(born &circa; 1056—died Aug. 2, 1100, near Lyndhurst, Hampshire, Eng.) King of England (1087–1100) and de facto duke of Normandy (1096–1100). He inherited England from his father, William I (the Conqueror), and quelled a rebellion (1088) by barons loyal to his brother Robert II.
A tyrannical ruler, he brutally punished the leaders of a second revolt (1095). He forced St. Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, to leave England and seized his lands (1097). He reduced the Scottish kings to vassals (1093), subjugated Wales (1097), and waged war on Normandy (1089–96), gaining control when Robert mortgaged the duchy. His death in a hunting accident may have been an assassination ordered by his brother Henry (later Henry I).
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