The White Ship on the English Channel

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just click there. But as always, the best support is just sule listening to the show. So thank you so much. The city of Barfloor sits at the top of the peninsula that juts out from France towards England. Today a quaint village with fewer than six hundred people, It was in the twelve century a bustling port, one of the most popular points from which to sail in and out

of Normandy. It boasts a natural harbor which shelters boats from the wind and waves of the English Channel, and it was in that harbor that Thomas Fitzstephen approached Henry, King of England and Duke of Normandy with an offer. It was November eleven, twenty and King Henry was preparing to return to England, having finally secured his title as

Duke of Normandy by defeating his brother Robert Kutos. Now Henry and his entourage, along with his finest soldiers, several of his beloved children, and the who's who of Norman nobility, were all sailing back to England to celebrate the victory and award prizes to those who had supported the cause.

After decades of fighting. A palpable sense of relief and giddiness could be felt finally, for what felt like the first time since Henry's father, William, known as William the Conqueror, had died in ten eight seven, Peace had come to Normandy. Glittering noblemen and noble women flooded barfloor as they awaited the right conditions to sail back to England. The nobleman odd local observers with their luxurious clothes and appetite for revelry.

Amidst the crowds was a man named Thomas fitz Stephen. But he wasn't there to party, at least not yet. He had something else in mind, and for his plan to succeed, he needed an audience with the King. Finally attaining one, fitz Stephen made his case. He was a captain, he said, in possession of a ship, and he hoped to have the honor of sailing the Royal party back

to England. He wasn't just any captain, he continued, but the son of Stephen fitzerd, the man who had captained William the Conqueror's flagship on his invasion of England in ten sixty six. And his boat wasn't just any boat, but a boat befitting royalty. It was built finally from the lightest timber, so light to be nearly white, and

so named Blanche nef Or the White Ship. In addition to sales, the White Ship had fifty oarsmen, meaning that no matter the wind condition, it would travel swiftly across the channel. King Henry was impressed by fitz Stephen, and even more impressed by the sleek, shining white ship. Though he had already made arrangements for his own ship, he told fitz Stephen he would give him another honor. The white ship, the King said, could carry William Athling, his son,

the heir to the throne. Additionally, the King entrusted Fitzstephen with transporting the treasure that he had collected in Normandy. By that evening, the party set to board the white ship had swelled to nearly three hundred, among them the most glamorous young nobles and gallant soldiers of the court. The mood was festive, the wine was flowing, and the future looked bright. They were heading home to a kingdom more powerful and more peaceful than it had been in

nearly forty years. But they would not find their journey smooth sailing. No pun intended, and what happened next as the white ship set out into the darkness of the English Channel, would change the course of English history forever. I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is noble blood to contextualize the story of the White Ship, will have to go back more than half a century to December of ten sixty eight or ten sixty nine, when a baby boy was born to William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders.

They named the boy Henry, and he was to be their last child. William the Conqueror came from the ruling family of Normandy, a coastal region in present day France, and he had won the throne of England in ten sixty six by defeating the Anglo Saxons at the Battle of Hastings. His impact on English history is nearly unparalleled, and physical traces of the Conqueror can still be seen in London today. For one thing, he built the White Tower,

the central component of the Tower of London. Henry was the only child of William and Matilda to be born after his child was crowned, but that didn't confer him any special status. As the youngest son, no one expected him to become king. Many expected him to go into the church, and he was educated accordingly, reaching a level of literacy and learning unusual even among noble families of

the time. Henry had three older brothers, Robert Richard and William, all of whom were more than a decade older than him. Robert was the eldest and was known throughout his life as Curtos, a nickname given to him by his father on account of his short legs. In a typical example of kindly medieval parenting, Richard, the second brother, died in a hunting accident as a teenager. The third son, William, was called Rufus, from the Latin word for red, because

of his red hair and ruddy complexion. Robert Cutos was brash and arrogant and frequently clashed with his father, constantly demanding more power and money. William the Conqueror favored Rufus instead, and as the rule of primo janitor passing the crown onto the eldest son was not yet custom in England, he began to groom Rufus, his third son, for the role of king. To pacify Kurtos, his oldest son, William

named him co Regent of Normandy alongside his mother. In this way, William could keep control of his two territories, England and Normandy, within the family while keeping Robert Kurtis out of his way. In England, but Curtis was not satisfied, wanting to rule formally and on his own. In the late ten seventies, Kurtis began a series of revolts against William of Normandy, which continued until the Queen negotiated a

piece between father and son in ten eighty. The piece held until her death in ten eighty three, at which point the fighting resumed. Curtis and William were still at war when William died in September ten eight seven, as a result of a wound he suffered while fighting the French. I want to know here that you'll hear a lot about the Normans and the French in this episode, which may seem confusing since Normandy is in France. I'll explain.

