Christened Edith, but adopted the name Matilda upon her marriage to Henry I. It was thought the Norman barons might not respect a queen with a Saxon name. The marriage to Henry represented the union of the Norman & Saxon royal lines.
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The following information was provided in a post-em by Curt Hofemann, curt_hofemann@@yahoo.com:
name at birth Eadgyth, changed to Mathilda in England [Ref: DeVajay p85]
Matilda of Scotland (d. 1118). Queen consort of Henry I from 1100; daughter of Malcolm III of Scots and granddaughter of Edmund Ironside. Known as Good Queen Maud, she was a strong supporter of Archbishop Anselm and the church. [Ref: Dict of Brit History p237]
Edith Matilda 'Atheling', Princess of SCOTLAND. Born about 1079/1080 Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland. Died 1 May 1118 Westminster, Middlesex, England. Buried Jun 1118 Church of St Peter, Westminster, Middlesex, England. To please the English subjects of her husband, the king, she changed her Saxon name of Edith to the Norman name of Matilda. She is also known by the diminutive of that name - Maud (which had been the name of Henry's mother). She was the sister of Edgar, King of Scotland 1098-1107. [Ref: Unk]
Edith - Margaret (Matilda) of Scotland, born in 1080 and died in 1118, married Henry I. Beauclerc, King of England, son of William I The Conqueror (ruler from 1066 to 1087) and his wife, Matilda of Flanders, who died in 1083... Matilda was educated at Wilton and Romsey Abbey where she said that her aunt, Christina, forced her to wear a black veil. She threw it on the ground whenever left alone, in spite of beatings. When her mother died she came to England to Edgar Atheling, her uncle. She was a sister of King David of Scotland; she was a correspondent of Anselm and Hildebert, Bishop of Le Mans, who wrote poetry about her. She was a symbol of the union of Saxon and Norman. She was Henry's Queen for seventeen years and six months, and died in her prime like most of her family. Henry and Matilda had a son and a daughter... [Ref: McBride2]
Matilda (Edith) of Scotland (1079-1118) daughter of Malcolm III Canmore, King of Scots 1058-1093 and St. Margaret of Wessex. Born 1079 Dunfermline. Died 1 May 1118 Westminster Palace. Married 11 November 1100 Westminster Abbey Henry I, King of England 1100-1135. Born 1068 Selby, Yorkshire. Died 1 December 1135 St.Denis-le-Fermont, nr Rouen.
She was born in 1079 or 1080 and, as she was destined to become a nun, she went to Romsey where her Aunt Christina was the Abbess. However, in 1100 Henry I, the new king of England, demanded her hand in marriage; and on 11 November 1100 at Westminster she became his queen. Upon her marriage she adopted the name Matilda in honour of the king's mother. They had two, possibly three children. Queen Matilda built a leper hospital at St. Giles-in-the-Fields, London, and founded the Augustinian Priory at Aldgate. She was aged only about thirty-eight when she died. [Ref: Leo van de Pas]
Regards,
Curt