It
haunts the whole forest, and rightly understood fills it with meaning
and can never have been or be far from the thoughts of anyone who
wanders there, even as I have done in the excellent days of Spring.
[Illustration: IN THE NEW FOREST]
No less than three members of the Conqueror's family were killed in the
New Forest; first Richard, one of his sons, then another Richard,
bastard son of Duke Robert of Normandy, this in May 1100; and in August
of the same year, his son and successor William, surnamed Rufus. All
these deaths are said to have been caused by accidents, all were caused
by arrows; it is a strange thing.
All we really know about the death of William Rufus may be found in the
English "Chronicle." "On the morrow was the King William shot off with
an arrow from his own men in hunting." Whether the arrow, as tradition
has it, was shot by Walter Tyrrel or no, whether it was aimed at the
King or no, can never now be known. The most graphic account of the
affair is given to us by Ordericus Vitalis, who, however, was not only
not present, but at best can have been but a child at the time, for he
died in 1150.
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