His red face earned him the nickname William Rufus and he had a paunch. He extended his rule into Wales, brought the Scottish King Malcolm under his influence and established peace in Normandy. He made himself unpopular through his taxes and by imposing the death penalty on people who hunted deer in great swathes of forest he claimed for royal use.īut he was also a brave general. And the country was still sharply divided between the English people and their new Norman overlords. William II came to the throne just 21 years after his father, William I, had conquered England. William II was ‘addicted to every kind of vice, particularly lust and especially sodomy,’ according to Frank Barlow, the leading medieval historian.
King William Rufus (1087 – 1100) Handsome men were promoted in William II’s court, just as in the TV series Merlin. This is the incredible history of their secret love lives, stormy reigns, tragic sicknesses and grisly murders. And they include some of the most famous rulers in British history. Of 41 monarchs since William The Conqueror, we’ve identified seven who were likely lesbian, gay or bisexual.
England’s ‘gay’ kings and queens defied society – during perhaps the most homophobic era of human history – to have same-sex lovers.
