Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio
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Speaker 1: this is Danish Wartz, the host of Noble Blood. A
Speaker 1: few quick announcements before I start. So you probably know
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Speaker 1: also a sequel coming, Immortality, a love Story. The sequel
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Speaker 1: The city of Barfloor sits at the top of the
Speaker 1: peninsula that juts out from France towards England. Today a
Speaker 1: quaint village with fewer than six hundred people, It was
Speaker 1: in the twelve century a bustling port, one of the
Speaker 1: most popular points from which to sail in and out
Speaker 1: of Normandy. It boasts a natural harbor which shelters boats
Speaker 1: from the wind and waves of the English Channel, and
Speaker 1: it was in that harbor that Thomas Fitzstephen approached Henry,
Speaker 1: King of England and Duke of Normandy with an offer.
Speaker 1: It was November eleven, twenty and King Henry was preparing
Speaker 1: to return to England, having finally secured his title as
Speaker 1: Duke of Normandy by defeating his brother Robert Kutos. Now
Speaker 1: Henry and his entourage, along with his finest soldiers, several
Speaker 1: of his beloved children, and the who's who of Norman nobility,
Speaker 1: were all sailing back to England to celebrate the victory
Speaker 1: and award prizes to those who had supported the cause.
Speaker 1: After decades of fighting. A palpable sense of relief and
Speaker 1: giddiness could be felt finally, for what felt like the
Speaker 1: first time since Henry's father, William, known as William the Conqueror,
Speaker 1: had died in ten eight seven, Peace had come to Normandy.
Speaker 1: Glittering noblemen and noble women flooded barfloor as they awaited
Speaker 1: the right conditions to sail back to England. The nobleman
Speaker 1: odd local observers with their luxurious clothes and appetite for revelry.
Speaker 1: Amidst the crowds was a man named Thomas fitz Stephen.
Speaker 1: But he wasn't there to party, at least not yet.
Speaker 1: He had something else in mind, and for his plan
Speaker 1: to succeed, he needed an audience with the King. Finally
Speaker 1: attaining one, fitz Stephen made his case. He was a captain,
Speaker 1: he said, in possession of a ship, and he hoped
Speaker 1: to have the honor of sailing the Royal party back
Speaker 1: to England. He wasn't just any captain, he continued, but
Speaker 1: the son of Stephen fitzerd, the man who had captained
Speaker 1: William the Conqueror's flagship on his invasion of England in
Speaker 1: ten sixty six. And his boat wasn't just any boat,
Speaker 1: but a boat befitting royalty. It was built finally from
Speaker 1: the lightest timber, so light to be nearly white, and
Speaker 1: so named Blanche nef Or the White Ship. In addition
Speaker 1: to sales, the White Ship had fifty oarsmen, meaning that
Speaker 1: no matter the wind condition, it would travel swiftly across
Speaker 1: the channel. King Henry was impressed by fitz Stephen, and
Speaker 1: even more impressed by the sleek, shining white ship. Though
Speaker 1: he had already made arrangements for his own ship, he
Speaker 1: told fitz Stephen he would give him another honor. The
Speaker 1: white ship, the King said, could carry William Athling, his son,
Speaker 1: the heir to the throne. Additionally, the King entrusted Fitzstephen
Speaker 1: with transporting the treasure that he had collected in Normandy.
Speaker 1: By that evening, the party set to board the white
Speaker 1: ship had swelled to nearly three hundred, among them the
Speaker 1: most glamorous young nobles and gallant soldiers of the court.
Speaker 1: The mood was festive, the wine was flowing, and the
Speaker 1: future looked bright. They were heading home to a kingdom
Speaker 1: more powerful and more peaceful than it had been in
Speaker 1: nearly forty years. But they would not find their journey
Speaker 1: smooth sailing. No pun intended, and what happened next as
Speaker 1: the white ship set out into the darkness of the
Speaker 1: English Channel, would change the course of English history forever.
Speaker 1: I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is noble blood to contextualize
Speaker 1: the story of the White Ship, will have to go
Speaker 1: back more than half a century to December of ten
Speaker 1: sixty eight or ten sixty nine, when a baby boy
Speaker 1: was born to William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders.
Speaker 1: They named the boy Henry, and he was to be
Speaker 1: their last child. William the Conqueror came from the ruling
Speaker 1: family of Normandy, a coastal region in present day France,
Speaker 1: and he had won the throne of England in ten
Speaker 1: sixty six by defeating the Anglo Saxons at the Battle
Speaker 1: of Hastings. His impact on English history is nearly unparalleled,
Speaker 1: and physical traces of the Conqueror can still be seen
Speaker 1: in London today. For one thing, he built the White Tower,
Speaker 1: the central component of the Tower of London. Henry was
Speaker 1: the only child of William and Matilda to be born
Speaker 1: after his child was crowned, but that didn't confer him
Speaker 1: any special status. As the youngest son, no one expected
Speaker 1: him to become king. Many expected him to go into
Speaker 1: the church, and he was educated accordingly, reaching a level
Speaker 1: of literacy and learning unusual even among noble families of
Speaker 1: the time. Henry had three older brothers, Robert Richard and William,
Speaker 1: all of whom were more than a decade older than him.
