"The White Ship" by Charles Spencer

 The White Ship was a ship travelling to England that sank in 1120 on a voyage from Barfleur in Normandy France; its historical significance was that among the dead was Prince William, the only legitimate son of Henry I, King of England. William's death provoked a succession crisis on Henry's death leading to a eighteen-year-long civil war between the supporters of King Stephen and Henry's only legitimate daughter, the Empress Matilda.

Of course, mediaeval history relies on just a few chronicled sources, so there are insufficient details in the story of the White Ship itself for a whole book, especially when you write narrative history and don't spend endless pages considering your sources. So Spencer chooses instead to set the incident of the White Ship into the context of the history of Norman England from 1066 to 1154. But encapsulating 88 years into 300 pages leads to problems of brevity. This is especially true when trying to describe the dynastic battles in northern France between the mini-states of Normandy, Anjou, Maine and Flanders, among others' it is even more true when trying to follow the convoluted history of the Stephen-Matilda conflict in which many participants changed sides at least once. The result is a history which manages to be at once confusing and over-simplistic. The book was a disappointment compared to Spencer's other forays into narrative history: Blenheim and Prince Rupert.

This is a fascinating period of history, responsible for much in the making of England, and it is better served by histories that take their time, such as:

• King Rufus by Emma Mason
• Henry I by Judith Green

Nevertheless, Spencer mentions, en passant, some fascinating insights into the Middle Ages.

• As a prince, Henry I was regarded as "something of an intellectual" because he could read ... although "there is no evidence that Henry could write". (Ch 2)
• Magnus Barefoot, who became King of Norway in 1095, "took control of a strong of islands around the north and west of Scotland, moving on to the Isle of Man, before landing on the island of Anglesey." (Ch 3) He was supported by Harold Haroldson, son of the King Harold killed at the Battle of Hastings. (Ch 5)
• William II made (later Saint) Anselm of Bec , who formulated the ontological argument for the existence of God, Archbishop of Canterbury (Ch 3)
• Just before the death of William II by an arrow in a hunting accident one of the illegitimate sons of Robert Curthose, William's older brother and Duke of Normandy, was killed by an arrow in a hunting accident; the guilty knight fled to the priory of St Pancras in Lewes and became a monk to avoid punishment. (Ch 4)
• Scottish King Macbeth ruled for 17 years: he "was a devout Christian who attended a papal jubilee in Rome in 1050 ... impressing onlookers with the amount of alms he doled out to the poor. As king, Macbeth insisted on enlightened measures, such as the legal defence of widows and orphans ... His strength of purpose and his vision helped to bring prosperity to his people." (Ch 4)
• Henry I's Queen, Matilda, built a single-span bridge over the River Lea, bear a favoured bathing place, which soon became known as Stratford-le-Bow. (Ch 6)
• The infamous cruelty of Robert de Belleme, at one time master of Arundel Castle, "is believed to be the model for 'Robert the Devil', a mythical Norman lord of chilling depravity, who was supposedly the spawn of the Devil." (Ch 8)
• The loss of his wife Matilda on the White Ship led the Lord of Perche to found a chapel at Soligny-la-Trappe which later became the site of the first Trappist monastery. (Ch 12)
• The father of Geoffrey of Anjou who married the Empress Matilda, daughter of King Henry I and mother of King Henry II, was Fulk, who later became the second crusader King of Jerusalem. 
• "There were those who believed that the house of Anjou descended from a diabolical source. Supposedly an Angevin count had long before returned from a visit to a far-off land with a beautiful wife who was a suspiciously reluctant churchgoer. When she did attend, she always left before the consecration. One day her husband had four of his knights tread on the fold of her cloak so she could not slip away mid-service. Forced to witness the priest holding aloft the host she was said to have screamed, slipped her cloak and flown away with two children in her wake. This was how she was revealed to be Melusine, the Devil's daughter." (Ch 15)

June 2022; 298 pages

This review was written by the author of Motherdarling  and The Kids of God