Normandy at the time was a Duchy of France, meaning that its rulers were vassals to the King of France. But after William the Conqueror became King of England in ten sixty six, he became the French King's equal as a king in his own right, while he was still a subject of the French king as Duke of Normandy. The growing power of the Norman's scared the French king, who began a series of wars in an effort to weaken the duchy and take its territory. So that's how

William ended up fighting the French in Normandy. In early September ten eighty seven, while attacking the city of mont William's horse abruptly stopped and the pommel of his saddle hit him hard in the stomach, causing it would soon become clear a fatal internal injury. As William lay dying in the Pride area of Saint Gervais, he debated how to divide the lands that he had spent his whole

life fighting for. At several points he considered disinheriting the troublesome Curtis altogether, but his Norman lords persuaded him to keep the eldest, Robert Curtos, as duke so as to maintain order in the duchy. William gave in, but he stood firm on his plans to give Rufus, now his second son, the throne of England. Henry, the youngest son, was at his father's side as he grew weaker, he

inquired cautiously about what he might hope to inherit. William bestowed upon his youngest son five thousand pounds of silver, but no lands or titles. When William finally died on September nine, it began a period of uncertainty for the Anglo Norman realm. Though the throne of England did go to Rufus as William wished, it would not be a smooth transition. Curtis, as ever, wanted more, and the two

brothers quickly went to war. The youngest son, Henry, meanwhile, used part of his inheritance to buy land in Normandy from Robert Kurtos, who was perpetually in debt, and then he sailed to England to petition Rufus for lands that he believed his mother had left him. Rufus rejected Henry's claims, so the young prince sailed back to Normandy, at which point Robert Curtos accused him of being a spy sent by Rufus and had him imprisoned for six months until

Henry could pay bail. Henry then tried to return to England, but Rufus rebuffed him, thinking he was perhaps a spy for Kurtos. Forced to choose between the lesser of two brothers, Henry reluctantly aligned himself with Kurtos. In ten ninety one, after four years of fighting, Rufus and Kurtos signed a peace treaty, promising not to fight one another and to be one another's successor should they die without a legitimate son,

thus keeping England and Normandy under the family rule. Henry was left out of this treaty completely except for one provision. Curtis would take the lands Henry had bought from him in ten Henry fought this decision, holding up in the monastery at Mont St. Michel until Kurtis and Rufus's troops starved him out. In March. Curtis banished Henry from Normandy, and his whereabouts for the next year are unknown, though

he is said to have been spotted in Paris. In ten two, Henry returned to Normandy to free the people of the County of Domfront from their tyrannical lord, Roger sat Bilim, and he bided his time as the animosity between his brothers rekindled. By ten their truce was over and Rufus reached out to Henry for aid. Henry began fighting on the side of his middle brother Rufus, the King of England, against Curtis and Normandy, a war which event concluded when Kurtos answered the Pope's call for the

first Crusade in ten nineties six. In part because Kurtos had grown unpopular with his own people, who thought him a poor leader, Rufus agreed to quote unquote rent the Duchy of Normandy from Kurtos while he traveled to Jerusalem. With Kurtos out of the way, Henry went to England to establish himself in Rufus's court. It was, by all accounts, a debaucherous, decadent court, enriched by the ownerous taxes Rufus

collected from the Church and his subjects. A brief side note to say, if you're confused, because you had never heard of a King Rufus of England, he ruled as King William the Second, but because he was commonly referred to as Rufus, and because there's another William in this story, we're going to continue to refer to him as Rufus

for clarity. This never ending wealth made the inner circle of the court of England a wonderful place to be, but outside of it, the country was growing increasingly resentful of their spendthrift monarch and his coterie of hangers on who stripped the people bear for their own enrichment. Henry, fresh from battle in Normandy, saw this dissatisfaction and perhaps subconsciously decided to wait for an opportunity. The opportunity came

sooner than he thought. In August of ten, Rufus was out hunting, a favorite pastime, when a freak accident occurred. How exactly an arrow struck the king is unknown. Many theorized that it ricocheted, but suddenly Rufus, still mounted, looked down to see the shaft of an arrow buried in his chest. He broke the shaft off, then, in shock, fell to the ground, landing chest down, which pushed the

