"When Christ and His Saints Woke" - A White Ship Survives Timeline

PROLOGUE
"...in late November, Prince William set out with several of his father's courtiers from Barfleur to Pevensey in England, in a ship captained by the son of the man who ferried his grandfather back in 1066. This voyage would always be viewed as something of an embarrassment by King Henry, as William and his friends got stone-cold drunk to celebrate his recent ascension to the Duchy of Normandy, and tried to get the crew to join in on the festivities - thankfully, William's cousin Stephen of Blois [1] provided a firmer hand and kept the crew sober. The prince arrived in England wishing for death due to his hangover and the lecture he would get from his father..."

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[1] This is the POD. OTL, Stephen of Blois - yes, the same guy who fought with Matilda for the crown OTL years later - had intended to travel on the White Ship, but left at the last minute, whether from fear of overcrowding, sea-sickness, or, as one chronicler claimed, explosive diarrhea (seriously), and so was not on board. Here, he stays on and deals with both the drunkenness of the crew and the overcrowding, although the narrator is probably simplifying things. In any event, this allows for the survival of William Adelin (and by extent, Thomas FitzStephen, Richard Fitzroy, Matilda Fitzroy, Geoffrey Ridel, Earl Richard of Chester and his wife Lucia-Mahaut of Blois, and assorted others).
 
How so? I intended the title as a reference to the famous quote that the Anarchy was "Nineteen years when Christ and His Saints slept." Since titles can be edited now, do you have any advice?
Well, I could suggest to add a complement of the quote. Something like "When Christ and His Saints Woke" - William Adelin land in England. Or so... Well, this is my suggestion. That was what I've done with my timeline. Ive specified what is about it.
 
Well, I could suggest to add a complement of the quote. Something like "When Christ and His Saints Woke" - William Adelin land in England. Or so... Well, this is my suggestion. That was what I've done with my timeline. Ive specified what is about it.
Alright, it took a couple changes, but I think the new, expanded title should work
 
1121

- Early in the year Prince William, often nicknamed 'Adelin' (a Normand corruption of Aetheling, the Saxon word for 'Prince' which served as the surname for his grandmother Queen Margaret of Scotland and her brother Edgar) returns to Normandy to take up his position as William IV, Duke of the Normans. [1] He is joined by his 10-year old wife, Mahilda of Anjou.

- William does not engender confidence among the educated of England and Normandy. Henry of Huntingdon would later describe him as "a prince so pampered" he seemed "destined to be food for the fire." [2] Certainly, his penchant for drinking to excess didn't endear him to them, who noted that he was being granted rulership over a group of barons well known for rebellion.

- Further south, in Paris, these concerns are unknown to the French court. Not for lack of trying, as King Louis VI would love to get leverage over the Normans. Not for the first time he curses his grandfather for helping a young William the Bastard secure his ducal position - and now William's son has created a coalition of Normandy, England, Anjou, Blois, and even the Holy Roman Empire itself, all intended to surround and isolate Paris. As Louis sits down to eat, he renews his plotting to turn the northern lords against one another.

- One thing Louis can take solace in - Fulk V of Anjou is still in the Holy Land. As Louis's most powerful vassal, Fulk is incredibly dangerous, and connected to the Normans through his daughter. Fortunately, since the marriage of William and Mathilda went off perfectly, there's no reason for him to come home yet. [3]

- Back in England, Richard d'Avranches, the Earl of Chester [4], returns to his domains in Cheshire. He makes a few shows of force that convince Maredudd ap Bleddyn, Prince of Powys, that raiding Cheshire would be more trouble than it is worth. Instead Maredudd focuses on fortifying his border with Gwynedd, hoping to prevent King Gruffudd or his overly ambitious sons from annexing Powys like they had Rhos.

- In London, Henry I continues his courtship of Adeliza of Louvain. A widower, he's interested in marrying her to further good relations with the Germans, but there's no rush. [5]

- And so, 1121 comes to a close, with Henry and Louis glaring daggers at each other, but no serious conflict.

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[1] For the record, William III was his uncle, King William Rufus.

[2] An actual OTL quote by Henry of Huntington on Adelin

[3] OTL, Fulk returned to France and demanded Mathilda's dowry - several castles in Maine - back. This led to Angevin-Norman relations disintegrating and considerable conflict on their border well into the Anarchy.

