Additional Information in, The Death of Rufus

In his booklet The Death of Rufus, Arthur Lloyd covers the subject from the build up to the hunting accident, the accident itself and the action building up to the burial.

I have covered Arthur's favourite subject of Where did Rufus die? in a separate article:

Where did Rufus die?

In this article, I have picked out some 20 other interesting other points that he makes:

1. I had written in the Hampshire Magazine in September 1962, which pushed aside the idea that the Rufus Stone marks the place where the death occurred. Instead, Park Farm on the Beaulieu estate was suggested, based on a medieval reference and Sir William Berkeley's statement made in the 1530s that Ruifus was kiled at 'Thorougham', which was 'Truham' in Domesday Book..

2. After the king had pointed out to each person his fixed station, and the deer, alarmed at the barking of the dogs and the cries of the huntsmen, were swiftly flying towards the summits of the hills..
and
3. ..the body being laid by a few countrymen in a cart was carried back to the palace, and on the morrow was buried, with but few manifestations of grief, in a humble tomb..(Peter of Blois) (1070-c 1117)

4. He therefore did not hunt before dinner, but attended to serious business instead,... (William of Malmesbury)

5. "Walter Tirel dismounted
Very near the king, close to an alder
Against an aspen he leaned.." (verse by Gaimar)

These lines are significant as they provide the only descriptive context for the events immediately prior to the king's death.

6. The fact that the trees mentioned by name belong to those species thriving in damp or riverside areas which is important as providing circumstantial evidence that the place of the king's death is Thorougham.

7. It is clear that all the chroniclers who were alive at the time and were narrating or commenting on the death of Rufus recorded the event as an accident.

8. Well over a century later (after Rufus' death) ...Giraldus Cambrensis named Ralph de Aix as the man who loosed the fatal shot at the king. It is not now possible to know on what evidence (or hearsay) he based this statement.

9. John Stow wrote, "His men (especially that knight) got them away but some came back again and laid his body upon a collier's cart.."

10. Presumably carts would be available to hunting parties to carry off the venison, so the addition of a cart to the tale (reiterating the sole refernce by William of Malmesbury) is a tresonable gloss to the story.

11. It seems clear that the tradition about the site of Rufus' death near Malwood dates from a visit made to the Forest by Charles II (c 1682-1684) ...he and many of his aristocratic entourage would have read (an) account of Rufus' death. This clearly stated that the fatal arrow had glanced off a tree, so Charles may well have enquired...if any local countrymen knew whether the tree still stood.

12. Richard Gough, in the early 19th century had much the same idea; he wrote,'Modern tradition says he (Rufus) was killed near Malwood Castle, and that the oak ...was ordered by Charles II to be paled round, was the tree against which Tyrell'a arrow glanced."

He (Gough) noted that the stone that had earlier been set there was 'about five feet high', surmounted by a ball.

13. The story of the setting up of a stone in place of the tree is clearly described ....on...the (Rufus) stone.

14. It has already been shown that no medieval source mentions the name of Purkis (or Purkess), nor is it anywhere stated that the man with the cart was a charcoal burner as local tradition averred.

In the records of some chroniclers the actual words used arerustici meaning countrymen whilst others state the corpse was found by clientuli, translating as courtiers.

15. The stone site soon became established as the place of the king's death, so writers then suggested that Rufus' hunting lodge had been at nearby Castle Marwood, though there is no references to the latter until the 1270s.

16. John R. Wise writes, "As to the tradition (referring to the blacksmith who shod Tirel's horse), I think we may at once set aside its testimony. The value of mere tradition in history weighs, or ought to weigh, nothing.

He also saw the flaws in the naming of Purkess and giving a precise description of a charcoal burner, describing them as "merely traditional".

17. Dr Anne Ross, the historian of the Celts, writes of Rufus, "the King was based at his hunting lodge at Brockenhurst, but according to tradition, he spent the night of August 1st at Malwood Castle, near Minstead". Castle Malwood's part in the story, as we have seen, is not tradition but sheer invention - there is no mention of a hunting lodge there as early as 1100..

18. Dr A. Lane Poole writes, "The king's body was left deserted and unattended until some peasants thrust it on a rough farm cart and brought it to Winchester".

He wrote too that it happened near Brockenhurst and added, "so much we definitely know".

19. The death was probably near Brockenhurst, because of the special serjeanty by which Brockenhurst was held - providing bedding and food for the king and his horse when hunting on the forest - and because two writs have survived, written in the presence of Rufus when in the Forest and both were witnessed, apud Brocheherst.

20. He (Warren Holister) also showed that Henry's hurried dash to the treasury at Winchester was in keeping with the way Rufus himself had reacted when his father died.

Colin Bower
30 September 2024

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