Biography of William Adelin Normandy Duke Normandy 1103-1120

Paternal Family Tree: Norman

Maternal Family Tree: Agatha

1100 Death of William Rufus Accession of Henry I

1100 Marriage of Henry I and Matilda

1119 Battle of Bremule

1120 Sinking of The White Ship

1121 Marriage of King Henry I and Adeliza of Louvain

1612 Death of Prince Frederick

Death of William Rufus Accession of Henry I

On 02 Aug 1100 [his uncle] William "Rufus" II King England (age 44) was killed whilst hunting, not known whether accidentally or otherwise, in the New Forest, Hampshire. His brother [his father] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 32) succeeded I King England. The brothers Robert Beaumont 1st Earl of Leicester Count Meulan (age 60) and Henry Beaumont 1st Earl Warwick (age 50), and Roger de Clare (age 34) and Gilbert de Clare (age 34) were present.

Marriage of Henry I and Matilda

On 11 Nov 1100 [his father] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 32) and [his mother] Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England (age 20) were married. Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England (age 20) was crowned Queen Consort England at which time Edith was renamed Matilda. She the daughter of Malcolm III King Scotland and Margaret Wessex Queen Consort Scotland. He the son of King William "Conqueror" I of England and Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England.

On 05 Aug 1103 William Adelin Normandy Duke Normandy was born to King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 35) and 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 Margaret Wessex Queen Consort Scotland ).

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 01 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].

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

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1119. This year went William (age 15), the son of 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).

Battle of Bremule

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

Sinking of The White Ship

Florence of Worcester Continuation. 1120 and 1121. 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 16), 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.

On 25 Nov 1120 the White Ship left Barfleur, Basse Normandie, 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 Normandy 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. 25 Nov 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 (age 52) 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.

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

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

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

Florence of Worcester Continuation. 29 Jan 1121. On the fourth of the calends of February 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 24 Jan 1121.

Around 05 Jun 1152 Eleanor of Aquitaine (age 30) visited Fontevraud Abbey [Map] where she met [his former wife] Abbess Matilda (age 41) (her husband's Henry's (age 19) aunt by marriage - Abbess Matilda (age 41) had married William Adelin brother of his mother [his sister] Empress Matilda (age 50) who had died in the White Ship Disaster).