Speaker 1: Robert was the eldest and was known throughout his life
Speaker 1: as Curtos, a nickname given to him by his father
Speaker 1: on account of his short legs. In a typical example
Speaker 1: of kindly medieval parenting, Richard, the second brother, died in
Speaker 1: a hunting accident as a teenager. The third son, William,
Speaker 1: was called Rufus, from the Latin word for red, because
Speaker 1: of his red hair and ruddy complexion. Robert Cutos was
Speaker 1: brash and arrogant and frequently clashed with his father, constantly
Speaker 1: demanding more power and money. William the Conqueror favored Rufus instead,
Speaker 1: and as the rule of primo janitor passing the crown
Speaker 1: onto the eldest son was not yet custom in England,
Speaker 1: he began to groom Rufus, his third son, for the
Speaker 1: role of king. To pacify Kurtos, his oldest son, William
Speaker 1: named him co Regent of Normandy alongside his mother. In
Speaker 1: this way, William could keep control of his two territories,
Speaker 1: England and Normandy, within the family while keeping Robert Kurtis
Speaker 1: out of his way. In England, but Curtis was not satisfied,
Speaker 1: wanting to rule formally and on his own. In the
Speaker 1: late ten seventies, Kurtis began a series of revolts against
Speaker 1: William of Normandy, which continued until the Queen negotiated a
Speaker 1: piece between father and son in ten eighty. The piece
Speaker 1: held until her death in ten eighty three, at which
Speaker 1: point the fighting resumed. Curtis and William were still at
Speaker 1: war when William died in September ten eight seven, as
Speaker 1: a result of a wound he suffered while fighting the French.
Speaker 1: I want to know here that you'll hear a lot
Speaker 1: about the Normans and the French in this episode, which
Speaker 1: may seem confusing since Normandy is in France. I'll explain.
Speaker 1: Normandy at the time was a Duchy of France, meaning
Speaker 1: that its rulers were vassals to the King of France.
Speaker 1: But after William the Conqueror became King of England in
Speaker 1: ten sixty six, he became the French King's equal as
Speaker 1: a king in his own right, while he was still
Speaker 1: a subject of the French king as Duke of Normandy.
Speaker 1: The growing power of the Norman's scared the French king,
Speaker 1: who began a series of wars in an effort to
Speaker 1: weaken the duchy and take its territory. So that's how
Speaker 1: William ended up fighting the French in Normandy. In early
Speaker 1: September ten eighty seven, while attacking the city of mont
Speaker 1: William's horse abruptly stopped and the pommel of his saddle
Speaker 1: hit him hard in the stomach, causing it would soon
Speaker 1: become clear a fatal internal injury. As William lay dying
Speaker 1: in the Pride area of Saint Gervais, he debated how
Speaker 1: to divide the lands that he had spent his whole
Speaker 1: life fighting for. At several points he considered disinheriting the
Speaker 1: troublesome Curtis altogether, but his Norman lords persuaded him to
Speaker 1: keep the eldest, Robert Curtos, as duke so as to
Speaker 1: maintain order in the duchy. William gave in, but he
Speaker 1: stood firm on his plans to give Rufus, now his
Speaker 1: second son, the throne of England. Henry, the youngest son,
Speaker 1: was at his father's side as he grew weaker, he
Speaker 1: inquired cautiously about what he might hope to inherit. William
Speaker 1: bestowed upon his youngest son five thousand pounds of silver,
Speaker 1: but no lands or titles. When William finally died on
Speaker 1: September nine, it began a period of uncertainty for the
Speaker 1: Anglo Norman realm. Though the throne of England did go
Speaker 1: to Rufus as William wished, it would not be a
Speaker 1: smooth transition. Curtis, as ever, wanted more, and the two
Speaker 1: brothers quickly went to war. The youngest son, Henry, meanwhile,
Speaker 1: used part of his inheritance to buy land in Normandy
Speaker 1: from Robert Kurtos, who was perpetually in debt, and then
Speaker 1: he sailed to England to petition Rufus for lands that
Speaker 1: he believed his mother had left him. Rufus rejected Henry's claims,
Speaker 1: so the young prince sailed back to Normandy, at which
Speaker 1: point Robert Curtos accused him of being a spy sent
Speaker 1: by Rufus and had him imprisoned for six months until
Speaker 1: Henry could pay bail. Henry then tried to return to England,
Speaker 1: but Rufus rebuffed him, thinking he was perhaps a spy
Speaker 1: for Kurtos. Forced to choose between the lesser of two brothers,
Speaker 1: Henry reluctantly aligned himself with Kurtos. In ten ninety one,
Speaker 1: after four years of fighting, Rufus and Kurtos signed a
Speaker 1: peace treaty, promising not to fight one another and to
Speaker 1: be one another's successor should they die without a legitimate son,
Speaker 1: thus keeping England and Normandy under the family rule. Henry
Speaker 1: was left out of this treaty completely except for one provision.
