3048480 - Davis Moebus Tree

Name Prefix:<NPFX> King
Name Suffix:<NSFX> II, Of England
Also called William II of England

Killed in mysterious hunting accident in the New Forest. His younger brother Henry was with him, who immediately claimed the crown and treasure. (Eldest brother Robert was on crusade)

Rufus, or the Ruddy, King of England, was third son of William I., and was born in Normandy, about 1060. He was educated by Lanfranc, and appears to have been from childhood his father's favourite son. On his father's death, and by his express desire, he hastened to England, obtained possession of the royal treasury at Winchester, and was crowned by Lanfranc, then archbishop of Canterbury, at Westminster, September 26, 1087. An insurrection in favour of his elder brother Robert, Duke of Normandy, broke out in the following year, headed by Bishop Odo <bishopo.html>, and several Norman nobles ; but by politic promises of good laws William obtained the assistance of his English subjects, and quelled the rising. In 1090 he made war on Robert in Normandy, but their quarrel ended with a treaty. Similar ending had the war begun with Malcolm <kingscot.html>, King of Scotland, who agreed to do homage to William. It was, however, afterwards renewed, and Malcolm fell at Alnwick, in 1093.
Renewed war in Normandy, campaigns against the Welsh, a long quarrel with Anselm, the new primate, from whom William long kept the temporalities of the see, and other troubles, filled up the rest of his reign. In 1096 he acquired, perhaps subject to a right of redemption, the duchy of Normandy for a large sum of money; Robert going on the first crusade. In the following year he began building the first Westminster Hall, and a bridge over the Thames, and completed the Tower of London. His avarice, profligate life, and severity as a ruler made him universally hated, and the manner of his death was considered an expression of God's judgement against him. He was shot while hunting in the New Forest, August 2, 1100; by whose hand, and whether by accident or otherwise, it is impossible to tell. He was buried in the cathedral of Winchester.
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born c. 1056
died Aug. 2, 1100, near Lyndhurst, Hampshire, Eng.
King of England (1087–1100) and de facto duke of Normandy (1096–1100).
or William Rufus He inherited England from his father, William I (the Conqueror), and quelled a rebellion (1088) by barons loyal to his brother Robert II . A tyrannical ruler, he brutally punished the leaders of a second revolt (1095). He forced St. Anselm , archbishop of Canterbury, to leave England and seized his lands (1097). He reduced the Scottish kings to vassals (1093), subjugated Wales (1097), and waged war on Normandy (1089–96), gaining control when Robert mortgaged the duchy. His death in a hunting accident may have been an assassination ordered by his brother Henry (later Henry I).