Book
The White Ship
The White Ship tells the story of the wreck that destroyed Henry I’s succession plans and reshaped twelfth-century English politics. On 25 November 1120 the White Ship sank after leaving Barfleur, drowning the king’s only legitimate son and heir, William Adelin, together with many members of the Anglo-Norman elite.
Charles Spencer sets the disaster within the world created by the Norman Conquest and follows its long political aftermath. Henry I’s attempt to secure the succession for his daughter Empress Matilda failed after his death, when Stephen seized the throne and England entered the civil war known as the Anarchy. The book therefore combines maritime disaster, dynastic history and the origins of one of medieval England’s major succession conflicts.