The medieval Titanic

On the evening of November 25, 1120, an event occurred that truly did change the course of European history. The White Ship’s sinking is often compared to the sinking of the Titanic, for both were “state of the art” vessels, both packed with highborn, wealthy, and powerful passengers, and the loss of both ships sent shock waves reverberating through their worlds. We can only speculate how the deaths of the Titanic passengers affected history, but we know for a certainty that the loss of the English king Henry’s only legitimate heir led to a civil war, a time so chaotic and wretched that the chroniclers claimed the people believed that “Christ and his Saints slept.” This sad period in English history, also known as The Anarchy, resulted in the coronation of a bold, strong-willed twenty-one-year old who would prove to be one of England’s great kings, Henry II, who founded a dynasty that would rule for over three hundred years. But if the White Ship had safely navigated the Narrow Sea separating Normandy and England, not only would Henry not have become king, he most likely would never have been born.
This is what a chronicler had to say about this maritime tragedy: "Here also perished with William, Richard, another of the King's sons, whom a woman without rank had borne him, before his accession, a brave youth, and dear to his father from his obedience; Richard d'Avranches, second Earl of Chester, and his brother Otheur; Geoffrey Ridel; Walter of Everci; Geoffrey, archdeacon of Hereford; the Countess of Chester; the king's niece Lucia-Mahaut of Blois; and many others ... No ship ever brought so much misery to England."
And here is a quote from my novel When Christ and his Saints Slept, page 22, as the sole survivor of the more than three hundred aboard the White Ship clung to the ship’s mast, waiting for death to claim him, too.
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When he heard the voices, muffled and distorted in the fog, he felt a weary wonderment that his ordeal was over, that God’s good angels were coming for him at last. But they came not in winged chariots, as the priests had taught. Instead they glided out of the fog in a small fishing craft, its hull painted yellow and black, its single sail as bright as blood.
Berold tried to yell; it emerged as a hoarse croak. But they’d already seen him, were dipping their oars into the sea. And then they were alongside and one of the men had nimbly scrambled out onto the mast, cutting him loose, and Berold realized that for him, salvation had come in the unlikely guise of three Breton fishermen. He had been spared to bear witness, to tell the world that the White Ship had gone down off Barfleur Point, with the loss of the English king’s son and all aboard, save only a butcher’s lad from Rouen.
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November 25th was also the date of the battle of Montgisard in 1177, in which the young leper king, Baldwin IV, and Reynald de Chatillon won an unlikely victory over Saladin. While this victory undoubtedly boosted the morale of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and gave the tragic Baldwin a rare moment of happiness, it did not change the balance of power and less than ten years later, Saladin would win a stunning triumph at the Horns of Hattin. Its primary significance today is that it is another fictional battle I must fight.:-)