*Ø* Blogmanac September 9, 1087 | The death of William the Conqueror
1087 Death of William I (The Conqueror) of England (b. (c. 1027). William was succeeded by his favourite son, William II (who died on August 2, 1100, while hunting in the New Forest and might have been a pagan Lammas sacrifice – see the Lammas article at the Scriptorium).
The death of William the Conqueror
William was sojourning in Normandy, planning to win back from France's King Philip I (May 23, 1052 - July 29, 1108), a piece of territory that Philip had taken from him some years before. He was also undergoing a medical regimen for his corpulence – he was a fat guy. Philip joked, “It is a long lying-in; there will doubtless be a ceremonious churching”. (Churching was a ceremony performed after a woman gave birth.)
William, hearing this, swore that he would hold his ‘churching’ in the centre of Paris, at Notre Dame, with ten thousand lances for candles. He led an expedition into French territory; while so engaged, his horse, stepping into some concealed burning timber, stumbled and fell, causing a rupture in the large belly of the king. At the age of sixty, after some weeks of illness, he died at the Convent of St Gervais, near Rouen, from injuries received when he fell off a horse at the Siege of Mantes.
His servants and officers thought only of their own interests, for William had been feared but never loved. He was left nearly naked on the floor, and was buried unceremoniously by monks. There being no coffin, his large body was squeezed into a grave, whereupon it burst. Incense and perfume failed to dispel the stench that rose up, and the people left the church in disgust.
William is buried at St. Stephen's, Caen, Normandy, now in France.
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1087 Death of William I (The Conqueror) of England (b. (c. 1027). William was succeeded by his favourite son, William II (who died on August 2, 1100, while hunting in the New Forest and might have been a pagan Lammas sacrifice – see the Lammas article at the Scriptorium).
The death of William the Conqueror
William was sojourning in Normandy, planning to win back from France's King Philip I (May 23, 1052 - July 29, 1108), a piece of territory that Philip had taken from him some years before. He was also undergoing a medical regimen for his corpulence – he was a fat guy. Philip joked, “It is a long lying-in; there will doubtless be a ceremonious churching”. (Churching was a ceremony performed after a woman gave birth.)
William, hearing this, swore that he would hold his ‘churching’ in the centre of Paris, at Notre Dame, with ten thousand lances for candles. He led an expedition into French territory; while so engaged, his horse, stepping into some concealed burning timber, stumbled and fell, causing a rupture in the large belly of the king. At the age of sixty, after some weeks of illness, he died at the Convent of St Gervais, near Rouen, from injuries received when he fell off a horse at the Siege of Mantes.
His servants and officers thought only of their own interests, for William had been feared but never loved. He was left nearly naked on the floor, and was buried unceremoniously by monks. There being no coffin, his large body was squeezed into a grave, whereupon it burst. Incense and perfume failed to dispel the stench that rose up, and the people left the church in disgust.
William is buried at St. Stephen's, Caen, Normandy, now in France.
Pip Wilson's articles are available for your publication, on application. Further details
Receive similar items free each day with a free subscription to Wilson's Almanac ezine. Send a blank email
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