William Adelin, Duke of Normandy, isn't a common household name, is it? Unlike Richard III, Edward Longshanks,Thomas Becket, he's barely a footnote in history books. He deserves more of a place in history considering it was his death that began the infamous Plantagenet dynasty in England.
William Adelin was the eldest, and only, son of King Henry I of England, and his first wife Edith (Matilda) of Scotland. Looking back through the patrilineal side, William's grandfather was William the Conqueror (part I, part II, part III), Duke of Normandy and first Norman King of England, and his grandmother was Matilda of Flanders. Through his mother, Edith of Scotland, his grandfather was King Malcolm III of Scotland, and grandmother Saint Margaret of Wessex. Some confusion with his mother's name, she was christened Edith (an Anglo-Saxon name), however when she became Queen of England she changed it to Matilda, however I prefer referring to her as Edith because she was Scottish, and there are far too many Matilda's in this era. All in all, William Adelin has some lineage going for him.
He became Duke of Normandy (ish) in 1120 because his father was a little too proud to do homage to the King of France for Normandy, and so sent his son. This all sounds very familiar, doesn't it? Henry I is certainly not the last king to send his son to France for this reason.
It can safely be said that William Adelin was the future of England and Normandy for the period he was alive, as the heir of Henry I. We can only imagine what the father's expectations for his son were, or those of the nobles and normal folks'. However, they were never to be lived up to.
Now, my cultured friends, many of you will know what the White Ship disaster is considering you've found this blog post, however for those of you who are simply curious wanderers I'll briefly explain.
The White Ship disaster is one of those important moments in the history of England from which there spilled lots of "what ifs". The year is 1120, Henry I is sitting comfortably on the throne of England, he and his only son and heir are across the sea in Normandy. Wanting to test out a new ship, the guilty "white ship" of the title, it's offered to the King, who refuses and instead passes it to his son. The young heir to the throne, along with a handful of Henry I's illegitimate children, plus a good few hundred people, march onto the ship and both set sail from Barfleur in Normandy, heading to England. Only one party would arrive.
The white ship sunk, leaving only two survivors, and William Adelin, only son of King Henry I, was not one of them,
The rest is a very dark, cold, corrupt part of history, known aptly as the Anarchy.
The white ship disaster has the potential to spark a multitude of different what if scenarios. What if William had survived? What sort of king would he have made? How would the rest of the history of England have gone? What would an England without the Plantagenet dynasty at the head have looked like?
Probably quite dull.
I am joking, but you can't say the Plantagenet family didn't know how to kick up turmoil.
Getting back to it.....William Adelin was only 17 when he perished in the Channel with his wife. As he was so young, and had almost no power in his own lifetime, he's been mostly forgotten by history except as a footnote at the beginning of the Anarchy. I couldn't really find that much about Adelin, save from reading before he got in a lifeboat he went to fetch his illegitimate sister, and by doing this killed pretty much everyone in said lifeboat by overfilling it. If it's true, at least we know he's wasn't selfish.
It's all well and good making what if scenarios about history, but the nature of the beast is to be chaotic and messy, even when there is an obvious heir. If Adelin hadn't perished, and become King of England something else would have happened. A war between him and his cousin William Clito for the throne, or for Normandy? His sons would have rebelled, died, something else. If one remarkable thing hadn't happened, then something else would. No king's reign in England was not marked by some important date.
Unfortunately, for William, the important date in his life to be contributed to history was his death.
I've read a few fiction novels about the 12th century, mostly because I'm obsessed with Henry II, who would never have became king if Adelin had survived. Just imagine, a red haired, energetic, intelligent man amounting to a measly Count of Anjou, forgotten by most. What a waste.
Thankfully history was on Henry's side, however it certainly did no favours for the innocent people of England between the grandfather's death and the grandson's ascension. From what I can imagine, and what history tells us in the famous quote:
"Christ and his Saints slept"
We can only have nightmares about what the anarchy was actually like for people living through it. I don't know who had it worse, noble men and women who had to decide which horse to place their bets on, or the ordinary folk who were caught up in something that they probably didn't care much for. Do you care who's Queen of England? Does it affect you in any way? I can't imagine it affected the people working the land much either, but maybe that's the ignorant part of my speaking.
The Anarchy all ended in Henry of Anjou, Matilda of England's eldest son, and Henry I's grandson, becoming King of England, hence beginning one of the most tumultuous dynasties in English history, the Plantagenets as they're known now, but that's another story.
And that brings to end this modest post about a very interesting figure of English history, one of the only few who's "what ifs" could have changed English history. William Adelin, Duke of Normandy, only son and heir of Henry I of England.