arrow in deeper, killing him. Henry had been out with the hunting party that day and realized that he needed to act quickly. Rufus's body was being taken to Winchester, the city that housed the English Treasury, and Henry knew

that he had to beat his brother's body there. To control the treasury was to control the throne, and so Henry rode hard for Winchester, arriving breathless before the rest of the party and announcing both the King's death and his intention of taking the crown to the shocked nobles of Winchester Castle. The lords assembled there after, debating amongst themselves, decided to give Henry the crown, believing that a quick

transition of power would be a peaceful one. But becoming king is not as easy as saying you are king, and though Henry would soon be crowned at Westminster Abbey, his fight for the throne was only beginning. As Rufus's body was interred in Winchester, and as Henry, now with the support of the nobles, was traveling to Westminster, Robert Curtos was returning home from the crusade. On the way home, he had married Sibylla of Conversano, a beautiful Norman Italian

noble woman, who brought with her a substantial dowry. For once Curtos had money. What's more, he came home wreathed in glory. He had done well for himself in the East, establishing a reputation as a fearsome fighter and a brave leader. By the time he got back to Normandy only weeks after Henry's coronation, he was no longer the embattled Duke of t The Curtos of ten was a wealthy war hero.

Only one thing soured his triumphant return, the news that his younger brother had, in his absence, taken the throne of England. Curtos quickly made clear his intention to fight for the throne, and just as quickly, the lord to had supported Henry began to peel away, swearing allegiance to Kurtos instead. Fortunately, Henry maintained the support of Anselim, Archbishop

of Canterbury, a highly influential figure whose endorsement was crucial. Nevertheless, by eleven oh one, an invasion of England by Curtis and the Normans seemed imminent, and in July he landed with an army in poor Chester. But before any fighting took place, noblemen on both sides of the conflict intervened. They realized that war would be costly, bloody and devastating, and they encouraged their leaders to look towards peace instead.

On August second, Henry and Kurtos signed the Treaty of Alton. Kurtos renowned his claim to the throne of England in exchange for full control of Normandy and a payout. Henry renounced most of his land in Normandy. Both men, as Kurtis and Rufus had done before them, swore to be each other's heirs if they died without legitimate issue. Legitimate

issue was a matter of concern for Henry. Passing on the crown was necessary to secure his legacy as king, and at the time of his coronation he wasn't even married. He was, however, a father with at least twelve illegitimate children. By this point in the past, the issue of legitimacy had been less important. William the Conqueror himself had been born out of wedlock, But as the Church became more central to English life, so too did the concept of

the sanctity of marriage. Though Henry was close to his illegitimate children, including them in public life and securing them advantageous marriages, he now needed a wife and a legitimate air. He moved quickly, selecting a daughter of the Scottish King Malcolm. She had been born Edith, but as queen would be known as Matilda, a very popular royal name at the time. The couple married in late eleven hundred at Westminster Abbey and had their first child, a daughter, also named Matilda,

in eleven o two. Before you get too confused, yes, William the Conqueror was also married to a Matilda. The same year of Henry's marriage, Curtos and Sabella welcomed a son who they named William. He would be most commonly known as William Clito, Clito being the Norman term for the son who would inherit his father's titles. At the time of his birth, William Cleto stood to inherit both England and Normandy under the terms of the Treaty of Alton,

but his claim only lasted a year. In the summer or fall of eleven oh three, Queen Matilda gave birth to a son who she and Henry also named William, and just to keep things even more confusing, this William was known as William ath Ling eight ling, meaning the same thing in Old English that Cleito does in Norman. For several years there was peace between brothers, but as time passed and the shine of Curtis's crusading days began to dim, the Norman's found that their duke was still

the poor ruler he had been before he left. Kurtos spent extravagantly neglected his responsibilities and did a little to engender the love or loyalty of his people. Soon enough, certain Norman nobles were reaching out to King Henry in England, asking if he would consider a quick invasion just to straighten things out. He didn't need much persuading, and in eleven oh five he stormed Normandy along with an English

and Norman coalition. For the third time, Curtis found himself at war with a family member over the right to rule Normandy. This time, however, the battle did not last long. In September eleven oh six, Henry captured Kurtis outside Tinchabra and imprisoned his brother, though he set his young nephew, William Clito free. With Henry, now Duke of Normandy, England and Normandy shared the same ruler for the first time

