The White Ship
A single event in 1120 set off years of war and instability that would lead to the rise of house Plantagenet, which ruled England until 1485. That one event was a disaster with reverberations throughout history, one of those moments on which history pivots.
This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.
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All events are portrayed in historical context and for educational purposes. No images or content are primarily intended to shock and disgust. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Non censuram.
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Пікірлер: 504
Remember kids: Always designate a driver. This message brought to you by House Plantagenet.
@iltc9734
Жыл бұрын
Exactly right.
@Mw-tr2oz
Жыл бұрын
That's a good one lol
@finddeniro
Жыл бұрын
I attend a Local Bar with a Poster of a young women photo Series. Who is She..0h ...she died Drunk Driving 2005..
@ailsasublett9885
Жыл бұрын
Ancient PSA
@deaddocreallydeaddoc5244
Жыл бұрын
The House of Plantagenet would not have existed without the wreck.
My head was so spinning after the discussion of William, Henry, and Robert that the shipwreck seemed peaceful and easy to follow.
@j3dwin
Жыл бұрын
and every female having the same name just added to the confusion.
Overloaded, everyone drunk and leaving quickly at midnight isn't safe for a ship now, let alone almost 1000 years ago. Crazy stuff.
@highpath4776
2 жыл бұрын
Very similar to Herald of Free Enterprise ( though not drunk) , or the one that recent (30 years ?) went down in the Thames in London
@iannarita9816
2 жыл бұрын
The Herald of Free Enterprise went down in Oostend, I thought.
@evensgrey
2 жыл бұрын
@@iannarita9816 No, she went down just off the Port of Zeebrugge, which is about half way along the coast between Oostend and the Dutch border. Taking a look at a list of incidents involving this class of ferry, they seem to be vulnerable mostly to severe weather and rank stupidity, much like any other ship. (The main risk is if any substantial quantity of water gets into the car decks, it can slosh around and capsize the ship relatively easily because the vehicle decks appear to have even less internal division than a multi-level parking garage does. Every description of how that happened on a shiop that I could find essentially came donw to seomone being very, very stupid and either not properly securing the loading doors or not properly securing the vehicles on board. If they don't get water in the car decks, they can survive remarable things, such as MV Cougar Ace, which was successfully recovered from settling into a position rolled 60 degrees to port without sinking.) Not that the Thames is a waterway to be traveled carelessly, either. One rather astounding hazard is the SS Richard Montgomery, a wrecked WWII Liberty Ship that sank in the summer of 1944 on the Nore, a large sandbank at the final narrowing of the Thames estuary. She was carrying a cargo of munitions, including a large quantity of high explosives. Things were quite busy in the summer of 1944 in the waters around southern and eastern England, so completely recovering her cargo was put off, and put off again, and eventually nobody actually did clear her of ordinance. She still has about 1 400 metric tonnes of TNT aboard, and the munitions have deteriorated so much while there that they might now be inert, or they might go off because the tide causes them to shift in the wrong way. This quantity of unstable munitions presents a very large problem, because they're too unstable to move and to large to be able to detonate them in place. What might be worse, while there is reason to think that the detonators have all been rendered harmless, they might not be, or most alarmingly, some might be harmless and other not. If the munitions were to detonate now, it's quite possible that a lot of them wouldn't explode and instead be scattered all over the area by the blast. That would then require a very expensive and hazardous cleanup to get the Thames Estuary save for navigation again.
@steveandme63
2 жыл бұрын
Definitely sounds like a Florida Man news headline.
@vinnyganzano1930
2 жыл бұрын
@@highpath4776 I remember the tour boat that sank on the Thames one evening after a collision with another vessel. It had been full of people at a party and led to changes on the river.
Yeah I remember reading about this disaster in a biography of Richard 1 or Richard the Lionheart. What happened in this disaster is the equivalent of a medieval drunk driving vehicle accident. Which took out a large portion of the young nobility of anglo-norman Europe. Including a future king. They say King Henry never smiled again after this disaster.
