Empress Matilda, also known as Matilda of England or Maude (c. 7 February 1102 – 10 September 1167) was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry. Her brother died in the White ship disaster, making Matilda the last heir from the paternal line of her grandfather William the Conqueror.

As a child, Matilda was betrothed to and later married Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, acquiring the title Empress. The couple had no known children. When widowed, she was married to the much younger Geoffrey of Anjou, with whom she had three sons, the eldest of whom became King Henry II of England.

Matilda was the first female ruler of the Kingdom of England. However, the length of her effective rule was brief — a few months in 1141. She was never crowned and failed to consolidate her rule (legally and politically). For this reason, she is normally excluded from lists of English monarchs, and her rival (and cousin) Stephen of Blois is listed as monarch for the period 1135-1154. Their rivalry for the throne led to years of unrest and civil war in England that have been called The Anarchy. She did secure her inheritance of the Duchy of Normandy — through the military feats of her husband, Geoffrey —and campaigned unstintingly for her oldest son's inheritance, living to see him ascend the throne in 1154.

(In Latin texts Matilda was sometimes called Maude. This is a modernised spelling of the Norman-French form of her name, Mahaut.)

Early life

Matilda was the first of two children born to Henry I of England and his wife Matilda of Scotland (also known as Edith).

Her maternal grandparents were Malcolm III of Scotland and Saint Margaret of Scotland. Margaret was daughter of Edward the Exile and granddaughter of Edmund II of England. (Most historians believe Matilda was born at Winchester, but one, John Fletcher (1990), argues for the possibility of the royal palace at Sutton Courtenay in Oxfordshire.)

Marriages

When she was seven years old, Matilda was betrothed to Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor; at nine, she was sent to the Holy Roman Empire (Germany) to begin training for the life of Empress consort. The royal couple were married at Worms on 7 January 1114, and Matilda accompanied Henry on tours to Rome and Tuscany. After some time, Matilda acted as regent, mainly in Italy, in his absence. Emperor Henry died in 1125. The imperial couple had no surviving offspring, but Herman of Tournai states that Matilda bore a son who lived only a short while.

Despite being popularly known as "Empress" from her first marriage, Matilda's right to the title was dubious. She was never crowned Holy Roman Empress by a legitimate Pope — which ceremony was normally required to achieve the title; indeed, in later years she encouraged chroniclers to believe she had been crowned by the Pope. At the time, she was called German Queen by her husband's bishops, while her formal title was recorded as "Queen of the Romans". Still, "Empress" was arguably an appropriate courtesy title for the wife of an Emperor who had been crowned by the Pope.

In 1120, her brother William Adelin drowned in the disastrous wreck of the White Ship, making Matilda the only legitimate child of her father King Henry. Her cousin Stephen of Blois was, like her, a grandchild of William of Normandy; but her paternal line meant she was senior to Stephen in the line of succession.

Matilda returned to England a young widow at 23, and dowager "Empress" — a status of considerable pride to her. There Henry named her as his heir to the English throne and Duchy of Normandy. Henry saw to it that the Anglo-Norman barons, including Stephen, swore repeatedly to accept Matilda as ruler if Henry died without a male heir.

Henry then arranged a second marriage for Matilda, wanting peace between the fractious barons of Normandy and Anjou. On 17 June 1128, Matilda, then 26, was married to Geoffrey of Anjou, then 15. He was also Count of Maine and heir apparent to (his father) the Count of Anjou — whose title he soon acquired, making Matilda Countess of Anjou. It was a title she rarely used. Geoffrey called himself "Plantagenet" from the broom flower (planta genista) he adopted as his personal emblem. Thus, Plantagenet became the dynastic name of the powerful line of English kings descended from Matilda and Geoffrey.

Matilda's marriage with Geoffrey was troubled, with frequent long separations but they had three sons and she survived him. The eldest, Henry, was born on 5 March 1133. In 1134, she almost died in childbirth, following the birth of Geoffrey, Count of Nantes. A third son, William X, Count of Poitou, was born in 1136.

When her father died in Normandy, on 1 December 1135, Matilda was with Geoffrey in Anjou, and, crucially, too far away from events rapidly unfolding in England and Normandy. Stephen of Blois rushed to England upon learning of Henry's death and moved quickly to seize the crown from the appointed heir. Matilda, however, was game to contest Stephen in both realms. She and her husband Geoffrey entered Normandy and began military campaigns to claim her inheritance. Progress was uneven at first, but she persevered but it was not until 1139 that she felt secure enough in Normandy to turn her attentions to England and fighting Stephen directly. In Normandy, Geoffrey secured all fiefdoms west and south of the Seine by 1143; in January 1144, he crossed the Seine and took Rouen without resistance. He assumed the title Duke of Normandy, and Matilda became Duchess of Normandy. Geoffrey and Matilda held the duchy conjointly until 1149, then ceded it to their son, Henry, which event was soon ratified by King Louis VII of France.

