Analysis of Other Publications

I decided to collate information from the Other Publications below into one document using the headings in the template:

1. Where the Hunting Lodge was
2.Who was in the Royal Hunting Party
3. Where the hunting accident took place
4. Who fired the arrow that killed William Rufus
5. Further information that might prove useful

I set out to add, to this Analysis, cross references to the relevant publications but cannot guarantee that I have tracked them all.

Analysis

It became clear early on that there was a lot of additional information that would not be covered by the questioms in the Template including:

- the dreams/nightmares and premonitions by William Rufus and others before the hunt

- discussion on the reasons why Walter Tirel and others wished William Rufus dead.

I still felt that there was enough in the Template to warrant completing my project without change.

Even the relatively modest 24 articles showed up the lack of reliable evidence/fact/certainty and inconsistencies.

Some of the information in the chronicles, on which we rely, was written years after the event, yet seem overly detailed and must be suspect.

* * * *

To make life easier I have referred to the Other Publications as articles.

1. Where the Hunting Lodge was

I wondered if the hunting party might have left from a hunting lodge.

Article 4 states that William Rufus left for the hunt from Winchester Castle (The King lived in Winchester - Article 6), wheresas

Article 6 states that there was "a kind of hunting lodge" at Malwood Keep, where William Rufus spent the night before the hunt

On the day of the hunt FitzHamon came to breakfast (Article 6)

Article 24 mentions a hunting lodge in Brockenhurst deep in the New Forest (also see 11. below)

2.Who was in the Royal Hunting Party

Apart from 2 articles, the names of most participants in the hunting party suggested were:

William Rufus
His brother Henry
Sir Walter Tirel/Tyrel/Tyrrell
and
an unspeciified number of noblemen

In Article 9, 2 additional names are given:

William of Breteuil
FitzHamon

Uniquely, in Article 5 the author for the Wessex Society provided a long list without naming his source:

William II
His brother Henry
Walter Tirel
Earl Gilbert de Clare
His brother Roger
William de Breteuil
Robert FitzHamon
Gilbert de l'Aigle
William de Montfichet
Gerald of Wales (Bishop of St David's)
Ranulph de Aquis (see Note)
Court Officials
Huntsmen

Note

Named by Gerald of Wales as the killer
(perhaps better known as Ranulph Flambard, Bishop of Durham formerly Dean of Christchurch)

Unfortunately I have been unable to find a copy of the original article in the Werssex Chronicle.

Article 6 says that it was a great party that met for a day's hunting.

3. Where the hunting accident took place

It was thought that the Rufus Stone marked the spot
but
in more recent times it is thought that the accident happened nearer to Beaulieu perhaps at Truham/Trougham/Thoroughham
(Articles 5, 13, 15 and 17)

Rufus Memorial Cairn in the Grounds of Beaulieu Abbey& Palace Gardens

The Memorial reads:"Remember King William Rufus who died in these parts then known as Truham whilst hunting on 2nd August 1100"

4. Who fired the arrow that killed William Rufus

The main and in many ways the only suspect is Sir Walter Tyril/Tyrel/Tyrell, who is named in the chronicles and on the Rufus Stone.

There is speculation as to whether it was murder or an accident.

Some articles give a motive for Sir Walter to do the deed.

Some articles have Sir Walter's denial that he killed the King
(Articles 1, 4, 5, 8, 10, 19, 23)

As above Gerald of Wales named Ranulph de Aquis as the killer (Articles 5 and 10).

Articles 5, 10 and 22 say that the Clare family might have been involved in a conspriacy (the Clares were related to Walter Tirel).

Article 10 gives King William's armourer, Ralph of Aix, as a potential killer.

5. Further information that might prove useful

The following additional information was obtained in random order:

1. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has the earliest account of the death and merely says that William Rufus was shot by an arrow by one of his own men (Article 1)

2. Article 2 is useful in describing the location of the Rufus Stone.

3. Many of the articles point out that William Rufus' brother Henry benefitted greatly from William's death, when Henry claimed the throne for himself.

4. A number of articles (Articles 4, 6, 9, 10, 11, 16, 19, 20) suggest that William Rufus and Tirel became separated from the others.

