Reign of William II, William Rufus

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)
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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 would not have been possible without the information…

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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Reign of William II, William Rufus". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 July 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1949, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1949 Reign of William II, William Rufus 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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