The sinking of the White Ship in 1120 is one of the greatest disasters England has ever suffered. In one catastrophic night, the king’s heir and the flower of Anglo-Norman society were drowned and the future of the crown was thrown violently off course.
In a riveting narrative, Charles Spencer follows the story from the Norman Conquest through to the decades that would become known as the Anarchy: a civil war of untold violence that saw families turn in on each other with English and Norman barons, rebellious Welsh princes and the Scottish king all playing a part in a desperate game of thrones. All because of the loss of one vessel – the White Ship – the medieval Titanic.
One review of the book states that it is just as gripping as a thriller. I beg to differ. The writing style is scholarly and while it tells a part of English history most of us are unfamiliar with, it was rather dull. The most excited I got was when I ran across a name of a direct ancestor here and there. I was expecting the book to be about a ship that sank at sea and wondered whether there would be some mystery concerning the sinking. The ship didn't sink until the halfway point in the story.
The White Ship is a history book with a small section about a shipwreck. 2 out of 5 stars.
I read this last year and found it to be quite dry too. There were also an awful lot of names to keep track of, especially women called Matilda!
ReplyDeleteI had high expectations given the media attention when the book was published.
DeleteI’m sorry it wasn’t what you hoped for, thanks for sharing your thoughts
ReplyDeleteThat's disappointing. It sucks when an author takes an interesting topic and makes it boring.
ReplyDelete