William II of England, known as William Rufus, ruled from 1087 to 1100 as the third son of William the Conqueror. Energetic, forceful, and often controversial, he continued his father’s centralising policies, asserting strong royal authority in England while maintaining influence over Normandy amid ongoing dynastic tensions.

William’s reign was marked by persistent conflict with the Church. He frequently kept bishoprics and abbeys vacant in order to appropriate their revenues, a practice that brought him into direct confrontation with Anselm of Canterbury, ⓘ Archbishop of Canterbury. Disputes over ecclesiastical appointments, royal demands for homage, and resistance to papal authority reflected the wider Investiture Controversy then reshaping relations between Church and state across Europe. William’s policies ultimately forced Anselm into exile in 1097.

Despite his effectiveness as a ruler, William Rufus cultivated a reputation for irreligion and harsh governance among contemporary chroniclers, many of them churchmen hostile to his treatment of the clergy. His sudden death in the New Forest on 2 August 1100, struck by an arrow during a royal hunt, shocked contemporaries and was widely interpreted as divine judgement. Whether accident or assassination, the circumstances remain debated.

William died unmarried and without legitimate heirs. He was succeeded swiftly by his younger brother Henry I, whose reign would seek reconciliation with the Church and mark a partial departure from William’s confrontational ecclesiastical policy.