William Bigod

William Bigod, the heir to the Norfolk earldom, drowned in the disaster of the White Ship as she set sail from Normandy in 1120. The ship also carried the son of the King of England Henry I, William Adelin, who also died. The succession of Henry I to the throne of England was secured not only by the mysterious death of his brother King William II Rufus but by the defeat of his eldest brother Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy. The death of Henry's heir to the throne set in motion a succession crisis that lasted many years.