In 1120 Henry I returned to England after four years of campaigning in France, leaving his son and heir, the 17 year old William Adelin to follow shortly afterwards. William left Barfleur in the famous White Ship, which promptly sank. With the exception of a local butcher who had been on board to collect money owed him by various nobles (didn’t know about this until reading an article last week) everyone on board drowned.
This left Henry with no legitimate male heir. He reigned until he died in 1135 and persuaded the nobility of England to accept his daughter, Matilda – also known as Maud – as his successor, but when Henry died Matilda’s cousin, Stephen of Blois, seized the throne, despite having given his oath to Henry that he would support Matilda’s claim to the throne. That resulted in civil war, one less known than that in the 17th century but one which lasted considerably longer, waxing and waning until petering out in 1152, and known as the Anarchy. Stephen died in 1155 and was succeeded, not by his own heir, but by Henry, son of Matilda, who became Henry II, a succession that had been agreed with Stephen before his death.
One of history’s great ‘what ifs’. Had William not died in the White Ship the 12th and 13th centuries would have looked very different. William would have been 32 when his father died, time enough to have created his own line of succession. So, no King Stephen, no Henry II
I have known about the White Ship disaster for many years, but I was fascinated to discover that its wreckage may now have been discovered by a diving expedition off the coast of Barfleur, an expedition which included (although not as a diver) Earl Spencer, the brother of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Mike