The Queer Court of William Rufus
Gone Medieval
History Hit
4.5 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 12 June 2026
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What really went on at the court of King William Rufus?
William the Conqueror's son and successor was fierce and ruthless. He taxed heavily, refused to conform to the ideals of kingship, and reportedly presided over a court of extravagant young men and sexual licentiousness. But how much of Rufus's reputation was shaped by the monks that despised him?
Matt Lewis is joined by Professor Tom Licence, to explore the life, reign and shocking death of a king, whose reputation remains as provocative today as it was nearly a thousand years ago.
More:
King Arthur's Sex Life
Edward II: King of Incompetence
Gone Medieval is presented by Matt Lewis. Audio editor is Natasha Hughes, the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.
All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From long-lost Viking ships and kings buried in unexpected places to tales of murder, |
| 0:07.7 | power, faith, and the lives of ordinary people across medieval Europe and beyond. |
| 0:13.2 | Join me, Matt Lewis, Dr. Eleanor Jarniger and some of the world's leading historians, |
| 0:18.0 | as we bring history's most fascinating stories to life only on |
| 0:22.3 | History Hit. With your subscription, you'll unlock hundreds of hours of exclusive documentaries |
| 0:27.2 | with a brand new release every week exploring everything from the ancient world to World War II. |
| 0:33.6 | Just visit historyhit.com forward slash subscribe. |
| 0:40.2 | Hello, I'm Matt Lewis. Welcome to Gone Medieval from History Hit, the podcast that delves |
| 0:45.6 | into the greatest millennium in human history. We've got the most intriguing mysteries, |
| 0:51.5 | the gobsmacking details and latest groundbreaking research from the Vikings to the |
| 0:56.6 | printing press, from kings to popes to the crusades. We cross centuries and continents to delve |
| 1:02.9 | into rebellions, plots and murders, to find the stories big and small that tell us how we got here. |
| 1:10.0 | Find out who we really were with Gone Medieval. |
| 1:17.4 | Today we're going to meet a medieval monarch whose behaviour was so scandalous that monks couldn't |
| 1:22.5 | even bring themselves to write down the full story. A king whose court was described in cold classical Latin, |
| 1:29.8 | not as a palace of majesty, but a brothel of male prostitutes. This was the court of William |
| 1:36.3 | Rufus, son of William the conqueror, and arguably the most transgressive king ever to sit |
| 1:41.7 | on the English throne. William Rufus came to power in 1087, |
| 1:46.2 | aged around 27, inheriting England from his father while his older brother Robert got Normandy. |
| 1:52.6 | Rufus had all his father's ferocity without any of the piety that medieval kingship was supposed to |
| 1:58.3 | demand. He fought, he taxed, he bullied the church, and he ruled |
| 2:03.0 | for 13 years. He never married, he fathered no children, and behind the walls of his court, |
... |
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