As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Affiliate disclosure.

Home / Books / The Death of the Red King
The Death of the Red King cover

Book

The Death of the Red King

by Paul Doherty

First published 2006

Amazon
3.8(75)

Paul Doherty investigates the death of William II, known as William Rufus, who was killed by an arrow while hunting in the New Forest in 1100. The accepted account treated the death as an accident involving Walter Tirel, but the king’s unpopularity, the rapid accession of his brother Henry and the behaviour of the hunting party have encouraged suspicion of a planned killing.

The book reconstructs the political and religious tensions of William’s reign and tests the surviving narratives against the interests of those who recorded them. It considers accident, assassination and dynastic conspiracy while acknowledging the limits of medieval evidence. The death becomes a route into the unstable succession politics of Anglo-Norman England.

Historical Periods

Medieval England after the Norman Conquest1071–1300 CE

Genres

Crime & Mystery

Historical people

Henry I of England1068–1135 William II of England1060–1100

More from this period

5 more top-rated novels about Medieval England after the Norman Conquest

Ranked by rating and voting volume; books already shown on this page are omitted.

Best novels about Medieval England after the Norman Conquest

More by the author

Other books by Paul Doherty

View all books by this author

Discover more

Authors similar to Paul Doherty

Recommended from shared genres and periods.

David Field 46 books

Historical mystery and political intrigue in the Reign of Henry VIII and Elizabethan Religious Settlement

C. F. Dunn 9 books

Historical mystery and political intrigue in the Battle of Tewkesbury and the Wars of the Roses