They defied the religious, homophobic times in which they lived and many paid dearly for it.
They may have worn crowns and wielded power, but at the end of the day, they were human too. Here are their stories. (Part 1)
William II - Rufus.
William was the eldest son of the Great William the Conqueror, who brought Norman rule to England in 1066. As the eldest, William Rufus, AKA The Red, was given his father's greatest Kingdom, England, while the second son Henry was given Normandy. Their younger brother Robert got only 5000 pounds.
None of the brothers were satisfied and all three, plotted, and fought in attempts to have it all. Eventually the brothers got tired of the fray. Robert went on crusade and William and Henry made a tentative peace.
William was not popular among his people. He taxed them heavily and lacked the strength of his father, and he was a homosexual, a great sin in their religious Middle Ages. It was said that he was addicted to every kind of vice, particularly lust, and especially sodomy.
He filled his court with attractive young men who wore fashionable pointed shoes and long hair. William was too busy with his male favourites to contract a marriage or produce an heir, so he alone stood between his power-hungry brothers and the throne.
While out on a hunting trip with his brother Henry, William was shot with an arrow and killed. Nothing is certain, but fratricide seems pretty likely.
William’s body was left in the woods until a group of peasants brought it to Winchester in a wheelbarrow. Once there, the King's body was refused a Christian burial.
When Henry took over as king, he ousted many of William’s favourites and forced those who remained to cut their hair.
Richard I
Richard, known as the Lionheart, was a handsome warrior and, at 1.95 metres, he towered over the men of his age. He was a foolish romantic who pictured himself as a story book hero.
Richard spent much of his childhood in the Duchy of Aquitaine, France with his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was estranged from Richard's father, Henry II, King of England.
At 22, Richard and his brothers revolted against their father and in order to strengthen his position, Richard allied himself with the teenage king Philip of France.
Contemporary, Roger of Hoveden, recorded that “Richard and Phillip ate every day at the same table and from the same dish, and at night their beds did not separate them, and the King of France loved him as his own soul, and they loved each other so much, that the King of England was absolutely astonished at the passionate love between them, and marvelled at it."
Historians debate whether this is evidence of Richard's homosexuality or just the courtly language of the time.
When Richard’s father died, he had no choice but to leave England to his prodigal son, and Richard became king. At 32, he had no interest in the drudgery of governing, and left his mother in charge while he went on crusade to try and take the Holy City of Jerusalem from the Muslims.
There is evidence of Richard having affairs with women while on campaign and he acknowledged one illegitimate son, Phillip of Cognac. However, he spent as little time as possible in the company of his Queen, Berengaria of Navier, and fathered no children by her.
Richard's crusade was unsuccessful and on his return home, foolishly unguarded and in a weak disguise, he was captured by the Duke of Austria, who held him for ransom of 100,000 pounds, about eight years tax income for the English government.
Richard’s folly nearly bankrupted the country. On Richard's return to England, he found that his country was at war with his ex-lover, Philip of France.
During a siege in France, Richard, who clearly thought he was invincible, was walking around the battlements with no armour when an arrow struck him. The wound became gangrenous, and the king died in his mother's arms. He had been king for nine years but spent only six months in his Kingdom.
He got his wish, and was portrayed as a hero in the Robin Hood stories, while his brother John, who became king after him, was portrayed as a villain grasping at power.
Edward II
Edward II was the son of the famous Warrior King and hammer of the Scots, Edward Longshanks. The son had no interest in war, much to his father's devastation. Edward Senior tried to change his son's character by taking him on campaign and assigning him a Squire who excelled in tournaments: Piers Gaveston.
This backfired spectacularly when Edward and Gaveston fell in love. Longshanks banished Gaveston, but when the king died, the new 23 year old King Edward invited his lover to return.
Gaveston flaunted his influence over the king and wore royal purple, and the Queen's wedding jewellery to the coronation. This so enraged the nobles that a group led by the Earl of Lancaster hunted Gaveston down, ran him through with swords and beheaded him.
Edward was devastated. This began several years of armed confrontation between Edward supporters and the Lancasters. Edward also attempted to stand against the new King of Scotland, Robert the Bruce, but lost spectacularly.
On top of that, climate change caused a year of devastating famine. Churchman blamed the country's despair on the king’s immorality. Edward allied himself with the powerful Dispenser family against the Barons who had murdered his lover. It was rumoured that Hugh Dispenser, the younger, was now the Kings lover.
Lancaster men capture Dispenser, hanged, drawn and quartered him, and removed and burnt his private parts as punishment for sodomy and heresy.
Edward II's hold on the crown was destroyed. His queen, Isabella of France, known as the she-wolf, raised an army with her lover. They invaded England, imprisoned Edward and had him murdered. He was impaled through the anus with a red-hot poker.
Richard II
Richard inherited the crown at the tender age of 10. His father, Edward the Black Prince, had died of dysentery the previous year. So when his grandfather Edward III died, Richard got the job. The real power behind the throne was Richard's uncle, John of Gaunt.
With a third of the population of England dead in the wake of the plague, the remaining peasants found that there was more demand for labour than there were people to do it. They abandoned the feudal lands that their families had been enslaved to for centuries in search of better pay, and many of them got it, becoming wealthier than ever before.
This infuriated the nobles, who saw themselves as inherently superior. So, they imposed laws limiting everything, from where peasants could live to what types of clothes they could wear.
The government issued a tax on every citizen, but they didn't understand that the population had shrunk. So, when they didn't raise as much as they expected, they taxed everyone again. The peasants revolted and demanded the end to all nobility except the king. John of Gaunt was forced into hiding.
When the rebel's leader, Wat Tyler finally met the king, he was slain by the Mayor of London. The rebels drew their bows and the 14 year old king rolled forward to calm them, he made a speech asking them to obey him and they would be treated fairly. Amazingly, they believed him and dispersed.
They shouldn't have trusted the king. After this meeting the rebel leaders were hunted down and executed. Now hated by the people, Richard made his nobles hate him as well, by pulling out of the war with France that was keeping them rich.
Richard tried to rehab his reputation and was the first King of England to have his portrait made. But there was one thing about the king that his mediaeval people could never forgive. Richard was a homosexual, and as kings before him had, raised homophobic ire among the nobles.
Contemporaries wrote of Richard's handsomeness and his effeminate manner, and listening speech. He made his lover, Robert Duvier, the Duke of Ireland. This caused outrage as only members of the royal family were made Dukes, not regular nobles.
Duvier Led Richard’s army in battle against their court enemies, but fled the field, leaving the army leaderless and forcing their surrender. Duvier was stripped of his title and sentence to death by parliament, but he escaped to the continent. He died three years later, and King Richard had his body brought back to England. The king ordered the coffin opened and he kissed his friend’s hand and gazed upon his face one last time.
The nobles had had enough of their king and plotted to have him removed. He was captured by his cousin Henry, forced to abdicate, imprisoned and murdered at 32.
It is tragic that these rulers, and many more common people, faced discrimination and violence for who they loved. Hopefully any future LGBTQ monarchs or members of the royal family will be met with acceptance in more enlightened times.
Transcript of “LGBTQ Kings & Queen of England” by History Tea Time with Lindsay Holiday (Part I)
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