Biography of William Adelin Duke Normandy 1103-1120

Paternal Family Tree: Norman

Maternal Family Tree: Agatha

25th November 1120-Sinking of The White Ship

1121 Marriage of King Henry I and Adeliza of Louvain

On 11th November 1100, three months after acceeding to the throne, [his father] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 32) and [his mother] Matilda of Scotland (age 20) were married. She was crowned Queen Consort England. Baptised Edith she took the regnal name Matilda. The marriage brought together the houses of Normandy and Wessex; she was a great granddaughter of King Edmund I of England. She the daughter of [his grandfather] King Malcolm III of Scotland and [his grandmother] Margaret Wessex Queen Consort Scotland. He the son of [his grandfather] King William "Conqueror" I of England and [his grandmother] Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England.

On 5th August 1103 William Adelin Duke Normandy was born to [his father] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 35) and [his mother] Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England (age 23). The name Adelin an Anglo-Saxon term meaning Noble, or Prince, reflecting his mother's descent from the House of Wessex (her mother was [his grandmother] Margaret Wessex Queen Consort Scotland ).

Around 1107 [his illegitimate half-sister] Sybilla Fitzroy Queen Consort Scotland (age 15) by marriage Queen Consort Scotland.

On 7th January 1114 [his brother-in-law] Henry V Holy Roman Emperor (age 32) and [his sister] Empress Matilda (age 11) were married. She by marriage Holy Roman Empress. The difference in their ages was 20 years. She the daughter of [his father] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 46) and [his mother] Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England (age 34). They were fourth cousin once removed.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1115. This year was the [his father] King Henry (age 47) on the Nativity in Normandy. And whilst he was there, he contrived that all the head men in Normandy [Map] did homage and fealty to his son William (age 11), whom he had by his [his mother] queen (age 35).

On 1st May 1118 [his mother] Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England (age 38) died at Westminster Palace [Map]. She was buried at Westminster Abbey [Map].

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1119. This year went William (age 15), the son of [his father] King Henry (age 51) and [his sister] Queen Matilda (age 16), into Normandy [Map] to his father, and there was given to him, and wedded to [his wife] wife, the daughter (age 8) of the [his father-in-law] Earl of Anjou (age 30).

In 1119 William Adelin Duke Normandy (age 15) and Matilda of Anjou (age 8) were married. She the daughter of Fulk "Young" King Jerusalem (age 30) and Ermengarde de la Flèche Countess of Anjou. He the son of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 51) and Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England. They were fourth cousin once removed.

In June 1119 [his illegitimate half-brother] Robert Normandy 1st Earl Gloucester (age 20) and [his sister-in-law] Mabel Fitzhamon Countess Gloucester were married at Lisieux, Calvados, Basse Normandie. She by marriage Countess Gloucester. He the illegitmate son of [his father] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 51) and Daughter Gay.

Battle of Bures-en-Bray

On or before 17th July 1119 at the Battle of Bures-en-Bray [his father] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 51) fought against the army of King Louis VI of France (age 37).

Baldwin VII Count Flanders (age 26) who was killed. His first cousin Charles (age 35) succeeded I Count Flanders. Marguerite Clermont Countess Flanders (age 14) by marriage Countess Flanders.

Battle of Bremule

On 20th August 1119 at the Battle of Bremule at Gaillardbois Cressenville [his father] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 51) and his son William Adelin Duke Normandy (age 16) defeated the army of King Louis VI of France (age 37) who had invaded Normandy in support of William Clito Normandy Count Flanders (age 16) who claimed the Duchy of Normandy.

Before 1120 [his brother-in-law] Routrou "The Great" Chateaudun III Count Perche (age 39) and [his illegitimate half-sister] Matilda Fitzroy Countess Perche were married. She by marriage Countess Perche. She the illegitmate daughter of [his father] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 51). He the son of Geoffrey Chateaudun II Count Mortain III Count Perche and Beatrix de Ramerupt Montdidier Countess Mortain and Perche.

Around August 1120 William Adelin Duke Normandy (age 16) paid homage to King Louis VI of France (age 38) for Normandy.