Struggle for throne of England

On the death of her father, Henry I, in 1135, Matilda expected to succeed to the throne of England, but her cousin, Stephen of Blois, usurped the throne. He was supported by most of the barons, breaking his oath to defend her rights. The civil war which followed was bitter and prolonged, with neither side gaining ascendancy for long. It was not until 1139 that Matilda commanded the military strength necessary to challenge Stephen within England.

Stephen's wife, the Countess of Boulogne also named Matilda, was the Empress's maternal cousin. During the war, Matilda's most loyal and capable supporter was her illegitimate half-brother, Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester.

Matilda's greatest triumph came in April 1141, when her forces defeated and captured King Stephen at the Battle of Lincoln. He was made a prisoner and effectively deposed. Her advantage lasted only a few months. When she arrived in London, the city was ready to welcome her and support her coronation. She used the title of Lady of the English and planned to assume the title of queen upon coronation (the custom which was followed by her grandsons, Richard and John). However, she refused the citizens' request to halve their taxes and, because of her own arrogance , they closed the city gates to her and reignited the civil war on 24 June 1141.

By November, Stephen was free (exchanged for the captured Robert of Gloucester) and a year later, the tables were turned when Matilda was besieged at Oxford but escaped to Wallingford, supposedly by fleeing across snow-covered land in a white cape. In 1141, she escaped Devizes in a similar manner, by disguising herself as a corpse and being carried out for burial.

In 1148, Matilda and Henry returned to Normandy, following the death of Robert of Gloucester, and the reconquest of Normandy by Geoffrey. Upon their arrival, Geoffrey turned Normandy over to Henry and retired to Anjou.

Later life

Matilda's first son, Henry, was showing signs of becoming a successful leader. Although the civil war had been decided in Stephen's favour, his reign was troubled. In 1153, the death of his son Eustace, combined with the arrival of a military expedition led by Henry, led him to acknowledge the latter as his heir by the Treaty of Wallingford.

Matilda retired to Rouen in Normandy during her last years, where she maintained her own court and presided over the government of the duchy in the absence of Henry. She intervened in the quarrels between her eldest son Henry and her second son Geoffrey, but peace between the brothers was brief. Geoffrey rebelled against Henry twice before his sudden death in 1158. Relations between Henry and his youngest brother, William X, Count of Poitou, were more cordial, and William was given vast estates in England. Archbishop Thomas Becket refused to allow William to marry the Countess of Surrey and the young man fled to Matilda's court at Rouen. William, who was his mother's favourite child, died there in January 1164, reportedly of disappointment and sorrow. She attempted to mediate in the quarrel between her son Henry and Becket, but was unsuccessful.

Although she gave up hope of being crowned in 1141, her name always preceded that of her son Henry, even after he became king. Matilda died at Notre Dame du Pré near Rouen and was buried in the Abbey church of Bec-Hellouin, Normandy. Her body was transferred to the Rouen Cathedral in 1847; her epitaph reads: "Great by Birth, Greater by Marriage, Greatest in her Offspring: Here lies Matilda, the daughter, wife, and mother of Henry."

Historical fiction

The civil war between supporters of Stephen and the supporters of Matilda has proven popular as a subject in historical fiction. Novels dealing with it include:

• Graham Shelby, The Villains of the Piece, (1972) (published in the US as The Oath and the Sword);
• The Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters, and the TV series made from them starring Sir Derek Jacobi;
• Jean Plaidy, The Passionate Enemies, the third book of her Norman Trilogy;
• Sharon Penman, When Christ and His Saints Slept tells the story of the events before, during and after the civil war;
• Haley Elizabeth Garwood, ' The Forgotten Queen' (1997, IBSN 0-9659721-9-4);
• Ken Follett, The Pillars of the Earth;
• E. L. Konigsburg, A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver
• Ellen Jones, The Fatal Crown (highly inaccurately, in romance novel-style).
• Juliet Dymoke, The Lion's Legacy, (Being part of a trilogy, the first being, Of The Ring Of Earls, the second, Henry Of The High Rock.)

Indeed, some romance-type historical novels go so far as to posit a love-affair between Matilda and Stephen e.g. the Janna Mysteries- Felicity Pullman Set during the civil war between Stephen and Matilda

Matilda has been played on screen by Martita Hunt in the film adaptation of Jean Anouilh's play Becket (1964) and by Brenda Bruce in the BBC TV series The Devil's Crown (1978).

Ancestry

See also

• Gervase of Canterbury
• Gesta Stephani
• Robert of Torigni
• Roger of Hoveden
• Walter Map

References

• Bradbury, J. (1996) Stephen and Matilda: the Civil War of 1139-1153, Sutton Publishing, ISBN 075090612X
• Chibnall,Marjorie (1991) The Empress Matilda:Queen Consort, Queen Mother, and Lady of the English
• Fletcher, John (1990) Sutton Courtenay: The History of a Thameside Village
• Gardener J and Wenborn W the History Today Companion to British History
• Pain, Nesta (1978) Empress Matilda: Uncrowned Queen of England
• Parsons, John Carmi. Medieval Mothering (New Middle Ages), sub. Marjorie Chibnall, "Empress Matilda and Her Sons"