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Walter III Tirel, The De Clare's and William Rufus
Walter III Tirel [also spelled Tyrell, Thurold, Turold; French Gaultier or Gautier Tirel] (abt. 1060-1136), was an Anglo-Norman nobleman. He is infamous for his involvement in the death of King William II of England, also known as William Rufus.
He was born in Poix, Picardy, France, the son of Walter II Tirel, a Norman lord, and his wife, Ann (De Clare) de Brionne. His mother was the daughter of Gilbert (Giselbert) de Brionne, Count Of Eu, and Constance d'Eu, daughter of Guillaume (William) d'Eu and Beatriz de Goz. His mother then was a half-sister to Richard FitzGilbert de Clare.
The elder Walter Tirel II had received more than 100 lordships for his service to King William I during the conquest of England and his son inherited these properties when his father died not long after 1069. His father is supposedly pictured in the Bayeux Tapestry, although there is no way of knowing which Norman fighter he was.
In 1087, William the Conqueror died and his lands were divided between his sons William and Robert, while their younger brother Henry received a large amount of silver. William became William II of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, while Robert took control of his father's lands in France.
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| William II, King of England |
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| Robert of Normandy |
The division of William the Conqueror's lands into two parts presented a dilemma for those nobles who held land on both sides of the Channel. Since the younger William and his brother Robert were natural rivals, these nobles worried that they could not hope to please both of their lords and thus ran the risk of losing the favor of one ruler or the other or both. The only solution, as they saw it, was to unite England and Normandy once more under one ruler. The pursuit of this aim led them to revolt against William in favor of Robert in the Rebellion of 1088, under the leadership of the powerful Bishop Odo of Bayeux, who was a half-brother of William the Conqueror.
Although William Rufus was an effective soldier, he was a ruthless ruler and, it seems, was little liked by those he governed: according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, he was "hateful to almost all his people and odious to God." He was roundly denounced in his time and after his death for presiding over what was held to be a dissolute court, in terms which, in modern times, have raised questions over his sexuality.
In keeping with Norman tradition, William scorned the English and their culture. William seems to have been a flamboyant character, and his reign was marked by his bellicose temperament. He did not marry nor did he produce any offspring, legitimate or otherwise. William also exhibited homosexual tendencies and an unexplained sympathy for the Jews in a highly homophobic and anti-semitic era. These qualities only served to make him even less popular with the Church.
But Walter and the King apparently got along well and, by 1089, Walter had become one of Rufus's trusted commanders of his army. As Robert failed to appear in England to rally his supporters, William won the support of the English with silver and promises of better government and defeated the rebellion, thus securing his authority.
By order of William Rufus, Walter was married about 1090 to Adelize Alice de Clare, a daughter of Richard FitzGilbert de Clare of Tonbridge, Kent. The majority of sources list only one child for this marriage, but in reality Walter and Adelize had four sons: Walter Le Généraux (The General) born about 1092; Baudoin (Baldwin), born about 1095; Robert le Seigneur De Bergicourt, birth date unknown, possibly 1100-1101; and Hugues (Hugh) I, born about 1105. It is unknown if the couple had any daughters.
In 1091, with Walter accompanying him, King William II invaded Normandy, crushing Robert's forces and forcing him to cede a portion of his lands. The two made up their differences, however, and William agreed to help Robert recover lands lost to France.
When Pope Urban II announced a plan to wrest the Holy City of Jerusalem from the Muslims, Walter answered the call and went on the First Crusade, beginning in 1096. Christian forces from Western Europe--traveling by sea or by a circuitous route overland--converged on Constantinople. Walter became one of those lords taking part as the Crusaders decided to march on foot across the inhospitable territory of modern-day Turkey.
Walter battled his way to Antioch, where, in 1098, the Christian forces captured the city. The Crusaders then began the siege of Jerusalem and, in July 1099, they had achieved their goal--the capture of the city of Jerusalem. The Crusaders, however, were unable to make inroads on controlling much territory beyond Jerusalem, mostly due to diminished army strength. While some Crusaders chose to stay in Jerusalem, Walter returned to England and his family.
While Walter had been gone with the Crusades, William Rufus was busy with troubles of his own, in particular the province of Maine, France, through the years of 1096-1098. Finally returning to England in the spring of 1099, William spent his time inaugurating Westminster Hall and hunting in his various favorite spots. But Maine was once more in rebellion no sooner than Rufus had left the shores of France. When a message of the French attack and siege on the garrison at Le Mans reached him, William was hunting at Clarendon near Salisbury at the outskirts of the New Forest. Alone and with consulting anyone, he impulsively jumped on his horse, rode to the coast, boarded a boat and sailed for France.