Speaker 1: Curtis would take the lands Henry had bought from him
Speaker 1: in ten Henry fought this decision, holding up in the
Speaker 1: monastery at Mont St. Michel until Kurtis and Rufus's troops
Speaker 1: starved him out. In March. Curtis banished Henry from Normandy,
Speaker 1: and his whereabouts for the next year are unknown, though
Speaker 1: he is said to have been spotted in Paris. In
Speaker 1: ten two, Henry returned to Normandy to free the people
Speaker 1: of the County of Domfront from their tyrannical lord, Roger
Speaker 1: sat Bilim, and he bided his time as the animosity
Speaker 1: between his brothers rekindled. By ten their truce was over
Speaker 1: and Rufus reached out to Henry for aid. Henry began
Speaker 1: fighting on the side of his middle brother Rufus, the
Speaker 1: King of England, against Curtis and Normandy, a war which
Speaker 1: event concluded when Kurtos answered the Pope's call for the
Speaker 1: first Crusade in ten nineties six. In part because Kurtos
Speaker 1: had grown unpopular with his own people, who thought him
Speaker 1: a poor leader, Rufus agreed to quote unquote rent the
Speaker 1: Duchy of Normandy from Kurtos while he traveled to Jerusalem.
Speaker 1: With Kurtos out of the way, Henry went to England
Speaker 1: to establish himself in Rufus's court. It was, by all accounts,
Speaker 1: a debaucherous, decadent court, enriched by the ownerous taxes Rufus
Speaker 1: collected from the Church and his subjects. A brief side
Speaker 1: note to say, if you're confused, because you had never
Speaker 1: heard of a King Rufus of England, he ruled as
Speaker 1: King William the Second, but because he was commonly referred
Speaker 1: to as Rufus, and because there's another William in this story,
Speaker 1: we're going to continue to refer to him as Rufus
Speaker 1: for clarity. This never ending wealth made the inner circle
Speaker 1: of the court of England a wonderful place to be,
Speaker 1: but outside of it, the country was growing increasingly resentful
Speaker 1: of their spendthrift monarch and his coterie of hangers on
Speaker 1: who stripped the people bear for their own enrichment. Henry,
Speaker 1: fresh from battle in Normandy, saw this dissatisfaction and perhaps
Speaker 1: subconsciously decided to wait for an opportunity. The opportunity came
Speaker 1: sooner than he thought. In August of ten, Rufus was
Speaker 1: out hunting, a favorite pastime, when a freak accident occurred.
Speaker 1: How exactly an arrow struck the king is unknown. Many
Speaker 1: theorized that it ricocheted, but suddenly Rufus, still mounted, looked
Speaker 1: down to see the shaft of an arrow buried in
Speaker 1: his chest. He broke the shaft off, then, in shock,
Speaker 1: fell to the ground, landing chest down, which pushed the
Speaker 1: arrow in deeper, killing him. Henry had been out with
Speaker 1: the hunting party that day and realized that he needed
Speaker 1: to act quickly. Rufus's body was being taken to Winchester,
Speaker 1: the city that housed the English Treasury, and Henry knew
Speaker 1: that he had to beat his brother's body there. To
Speaker 1: control the treasury was to control the throne, and so
Speaker 1: Henry rode hard for Winchester, arriving breathless before the rest
Speaker 1: of the party and announcing both the King's death and
Speaker 1: his intention of taking the crown to the shocked nobles
Speaker 1: of Winchester Castle. The lords assembled there after, debating amongst themselves,
Speaker 1: decided to give Henry the crown, believing that a quick
Speaker 1: transition of power would be a peaceful one. But becoming
Speaker 1: king is not as easy as saying you are king,
Speaker 1: and though Henry would soon be crowned at Westminster Abbey,
Speaker 1: his fight for the throne was only beginning. As Rufus's
Speaker 1: body was interred in Winchester, and as Henry, now with
Speaker 1: the support of the nobles, was traveling to Westminster, Robert
Speaker 1: Curtos was returning home from the crusade. On the way home,
Speaker 1: he had married Sibylla of Conversano, a beautiful Norman Italian
Speaker 1: noble woman, who brought with her a substantial dowry. For
Speaker 1: once Curtos had money. What's more, he came home wreathed
Speaker 1: in glory. He had done well for himself in the East,
Speaker 1: establishing a reputation as a fearsome fighter and a brave leader.