All About History Books

William of Worcester's Chronicle of England

William of Worcester, born around 1415, and died around 1482 was secretary to John Fastolf, the renowned soldier of the Hundred Years War, during which time he collected documents, letters, and wrote a record of events. Following their return to England in 1440 William was witness to major events. Twice in his chronicle he uses the first person: 1. when writing about the murder of Thomas, 7th Baron Scales, in 1460, he writes '… and I saw him lying naked in the cemetery near the porch of the church of St. Mary Overie in Southwark …' and 2. describing King Edward IV's entry into London in 1461 he writes '… proclaimed that all the people themselves were to recognize and acknowledge Edward as king. I was present and heard this, and immediately went down with them into the city'. William’s Chronicle is rich in detail. It is the source of much information about the Wars of the Roses, including the term 'Diabolical Marriage' to describe the marriage of Queen Elizabeth Woodville’s brother John’s marriage to Katherine, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, he aged twenty, she sixty-five or more, and the story about a paper crown being placed in mockery on the severed head of Richard, 3rd Duke of York.

Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback format.

Around August 1120 William Adelin Duke Normandy (age 16) was appointed Duke Normandy.

25th November 1120-Sinking of The White Ship

On 25th November 1120 the White Ship left Barfleur in north-west Normandy, with a party of young Normans. [his father] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 52) had left earlier on another ship. A mile out the White Ship foundered on a submerged rock. William Adelin Duke Normandy (age 17), his half-siblings [his illegitimate half-brother] Richard Fitzroy (age 19) and [his illegitimate half-sister] Matilda Fitzroy Countess Perche, William Bigod (age 27), Lucia Mahaut Blois Countess Chester, brothers Geoffrey Aigle and Engenulf Aigle, half-brothers Richard Avranches 2nd Earl Chester (age 26) and Ottiwel Avranches, brothers Ivo Grandesmil and William Grandesmil and Geoffrey Ridel were all drowned.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 25th November 1120. And in this expedition were drowned the [his father] king's (age 52) two sons, William (age 17) and [his illegitimate half-brother] Richard (age 19), and Richard, Earl of Chester (age 26), and Ottuel his brother, and very many of the king's household, stewards, and chamberlains, and butlers, and men of various abodes; and with them a countless multidude of very incomparable folk besides. Sore was their death to their friends in a twofold respect: one, that they so suddenly lost this life; the other, that few of their bodies were found anywhere afterwards.

Chronicon ex Chronicis by Florence and John of Worcester. [25th November 1120] Shipwreck of king Henry's children. Henry, king of England, having successfully accomplished all his designs, returned from Normandy to England. His son William (age 17), hastening to follow him, embarked in company with a great number of nobles, knights, women, and boys. Having left the harbour and put out to sea, encouraged by the extraordinary calmness of the weather, shortly afterwards the ship in which they were sailing struck on a rock and was wrecked, and all on board were swallowed up by the waves, except one churl, who, as it is reported, was not worthy of being named, but by the wonderful mercy of God, escaped alive. Of those who perished, those of highest rank were, William, the king's son, Richard (age 26), earl of Chester, Othiel, his brother, William Bigod (age 27), Geoffrey Riddel, Walter d'Evereux, Geoffrey, archdeacon of Hereford, the king's [his illegitimate half-sister] daughter, the countess of Perche, the king's niece, the countess of Chester, and many more who are omitted for brevity's sake. This disaster horrified and distressed the mind of the king, who reached England after a safe voyage, and of all who heard of it, and struck them with awe at the mysterious decrees of a just God.

Note 1. Ordericus Vitalis, in his twelfth book, c. xxv., gives a particular account of the shipwreck of the Blanche Nef; which is also mentioned, with more or less detail, by Huntingdon, Malmesbury, and other chroniclers.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1121. This year came the [his former father-in-law] Earl of Anjou (age 32) from Jerusalem into his land; and soon after sent hither to fetch his [his former wife] daughter (age 10), who had been given to wife to William, the [his father] king's (age 53) son.

Marriage of King Henry I and Adeliza of Louvain

Chronicon ex Chronicis by Florence and John of Worcester. On the fourth of the calends of February [29th January 1121] the [his step-mother] maiden (age 18) already mentioned as selected for queen was married to the [his father] king (age 53) by William, bishop of Winchester, at the command of Ralph, archbishop of Canterbury; and on the following day, the third of the calends of February (30th January), she was consecrated and crowned as queen by the archbishop in person.

Note. Some sources say 24th January 1121.

Around 5th June 1152 Eleanor of Aquitaine (age 30) visited Fontevraud Abbey [Map] where she met [his former wife] Abbess Matilda (age 41) (her husband's [his nephew] Henry's (age 19) aunt by marriage - Abbess Matilda had married William Adelin brother of his mother [his sister] Empress Matilda (age 50) who had died in the White Ship Disaster).