
- the money is on French Nobleman Sir Walter Tirel /Tyrel/Tyrell, which it is said he denied

I have come up with a Project Plan to look at these questions.

Project Plan

I have acquired a reasonable number of books and articles and I will start by listing them and any further items I obtain.

Then I will take my time and look at each item in turn to see what answers come up if any. I hope to identify some subtle wording that may throw some light on this 900 year old puzzle.

Many historians and academics have studied the chronicles without apparent success. So it seems unlikely that I will find anything new!

I hope that by concentrating on the 4 questions above only, I might stumble across something. At least it sholuld consolidate my understanding of what happened on that fateful day.

Colin Bower
18 August 2024

Project Index