Speaker 1: By the time he got back to Normandy only weeks
Speaker 1: after Henry's coronation, he was no longer the embattled Duke
Speaker 1: of t The Curtos of ten was a wealthy war hero.
Speaker 1: Only one thing soured his triumphant return, the news that
Speaker 1: his younger brother had, in his absence, taken the throne
Speaker 1: of England. Curtos quickly made clear his intention to fight
Speaker 1: for the throne, and just as quickly, the lord to
Speaker 1: had supported Henry began to peel away, swearing allegiance to
Speaker 1: Kurtos instead. Fortunately, Henry maintained the support of Anselim, Archbishop
Speaker 1: of Canterbury, a highly influential figure whose endorsement was crucial. Nevertheless,
Speaker 1: by eleven oh one, an invasion of England by Curtis
Speaker 1: and the Normans seemed imminent, and in July he landed
Speaker 1: with an army in poor Chester. But before any fighting
Speaker 1: took place, noblemen on both sides of the conflict intervened.
Speaker 1: They realized that war would be costly, bloody and devastating,
Speaker 1: and they encouraged their leaders to look towards peace instead.
Speaker 1: On August second, Henry and Kurtos signed the Treaty of Alton.
Speaker 1: Kurtos renowned his claim to the throne of England in
Speaker 1: exchange for full control of Normandy and a payout. Henry
Speaker 1: renounced most of his land in Normandy. Both men, as
Speaker 1: Kurtis and Rufus had done before them, swore to be
Speaker 1: each other's heirs if they died without legitimate issue. Legitimate
Speaker 1: issue was a matter of concern for Henry. Passing on
Speaker 1: the crown was necessary to secure his legacy as king,
Speaker 1: and at the time of his coronation he wasn't even married.
Speaker 1: He was, however, a father with at least twelve illegitimate children.
Speaker 1: By this point in the past, the issue of legitimacy
Speaker 1: had been less important. William the Conqueror himself had been
Speaker 1: born out of wedlock, But as the Church became more
Speaker 1: central to English life, so too did the concept of
Speaker 1: the sanctity of marriage. Though Henry was close to his
Speaker 1: illegitimate children, including them in public life and securing them
Speaker 1: advantageous marriages, he now needed a wife and a legitimate air.
Speaker 1: He moved quickly, selecting a daughter of the Scottish King Malcolm.
Speaker 1: She had been born Edith, but as queen would be
Speaker 1: known as Matilda, a very popular royal name at the time.
Speaker 1: The couple married in late eleven hundred at Westminster Abbey
Speaker 1: and had their first child, a daughter, also named Matilda,
Speaker 1: in eleven o two. Before you get too confused, yes,
Speaker 1: William the Conqueror was also married to a Matilda. The
Speaker 1: same year of Henry's marriage, Curtos and Sabella welcomed a
Speaker 1: son who they named William. He would be most commonly
Speaker 1: known as William Clito, Clito being the Norman term for
Speaker 1: the son who would inherit his father's titles. At the
Speaker 1: time of his birth, William Cleto stood to inherit both
Speaker 1: England and Normandy under the terms of the Treaty of Alton,
Speaker 1: but his claim only lasted a year. In the summer
Speaker 1: or fall of eleven oh three, Queen Matilda gave birth
Speaker 1: to a son who she and Henry also named William,
Speaker 1: and just to keep things even more confusing, this William
Speaker 1: was known as William ath Ling eight ling, meaning the
Speaker 1: same thing in Old English that Cleito does in Norman.
Speaker 1: For several years there was peace between brothers, but as
Speaker 1: time passed and the shine of Curtis's crusading days began
Speaker 1: to dim, the Norman's found that their duke was still
Speaker 1: the poor ruler he had been before he left. Kurtos
Speaker 1: spent extravagantly neglected his responsibilities and did a little to
Speaker 1: engender the love or loyalty of his people. Soon enough,
Speaker 1: certain Norman nobles were reaching out to King Henry in England,
Speaker 1: asking if he would consider a quick invasion just to
Speaker 1: straighten things out. He didn't need much persuading, and in
Speaker 1: eleven oh five he stormed Normandy along with an English
Speaker 1: and Norman coalition. For the third time, Curtis found himself
Speaker 1: at war with a family member over the right to
Speaker 1: rule Normandy. This time, however, the battle did not last long.