Stunned by William's swift response, the French retreated in haste and were pursued by Rufus all the way to a small village at Mayet, where the castle held out. The King arrived on a Friday and, when French forces besieged there asked for truce, William granted a peace until Monday. When hostilities resumed, the King was shaken by the death of a man standing beside him, whose head was crushed by a stone heaved from an upper floor of the castle. Considering his close encounter, Rufus held a council of war, dropped the siege, and returned to England by late September 1099.
The peaceful interlude that followed was destroyed in early May 1100 with the death of King William's nephew Richard, a natural son of his brother Robert. While hunting in New Forest, Richard had been accidentally shot with a cross-bolt--the second scion of the royal family to have died there. William's own brother Richard had died of an injury suffered by being gored by a deer while sporting under the eaves of the forest.
Dreams and portents--always important to the Medieval mind--began being noised both at home and abroad. Some saw blood welling from the earth and spreading across England, others said "The Evil One" had appeared to them and spoke of the King and his adviser Flambard, the universally disliked Chief Justiciar. William's over-burdened subjects were beginning to protest in earnest the heavy taxes levied against them and some of his nobles spoke of supporting his younger brother Henry for the throne. A monk at Gloucester dreamed a young woman knelt before the cross, praying to be delivered from Rufus' cruel yoke and being told to be patient a little longer. The monk's Abbot was so moved by the tale of the dream that he warned the King, who promptly dismissed it.
On 2 Aug. 1100, William Rufus organized a hunting trip in New Forest, Hampstead. The hunting party--consisting of William and his brother Henry, Walter III, and Walter's two brothers-in-law: Gilbert FitzRichard de Clare and Roger FitzRichard de Clare--stayed at a hunting lodge the night before the hunt.
William had been presented with six arrows on the eve of the hunt by his armorer. Taking four for himself, he handed the other two to Tirel, saying, "Bon archer, bonnes fleches" {"(To the) good archer, the good arrows."}
During the night, Rufus "...dreamt that he went to hell and the Devil said to him 'I can't wait for tomorrow because we can finally meet in person!' He suddenly awoke. He commanded a light to be brought, and forbade his attendants to leave him," according to the Chronicle of the Kings of the English in 1128 by William of Malmesbury. The King decided to forgo the hunt in the morning hours but, by the early afternoon, he was once again in buoyant spirits and set off through the forest.
The party spread out as they chased their prey, and William, in the company of Tirel, became separated from the others. It was the last time that William was seen alive. From several sources, the account of William's death can be pieced together.
In their search for prey, according to chroniclers, William and Walter continued their hunt into the late afternoon and found themselves on nearly opposite sides of a forest clearing.
"...Walter Tirel remained with him, while the others were on the chase. The sun was now declining, when the king, drawing his bow and letting fly an arrow, slightly wounded a stag which passed before him... The stag was still running... The king, followed it a long time with his eyes, holding up his hand to keep off the power of the sun's rays. At this instant Walter decided to kill another stag. Oh, gracious God! the arrow pierced the king's breast." [Malmesbury's account]
William had taken a shot at the deer, missed and ordered Walter to shoot. Tirel let loose a wild shot at the passing stag, but the arrow only grazed the animal, struck a tree and ricocheted. Instead of striking the stag as intended, the arrow pierced William in the middle of his chest.
A slightly different telling mentions the fact that William had dismounted to get a better shot at his quarry, but the result was still the same: Walter had fired the arrow that killed the King.
Malmesbury continues: "...On receiving the wound the king uttered not a word; but breaking off the shaft of the arrow where it projected from his body." He fell forward, driving the arrow even deeper, in some other accounts, and impatient as ever, William attempted to pull the arrow out "...and this accelerated his death. Walter immediately ran up but, as he found him senseless, he leapt upon his horse, and escaped with the utmost speed. Indeed there were none to pursue him: some helped his flight; others felt sorry for him."
The King's fall broke up the hunting party and its members each scattered to his own properties, fearing civil strife when it was learned the king had died. In his panicked flight from England, Walter reportedly crossed the River Avon on his way to the coast at a ford which is still called Tyrrellsford in Hampshire. Here, on lands that were first granted to his grandfather, Walter stopped at a blacksmith's shop near what is now known as Avon-Tyrrell and had his horse re-shod with the shoes facing backward in an attempt to confuse would-be pursuers.