[4] OTL Richard died on the White Ship with his wife, leaving no heir. During the confusion Maredudd raided Cheshire until Henry could appoint Richard's kinsman Ranulph the Younger as the new Earl. This was followed by Henry invading Powys, taking an arrow to the arm in the process.

[5] OTL, of course, Henry married her that January in an attempt to father a new (legitimate) son, although he does appear to have considered her for marriage since his first wife, Edith-Mathilda of Scotland died.
 
Interesting, was Saint Margaret known as Margaret Aetheling? I thought that was a title merely reserved for male princes.
 
So no Anarchy? Interesting premise, the dynastic relations will be interesting, not to mention the potential of a less violent upheaval in the period!
 
Interesting, was Saint Margaret known as Margaret Aetheling? I thought that was a title merely reserved for male princes.
My sources say no, she wasn't, at least not contemporarily. We can assume the narrator is being anachronistic here, since her grandson carries a variant of the name.
 
1122

-The good news continues to arrive to Henry. Arnulf de Montgomery, that notorious Norman magnate, has died. Once a powerful lord with lands in Normand, England, and the Marches, Arnulf, the one-time Earl of Pembroke [1], had been Robert Curthose's most prominent supporter and a constant thorn in Henry's side. He had long supported numerous rebellions against Henry, most recently one at Alençon, and his living in exile in Angers had been a point of contention between Henry and Fulk.

-The other big event of 1122, at least in England, was the death Ralph d'Escures, Archbishop of Canterbury. King Henry, somewhat unexpectedly, has decided to allow the monks of Canterbury to elect the new archbishop. Granted, there are some restrictions - namely, the bishops of England don't want their next primate to be a monk, and Henry agrees with them. Thus, the monks of Canterbury are given a shortlist of clergymen - none of whom are monks - to choose the next archbishop from.

-Henry's mostly generous gesture to the church may be influenced by events from the southeast. In Germany, Emperor Henry V - the husband of King Henry of England's legitimate daughter Mathilda, a naming scheme that will most certainly cause no confusion between them, especially when Emperor Henry meets with his vassals, Henry of Bavaria and Henry of Carinthia (who will later be succeeded this year by his godson, Henry of Carinthia) - is hammering out the last few issues with a man who is not named Henry, Pope Callixtus II. At the Concordant of Worms, the Investiture Controversy that had long plagued both Emperor Henry and his father ... Emperor Henry ... before him. The details were deceptively simple. Only higher-ranking churchmen could invest a new bishop with the ring and staff (symbols of spiritual power), while only the Emperor (or his designated legate) could invest them with the scepter (temporal power). In addition, the Emperor would arbitrate in the event an episcopal election deadlocked ... if the election was in Germany proper. In Burgundy and Italy the Emperor could only confirm an election with the scepter, and in the Papal territories he didn't even have that - the Concordant effectively formalized the Papal States' existence by giving the Pope the sole right to invest ring, staff, and scepter within them. Still, this agreement was a huge boon for the Emperor, as Emperor Henry was effectively given the right to select any man he wanted to be a German bishop. The emperor may have lost all power over Lazio and Romagna, but in exchange the pope effectively ceded temporal authority over Germany.

-In France, Fulk of Anjou finally returns from the Holy Land, vowing to use his vast funds to support the Crusader Orders [2]. He travels to Normandy to dote on his daughter Mathilda, then returns to Angers to spend time with his son Geoffrey the Handsome and his younger daughter Sibylla, and maybe acknowledge the existence of his other son Elias the not-as-handsome-as-Geoffrey if he has time.

-King Louis has been in contact with several Norman barons for the past year. He thinks he might have the kernel of a good rebellion, but there are hiccups. The obvious leader of a hypothetical rebellion, the afore-mentioned Arnulf, is dead, and the obvious rallying point, Robert Curthose, is currently a "permanent guest" of Devizes Castle in Wiltshire. That leaves Robert's son, and therein lies the problem. William Clito has not shown himself to be all that inspiring. Still, the boy was only twenty, and it's not like Louis really wanted a competent duke of Normandy, just a pliant one. He informs his contacts to continue to make preparations. Maybe God will be on his side - after all, the uncle of his queen is Pope!

-As the year winds down, King Henry decides to conclude the courtship and marries Adeliza of Louvain. His first wife had been beloved by the English, who called her Mathilda the Good Queen and Mathilda of Blessed Memory (which probably annoyed her to no end, as her name was Edith), but Adeliza was a kind soul and soon won over her new subjects. And so, as Henry settled down wit his new bride, news came from Germany - his daughter was pregnant [3].

