Great Skeptics Of History #2

- 1 November 1991

William of Malmesbury chronicled the reign of ill-fated William Rufus, the red-headed son of William The Conqueror who was shot, so ‘tis said, in mistake for a squirrel. In the early part of the 12th Century, he expressed some scepticism concerning portents following the king’s burial within the tower of Winchester Cathedral.

Next year, the tower fell; though I forbear to mention the different opinions on this subject, lest I should seem to assent too readily to unsupported trifles, more especially as the building might have fallen, through imperfect construction, even though he had never been buried there.