Speaker 1: In September eleven oh six, Henry captured Kurtis outside Tinchabra
Speaker 1: and imprisoned his brother, though he set his young nephew,
Speaker 1: William Clito free. With Henry, now Duke of Normandy, England
Speaker 1: and Normandy shared the same ruler for the first time
Speaker 1: since William the Conqueror's death thirty years earlier. Now that
Speaker 1: Henry had settled the Norman question, he was working on
Speaker 1: cementing his legacy as king. He built a network of
Speaker 1: spies that stretched across Europe. He reformed the English tax system,
Speaker 1: strengthened the judiciary, and arranged for his daughter Matilda to
Speaker 1: marry Henry the Holy Roman Emperor. He also spent considerable time,
Speaker 1: ensuring that William eight Ling was raised to rule from
Speaker 1: a young age. The crown Prince accompanied his father on
Speaker 1: official occasions, attended military training, and received a thorough education.
Speaker 1: In February thirteen, William ah Ling was betrothed to Matilda
Speaker 1: of Anjou, Yes another Matilda, this one the daughter of
Speaker 1: the powerful count the fifth of Anjou. It was unsurprisingly
Speaker 1: a strategic marriage. Matilda's parents controlled the counties of Anjou
Speaker 1: and Maine, which bordered Normandy. These lands were especially important
Speaker 1: to Henry because despite his victory over his brother Robert Curtos,
Speaker 1: his Norman holdings still faced a powerful enemy, Louis the sixth,
Speaker 1: the king of France. Between eleven eleven and eleven thirteen,
Speaker 1: Normandy was at war with France and her allies Flanders,
Speaker 1: Anjou and Maine. This group rallied under the banner of
Speaker 1: William Clito, Kurtos's son, who was now asserting his claim
Speaker 1: to the dukedom. With the engagement of William Hethling to
Speaker 1: Matilda of Anjou, Anjou and Maine switched sides, and now
Speaker 1: Louis was forced to make peace with Henry. The piece
Speaker 1: lasted several years, a period in which William Hethling's role
Speaker 1: as heir became even more formalized. In eleven fifteen, the
Speaker 1: Norman low Words swore allegiance to the young prince, and
Speaker 1: a year later the English barons did the same. The
Speaker 1: only party who refused to recognize William Athling as heir
Speaker 1: was King Louis, who continued to support William Clito's claim,
Speaker 1: a position which led the two kings back to war
Speaker 1: in late spring eleven sixteen. As Henry battled in Normandy
Speaker 1: throughout eleven seventeen and eleven eighteen, his son William Athling
Speaker 1: stayed in England, serving as regent after the death of
Speaker 1: his mother, Queen Matilda in the spring of eleven eighteen.
Speaker 1: The next year, William Athling traveled to Normandy to complete
Speaker 1: two important rights of passage, marriage and military service. In
Speaker 1: June eleven nineteen, William Athling and Matilda of Anjou were
Speaker 1: married in order to strengthen the Norman angevin ties. The
Speaker 1: groom at this point was sixteen, the bride only nine
Speaker 1: or ten. Two months later, William Athling fought alongside his
Speaker 1: father and half brothers at the Battle of Breneux, a
Speaker 1: decisive victory for the Normans, which struck the final blow
Speaker 1: to William Cleito's claim on the Norman duchy. However, William
Speaker 1: Cleito's ally, King Louis, had one more trick up his sleeve.
Speaker 1: He appealed to the Pope, saying that Henry had committed
Speaker 1: numerous crimes by invading Normandy. Henry and William Athling traveled
Speaker 1: to appear in person to Pope Couctus the Second, who
Speaker 1: came down on their side, declaring that Henry was the
Speaker 1: rightful ruler of Normandy and William Athling was the recognized heir.
Speaker 1: After twenty years as King of England, Henry had finally
Speaker 1: achieved complete dominance in England and Normandy. He had built
Speaker 1: impressive systems of governance in both realms, established a reputation
Speaker 1: as a skilled fighter and quick thinker, and married his
Speaker 1: children into many of the most important noble houses of Europe.
Speaker 1: Best of all, he had trained up William a Fling
Speaker 1: to continue what he had begun. While Henry had had
Speaker 1: to battle his brothers, leading to decades of strife for
Speaker 1: the realm, William Athling's right to rule was now uncontested.
