BIOGRAPHY Eric Delderfield: "William the Conqueror left Normandy to his eldest son, Robert, and England to his third son, William, his favorite. This arrangement was a great disappointment to Robert, a pleasure-loving knight with little control over his sparring barons. It was also a decision fraught with danger: enmity between the brothers was likely to lead to hostilities, and the division of his dominion split the loyalty of the leading Norman families, most of whom owned land on both sides of the Channel. 'Rufus,' so called because of his flaming red hair, was stern and avaricious, encouraging many Norman barons to take Robert's side. They preferred the idea of Normandy's anarchy under the easygoing Robert who made no attempt to restrict their freedoms in the way that William did in England. His admiration for a coarse chivalry and feats of arms attracted military adventurers from all over Europe, swelling his retinue with knights whose unbridled behavior must have alienated further the Norman barons. Rebellion came within a year of the coronation. Simultaneous uprisings by disaffected Norman barons might have been expected to triumph when William had little dependable Norman support; instead he appealed to the English, promising fair laws and taxes, and the restoration of the forests for hunting. They rallied to his call and defeated the rebels on land and Robert's invading force by sea. William kept none of his promises, and the death of Lanfranc took away the only man who attempted to mold William's moral conscience. The king's profligacy probably attracted him to the unctuous Ranulf, whose abilities at raising money were formidable. The see of Canterbury was left vacant after Lanfranc's death, and the revenues channelled into royal coffers. The practice was applied to other sees when their bishops died. Lay estates were also subject to Ranulf's skills at extracting money. Repeated efforts by rebellious barons to overthrow William were thwarted by guile, false promises and military skill. Savage fines, mutilation, or death were meted out to the plotters. William twice invaded Normandy, in 1090 and 1094; after the initial defeat in the streets of Rouen, William returned in such overwhelming force that Robert had no choice but to come to terms. The second invasion was inconclusive and extremely costly. William completed the make-up of England by taking western Cumberland and Westmorland from Scotland in 1092 and building Carlisle Castle to protect his gains. William briefly repented his stand against the church when illness brought him near death in 1093, prompting the appointment of an unwilling Anselm as Archbishop of Canterbury. On his recovery, conflict with Anselm was inevitable: when it came William tried to dismiss Anselm, but he was deftly humiliated by a papal legate and had to be content with driving his troublesome Archbishop into exile. When Robert decided to go on a crusade, he entrusted Normandy to William by mortgaging it to him to help raise the money required for his rash (but ultimately successful) undertaking. William intended to hold on to Normandy when Robert returned, but he never had the opportunity: on 1 August 1100 he was killed by an arrow while hunting in the New Forest; the site of his death is marked by the 'Rufus Stone.' The alacrity and precision with which Henry went through the motions to become king, the rewards he gave to the relatives of the suspected author of the arrow, even the fact that William's body was abandoned by the party and arrived in Winchester on a charcoal-burner's cart make it hard to believe that William's death was an accident."

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Record Change October 26, 1999