5. A few articles refer to the start of the 6 week stag-hunting season on 1 August with William Rufus joining the hunt on 2 August (the morning after Lammas - Article 7)

6. 2 of the articles mention William having a meal/breakfast before leaving for the hunt (Article 9 - breakfast with his friend FitzHamon)

7. Article 7 lists the chronicles in which the hunting accident would have been reported:

- the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle at the end of 1100

By Monks

- Eadmer circa 1115
- William of Malmesbury 1118-25
- John (or Florence) of Worcester circa 1130
- Orderic Vitalis circa 1135

8. In Article 10 Anglo-Norman Monk Orderic Vitalis states that :

A. the King dined (the night before?) before the hunt with:

- his brother Henry
- Walter Tirel (see Note)
- Gilbert de Clare and
- his younger brother
Roger de Clare

Note

Walter Tirel was married to Richard de Clare's daughter. Article 19 disagrees and says that he married the daughter of Richard FitzHerbert.

The Author of Article 10 believes it was the de Clares who were involved in killing the King (also see 14. below).

9. Article 11 offers quite a different slant:

A. when a King hunted it was etiquette for a good shot to stand behind him should the King miss his shot

B.contemporary writer Geffrei Gaimar says that:

- the King and Walter Tirel had dismounted ready to shoot

- a huntsman administered communion to the dying king with grass as a substitute. (Also see Article 24)

- some loyal servants are said to have carried the body to Winchester Cathedral. (also see Article 24)

10. Article 12 states that it was the later chroniclers who added the name of Walter Tirel as the killer.

It also says that a John Leland wrote in 1530 that William died at Thorougham on what is now Park Farm on the Beaulieu estates. (see 17. below re Article 25)

The memorial stone in the grounds of Beaulieu has the spelling as Truham.

The Article quotes William of Malmesbury that the body of William Rufus was taken to Winchester by a few countrymen.

11. A number of articles mention that William Rufus hunted near Brockenhurst (Articles 11, 12 and 24)

As well as Articles 13 & 19, Article 11 says that the body was bleeding as it was taken to Winchester.

12. Article 18 provided the site of the Rufus Memorial Cairn unveiled in 2001 following research (by Arthur Lloyd) that William Rufus was shot and killed at Thorougham on the Beaulieu Estate.

13. Article 21 is an article from the Guardian in which Italian descendants of Walter Tirel want to donate a work of art partly depicting William Rufus' death, to a British Museum.

The triptych tells the story of Walter Tirel (or Gaultier Tirrell) in Latin.

The Tirelli family representative said that their ancester killed the King.

14. Article 22 lists the early sources of the death of William Rufus:

The Anglo Saxon Chronicle
Eadmer
Peter of Blois
William of Malmesbury
Orderic Vitalis
Matthew Paris

The Article also raises the possibility of the Clare family being involved in a conspiracy to kill the King (see 8. above).

15. Article 23 (the book White Ship) is mainly about Henry I but has a few pages on the killing of William Rufus.

The chapter about William Rufus' death begins with an atmospheric scene-setting by chronicler Robert Wace:

"They went into the New Forestr, intending to hunt stags and hinds; they set up their watch throughout the forest, but departed in great sadness. for the king, the knights and those who were his archers took up their positions and stretched their bows just as they saw the hinds coming.
Robert Wace, Jersey-born poet and historian (c1110-c 1174)

It has some comments that I have not seen covered elsewhere in the other 23 articles:

The Royal hunting party started out on 2 August (a Thursday) and the huntsmen and companions fell in around the King.

Henry had left the hunt to get his bow re-strung (also in Articles 11 and 22) and in Article 23 the accident to his brother had happened by the time he got back

Some servants threw a cloak over William Rufus and escorted his body from the hunting field and placed it in a cart.

William de Breteuil had ridden with Henry to Winchester and objected to Henry seizing the treasury.

16. Reference had been made to Geffrei Gaimar in other articles (e.g. Article 11 )

Article 24 was one of last searches I made and turned up a university thesis:
"Kingship and the transmission of power in Geffrei Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis"
by Emma Wheeler in 2017.

Wikipedia describes the Estoire des Engleis as a chronicle of English history composed by the poet (and historian) Geffrei Gaimar, believed to have been written between the late 1130s and mid 1140s written in Old French. (It is the oldest known history chronicle written in the French language).

Gaimar's chronicle ends with the death of William Rufus in 1100.

Much of the chronicle is a translation of extracts from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to circa 959. The source that Gaimar used to write the section on William Rufus is unknown.

