The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I’s Dream

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When the crew tried to push the White Ship free, they succeeded only in tearing the gash in her side wider still. Shani Louk's brother reveals 'our whole family crashed' when they saw her being paraded by Hamas 'spitting. Spencer explores every aspect of the tragedy from the actual event, logistics and important figures who met their deaths in the cold seas; to the psychological and political aftermath (such as the court positions up for grabs from those who passed) and the impact on the monarchial landscape.

The White Ship (Paperback) - Charles Spencer The White Ship (Paperback) - Charles Spencer

The cry went up to try to overtake the king’s vessel, and the oarsmen bent their backs in an attempt to please the prince and his baying entourage. 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. In The White Ship he looks back a further 500 years or so to another period of bitter division, which followed the reign of Henry I and the catastrophic loss at sea of his only legitimate male heir, 17-year-old William Aetheling. Sadiq Khan effigy chosen to burn on bonfire night gets town's seal of approval as 'brilliant choice because.One can assume that a sealed unit should be better but my personal experiance was exactly the opposite.

The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I

In doing so, Spencer’s aim is not to revise traditional understandings of these events but simply to bring them to life for a wide audience. Exactly 900 years ago last autumn, the English crown was rocked by the greatest maritime tragedy ever to afflict this kingdom.

The other experts on the trip were engineer and physicist Dr Alexy Karenowska and marine archaeology specialists Giles Richardson and Holger Schumann. He guides the reader well through the dramatic twists and turns of these years, which first placed Henry on the throne, then seemed set to deny the succession of his progeny. The event is vividly reconstructed, detailed with a tangible compassion for the people on-board whose lives were swept away in the blink of an eye, reminding us that even if they lived almost a thousand years ago, they were people like us who loved life just as much as we do.

The White Ship by Charles Spencer | Waterstones The White Ship by Charles Spencer | Waterstones

The expected protests and battles by the older brother soon follow but Henry has a more popular following and manages to hang on to the throne though his grasp is frequently challenged. He demanded the honour of transporting Henry back in his moment of triumph over the French in the White Ship; a splendid, lime-washed vessel with 50 experienced oarsmen. Everything he had worked for was finally achieved, and he was ready to hand it on to his beloved son, William AEtheling. Henry's queen had recently died and the death of his only son and heir coupled with the loss of his queen sends Henry into deep depression and a slow recovery. Those familiar with Spencer’s other works will not find this surprising but the lack of emotive flow/narrative and insistence on presenting the material as, “Event A happened, then B and then C”; results in “The White Ship” failing to be ‘sticky’ with readers and is often skimmable especially with Spencer’s habit of running off on tangents.

He inherited the estate at the age of 27, according to the letters patent, because he was the eldest male in the Spencer family. Henry did have a daughter, Matilda, to whom his nobles swore allegiance as his successor, her first cousin usurped the crown thereby setting off the war. Or should popular historians not also seek to analyse sources and events (as academic historians do)?

The White Ship By Charles Spencer | Used | 9780008296803 The White Ship By Charles Spencer | Used | 9780008296803

Mr Michel, who studied at Oxford University with Earl Spencer, said: 'Our early analysis of the data that we collected last week, including 3D reconstruction, points strongly to this being the remains of the White Ship. there as not a part of Henry's Anglo-Norman realm that remained shielded from the impact of the catastrophe . Henry attempts to pave the way for his daughter Matilda to ascend the throne by forcing key nobles to vow support and acceptance of Matilda as queen.

Though The White Ship might be dressed up as a novel and feel like it through and through, it does remain a history book, and therefore I believe it must be examined from a more practical and factual perspective. In his eulogy he rebuked both Britain's royal family and the press for their treatment of his sister.