since William the Conqueror's death thirty years earlier. Now that Henry had settled the Norman question, he was working on cementing his legacy as king. He built a network of spies that stretched across Europe. He reformed the English tax system, strengthened the judiciary, and arranged for his daughter Matilda to marry Henry the Holy Roman Emperor. He also spent considerable time, ensuring that William eight Ling was raised to rule from

a young age. The crown Prince accompanied his father on official occasions, attended military training, and received a thorough education. In February thirteen, William ah Ling was betrothed to Matilda of Anjou, Yes another Matilda, this one the daughter of the powerful count the fifth of Anjou. It was unsurprisingly a strategic marriage. Matilda's parents controlled the counties of Anjou

and Maine, which bordered Normandy. These lands were especially important to Henry because despite his victory over his brother Robert Curtos, his Norman holdings still faced a powerful enemy, Louis the sixth, the king of France. Between eleven eleven and eleven thirteen, Normandy was at war with France and her allies Flanders, Anjou and Maine. This group rallied under the banner of William Clito, Kurtos's son, who was now asserting his claim

to the dukedom. With the engagement of William Hethling to Matilda of Anjou, Anjou and Maine switched sides, and now Louis was forced to make peace with Henry. The piece lasted several years, a period in which William Hethling's role as heir became even more formalized. In eleven fifteen, the Norman low Words swore allegiance to the young prince, and

a year later the English barons did the same. The only party who refused to recognize William Athling as heir was King Louis, who continued to support William Clito's claim, a position which led the two kings back to war in late spring eleven sixteen. As Henry battled in Normandy throughout eleven seventeen and eleven eighteen, his son William Athling stayed in England, serving as regent after the death of his mother, Queen Matilda in the spring of eleven eighteen.

The next year, William Athling traveled to Normandy to complete two important rights of passage, marriage and military service. In June eleven nineteen, William Athling and Matilda of Anjou were married in order to strengthen the Norman angevin ties. The groom at this point was sixteen, the bride only nine or ten. Two months later, William Athling fought alongside his father and half brothers at the Battle of Breneux, a decisive victory for the Normans, which struck the final blow

to William Cleito's claim on the Norman duchy. However, William Cleito's ally, King Louis, had one more trick up his sleeve. He appealed to the Pope, saying that Henry had committed numerous crimes by invading Normandy. Henry and William Athling traveled to appear in person to Pope Couctus the Second, who came down on their side, declaring that Henry was the rightful ruler of Normandy and William Athling was the recognized heir. After twenty years as King of England, Henry had finally

achieved complete dominance in England and Normandy. He had built impressive systems of governance in both realms, established a reputation as a skilled fighter and quick thinker, and married his children into many of the most important noble houses of Europe. Best of all, he had trained up William a Fling to continue what he had begun. While Henry had had to battle his brothers, leading to decades of strife for the realm, William Athling's right to rule was now uncontested.

A long prosperous future seemed to stretch before the King and his heir, before all of England and Normandy, and it was this future that the court planned to celebrate as they gathered in bar floor in November twenty on ships bound for England. The party had to wait several days for the right conditions to cross the channel. On the night of November, the wind finally began to blow

in the right direction. Henry's ship boarded first. Traveling alongside the King were a group of knights and William Athling's wife, Matilda of Anjou, who, at only nine or ten at this point, seemed too young to travel with the Crown Prince's rowdier crew. The King's ship pushed off in the early evening, rowing past the rocks that littered the harbor's edge and turned into the open ocean. William Aitling watched his father disappear over the horizon, and then turned smiling

to his friends. It was time for the real party to begin. The Crown Prince sent for a huge quantity of wine, and he encouraged both his noble friends and the ship's crew alike to partake. As the drinks flowed, things quickly became chaotic. Crew members ran about the white ship's deck, sitting in the seats normally reserved for nobility, while the tipsy young men of the court began to bet on just how fast this marvelous ship could go. The party got so raucous that the group even neglected

traditional seafaring rituals. When several clergymen offered a blessing for safe passage, the boisterous group laughed at off the disrespect, rubbed some passengers the long way, and several departed the ship feeling as the medieval chronicler or Derek Vitalis wrote that the crossing could not go well with quote too great a crowd of wild and headstrong young men on board end quote. Stephen of Bluas the king's nephew, also disembarked before departure, but for a more prosaic reason. He

was suffering from a bad bout of diarrhea. Amidst the crowd disembarking the ship, one man headed the opposite direction, boarding the white ship. He was uninvited. This was Barold, a local butcher, and he had a mission. He had been supplying the royal party with meat, and they had not yet paid his bill he was determined to collect, even if it meant crossing the channel to do so.

