The White Ship, ladies and gentlemen. Or, as I like to call, the Titantic of the 12th century. There are some similarities, actually, though this one had a by far more marked impact on the English succession. The ship sank on November 25, 1120 and it carried many members of the Royal Family, not least of whom was William Adelin, Duke of Normandy and only son of King Henry I.
On January 24, 1121, Henry I, King of England and Adeliza of Louvain were married at Windsor Castle. At the time of the wedding, Adeliza was roughly 18 years old, while Henry I was around 53 and had been king for 21 years. The marriage was of dynastic necessity since two months before, Henry’s only son, William Adelin, had died on the sinking of the White Ship (the 12th century version of the Titanic).
Continue reading “The Marriage That Could Have Stopped “The Anarchy””