Speaker 1: A long prosperous future seemed to stretch before the King
Speaker 1: and his heir, before all of England and Normandy, and
Speaker 1: it was this future that the court planned to celebrate
Speaker 1: as they gathered in bar floor in November twenty on
Speaker 1: ships bound for England. The party had to wait several
Speaker 1: days for the right conditions to cross the channel. On
Speaker 1: the night of November, the wind finally began to blow
Speaker 1: in the right direction. Henry's ship boarded first. Traveling alongside
Speaker 1: the King were a group of knights and William Athling's wife,
Speaker 1: Matilda of Anjou, who, at only nine or ten at
Speaker 1: this point, seemed too young to travel with the Crown
Speaker 1: Prince's rowdier crew. The King's ship pushed off in the
Speaker 1: early evening, rowing past the rocks that littered the harbor's
Speaker 1: edge and turned into the open ocean. William Aitling watched
Speaker 1: his father disappear over the horizon, and then turned smiling
Speaker 1: to his friends. It was time for the real party
Speaker 1: to begin. The Crown Prince sent for a huge quantity
Speaker 1: of wine, and he encouraged both his noble friends and
Speaker 1: the ship's crew alike to partake. As the drinks flowed,
Speaker 1: things quickly became chaotic. Crew members ran about the white
Speaker 1: ship's deck, sitting in the seats normally reserved for nobility,
Speaker 1: while the tipsy young men of the court began to
Speaker 1: bet on just how fast this marvelous ship could go.
Speaker 1: The party got so raucous that the group even neglected
Speaker 1: traditional seafaring rituals. When several clergymen offered a blessing for
Speaker 1: safe passage, the boisterous group laughed at off the disrespect,
Speaker 1: rubbed some passengers the long way, and several departed the
Speaker 1: ship feeling as the medieval chronicler or Derek Vitalis wrote
Speaker 1: that the crossing could not go well with quote too
Speaker 1: great a crowd of wild and headstrong young men on
Speaker 1: board end quote. Stephen of Bluas the king's nephew, also
Speaker 1: disembarked before departure, but for a more prosaic reason. He
Speaker 1: was suffering from a bad bout of diarrhea. Amidst the
Speaker 1: crowd disembarking the ship, one man headed the opposite direction,
Speaker 1: boarding the white ship. He was uninvited. This was Barold,
Speaker 1: a local butcher, and he had a mission. He had
Speaker 1: been supplying the royal party with meat, and they had
Speaker 1: not yet paid his bill he was determined to collect,
Speaker 1: even if it meant crossing the channel to do so.
Speaker 1: Of all the comings and goings on the White Ship
Speaker 1: that night, Barolt and Stephen's movements would be the most important,
Speaker 1: but for very for reasons. Around midnight, momentum gathered to
Speaker 1: finally depart. Thomas fitz Stephen, the owner and captain of
Speaker 1: the White Ship, who had convinced King Henry to let
Speaker 1: him join the fleet, gave the order to cast off.
Speaker 1: Members of the crowd on the shore recounted that fitz
Speaker 1: Stephen had shouted that he planned to overtake the kingship.
Speaker 1: A wild roar went up from ship and shore alike,
Speaker 1: and everyone urged the oarsmen to row faster, faster. The
Speaker 1: streamlined boat skimmed swiftly across the harbor, dropping its sails
Speaker 1: to further increase the speed. Unfortunately, in his drunken haste,
Speaker 1: egged on by the cheers of his passengers, fitz Stephen
Speaker 1: chose speed over steering. By the time the White ship
Speaker 1: reached the edge of the harbor, one nautical mile from shore,
Speaker 1: it was practically flying, and then it hit a rock.
Speaker 1: I want to note here that every thing we know
Speaker 1: about what happened to those on board the white ship
Speaker 1: comes from one source, a survivor who told his story
Speaker 1: directly to contemporary chroniclers. Since we don't have other sources,
Speaker 1: it's important to take the details of what happened out
Speaker 1: at sea with a grain of salt, so to say,
Speaker 1: though the broader narrative, the rowdy atmosphere on board the
Speaker 1: ship crashing comes from multiple sources, and so that's more trustworthy.
Speaker 1: Back to the channel, where the white Ship had just
Speaker 1: collided with a large rock jutting out from the water,
Speaker 1: impaling itself on the stone. Water immediately rushed in through
Speaker 1: a large hole on the port side. The crew quickly
Speaker 1: moved to free the boat, but many were washed away
Speaker 1: by the waves. The efforts of those who clung on
Speaker 1: only resulted in a larger hole. More water flooded in,
Speaker 1: and a strong wind pulled at the sails, causing the
Speaker 1: ship to tip sideways. Screaming passengers slid into the freezing water.