During Easter 1972, 73 or 74. a 'crew' of 4 lads set off in a Nicholson 30 from Gosport to spend Easter in Cowes. On the way, we picked up the Cherbourg signal on our radio direction finder. We decided that France would be more fun than England for Easter and changed course for Cherbourg. As I recall we had a gentle following breeze and we arrived in Cherbourg next morning. Unfortunately the wind was still from the north when it came time to head home on the Monday only a few hours into the passage it became a force 8 (with snow flurries as I recall). Long story short, sometime after midnight we gave up the fight and turned around and somehow managed to steer east of the Phare de Gatteville lighthouse. Dawn found us off Barfleur. The storm had eased and we motored back to Cherbourg, caught the afternoon ferry to Portsmouth and sent some real sailors from Camper and Nicholson back to retrieve the yacht. Only luck that we didn't join the White Ship.
Algorithm, bring the joy of these 15 minutes at 8 Eastern thrice weekly to one & all. A remarkable Christmas gift
Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, aka Princess Diana's younger brother, has recently written a book about the White Ship. "The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I’s Dream" is now available at Amazon, and probably elsewhere. I have just ordered as I very much prefer hardbound editions.
"....And the youngest of the family, is moving with authority / building castles by the sea, he dares the tardy tide/ to wash them all aside...." from Thick as a Brick, by Jethro Tull.
The White Ship incident is one of the biggest turning points in history. If you get a chance to read the late Sharon Kay Penman's Plantagenet novel When Christ and His Saints Slept, her description of it, and of the ensuing Anarchy, is wonderful.
@abbofun9022
2 жыл бұрын
In English history maybe certainly not for the rest of the world.
@farinatty
2 жыл бұрын
@@abbofun9022 I am sure there are many similar turning points of history throughout the world. The attempted Mongol invasion of Japan is one of them. If you make great videos of the turning points of interest to you there will be an eager audience.
@abbofun9022
2 жыл бұрын
@@farinatty oh but I fully agree with you, was just triggered by calling a minor event at world or even European scale but possibly important to England a big turning point to history in general.
@j0nnyism
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks I’ll get that
@wolverineeagle
2 жыл бұрын
@@abbofun9022 It was a major event in European history. From this event came the seeds of the Hundred Years War which was a continental fight.
This is amazing. A pivotal moment in history, for sure, but more for what the disaster left the door open for. Henry I, known as "Beauclerc" in his day (English kings were known by their post-nominals more typically after the three Edwards ruled in succession in the 14th century), a great deal of his success was in building an efficient administration - hence his name. His kingdom was one of the richest in Europe because of him. But it wasn't his ill-fated son who was taught the finances of the realm... it was his daughter Matilda, who was betrothed as a girl to the Holy Roman Emperor. While she was named heir to the throne (virtually unheard of for a woman in the 12th century) but lost it to cousin Stephen of Blois upon Henry's death in 1135, she nevertheless battled the new king and almost seized the crown for herself in 1141 during the Anarchy. While she didn't prevail, she did ensure that her son Henry, from her second marriage to Geoffrey of Anjou, would inherit the throne, over Stephen's own son. And Henry II, known as fitzEmpress, the Angevin, and, most famously, as the first Plantagenet (his father's nickname) would arguably be one of England's greatest kings, at one point controlling more land in France than the French king, indeed famously seizing the king's wife and marrying her while he was still a teenager - Eleanor of Aquitaine. In part this was because of the political acumen of her mother, who had a front seat to some of the great political fights of the 12th century between the Church and the Holy Roman Emperor, over investiture of church officials, a hugely consequential political fight that, arguably, foreshadowed the Reformation some 400 years later. Indeed, while the White Ship was the disaster that changed the course of English (and French) history, it was the person of the Empress Matilda, the only surviving legitimate heir, who helped guide her son to his own greatness, as he instituted Common Law, and started to apply primogeniture as a way to prevent succession crises. Of course, not all things went to plan (see The Lion In Winter...)
@gyrene_asea4133
2 жыл бұрын
A rollicking telling of raucous times. Eleanor of Aquitaine the queen of 3 kings I think. Mother of two kings. Queen of only two kings. Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings, Amy Kelly: Library of Congress Catalogue Num 50-6545.