In this long and detailed thesis, there are a series of interesting points including:

1. William of Malmesbury and Henry of Huntingdon were contemporaries of Gaimar.

2. Brockenhurst

Other articles mention the hunting party heading for Brockenhurst, e.g Articles 11 and 12. Brockenhurst is relatively near to Beaulieu

There was a hunting lodge in Brockenhurst deep in the New Forest.

It appears that William Rufus was in Brockenhurst:

- dining in the New Forest before leaving for Le Mans via Southampton circa 1098
(thought that he may have been on a hunting expedition)

- the fateful hunting expedition in 1100 left from Brockenhurst

3. As in some other accounts, the thesis claims that Walter Tirel murdered the King to prevent a further land grab in France as far as Poitiers.

4. Far from being left alone, after William Rufus died he received a lay communion of grass and flowers (also in Article 9).

17. Article 25 Added Later

I was intrigued by the reference to John Leland in Article 12 and conducted a further search and found this useful additional article, wheich has 2 interesting quotes:

William Rufus was staying at Winchester and...........declared he would go hunting the next day." and "In 1530, John Leland, the antiquary to King Henry VIII, claimed that the King (William Rufus) died at a place recorded in Domesday called Thorougham (Truham). This village was lost during the formation of the New Forest by William the Conqueror around 1079. The site is likely to be at Park Farm, Beaulieu."

Conclusions

For a major historical event like the death of William Rufus, the level of consistency/reliability of the accounts in the chronicles is unsatisfact ory, but it is the best we will ever get.

There is a well-known narrative covering the killing of William Rufus. In the absence of eye-witness evidence, some of the story appears far-fetched and mere myth and legend.

On completion of the first of the two Analyses, it is clear that there are some different points of detail, e.g. where the hunting party left from, and some major differences between these relatively few articies that I collected.

The obvious ones are:

- whether it was a hunting accident or Walter Tirel murdered William Rufus, e.g. to prevent William's further expanding into France

- whether William Rufus died at the site of the Rufus Stone or nearer to Beaulieu

- whether or not all of the hunting party rushed off leaving William Rufus unattended or some stayed and looked after him as he died

It will be interesting to see how much information is confirmed or not when I study the 3 main books.

List of Other Publications

1. A bad day's hunting
Essex Record Office 2018

2. Extract from Minstead, Hampshire
werelate.org

3. The man who was never meant to be King
by (Lord) Charles Spencer 2020
(first appeared in the Catholic Herald)

4. Suspicious Death of Rufus, King of England (1100)
by Susan Flantzer 2000
for Unofficial Royalty

5. The Murder of William II, Rufus the Red
by Michael Hodges
for the Wessex Society 2020
(previously in the Wessex Chronicle 2012)

6. The Red King in the New Forest
Heritage Story
for Cambridge Press

7. How much evidence is there to suggest William Rufus was murdered?
by Mike Dash
for reddit

8. What happened to Rufus?
by Ian Murray 2006
for the Daily Echo

9. William Rufus - His Death
by Amamnda Moore 2012
for Hampshire History

10. Dreams of Blood - The Mysterious Death of William Rufus
posted by Censor Librorum 2019
for Nihil Obstat

11. The Murder of King Rufus (William II of England)
Naked History 2015

12. William II of England
Extract from Wikipedia

13. The Rufus Stone Monument in the New Forest
for Slow Travel 2020-2024

14. The Rufus Stone
New Forest Nationa Park

15. The Rufus Stone
Strolling Guide

16. The Rufus Stone
for Britain Express

17. The Other Rufus Stone, Beaulieu, New Forest
by Jim Champion 2006

18. Mill Pond Walk
from Current Description of Beaulieu Abbey& Palace Gardens
for Hampshire Gardens Trust

19. Walter Tirel
from Wikipedia

20.The Death of William II
Reading Museum 2017

21. Descendants of King William II's killer
want to donate triptych to British Museum
by Angela Giuffrida, Rome
The Guardian March 2024

22. Early sources on the death of William Rufus
by The History Jar

23. The book, The White Ship
by (Lord) Charles Spencer 2020

24. Kinship and the transmission of power in Geffrei Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis
Thesis written by Gemma Wheeler 2017

Added later:

25. The Death of William Rufus: Accident or Assassination
by Edward Watson 2020
for Clas Merdin

26. Reflections on King William Rufus
by Nick Saunders 2019
for New Milton Advertiser & Lymington Times (the A & T)

Colin Bower
8 August 2024

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