Of all the comings and goings on the White Ship that night, Barolt and Stephen's movements would be the most important, but for very for reasons. Around midnight, momentum gathered to finally depart. Thomas fitz Stephen, the owner and captain of the White Ship, who had convinced King Henry to let him join the fleet, gave the order to cast off. Members of the crowd on the shore recounted that fitz Stephen had shouted that he planned to overtake the kingship.

A wild roar went up from ship and shore alike, and everyone urged the oarsmen to row faster, faster. The streamlined boat skimmed swiftly across the harbor, dropping its sails to further increase the speed. Unfortunately, in his drunken haste, egged on by the cheers of his passengers, fitz Stephen chose speed over steering. By the time the White ship reached the edge of the harbor, one nautical mile from shore, it was practically flying, and then it hit a rock.

I want to note here that every thing we know about what happened to those on board the white ship comes from one source, a survivor who told his story directly to contemporary chroniclers. Since we don't have other sources, it's important to take the details of what happened out at sea with a grain of salt, so to say, though the broader narrative, the rowdy atmosphere on board the ship crashing comes from multiple sources, and so that's more trustworthy.

Back to the channel, where the white Ship had just collided with a large rock jutting out from the water, impaling itself on the stone. Water immediately rushed in through a large hole on the port side. The crew quickly moved to free the boat, but many were washed away by the waves. The efforts of those who clung on only resulted in a larger hole. More water flooded in, and a strong wind pulled at the sails, causing the ship to tip sideways. Screaming passengers slid into the freezing water.

Most died quickly from the shock of suddenly entering the thirty two degree fahrenheit water. Though still on shore heard loud sounds from the water, but they assumed they were just cheers. From the party on board, The night was too dark for them to see the massive tragedy that was occurring just one nautical mile away. Within a half an hour of the ship's tipping over, nearly everyone on board was dead. Two men, though, had managed to cling onto a piece of the ship's mast, and they used

it to pull themselves out of the water. Think rose on a door in Titanic. The first man was Jeffrey la Gille, a night renowned for his courage. The second was Barolt, the Butcher. From their vantage point on the mast, they surveyed the scene before them, trying to absorb the horror, but the worst was still yet to come. When the ship had first been struck, William Athling's bodyguards had quickly pulled the Crown Prince into the Soul lifeboat, rowing him

back towards the shore. But as they traveled quickly away from the wreck, William heard someone calling for him. It was his half sister, Matilda, not the Matilda who was married to the Holy Roman Emperor, but an illegitimate sister who was married to the Count of Perth. Matilda begged

her brother not to abandon her. As Barold watched the prince ordered his bodyguards to turn the lifeboat around and rescue his sister, But as the boat moved towards Matilda, other drowning passengers began to grasp at it, desperately pulling it under the waves, swamping it in a tangle of hands and arms and water. William Athling and his bodyguards were brought down into the channel, doomed to drown along

with the rest. After this, the only other living soul that Barrald and Jeffrey Lagille saw was Thomas fitz Stephen, the ship's captain. He shouted to the two men on the mast, asking if the Crown Prince had survived. Berralt regretfully reported that the Prince was dead. Fitzstephen knew that the death of William Athling would hang on his head, and so looking up at the men, he called out, it is vain for me to go on living, and

he allowed himself to slip beneath the waves. Now only Jeffrey and Berald were left For once, the poorer man had the advantage. While Jeffrey's clothes made of luxurious fabric were little protection from the cold water, Berrald's rough cloak made of wool and animal skin was keeping him warmer. As the night wore on, Jeffrey grew colder and weaker, until at last, murmuring a blessing to Berrald, he fell

from the mast and drowned. Thus Berrald, the butcher, who had boarded the ship uninvited only to call his payment, was the only survivor of the white ship. He clung to the mast, floating closer to shore, until he was pulled from the water by fishermen in the early morning. Half frozen world explained what had happened. As years passed, he continued to tell his story, a miraculous eyewitness to

one of the English royal famili's worst tragedies. Though some bodies washed up on the shores around Normandy, most were never found, including the body of William eight Ling. It was a shocking end, as Henry of Huntingdon, a contemporary chronicler put it quote, the head, which should have worn a crown of gold, was suddenly dashed against the rocks.

