The White Ship by Charles Spencer 🎧
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️5/5 Star Rating
The Summary:
The sinking of the White Ship is one of the greatest disasters in English history. Here, Sunday Times bestselling author Charles Spencer tells the real story behind the legend to show how one cataclysmic shipwreck changed England’s course.
In 1120, the White Ship was known as the fastest ship afloat. When it sank sailing from Normandy to England it was carrying aboard the only legitimate heir to King Henry I, William of Ætheling. The raucous, arrogant young prince had made a party of the voyage, carousing with his companions and pushing wine into the eager hands of the crew. It was the middle of the night when the drunken helmsman rammed the ship into rocks.
The next day only one of the three hundred who had boarded the ship was alive to describe the horrors of the slow shipwreck. William, the face of England’s future had drowned along with scores of the social elite. The royal line severed and with no obvious heir to the crown, a civil war of untold violence erupted. Known fittingly as ‘The Anarchy’, this game of thrones saw families turned in on each other, with English barons, rebellious Welsh leaders and Scottish invaders all playing a part in the bloody, desperate scrum for power.
One incredible shipwreck and two decades of violent uncertainty; England’s course had changed forever.
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Full disclosure: I’m a huge fan of Medieval History. If that’s not your jam, this book may not be as enjoyable for you as it was for me. This is a brilliant piece of nonfiction work from Charles Spencer. The sinking of The White Ship is an event I was mildly familiar with (Didn’t we all read Beowulf in junior high?), but this book was very educational. Wait! I mean that in the absolute best way! It was an enjoyable read and I never once felt bogged down by the details.
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This well written account covers the pivotal years at the end of William the Conqueror’s line before the Plantagenet reign began. I’ve found that there is a more bountiful offering of enjoyable but historically accurate books about the Plantagenet and Tudor Dynasties than the preceding royal bloodlines. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in England’s monarchy in the High Middle Ages.
I've had this book since its UK release and I'm dying to finally read it. I'm glad to know it's not too dense. I've never read anything by Charles Spencer before. I love the topics he covers and am looking forward to reading some of his stuff, hopefully starting with THIS.
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