18. William Adelin was the only legitimate son of King Henry I and his untimely death in a maritime disaster in 1120 ultimately plunged England into nearly 20 years of civil war. What was the name of the vessel in which William perished?
From Quiz England's Princes William
Answer:
The White Ship
The White Ship disaster of the night of November 20th, 1120 took the lives of three of King Henry I's children - his illegitimate daughter Matilda Fitzroy, his illegitimate son Richard of Lincoln and, most importantly as far as history is concerned, William Adelin. Although he was only 17 years old at the time of his death, William had already been granted the title of Duke of Normandy and sent in his father's stead to pay homage to King Louis VI of France. The fact that both England and Normandy were under the joint rule of King Henry I meant that travel across the English Channel had become relatively commonplace, although it was not considered completely safe. Certainly William Adelin and his entourage can't have been particularly worried about traversing the distance as he apparently supplied large amounts of wine to fuel the party atmosphere on board and was happy to set off after dark with a drunken crew. Unsurprisingly, disaster struck quickly when the ship hit a rock outside the harbour at Barfleur, capsized and sank with the loss of around 300 lives - almost everyone on board. Interestingly, the historical records suggest that William Adelin could well have survived if he hadn't returned to the ship to try and save the life of his half-sister Matilda.
After the disaster, King Henry I was left with just one legitimate child - his daughter, the Empress Matilda. Although the English nobles swore to support Matilda as queen, they reneged on their promise after Henry's death in 1135 and instead supported the rule of his nephew, King Stephen. The vast majority of Stephen's 19-year reign was then marred by a civil war with Matilda known as 'The Anarchy'. Ironically, Stephen had also been due to sail on the White Ship, but had disembarked due to illness.
The Grace Dieu was a warship commissioned by King Henry V in 1416, while the Mary Rose and Henry Grace à Dieu were Tudor warships built during the early years of the reign of King Henry VIII.
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