In 1120, the White Ship was known as the fastest ship afloat. When it sank sailing from Normandy to England it was carrying aboard the only legitimate heir to King Henry I, William of Ætheling. The raucous, arrogant young prince had made a party of the voyage, carousing with his companions and pushing wine into the eager hands of the crew. It was the middle of the night when the drunken helmsman rammed the ship into rocks.
The next day only one of the three hundred who had boarded the ship was alive to describe the horrors of the slow shipwreck. William, the face of England’s future had drowned along with scores of the social elite. The royal line severed and with no obvious heir to the crown, a civil war of untold violence erupted. Known fittingly as ‘The Anarchy’, this game of thrones saw families turned in on each other, with English barons, rebellious Welsh leaders and Scottish invaders all playing a part in the bloody, desperate scrum for power.
One incredible shipwreck and two decades of violent uncertainty; England’s course had changed forever.
Spencer uses the White Ship itself as an anchor for the story of one of the most tragic events in English history - in fact Spencer writes, "... there as not a part of Henry's Anglo-Norman realm that remained shielded from the impact of the catastrophe ...".
In this tale, Spencer takes you the reader on a tour of the timeline of events from William the Conqueror leading up to the tragedy at sea, and the repercussions for the English throne beyond this.
His narrative is casual, almost conversational, as if he were giving you a conducted tour of Althorp. Yet this same narrative, with the gentle resonance of Spencer's voice, is concise, informative not dry or stuffy. For me, this is well-worn ground - however, I at no time found my attention waivering only eagerly looking forward to the build up to the disaster and to the fate of England, left without a legitimate male heir for the concept of a woman ruling in the 12th century was anathema in both England and Normandy. Spencer takes us through an abridged version of what became known as "The Anarchy" finishing up with the settlement of succession onto Henry Plantagenet.
Spencer finishes with this rather poignant quote from William of Malmesbury "... no ship that ever sailed brought England such disaster ..."
Highly recommended and one I will be adding to my shelves (upon which I already have two of Spencer's books - Killers of the King and To Catch A King).
Further reading:
The Anarchy by Teresa Cole
The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign edited by Edmund King
King Stephen & The Anarchy by Chris Peers
Stephen & Matilda's Civil War by Matthew Lewis
Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior by Catherine Hanley
Stephen & Matilda by Jim Bradbury
The Normans by David Crouch
Henry I by Judith Green
King Stephen's Reign by Graeme White & Paul Dalton
The White Ship by Nicholas Salaman (fictional account)
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