Reign of William II, William Rufus

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.02: English Writing and Culture: High and Late Medieval, 1066-1485.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Rory Critten (Université de Lausanne), David Fuller (University of Durham), Natalie Hanna (University of Liverpool), Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast), Jamie McKinstry (University of Durham), Sarah Peverley (University of Liverpool), Sebastian Sobecki (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)

Domains

Changes of government, elections and reigns

Dates

Date of occurrence 1087-1100

Places

England (Location)

The third son of William the Conqueror, William "Rufus" succeeded to the throne of England upon his father's death in 1086, while his elder brother Robert took over the lands of Normandy. For the first two years of his reign, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc, continued in the role of chief advisor he had held under William I. On Lanfranc's death in 1089, however, he appointed Anselm as Archbishop. This led to protracted conflict between king and archbishop, since Anselm advocated Gregorian reforms that William was not prepared to implement. In 1096, Robert of Normandy joined the First Crusade, and left his kingdom in the care of William in return for a huge sum of 10,000 marks. William raised this through taxation - an action that …

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148 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Reign of William II, William Rufus". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 July 2012 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1949, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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Reign of William II, William Rufus

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