Instead of wearing embroidered robes, he floated naked in the waves, and instead of ascending a lofty throne, he found his grave in the bellies of fishes at the bottom of the sea end quote. The news took some time to reach the English court. King Henry and his ship had arrived safely at Southampton before they traveled to the Royal Hunting Logic Clarendon. When his son's party did not arrive soon after, people began to wonder if the ship had

gotten lost. Soon, they learned from across the channel it was far worse. At first, the news was kept from the King, his temper was legendary, and no one wanted to be the messenger. This decision had a strange side effect. Many in court had also lost loved ones on the white ship, but they could not publicly mourn lest the King catch on. Finally, with the King's concern rising, those closest to him knew that they had to break the news.

Theobald of blue Chat, a nephew of the king, was chosen to deliver the blow, but too frightened of the king, and who caught up in his own grief for his sister had been on the ship, he passed the responsibility on to a young boy. The boy broke into tears, threw himself at the King's feet, and spilled the story as quickly as he could. Instead of the anger many had expected, Henry was overwhelmed with grief. He threw himself to the ground, screaming and had to be held up.

He then fell into a state of denial, perhaps because, as the historian Charles Spencer notes, quote, it seemed both absurd and cruel that these men, who had survived the dangers of so many battlefields and sieges should end their lives in something as commonplace as an accident at sea and quote. But eventually the king could not deny the truth. He took to his bed for days, unable to eat.

The whole Realm seemed to be in mourning. Besides the crown Prince, the shipwreck had taken a large portion of the ruling class of England and Normandy. Many feared the power vacuum soon to come. King Henry knew that he needed to act quickly now to secure an air Less than two months after William eight Ling's death, the widowed king remarried a woman named Adeliza of Louvan, but the two had no children. He would need to look elsewhere

for an heir. Eventually, he settled on his daughter Matilda, who had been widowed by the Holy Roman Emperor and had remarried to Jeoffrey of Anjou, the younger brother of William Athling's bride, Matilda. Jeoffrey liked to wear a sprig of broom blossom in his hat, and from the Latin name Planta Genista, he had been given a nickname Jeoffrey Plantagenet. Henry made his lords swear an oath to support Matilda as his heir, but after Henry's death in eleven thirty five,

the transition of power to Matilda was not smooth. Some noblemen balked at the idea of being subservient to a woman, while there's disliked Joffrey's connection to Anjou, which had historically opposed Norman interests. Matilda's most formidable opponent was Stephen of Blue Ah, who you may remember narrowly avoided death on the White Ship because of his bad stomach. The war between Matilda and Stephen officially began in eleven thirty eight,

and it would last until eleven fifty three. It was an enormously violent, dangerous, and difficult time, As the Anglo Saxon Chronicle records quote, there was nothing but disturbance and wickedness. And robbery end quote. The country would eventually return to a tenuous peace under the rule of the Plantagenet dynasty, but the years of chaos during the Civil War between

Matilda and Stephen were hard to recover from. After all of Henry's battles, schemes and accomplishments, his hopes for the peaceful future of England had disappeared, lost under the waves with the White Ship and his son, William Atheling. That's the story of William Atheling and the White Ship. But continue listening after a brief sponsor break to hear a little bit more about one of the stories were ironic twists. The White Ship disaster had myriad consequences, some more obvious

than others. One lesser known consequence has a strange irony to it. Retrow, Count of Perch, was devastated by the death of his wife Matilda in the shipwreck. This Matilda, as you might remember, was the half sister of William Atheling, who had begged her brother to save her, which led

to his death. To honor his wife Matilda's memory, were Trow built a chapel in eleven twenty two, and then an adjoining monastery several years later, the monastery was called La trop Five hundred years later, in sixteen sixty four, the abbot of La Troupe, who felt that the monastic order had lost its way, introduced a series of reforms. This new order became known as the Trappists after their home abbey, and the movement eventually spread around the world.

Most Trappist monasteries produced goods to support themselves, ranging from cheese to coffins, but to this day they are most famous for their beer. Trappist beers are renowned for their rich flavor and are highly sought after by beer enthusiasts. So in a strange twist of fate, a historic disaster caused by over consumption of alcohol led to the creation of one of the most famous alcohol traditions in Europe. Noble Blood is a production of I Heart Radio and

Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me Danish Wortz. Additional writing and researching done by Hannah Johnston, Hannah's Wick, Mirra Hayward, Courtney Sunder and Laurie Goodman. The show is produced by rema Il Kayali with supervising producer Josh Thaine and executive producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.