Speaker 1: Most died quickly from the shock of suddenly entering the
Speaker 1: thirty two degree fahrenheit water. Though still on shore heard
Speaker 1: loud sounds from the water, but they assumed they were
Speaker 1: just cheers. From the party on board, The night was
Speaker 1: too dark for them to see the massive tragedy that
Speaker 1: was occurring just one nautical mile away. Within a half
Speaker 1: an hour of the ship's tipping over, nearly everyone on
Speaker 1: board was dead. Two men, though, had managed to cling
Speaker 1: onto a piece of the ship's mast, and they used
Speaker 1: it to pull themselves out of the water. Think rose
Speaker 1: on a door in Titanic. The first man was Jeffrey
Speaker 1: la Gille, a night renowned for his courage. The second
Speaker 1: was Barolt, the Butcher. From their vantage point on the mast,
Speaker 1: they surveyed the scene before them, trying to absorb the horror,
Speaker 1: but the worst was still yet to come. When the
Speaker 1: ship had first been struck, William Athling's bodyguards had quickly
Speaker 1: pulled the Crown Prince into the Soul lifeboat, rowing him
Speaker 1: back towards the shore. But as they traveled quickly away
Speaker 1: from the wreck, William heard someone calling for him. It
Speaker 1: was his half sister, Matilda, not the Matilda who was
Speaker 1: married to the Holy Roman Emperor, but an illegitimate sister
Speaker 1: who was married to the Count of Perth. Matilda begged
Speaker 1: her brother not to abandon her. As Barold watched the
Speaker 1: prince ordered his bodyguards to turn the lifeboat around and
Speaker 1: rescue his sister, But as the boat moved towards Matilda,
Speaker 1: other drowning passengers began to grasp at it, desperately pulling
Speaker 1: it under the waves, swamping it in a tangle of
Speaker 1: hands and arms and water. William Athling and his bodyguards
Speaker 1: were brought down into the channel, doomed to drown along
Speaker 1: with the rest. After this, the only other living soul
Speaker 1: that Barrald and Jeffrey Lagille saw was Thomas fitz Stephen,
Speaker 1: the ship's captain. He shouted to the two men on
Speaker 1: the mast, asking if the Crown Prince had survived. Berralt
Speaker 1: regretfully reported that the Prince was dead. Fitzstephen knew that
Speaker 1: the death of William Athling would hang on his head,
Speaker 1: and so looking up at the men, he called out,
Speaker 1: it is vain for me to go on living, and
Speaker 1: he allowed himself to slip beneath the waves. Now only
Speaker 1: Jeffrey and Berald were left For once, the poorer man
Speaker 1: had the advantage. While Jeffrey's clothes made of luxurious fabric
Speaker 1: were little protection from the cold water, Berrald's rough cloak
Speaker 1: made of wool and animal skin was keeping him warmer.
Speaker 1: As the night wore on, Jeffrey grew colder and weaker,
Speaker 1: until at last, murmuring a blessing to Berrald, he fell
Speaker 1: from the mast and drowned. Thus Berrald, the butcher, who
Speaker 1: had boarded the ship uninvited only to call his payment,
Speaker 1: was the only survivor of the white ship. He clung
Speaker 1: to the mast, floating closer to shore, until he was
Speaker 1: pulled from the water by fishermen in the early morning.
Speaker 1: Half frozen world explained what had happened. As years passed,
Speaker 1: he continued to tell his story, a miraculous eyewitness to
Speaker 1: one of the English royal famili's worst tragedies. Though some
Speaker 1: bodies washed up on the shores around Normandy, most were
Speaker 1: never found, including the body of William eight Ling. It
Speaker 1: was a shocking end, as Henry of Huntingdon, a contemporary
Speaker 1: chronicler put it quote, the head, which should have worn
Speaker 1: a crown of gold, was suddenly dashed against the rocks.
Speaker 1: Instead of wearing embroidered robes, he floated naked in the waves,
Speaker 1: and instead of ascending a lofty throne, he found his
Speaker 1: grave in the bellies of fishes at the bottom of
Speaker 1: the sea end quote. The news took some time to
Speaker 1: reach the English court. King Henry and his ship had
Speaker 1: arrived safely at Southampton before they traveled to the Royal
Speaker 1: Hunting Logic Clarendon. When his son's party did not arrive
Speaker 1: soon after, people began to wonder if the ship had
Speaker 1: gotten lost. Soon, they learned from across the channel it
Speaker 1: was far worse. At first, the news was kept from
Speaker 1: the King, his temper was legendary, and no one wanted
Speaker 1: to be the messenger. This decision had a strange side effect.
Speaker 1: Many in court had also lost loved ones on the
Speaker 1: white ship, but they could not publicly mourn lest the
Speaker 1: King catch on. Finally, with the King's concern rising, those
Speaker 1: closest to him knew that they had to break the news.
Speaker 1: Theobald of blue Chat, a nephew of the king, was
Speaker 1: chosen to deliver the blow, but too frightened of the king,
Speaker 1: and who caught up in his own grief for his
Speaker 1: sister had been on the ship, he passed the responsibility
Speaker 1: on to a young boy. The boy broke into tears,
Speaker 1: threw himself at the King's feet, and spilled the story
Speaker 1: as quickly as he could. Instead of the anger many
Speaker 1: had expected, Henry was overwhelmed with grief. He threw himself
Speaker 1: to the ground, screaming and had to be held up.
