Was King William II of England A Pagan Sacrifice?

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Original post: Mmothra

Interesting stuff from http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/aug2.html

[QUOTE]
1100 Englandâ??s King William Rufus(b. c. 1056)was killed when shot through the chest by an arrow while hunting.



WasWilliama pagan sacrifice?

The Celts celebrate the main part of the festival of Lughnasadh from sunset on August 1 until sunset on August 2. On August 2, 1100English KingWilliamRufus was killed when shot through the chest by an arrow while hunting in the New Forest. Rufus (â??the Redâ??) was a son of Williamthe Conqueror, and his elder brother,Richard, had also died in theNew Forest. Rumours probably abounded thatRichardand Rufus were victims of heathen ill will, forWilliamthe Conqueror had expelled the dwellers of theNew Forest.

These were the pagans, for that is what the word pagan originally meant.
\Pa"gan\ (p[=a]"gan), n. [L. paganus a countryman,

peasant, villager, a pagan, fr. paganus of or pertaining to

thecountry, rustic, also, pagan, fr. pagus a district,

canton, the country, perh. orig., a district with fixed

boundaries: cf. pangere to fasten. Cf. {Painim}, {Peasant},

and {Pact}, also {Heathen}.]

Source



Pagans were thus the dwellers in the forest/countryside, whose old religions were at odds with, and ruthlessly suppressed by, monotheistic religions like Christianity and Islam, the hegemonies of which led to the longstanding pejorative connotations of the term.

The legend says that on the night of August 1, Rufus dreamt of his blood reaching to heaven, darkening the sky. The same night, an English monk dreamt thatKingWilliamRufusentered a church and picked up a crucifix; he gnawed atChristâ??s arm, then the figure kicked him, making him fall backwards, and smoke and flames came out of his mouth.The monk told his abbot, Serlo, of the dreams and Serlo sent a warning toWilliam, who had many enemies for he was known as an oppressor ofEngland, taxing the people heavily.However, the haughty king dismissed the abbotâ??s prescient warning.

Itâ??s possible thatWilliamthe Red was killed by his younger brother who was with him on that hunting trip and was crownedKingHenryI almost immediately. Tradition has it thatWilliamâ??s bleeding body was taken by a charcoal burner named Purkiss (or Purkis), toWinchesterPalace, and for his kindness he was rewarded with an acre or two of land. (It is interesting to note that a charcoal-burning family named Purkiss still lived on the same land at least as late as the 1880s.)

Williamâ??s body was left by the nobles to lie overnight at the place where he fell, which might indicate their feelings towards him. A stone (relatively new, having been erected by Earl De La Warr in 1745) known as the Rufus Stone marks the spot. (GB Ordnance Survey Grid Ref. SU 270 124)



Sacrificial kingship

Itâ??s widely believed amongst neo-Pagans thatWilliamand other kings who died violent deaths on or near Celtic cross-quarter days, such as this one, were actually victims of sacrificial kingship. This ritual of pre-Christian times inEuropewas related to giving thanks to the sun for a good harvest. Such sacrifice was also practised in ancientGreece, and the Celts might have acquired the practice from there.

Lughnasadh would be the time for the king to reaffirm his sacred â??marriageâ?? to the prosperity of the kingdom. One notes that both the murder of King Olaf of Norway, and his feast day (July 29), are close to Lammastide (Lughnasadh, August 1); sacrificial kingship is also known in other parts of Europe. Also, apparently it is known in Africa: Walby, Celestin, â??The African Sacrificial Kingship Ritual andJohnsonâ??s Middle Passageâ??, African American Review 29.4 (1995): 657-669.It has strong connections with the self-sacrifice of Odin in Norse mythology, and to the Christian myth of the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

WilliamRufusmight have been the last pagan sacrifice of a king, and his death disguised for the Christian authorities as a hunting accident. Some of the clergy, by the way, hated Rufus and saw his death as divine judgment, while some contemporary accounts said he was accidentally shot by his friendWilliamTirel.



Harvest, death and rebirth

Despite its marital associations, Lughnasadh was also a mourning feast. A long tradition of a symbolic funeral procession during Lammas continues today inLancashire,Englandâ??s Wakes Week, and long wake processions such as one across theYorkshiremoors, called the Lyke Wakes Walk. To this day, young men carry an empty coffin about 60 km (about 40 miles) along an ancient track. We must bear in mind that while Lughnasadh is the god Lughâ??s marriage, when the sun is called upon to allow a successful harvest from the feminine earth, it is also Lughâ??s wake, for he is the Sun-King, whose light begins to pale after the Summer Solstice.

Lughnasadh, too, recalls the theme of death, because, as the first of the three harvest Sabbats, (Lughnasadh, Mabon and Samhain), ancient people celebrated the ripening grains and corn, which must be mowed (killed) for â??rebirthâ?? to begin. The Greek mythological story of Demeter and Persephone, likewise, is a story about the cycle of death and rebirth associated with grain. Here is where the theme of the sacrificed god motif is so central, Lughâ??s death being essential for rebirth of the land to take place.

Lughâ??s death is a sacrifice that will occur again with the new growth in the spring, and must be repeated each year. Thus it was that pagan kings sometimes had a duty to sacrifice themselves for the land, although we do not fully know to what extent human or animal sacrifice occurred in pagan cultures. All we know is that in those times, kings did at times allowed themselves to be sacrificed at the end of the year, whereupon a new king could be appointed and the cycle could begin anew.

â??Prodigiesâ?? and omens atWilliamâ??s Death

The Biddenden Maids were conjoined twins who were born in Biddenden,Kent, in 1100. In the popular imagination of the time, the death ofKingWilliamwas associated with the Maids and other â??anomalousâ?? occurrences.

â??It may be urged that the date fixed for the birth of the Biddenden Maids is so remote as to throw grave doubt upon the reality of the occurrence. The year 1100 was, it will be remembered, that in whichWilliamRufuswas found dead in theNew Forest, (with the arrow either of a hunter or an assassin in his breast.â?? According to the Anglo-saxon Chronicle, several â??prodigiesâ?? preceded the death of this profligate and extravagant monarch. Thus it is recorded that â??at Pentecost blood was observed gushing from the earth at a certain town of Berkshire, even as many asserted who declared that they had seen it. And after this, on the morning after Lammas Day,KingWilliam was shot.â?? Now, it is just possible that the birth of the Biddenden Maids may have occurred later, but have been antedated by the popular tradition to the year above mentioned. For such a birth would, in the opinion of the times, be regarded undoubtedly as a most evident prodigy or omen of evil. Still, even admitting that the date 1100 must be allowed to stand, its remoteness from the present time is not a convincing argument against a belief in the real occurrence of the phenomenon; for of the dicephlic Scottish brothers, who lived in 1490, we have credible historic evidence. Further, Lycosthenes, in his â??Chronicon Prodigiorom atque Ostentorumâ??, published in 1557, states, upon what authority I know not, that in the year 1112 joined twins resembling the Biddenden phenomenon in all points save in sex were born in England.â?Â

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Original post: gentlething entity

On this, have you read Lammas Night by Katherine Kurtz?

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Original post: Mmothra

No, I haven't...is it a novel or non-fiction title? How about giving us a "book report"?

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Original post: phoenixstorm

funny thing he is an ancestor of mine.