@BTScriviner
2 жыл бұрын
Matilda is one of my favorite medieval queens, second only to Eleanor of Acquitaine.
@dr.floridaman4805
2 жыл бұрын
All monarchies must be eradicated! Burn it all
@evensgrey
2 жыл бұрын
Well, it didn't help that Henry's elder son, Richard, despised England and hardly ever went there (no doubt this is part of why the English liked him, it's hard to really dislike a noble you've never see and hardly every get orders from) and then his other son, John, managed to lose all the French territory he inherited from Henry (and his heavy taxation of the English to pay for his wars in France made him widely hated to the extent that in the mythic history of England, he's never called King John, always Prince John, and the fact John became king on Richard's death is entirely ignored in most of the English stories set in the period, up to the invention of claims that he usurped his brother's throne while Richard was away on crusade). It would be interesting to know what French mythic history has to say about them.
@catspaw3815
2 жыл бұрын
@@evensgrey not to mention john was screwing all his nobles' wives, signed the magna carta and got excommunicated for it and lost the original crown jewels in 'the wash' as he fled a group of angry barons and then died a few days later after drinking experimental wine at a monastery!
This is one of the few channels that I hit the like button before it even starts. Always good and great research.
@wayneyadams
Жыл бұрын
So do I, his stuff is always great.
That any Captain of the day would leave a harbor at nights defies all common sailing practice of the day..amazing story as usual ..thanx THG
I've been reading The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain. Your account of this time period is so much clearer, all while retaining a scholarly sensibility. Thank you for what you do.
A couple of years ago I read "The Plantagenets" by Dan Jones. The tragedy of the White Ship has always stayed with me. Thanks for another great video!
@artteacher71
2 жыл бұрын
I was going to mention this! It's a well-written account, and has stayed with me as well.
Always a learning experience with THG. Thank you.
7:32 Why show a Viking ship (Gokstadskipet) from 890 when the White Ship was likely an early cog (descended from the knarr) from over 2 centuries later? Quite different styles and ages.
What a great story......its good to remind ourselves that Normandy was part of the English monarchy for many years after these events (perhaps another story?).....Happy Turkey day.....looking pretty dapper today!!!
@101Mant
2 жыл бұрын
Well it was more England was a possession of the Norman aristocracy, they remained culturally Norman for a very long time.
@mjbull5156
2 жыл бұрын
@@101Mant And that Normandy was the more valuable possession, which was why William I's eldest son, Robert inherited that part, and the second son got England, though that made him officially outrank his older brother, which is why both of them coveted the other's inheritance.
Ellis Peter's used the Civil War as the setting for a series of mystery novels with a a Welsh monk as the detective. They were excellent.
@arthurpendragon9079
2 жыл бұрын
The Brother Cadfael mysteries, by Ellis Peters.
@TheKulu42
2 жыл бұрын
Agreed. It's a great series for lovers of mysteries and history. The book "A Rare Benedictine: The Advent of Brother Cadfael" describes this episode of history very well.
@jcsgodmother
2 жыл бұрын
I've read some and had to read up on this time period to get what was going on.
Really interesting and well told account of how the Plantagenets came to power. Thank you!
@dandog7653
2 жыл бұрын
I have long been interested in the Plantagenets and also very happy to see this excellent history of how that all played out. Thanks
@johnbockelie3899
2 жыл бұрын
Sailing and drinking ?.
So what you are saying is 'don't drink and drive/operate ANYTHING! Thanks for another great video.
@iannarita9816
2 жыл бұрын
That's funny I thought that what they were doing was sailing not driving. Oh the ills of alcohol. :-(
@briangarrow448
2 жыл бұрын
Advice given to this day on KZread by Broncos Guru! Remember to check that drain plug before you leave the ramp!
3:41 "oh dear. I appear to have an arrow in my chest. How unfortunate."
@vbscript2
2 жыл бұрын
Yeah, an arrow to the chest rarely ends well. Whereas an arrow to the knee will just end your career as an adventurer and force you to take up guard duty instead.