Speaker 1: He then fell into a state of denial, perhaps because,
Speaker 1: as the historian Charles Spencer notes, quote, it seemed both
Speaker 1: absurd and cruel that these men, who had survived the
Speaker 1: dangers of so many battlefields and sieges should end their
Speaker 1: lives in something as commonplace as an accident at sea
Speaker 1: and quote. But eventually the king could not deny the truth.
Speaker 1: He took to his bed for days, unable to eat.
Speaker 1: The whole Realm seemed to be in mourning. Besides the
Speaker 1: crown Prince, the shipwreck had taken a large portion of
Speaker 1: the ruling class of England and Normandy. Many feared the
Speaker 1: power vacuum soon to come. King Henry knew that he
Speaker 1: needed to act quickly now to secure an air Less
Speaker 1: than two months after William eight Ling's death, the widowed
Speaker 1: king remarried a woman named Adeliza of Louvan, but the
Speaker 1: two had no children. He would need to look elsewhere
Speaker 1: for an heir. Eventually, he settled on his daughter Matilda,
Speaker 1: who had been widowed by the Holy Roman Emperor and
Speaker 1: had remarried to Jeoffrey of Anjou, the younger brother of
Speaker 1: William Athling's bride, Matilda. Jeoffrey liked to wear a sprig
Speaker 1: of broom blossom in his hat, and from the Latin
Speaker 1: name Planta Genista, he had been given a nickname Jeoffrey Plantagenet.
Speaker 1: Henry made his lords swear an oath to support Matilda
Speaker 1: as his heir, but after Henry's death in eleven thirty five,
Speaker 1: the transition of power to Matilda was not smooth. Some
Speaker 1: noblemen balked at the idea of being subservient to a woman,
Speaker 1: while there's disliked Joffrey's connection to Anjou, which had historically
Speaker 1: opposed Norman interests. Matilda's most formidable opponent was Stephen of
Speaker 1: Blue Ah, who you may remember narrowly avoided death on
Speaker 1: the White Ship because of his bad stomach. The war
Speaker 1: between Matilda and Stephen officially began in eleven thirty eight,
Speaker 1: and it would last until eleven fifty three. It was
Speaker 1: an enormously violent, dangerous, and difficult time, As the Anglo
Speaker 1: Saxon Chronicle records quote, there was nothing but disturbance and wickedness.
Speaker 1: And robbery end quote. The country would eventually return to
Speaker 1: a tenuous peace under the rule of the Plantagenet dynasty,
Speaker 1: but the years of chaos during the Civil War between
Speaker 1: Matilda and Stephen were hard to recover from. After all
Speaker 1: of Henry's battles, schemes and accomplishments, his hopes for the
Speaker 1: peaceful future of England had disappeared, lost under the waves
Speaker 1: with the White Ship and his son, William Atheling. That's
Speaker 1: the story of William Atheling and the White Ship. But
Speaker 1: continue listening after a brief sponsor break to hear a
Speaker 1: little bit more about one of the stories were ironic twists.
Speaker 1: The White Ship disaster had myriad consequences, some more obvious
Speaker 1: than others. One lesser known consequence has a strange irony
Speaker 1: to it. Retrow, Count of Perch, was devastated by the
Speaker 1: death of his wife Matilda in the shipwreck. This Matilda,
Speaker 1: as you might remember, was the half sister of William Atheling,
Speaker 1: who had begged her brother to save her, which led
Speaker 1: to his death. To honor his wife Matilda's memory, were
Speaker 1: Trow built a chapel in eleven twenty two, and then
Speaker 1: an adjoining monastery several years later, the monastery was called
Speaker 1: La trop Five hundred years later, in sixteen sixty four,
Speaker 1: the abbot of La Troupe, who felt that the monastic
Speaker 1: order had lost its way, introduced a series of reforms.
Speaker 1: This new order became known as the Trappists after their
Speaker 1: home abbey, and the movement eventually spread around the world.
Speaker 1: Most Trappist monasteries produced goods to support themselves, ranging from
Speaker 1: cheese to coffins, but to this day they are most
Speaker 1: famous for their beer. Trappist beers are renowned for their
Speaker 1: rich flavor and are highly sought after by beer enthusiasts.
Speaker 1: So in a strange twist of fate, a historic disaster
Speaker 1: caused by over consumption of alcohol led to the creation
Speaker 1: of one of the most famous alcohol traditions in Europe.
Speaker 1: Noble Blood is a production of I Heart Radio and
Speaker 1: Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted
Speaker 1: by me Danish Wortz. Additional writing and researching done by
Speaker 1: Hannah Johnston, Hannah's Wick, Mirra Hayward, Courtney Sunder and Laurie Goodman.
Speaker 1: The show is produced by rema Il Kayali with supervising
Speaker 1: producer Josh Thaine and executive producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams,
Speaker 1: and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.