Books: The White Ship By Charles Spencer

 (Drivebycuriosity) - I like to read history books. They explain a lot of today´s world. And they show how horrible life was in the past and how much humankind has evolved & got better. 

The book "The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I’s Dream" by Charles Spencer focuses on the 11th century and on the English King Henry I, a son of William the Conqueror, his relatives and other Norman aristocrats ( amazon). Unfortunately the titles gives too much away. 

Careers & wealth were created or destroyed by force and a sheer endless row of  wars. The most successful & ruthless butchers became a part of the ruling elite. Quite important was legal succession, which led to nepotism. Nobody cared about competence, instead it was important who was the legitimate offspring from whom. Violence, irrationality & the absence of health care made life random. Sudden deaths caused by murder, warfare, illness or frequent hunting accidents changed the course of history often and radically.

I learned a lot about the Normans, the heirs of Danish warriors, who had conquered a part of today`s France, which became the duchy Normandy, and then overtook England. The Normans were extremely aggressive and treated both countries as their as their private property. Their aristocrats tried to ursup as much land & wealth as possible.   

The book is very informative and has thrilling parts but after reading more than 200 pages (from about 280) I got tired to learn all about the complex relations of so many Norman aristocrats and about who had married whom and who had inherited what.