william ætheling

On the 25th of November, 1120, the prince of England drowned when his ship struck a rock in the English Channel. Upon the shoulders of that 17-year-old, now usually known as had been laid the hopes of his dynasty and kingdom...

The only legitimate son of King Henry I, William's untimely death disrupted his father's carefully crafted plan, eventually leading to the succession crisis known as The Anarchy.

Along with William, two of King Henry I's illegitimate children drowned that fateful night, as well as dozens of young nobles and nobles-to-be. Only one single passenger survived to tell the tale. Contemporaries say that God struck the ship down to punish those aboard, many or all of whom were rumored to be sodomites...

A note on his name...

There are many names used to refer to him - Aetheling & Adelin are most commonly used today. They come from the Old English 'æþeling', which denoted a boy eligible for the throne. It's generally modernized as Aetheling or Ætheling, but I've also seen it spelled Atheling, Aethelingus, Etheling, or any combination thereof. Adelin or Adelinus is the contemporary Germanic equivalent. It was translated into Latin (the language used for historical/official records) as filius regis (king's son), or using the Anglo-Latin term clito. William Clito, however, is a different historical figure, our own William's cousin & narrative foil - see below!

His given name is just as convoluted. Anglo-Norman records record it as Willelm or Willelmus, but Latin wasn't used in his day-to-day life. I believe in his day-to-day life he would have been known as Williame or Williaume, the Old Norman form. Now I only wish I could know how to pronounce it accurately!

In conclusion, as close to the contemporary version of his name as I can get (to the best of my knowledge) would be Williaume Æþeling, but for simplicity's sake I will call him William Aetheling here.

William was born in August 1103, the only son of King Henry I and his wife Matilda of Scotland. Henry I was the son of William the Conqueror, and had become king upon his elder brother's death in 1100. William and his sister, Matilda/Maud, had a lavish, pampered childhood, and William grew to posess a level of arrogance and pride notable even for a prince. He was raised in the company of his in the then-new Palace of Westminster in London. In 1113, he was betrothed to Matilda, the young daughter of Count Fulk V of Anjou (not to be confused with Matilda his mother or Matilda his legitimate sister or any of the three Matildas his illegitimate sisters!).

His illegitimate siblings

William & his sister Matilda were the only two legitimate children of Henry I, but he also fathered at the least 23 illegitimate children... Highly impressive! Most royalty and nobility at the time would not have acknowledged any of their illegitimate children, but Henry I not only did so but also accepted them into his royal household. He also utilized them for his own political gain, marrying them into noble families.

Two of said children died in the shipwreck with William: Richard of Lincoln, who had recently entered a promising betrothal, & Matilda FitzRoy, Countess of Perche.

In additional to being the king of England, Henry I also held the duchy of Normandy. This technically made him a vassal of King Louis VI of France, who in 1115 pressed Henry to do to him as Duke of Normandy. Henry, loathe to comply as king in his own right, offered to have William do homage in his stead. As only legitimate son, William's status as future King of England was without question. That year he received the homage & fealty of the barons of Normandy, and in March 1116 that of the barons of England, which cemented his place as rightful heir. Eventually, Louis accepted Henry's offer of William doing homage in his place, and in 1119, 16-year-old William sailed for Normandy to join his father.