A Boat Wreck That Led to a Succession Dispute, Civil War, and Anarchy
Captain and crew were confident of the White Ship’s speed, and so accepted their highborn passengers’ challenge to overtake the king’s ship. Rowing furiously, fueled by copious amounts of wine as they were cheered and urged on by the drunk prince and his friends, the equally intoxicated crew set a good pace. However, in their inebriated state, the crew failed to keep a good lookout. They mistakenly 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 dispute and crisis.
King Henry failed to sire another son, and so sought to designate his daughter, Matilda, as heir. The king’s barons reluctantly agreed, but after Henry’s death in 1135, most of them backed his nephew, Stephen of Blois, when he claimed and seized the crown as the eldest male royal relative. The result was a succession dispute and crisis. Stephen’s claim was challenged by Matilda, and the two plunged England into nearly two decades of civil war and chaos that aptly came to be known as The Anarchy. It only ended after Stephen agreed to designate Matilda’s son, Henry Plantagenet, as his heir. The latter ascended the throne as Henry II after Stephen’s death in 1153, and founded the Plantagenet Dynasty that ruled England for centuries.
