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The White Ship

Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I’s Dream

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Teklif 29 Ocak 2026 tarihinde saat 23:59 GMT itibarıyla sona erer.
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The White Ship

Yazan: Charles Spencer
Seslendiren: Richard Trinder
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Özet

THE #2 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

‘As gripping as any thriller. History doesn't get any better than this’ BILL BRYSON ’A brilliant read … Game of Thrones but in the real world’ ANTHONY HOROWITZ

PICKED AS A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 BY THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, THE GUARDIAN, THE DAILY MAIL AND THE DAILY EXPRESS.

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.

‘Highly enjoyable’ Simon Heffer
‘Brilliant’ Dan Jones
‘Fascinating’ Tom Bower

The #2 Sunday Times bestseller on Sunday 18 June 2021

Büyük Britanya Europe Expeditions & Discoveries Maritime History & Piracy Military Politics & Activism Royalty World İngiltere Orta Çağ Düşündürücü Savaş Tudor
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Eleştirmen yorumları

‘How a drunk teenager shipwrecked the monarchy … As colourful and racy narrative history goes, this absolutely gallops … Whips through a hundred years of complex history from the Norman Conquest to Henry II’ Daily Mail
“Vividly conjures up this half-forgotten medieval tragedy and its consequences”Daily Mail, Books of the Year
“An epic, gripping history of hubris, piety, treachery, happenstance, rebellion and slaughter.” Catholic Herald
‘Rooted in the medieval chronicles, but crafted like a Hollywood thriller. Spencer is one of the finest narrative historians around’
Mail on Sunday
‘Charles Spencer is a gifted storyteller … Pivoted on one single, tragic winter evening. It is an event and a period of history that should be better known, and now it will be’
The Times
'Spencer proves himself more than a match for the story. He guides the reader well through the dramatic twists and turns of these years, which first placed Henry on the throne, then seemed set to deny the succession of his progeny. Spencer has a particularly good eye for detail, enriching his account with vivid pen-portraits of the main players … Fast-paced and immensely enjoyable'
Literary Review
‘Neglected by popular historians, [Henry I] … has found a master storyteller in Charles Spencer … rooted in excellent historical research … a lyrical, vivid and compelling portrait. He succeeds in bringing to life huge characters from nearly a millennium ago’
Spectator
‘An exhilarating narrative full of incident and insight. Here is the story, marvellously told, of the post-Conquest kings – and one almost-queen – of England: unpredictable, violently dramatic, and never less than compelling’
Helen Castor
'Told with verve and an exceptional eye for detail, this is the story of how a single catastrophe changed the course of British history forever. Dramatic, compelling and utterly addictive’
Tracy Borman
Tüm yıldızlar
En alakalı
exceptional book, read lots of royal historical books before but this literally one of the best, so many details and well written not one bad thing I could say except it ended

worth reading

Bir sorun oluştu. Lütfen birkaç dakika sonra tekrar deneyin.
- This brilliant book is like an historically accurate version of ‘games of thrones’. The book begins with telling the story of the kings of England up into Henry II. Henry was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and following unfortunate incidences that happened to his three elder brothers, he became king. Having felt that he had enough troubles with his siblings, he married Matilda and ended up having one son and one daughter and then continued sleeping with everyone else.
- When people refer to the fact that current times have never been so bad at the current moment, these people need to read more history books. So here might be a plot for Game of Thrones, a bastard king from another empire overthrows the king of another Empire, who is only just thought of Scandinavian Viking Warriors. The king is killed and a new king takes his place, has at least four legitimate children, of whom the youngest eventually becomes king leaving his dying brother who should be the current ruler mortally wounded in a forest. The king sired 22 illegitimate children and two children who are heirs to the throne. Sadly, the one who was meant to be king, dies in a drunken shipping incident in which all but one die. In-between this are a range of battles and torturous deaths, including one where ravens pick out the eyes of a man who has been gorged but left alive to be killed by the ravens. There’s head, arms chopped off, heads chopped off, through people’s heads. Eventually a new king is brought to the head of the state, as no one wanted the remaining, legitimate childish who was a woman, so more battles insure and what is known as ‘The Anarchy’ and England’s first Civil War takes hold of the country until pretty much everyone is dead or has made allegiances for their children to become future kingdoms of the Empire unknown only to God in their actions. Only this isn’t a plot from Game of Thrones, it is much more exciting and it’s a story of Henry II, son of William the Conqueror, and subsequent Kings who end up fighting a Civil War and war with other empires (mainly the French).
- The son was known as William, and this tells the story of how Henry II became a ruler with the knowledge that his one son William would become heir to the throne. However, following an unfortunate and rather drunken incident at sea, William would lose his life in the shipwreck that shouldn’t have happened if everyone hadn’t got so drunk, and this then tells the story of what happens following that incident. Henry who had already had 22 illegitimate children as well as the two children that were rightful heirs to the throne, he fought many battles, chopped off people’s heads and hands as deemed appropriate at the time. There is a cast of characters, and I sometimes did get lost on who was who, especially with so many Henrys and Williams around but luckily many of them do have nicknames, so you can tell the difference. It’s a thrilling account of a piece of history that I knew very little about and I feel a little bit more learned knowing all this history and it’s an exciting read.
- Henry II eventually died by eating a suffice of lamprey (which are ancient water creatures with a passing resemblance to eels, they have no jaws, instead sucking on their prey before ingestion what they take in through a throat bristling with teeth” and despite their ugliness and inherent dangers they were much praised in woollen aristocracy for their rich and meaty flesh.
- It’s a thrilling ride and someone should really make this into her television service because it would be fascinating, and I think even more interesting than Game of Thrones (which I must admit I’ve never seen). as I said, if you think the current times are hard, this would be a good history book to read to rectify that error in judgement of thought.

A real life history that could be game of thrones

Bir sorun oluştu. Lütfen birkaç dakika sonra tekrar deneyin.
Starting back before 1066, to understand the king who is first of his name, one must understand a little of his father too, and what he went through to secure the throne of England. Great depth, main focus on Henry, but then also describes the Anarchy that followed too. A truly brutal age, well told by Charles.

Henry I

Bir sorun oluştu. Lütfen birkaç dakika sonra tekrar deneyin.
This clearly well researched and well written book is utterly ruined by a robotic narration. I get the impression that the narrator has no understanding of the subject and has recorded a first read-through. I wonder how it ever got past quality control! Don’t waste you money on this version, buy the book instead. Returned for a refund.

Awful narration

Bir sorun oluştu. Lütfen birkaç dakika sonra tekrar deneyin.
Often when listening to books on medieval history my mind drifts away. To much detail that to me seems of little relevance. This book gives a wide view of English history from just before the Norman conquest to Henry II. It gives details as they exist about the sinking of the White ship but does not stretch them out. It is far more about the effects the sinking had on English history in the context of the time. I do not understand the negative comments about the presentation, in my opinion the readers performance was well suited to the subject matter.

Held my attention

Bir sorun oluştu. Lütfen birkaç dakika sonra tekrar deneyin.
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