A Drunk Boating Accident Set the Stage For the Plantagenet Era
In November of 1120, after a diplomatic visit to France, a fleet was assembled to transport England’s king Henry I and his court across the English Channel back home. The king’s 17 year old son and heir, William Adelin, made plans to cross in the English navy’s pride, a vessel known as the White Ship. The prince and his youthful companions turned the affair into a wild party, and delayed the crossing while they got roaring drunk on shore with the ship’s crew.
Then the prince and his intoxicated entourage, numbering about 300 people, boarded the White Ship to make a nighttime crossing. The inebriated prince and his friends challenged their ship’s captain and crew to make a race of it and catch and bypass king Henry’s ship, which had sailed hours earlier, before it reached England. The White Ship’s Captain and crew were confident of their ship’s speed, and accepted the challenge.
Rowing furiously, fueled by copious amounts of alcohol, and cheered on by the drunk prince and his friends, the equally drunk crew set a good pace. However, in their intoxicated state, the crew failed to keep a good lookout, and rowed into a hazardous stretch, where they struck a partially submerged rock. The White Ship was holed and quickly sank, and hundreds drowned, including the prince.
William was his royal father’s only legitimate male issue, and his early death led to a succession crisis. King Henry failed to sire another son, and so sought to designate his daughter, Matilda, as his heir. His barons reluctantly agreed, but after Henry’s death in 1135, most barons backed his nephew, Stephen of Blois, when he claimed and seized the crown as the eldest male royal relative. Stephen’s claim was challenged by Matilda, and the duo plunged England into nearly two decades of civil war and chaos that came to be known as The Anarchy.