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[1] For the record, Arnulf is recognized as the first Earl of Pembroke OTL as well, however, his title is not considered to be the First Creation (Which goes to Gilbert de Clare in the 1130s)

[2] As said earlier, OTL Fulk returned earlier to try and regain his daughter's dowry.

[3] I'll admit I don't know why Mathilda and Henry V never had children. It wasn't sterility, as she obviously had three sons with Geoffrey Plantagenet and Henry had a confirmed bastard daughter. So this marks the first big change from OTL.
 
Yes I need a surviving Plantagenet Dynasty who isnt king of England.
And a surviving Norman Dynasty.
Interesting timeline.
 
1123

-Let us first return to England. The monks of Canterbury have come to a decision on who should be Archbishop. They have selected William of Corbeil, the Augustinian Prior of St. Osyth's Priory. Although the monks are nervous, William is a canon, so even though he fits the letter of a non-monastic archbishop, he's friendlier to their views than the other three candidates were (the monks, as an act of defiance, refuse to record the losers' names, and so they are lost to history). William begins his archepiscopalship with that time-honored tradition - getting into a screaming match with Archbishop Thurstan of York. The issue is whether or not Canterbury has primacy over York - Thurstan and his predecessors have denied this and have had the support of Rome, while every Canterbury archbishop since Lanfranc has championed it with the backing of the kings. William plans to present his case in Rome when he receives his pallium, but in the meantime he consecrates Queen Adeliza's chaplain Godfrey as the first Bishop of Bath.

-Over in Germany Empress Mathilda gives birth to a baby boy. Emperor Henry, showing the imagination for which all Salian Emperors are known, names the boy Henry. The Emperor requests that all Imperial princes recognize the boy - this is easier said than done, as Henry is currently in conflict with the powerful Duke of Saxony, Lothair of Supplinburg, over who should be Margrave of Meissen - Henry supporting Count Wiprecht of Groitzsch while Lothair supports Count Conrad of Wettin. Before the year is out battle will decide the matter in favor of Conrad.

-Henry has reason to insist on his son being recognized, for he has seen what is happening to his Greek counterpart. John II Comnenus, called the Beautiful or the Good, is dying [1]. A wound taken in the Battle of Beroia the previous year had turned gangrenous, and was killing the Basileus. John had always been friendly to Emperor Henry, seeing the two empires as natural allies against the ambitions of the Hungarians and Sicilian Normans. But now a promising reign was being cut short. Already, factions in the City of Constantine were forming. Most supported John's oldest son, Alexius, who had been named co-emperor the previous year and so was the obvious candidate. This faction also had the backing of John II's longtime friend, the Turk John Axuch. However, other factions grew up around his younger sons, Andronicus or Isaac. A small but determined group even grew up around the infant Manuel, the only son to be porphyrogenetic. And, perhaps most dangerous of all, news of John II's death was reaching his sister Anne...

-Further south, things were getting weird in the Holy Land. King Baldwin II had been captured by the Artuqids, and the Fatimids were taking advantage to invade Jerusalem. Eustace Grenier, the Regent of Jerusalem, met the Fatimid army and decisively defeated them at Yibneh, but died only a few months later. William Buris, the Constable and new Regent, knew this victory couldn't be repeated without help. So when Doge Domenico Michele of Venice arrived in Jerusalem to celebrate Christmas, Buris and Patriarch Warmund leapt to the occasion. An alliance with Venice was quickly signed, allowing the Venetians to establish communes in the Holy Land in exchange for military protection.

-Turning back to Europe, William of Corbeil has arrived in Rome, only to discover Thurstan had beat him to the Eternal City. Officially, Thurstan had arrived to participate in the First Council of the Lateran, which confirmed the Concordant of Worms, but when in Rome, due as the Romans do - screw over your political rivals. Although not all of Thurstan's claims were recognized - Pope Callixtus granted William the pallium, recognizing that his election was legal - the Papacy would continue to recognize York's independence from Canterbury.

-And thus, the year ends out. While the rest of the Christian world is preparing for dark days ahead, England and France have been rather peaceful. As the year ends, however, Louis's planned for revolt against Henry erupts...

[1] Battle is a fickle thing. John II was wounded both OTL and TTL, but TTL the wound is somewhat worse and gets infected. This is the main change from OTL 1123 - otherwise the year is largely as OTL
 
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