@haroldjedrzejczyk9449
Жыл бұрын
'Just a flesh wound...' 😉
Your mention recalls to my mind the mystery series "The Chonicles of Brother Cadfael" by Ellis Peters which is set during the time of the struggle between Stephen and Matilda and presented as an excellent BBC series starring Derek Jacobi - my own introduction to that period of history.
@arthurpendragon9079
2 жыл бұрын
The books are all great reads.
@paulqueripel3493
2 жыл бұрын
It wasn't BBC, it was ITV.
@sarahhearn-vonfoerster7401
2 жыл бұрын
A truly wonderful set of books as well as a well-made TV series. The weaving of fascinating what-if stories within actual historical data is entertaining as well as enlightening. I've collected most of them, and never tire of revisiting many episodes!
@sarahhearn-vonfoerster7401
2 жыл бұрын
@@paulqueripel3493 My originals were on BBC, too.
@paulqueripel3493
2 жыл бұрын
@@sarahhearn-vonfoerster7401 UK or BBC America? It was made by Central TV, an ITV company (even the ex BBC magazine Radio Times says it was ITV) and it still gets repeats on ITV 3.
Sibling rivalry can be bad enough for us Commoners, I can’t imagine it with a kingdom at stake. However it seems like William tried to divide very fairly between his three sons. Unfortunately fairness goes right out the window when people get greedy.
@neilbuckley1613
2 жыл бұрын
This would promote primogeniture, if it is the law the eldest son gets the whole inheritance to avoid any grounds for dispute.
@dr.floridaman4805
2 жыл бұрын
Kill the king, problem solved
@danacasale7381
2 жыл бұрын
This all may have been avoided if they just left Henry alone and let him have his little kingdom of England. It didn't really sound like he was trying to take over just protect his inheritance.
@kencarp57
2 жыл бұрын
And they ALWAYS get greedy... 🙄
Drunk teens driving was a catastrophe 900 years ago...
What a remarkable story about a pivot in English history. A tale well told...
feeding that algorithm ... thanks for the consistently enlightening content. this channel never disappoints
Reminds me of your episode about the incident aboard the USS Princeton in 1844 altering course in US politics. Fascinating how a single event alters paths of events.
@glenchapman3899
2 жыл бұрын
World war one was started by a car taking a wrong turn
That painting starting around 8:05 of the nobles sucking down wine demonstrates that the artist back then (assuming it was from the same era) indeed had a sense of humor, even if it wasn't specifically about this incident, the look on the imbiber's faces & their sideways turned eyes is downright Priceless.
Good Morning and Happy Thanksgiving to THG and all of the viewers
I found this to be a very interesting story. Frankly, I'm surprised all the local folks allowed themselves to be sucked into "Family Feud" on a national scale like this! I wonder if the one positive thing that may have come out of the sinking of this "White Ship", and the associated war and instability, might have been the Magna Carta in 1215, which was another turning point in history.
Thank you Sir.
Thanks for this Look at a story that I've long wanted to hear in greater detail. I enjoy stories about these kings of the past. If I remember correctly, Steven also had a son he was grooming as his successor, who also died. Although he had other sons, he saw an opportunity to end the war and offered to make Matilda's son the heir if she would end the war. Her son became Henry II. Henry's sons began another chapter of drama filled rivalry for the throne.
@icantthinkofaname940b2
2 жыл бұрын
In the summer of 1153, Stephen and Henry agreed to a truce. Stephen's son, Eustace was upset by the truce and withdrew from court, only to die a few weeks later. According to William of Newburgh, Stephan was "grieved beyond measure by the death of the son whom he hoped would succeed him; he pursued warlike preparations less vigorously, and listened more patiently than usual to the voices of those urging peace." This, combined with pressure from the Church (including Stephan's brother who was the Bishop of Winchester) for a permanent peace, may have finally forced Stephen's hand into adopting Henry and ending the war.
Great story which is particularly interesting as a sequel to the Norman Conquest. Only yesterday I finished an online unit on 1066. William the Conqueror was an outstanding military and political leader and at least one of his sons learned those lessons well. Even so, misfortune intervened. Thanks History Guy!
