What is Mora (ship)?
{{italictitle}} [[File:Drakkar (Larousse - detail - complete ship) A Brun.jpg|thumb|300px|{{center|A longship of the Drakar design similar to the Mora.}}]] The '''''Mora''''' was [[William the Conqueror]]'s [[flagship]] for his [[ Norman invasion of 1066|invasion of England]] in 1066. It served as his personal ship between [[England]] and [[Normandy]] afterwards. It was the largest and fastest ship in his invasion fleet. The Mora was a gift to William by his wife [[Matilda of Flanders]]. ==The ship== The ''Mora'' was built at [[Barfleur]] in Normandy.<ref>Paul Hilliam, ''William the Conqueror: First Norman King of England'' (New York: Rosen Publishing Group, 2005), p. 39</ref> It was a gift from Matilda of Flanders to her husband Duke William of Normandy.<ref name=Douglas190>David C. Douglas, ''William the Conqueror'' (Berkeley & Los Angeles: The University of California Press, 1964), p. 190</ref> It was completed in the summer of 1066.<ref name=Douglas190/> Mora was a larger ship that could carry ten to twelve knights with their [[:en:wikt:attendants|attendants]], [[:wikt:weapons|weapons]] and [[:en:wikt:armor|armor]]. It would also have a [[:wikt:crew|crew]] to sail it.<ref>Edd Wheeler, 'The Battle of Hastings: Math, Myth and Melee', ''Military Affairs'', Vol. 52, No. 3 (Jul., 1988), p. 128-134.</ref> The captain of the ship was Stephen, the son of Airard.{{efn|Stephen's son was Thomas FitzStephen, the captain of the famous [[White Ship]], which sank in the [[English Channel]] off the [[Normandy]] coast in 1120.<ref>Elisabeth M.C, van Houts, 'The Ship List of William the Conqueror', ''Anglo-Norman Studies X: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1987'', Ed. R. Allen Brown (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1988), p. 173.</ref>}} Stephen was the captain of the Mora for over twenty years.<ref>Elisabeth M.C, van Houts, 'The Ship List of William the Conqueror', ''Anglo-Norman Studies X: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1987'', Ed. R. Allen Brown (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1988), pp. 172-73</ref> Orderic V