King William's body was discovered the next morning by a group of peasants working in the woods. A charcoal burned by the name of Purkis placed the king's body "on a cart and conveyed to the cathedral at Winchester... blood dripped from the body all the way. Here he was buried within the tower. The next year, the tower fell down. William Rufus died in 1100... aged forty years. He was a man much pitied by the clergy... he had a soul which they could not save. He was loved by his soldiers but hated by the people because he caused them to be plundered."
To some chroniclers, such an 'Act of God' was a just end for a wicked king. However, over the centuries, the obvious suggestion that one of William's many enemies may have had a hand in this extraordinary event has been repeatedly made. Even chroniclers of the time point out that Walter was renowned as a keen bowman and unlikely to fire such an impetuous shot. And William's brother Henry, who was among the hunting party that day, benefited directly from William's death. Henry himself sped his way to Winchester and seized the national treasury and was crowned king three days later on 5 Aug. 1100.
Abbot Suger, another chronicler, who was Tirel's friend and who sheltered him in his French exile at the castle of Chaumaît, said later:
"It was laid to the charge of a certain noble, Walter Tirel, that he had shot the king with an arrow; but I have often heard him, when he had nothing to fear nor to hope, solemnly swear that on the day in question he was not in the part of the forest where the king was hunting, nor ever saw him in the forest at all."
And what of Walter himself, his wife and family?
There is an unconfirmed report that King Henry I actually pardoned Walter, but I can find no reliable sources for this. According to some, Walter lived the remainder of his life in exile in Normandy at the castle of Chaumaît, never once returning to England.
In 1116, Walter founded the Priory of St. Denis-de-l'Estrée, which existed until the 18th century. Some years later, in 1131, he established the Monastery of St. Pierre de Sélincourt, in part as a response to a revival of religion centering around monasteries during the second quarter of the 12th century. He may also have been acquainted with Milo of Sélincourt, the leader of the sect of monks there.
In his waning years, Walter took part in the Second Crusade and, in 1136, he died in the Holy Land.
There is some controversy over the birth date of Walter and Adelize Alice's son called Hugues (Hugh) I, supposedly born about 1105. The birth of this child, however, raises questions: Did Walter return to England for a time? Did Adelize Alice live in France after her husband fled there? These questions will have to remain unanswered for now.
Further Genealogical Notes on the Terrell Genealogy written by Edwin Holland Terrell say "Hugh I inherited the lands and titles of his father" and confirmed grants to churches at St. Denis, Sélincourt, and Amiens. The book also says Walter died at one of his chateaux "after having made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land" in the year 1135.
Of Adelize Alice, she was "seized {put in possession of} as a widow of the Manor of Langham in Essex" according to the Pipe Roll of 1136 and Further Genealogical Notes say "she appears to have lived to a great age" and died in 1138.
Today, a memorial known as the Rufus Stone marks the spot where some believe King William II fell. The inscription on the Rufus Stone reads:
"Here stood the oak tree, on which an arrow shot by Sir Walter Tyrell at a stag, glanced and struck King William the Second, surnamed Rufus, on the breast, of which he instantly died, on the second day of August, anno 1100. King William the Second, surnamed Rufus, being slain, as before related, was laid in a cart, belonging to one Purkis, and drawn from hence, to Winchester, and buried in the Cathedral Church, of that city."
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SOURCES:
The Complete Peerage: Vol. III [242-244], Vol. VI [498-503], Vol. X [348-357].
Douglas, David C., William the Conqueror: the Norman Impact upon England. (Berkley, CA: University of California. 1964.)
Keats-Rohan, K. S. B., Domesday Descendants - A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents 1066-1166 - II: Pipe Rolls to Cartae Baronum (Publications of the COEL Research Project: Boydell Press. 2002. Foundation for Medieval Genealogy online.)
Miss Nancy's Journal. (http://www.missnancysjournal.moonfruit.com/#/tirel-french-side/4512...)
Round, John Horace, Feudal England: Studies on the XIth and XIIth Century. (London: S. Sonnenschein & Co. 1895)
Terrell, Edwin H., Further Genealogical Notes on the Tyrrell-Terrell Family of Virginia and its English and Norman-French Progenitors. (TX: San Antonio. privately published. 1909)
Terrell, Frank, Lt.-Gen. (ret.) private correspondence.
Terrell, John Henry, A Genealogical History of the Tyrrells, Sometime of the French Vexin, Poix in Picardy, Guernanville in Normandy, Laingaham in Essex, Kingsworthy and Avon Tyrrell in Hampshire; Castleknock in Co. Dublin, Fertullagh in Co. Westmeath; and now of Grange Castle, Co, Kildare; Clonard, Co. Meath; and elsewhere. (privately published. 1904)
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