When life is bad I can always count on a fascinating story to help get me through. Thank you History Guy.
Happy thanksgiving! Thanks again for another great video!
Another great show. You are the best sir thank you
TY; Wish you & yours a Happy Thanksgiving 🦋
Thank you for another excellent History Guy video. This is always one of the highlights of my day. Everybody have a great day!
British history to me tends to be a confusing mash of my head spinning with who did what to whom with who again? And where did they come from???? But The History Guy helped untangle a few threads for me with this one. Thank you!!!!
Your diligence of investigation and record delight my senses
A wonderful story from the early days of Anglo-Norman England. A period frequently glossed over in my opinion. Thank you for filling the gap.
The History Guy is the BEST!!!!
Heard about it but didn't know all these details. Thanks for resurrecting an amazing historical chapter!
A classic "DOH" of history! Amazing vid as always!
Nothing shows ambitious greed more than princes getting a kingdom that’s split for them. The siblings don’t develop the newly divided kingdom. Instead they immediately try to conquer each other
@alphagt62
2 жыл бұрын
The way of the world in those days.
A very good rendition of this story. Enjoyed it a lot.
Matilda and Stephen -- I recall that conflict mainly from reading Brother Cadfael mysteries.
Nice interesting episode. Great job THG!
Happy Thanksgiving
Thank you for the lesson.
Such a pivotal historic event. Thanks for the reveal ..!!
Amazing how a group of drunken teens can cause such a turn in history’s direction!
@chrisnedbalek2866
2 жыл бұрын
As I get older, more and more I am deeply impressed with how destructive drinking is.
@con.troller4183
Жыл бұрын
During this period, much of Europe was ruled by drunken teen agers, most of the time.
Happy Thanksgiving Mr History Guy and family from Ft Worth TX
Great episode. I am a total nerd for this period in European history, thanks for bringing it to life!!!
As a KZread Premium subscriber and a Patreon supporter, it’s nice to have a video without an ad for Magellan for a change.
@TheHistoryGuyChannel
2 жыл бұрын
I am not sure what you mean. We usually produce twelve episodes a month, only two of which will be sponsored. Also, as a patron, if you watch via the link provided on Patreon the sponsored content is removed.
@sarahhearn-vonfoerster7401
2 жыл бұрын
I enjoy Magellan...excellent sponsor of PBS, and thank goodness for them!
Ken Follett’s Pillers of the Earth is based on the aftermath of this disaster - diving into everyday life of people at the time. While fiction it is based on history and one of my favourite series.
@roberthill3207
2 жыл бұрын
Excellent book.
@j0nnyism
2 жыл бұрын
Yeah an age of civil war and cathedral building
@DesertRockfall
2 жыл бұрын
By far, the best book I ever read. Most folks who read it agree.("A Place Called Freedom" is really good, too.)
@Farweasel
Жыл бұрын
There's a prequel too 'The Evening & the Morning'
If you want to know more about this story and what happened after, read *The Greatest Knight,* about Guillaume de Marchaut (William Marshall) who was, as a child, suspended from the sling of a trebuchet by Stephen of Blois.
@JamesWilliams-en3os
Жыл бұрын
It is indeed a fascinating story. William Marshall was another larger than life historical figure of this time.
Having studied this era fairly extensively, I have to say this is a great summation of Henry I's rise and tragedy.
Great video! Really reinforces the wisdom of the designated driver.
Happy Thanksgiving, HG, you are the best!!!
A few years ago, while researching alcohol related tragic events of history, I came across a limited noting of this story. It was nice to get more details about this event from The History Guy.
All I can say after hearing that story is: I'm happy to be a peasant! And I thought I had family problems!!!
Happy Thanksgiving History Family! Thank you for giving us exciting history every week!
Drunk driving never ends well does it?
Thank you
Really the best history channel! Thanks
Fascinating to consider what might have been.
