William Adelin - Death

Death

William died in the White Ship tragedy of 25 November 1120. The Prince and his companions had been crossing the English Channel from Barfleur in the White Ship, the swiftest and most modern ship in the royal fleet. William and his party had remained drinking on the shore until after dark, confident that in a fast ship and on the still sea the delay would have no real effect. Consequently, it was the middle of the night when the drunken helmsman rammed the ship into a rock in the bay. The crew and passengers could not lever the ship off the rock, or prevent the ship from filling with water; however, William and several of his friends managed to launch a life-dinghy. At the last minute, William dashed back to rescue his illegitimate half-sister, Matilda FitzRoy, Countess of Perche; when they and several others threw themselves into the small dinghy, it, "overcharged by the multitude that leapt into her, capsized and sank and buried all indiscriminately in the deep."

Henry of Huntingdon, speaking of the disaster, wrote that William, "instead of wearing embroidered robes...floated naked in the waves, and instead of ascending a lofty throne...found his grave at the bottom of the sea."

William's wife was on another ship at the time of the wreck, and survived him to become a nun and eventually, Abbess of Fontevrault.

His death ruined his father's hopes and policies. Although he made a hasty second marriage (Matilda of Scotland had died in 1118) to Adeliza of Louvain, he did not produce any more legitimate children. With no clear male heir (the obvious choice, William Clito, the son of Henry's older brother, was not favoured by the King; Henry had an abundance of other nephews and illegitimate children, of whom his favoured nephew Stephen of Blois and illegitimate son Robert of Gloucester particularly stood out, but for various reasons none were chosen), Henry designated his daughter, Matilda, dowager Holy Roman Empress, as his heiress, marrying her to William's brother-in-law Geoffrey V of Anjou, and forcing his Barons to swear to uphold her rights; but on his death, the Barons reneged on their oaths on the grounds of coercion, and chose Henry's nephew, Stephen of Blois, prompting a period of English history known as The Anarchy.