Ibrahim II – Ingliando

On this day, King William II of England, commonly referred to as William Rufus, perhaps because of his ruddy complexion or possibly due to having red hair, was killed by an arrow through the lung while he was out hunting in the New Forest. The arrow was fired by a certain Walter Tirel. It remains unclear whether the King’s death was an accident or murder as Tirel was renowned to be a keen bowman and unlikely to have missed a chosen target. William never married and had no children, so his younger brother, Henry, was next in line for the throne. Henry was in the forest with William at the time of the incident and immediately afterwards he rode to Winchester where he secured the treasury and then to London where he was crowned within days. The speed with which he moved has led to speculation of his direct involvement in William’s death.

Read Bob Lynn’s short story “Conscience”
about Walter Tirel HERE

Puoi trovare altre brevi notizie storiche QUI

Your comments are always very welcome.

On this day, the mountainside fortress town of Taormina on the East coast of Sicily, the island’s last great citadel still in Byzantine hands, fell to the large marauding army of Ibrahim II, the Emir of Ifriqiya on the north coast of Africa. Travelling across Sicily from the west coast to the east coast, Ibrahim quickly crushed the recently reinforced Byzantine army that came out to meet him at Giardini, but Taormina itself, sitting high upon a rock, seemed impregnable. Ibrahim nonetheless ordered volunteers to climb the rocky seaward face of the citadel, which the remaining defenders had neglected to watch, and as soon as the black flag of the caliphate was unfurled at the top, Ibrahim’s army surged towards the gates. The defenders were overwhelmed, the gates were flung open, and Taormina fell. Finally, after 75 years, the whole of Sicily was in Muslim hands.

Puoi trovare altre brevi notizie storiche QUI