The Death of the Red King
A new book is released through Greenwich Exchange Press in November
- The Death of the Red King. Read the outline of the book here, exclusive
to the website.
On the evening of 2nd August 1100 William Rufus, the Red King, son
of the Great Conqueror went hunting in the sprawling dense New Forest.
Rufus was a keen hunter, who had won a reputation as a military leader
and a defender of royal rights. He had crushed rebellion in England
and in Normandy and had plans for even greater triumphs. By the late
summer of 1100 Rufus was in the middle of a serious crisis with his
Archbishop of Canterbury, the philosopher and writer Anselm, who was
living in exile in France.
During the hunt Rufus was struck in the heart by an arrow accidentally
loosed by Walter Tirel, Lord de Poix, a visitor to Rufus’ court.
The King’s death had been foretold by ominous omens and sinister,
dark portents. Monks, especially at the Abbey of St. Peter Gloucester,
had experienced dreadful dreams about the King’s impending death.
According to these visions, Rufus was to be punished for his opposition
to the church and his scandalous private life.
Most historians view Rufus’ death as an accident. Paul Doherty
disagrees. The book is a faction, similar in style of “The Secret
Life of Elizabeth I”, a detective story, set a number of years
after Rufus’ death. Archbishop Anselm who, despite all his faults,
dearly loved Rufus, launches his own investigation into the royal
death on that fateful, beautiful August evening. “The Death
of the Red King” studies original evidence and reaches a very
startling, dramatic and exciting conclusion about the truth behind
the slaying of one of England’s most powerful Kings in the green
darkness of the New Forest.
