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None of this is to say that Rufus was not homosexual. But if he were, there is no evidence for it. Too many historians—though not all, it should be said—have simply inherited a lurid tradition and embellished it.

— John Gillingham William II: The Red King (2015)

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The major churches were immensely rich. Approximately one-quarter of the wealth of all England as measured in Domesday Book belonged to them.

William II: The Red King (2015)

Opinion against ordeals hardened during the twelfth century, and in 1215 the pope prohibited priests from taking part in them, a ban which effectively ended the practice, leading, in Britain, to trial by jury instead.

William II: The Red King (2015)

There is nothing to indicate that Rufus learned to read or write—unlike Henry, who did, whether because he had originally been intended for the priesthood, or because he was ten years younger than Rufus, in a world of changing expectations. By the 1120s the saying ‘an illiterate king is an ass wearing a crown’ had become proverbial.

William II: The Red King (2015)

But despite dangers to themselves, rulers and would-be rulers were expected to share the risks when they sent their followers to fight, not stay behind their desks as rulers do today. For as long as this expectation prevailed, it was virtually impossible for women to become monarchs.

William II: The Red King (2015)

As an investment on which he expected a good return, Robert Bloet had been willing to pay £5,000 for his bishopric. Henry of Huntingdon remembered being in Bishop Robert’s household: ‘the handsome knights, noble young men, expensive horses, his golden and gilt dishes, the number of courses, the splendour of his servants, the purple garments and the satins’.

William II: The Red King (2015)

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