Thanks, HG! As a matter of fact there's a recent book titled "The White Ship", which I planned on reading; now more than before your video! 👍😎
@theblackprince1346
2 жыл бұрын
Got it for Christmas last year. Highly recommend it.
Great research and presentation. Thank you.
I have William the Conqueror and his descendants in my family tree but I didn't know much about them. So this was very interesting! (But I did know about the long conflict between Stephen and Maude, from the book by Sharon Kay Penman - although the book is only partly historical)
Thank you! It's funny when you tell people that we had a king Steven!
@schroedingersdog7965
2 жыл бұрын
Can't help but wonder if there'll ever be a King Stephen II, or even a King John II. Or have those names been too badly "soiled" by their original bearers?
@neilbuckley1613
2 жыл бұрын
If Stephen's eldest son had lived we could have had a King Eustace.
I would like to see an episode in which you discuss the military items in the background. Where and when you got the items and any interesting stories behind them.
I could watch this guy's history videos 24/7 if I weren't required to sleep.
@patrickhayes3099
Жыл бұрын
Or eat, or work or many other "chores." I have to sneak these episodes when nobody is home, nit popular amo g my family
Interesting era, for sure, with tricky ins & outs. I was nearly breatless trying to follow. Great job.
Love these hidden gems of history 😁
Ummm ... So, I did not *know* that ! Again!!! Big Thank You
Great video.
Guy: Talk about the destruction of the Great Library of Alexandria.
@TheHistoryGuyChannel
2 жыл бұрын
kzread.info/dash/bejne/m5ihssGEoM3VYqg.html
I had NO idea they had found any remnants of the White Ship.
Extremely interesting and well presented, as usual. Keep them coming!
How about something on the war between Matilda and Stephen? Talk about how Matilda had a positive genius for pissing people off. How Stephen offered her a compromise and why she was forced to accept it.
All the characters in this tale probably did not have a single English word between them and this vessel was known as la Blanche nef. It is important not to underestimate the significance of Henry marrying Matilda. By doing so, his heir could help heal the wounds inflicted on England by the Norman Conquest and claim ancestry from such illustrious Anglo-Saxon kings. Sadly , when Henry died further ravaging took place in England for many more years. The death of Henry himself, is of interest and worth an episode. He died in Normandy, and his foul and decomposing body was brought back to be interred at the altar of Reading Abbey. After the dissolution of the monastic orders, his bones were tossed outside and it has been suggested that the area now be searched for them- like the successful discovery of King Richard III. I would imagine the only bones around are also discarded bones- but KFC.
Great dramatic history! Thank you for telling it!
Love stuff like this. History is so important
Another great video, along with your excellent narration, and explanation.
Thanks for your time and effort in your work 🙏
Henry I acknowledged eight male and eleven female children out of wedlock. Who knows how many more there were. I call that a busy man.
Thanks Professor!!😀💛
It's amazing, and I never thought about it before, but primogeniture was probably a very stabilizing force compared with the infighting and wars fought between brothers.
have you ever done a video about Edward II/Mortimer and Isabella/Edward III, and how the throne passed from Edward II to his son? its always been my favourite drama of English history
Very interesting!
I need to show my mom this, next time she brings up how my brother in I were at each others throats and often only united to deal with the youngest sons!
@RogCBrand
Жыл бұрын
I remember reading about how the young William and Henry were once pestering their older brother Robert, while he was playing cards with his friends. They'd get on a balcony above and make noise, but he just ignored them, so they got a full chamber pot and dumped it on him! He grabbed a sword and went after them, and I'm sure he'd have killed them in the heat of the moment, but their father was summoned and stopped him. I'm not a violent person, but having urine and excrement dumped on me, I can understand Robert being out for blood!
Amazing that the sea can preserve remains of the wreck for nearly a millenia
History's First-ever Drunk Driving Accident
Never heard of it, fascinating! Thanks THG!
Excellent 👏🧐👏🤓⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thanks for another fascinating nautical story...with nought a pirate in sight!
Someone should have pointed out to the White Ship's captain the very good advice: Don't drink and drive! (Or sail).
The white star line, just prior to thanksgiving 👃🏼
Another brilliant retelling!