General Notes

[anc.regfilmer.FTW]

Matilda is the Latin form of Maud, and the name of the only survivinglegitimate child of King Henry I. She was born in 1101, generally itis said at Winchester, but recent research indicates that she wasactually born at the Royal Palace in Sutton Courtenay (Berkshire).

In something of a political coup for her father, Matilda was betrothedto the German Emperor, Henry V, when she was only eight. They weremarried on 7th January 1114. She was twelve and he was thirty-two.Unfortunately there were no children and on the Emperor's death in1125, Matilda was recalled to her father's court.

Matilda's only legitimate brother had been killed in the disastrousWreck of the White Ship in late 1120 and she was now her father's onlyhope for the continuation of his dynasty. The barons swore allegianceto the young Princess and promised to make her queen after herfather's death. She herself needed heirs though and in April 1127,Matilda found herself obliged to marry Prince Geoffrey of Anjou andMaine (the future Geoffrey V, Count of those Regions). He wasthirteen, she twenty-three. It is thought that the two never got on.However, despite this unhappy situation they had had three sons infour years.

Being absent in Anjou at the time of her father's death on 1stDecember 1135, possibly due to pregnancy, Matilda was not in much of aposition to take up the throne which had been promised her and shequickly lost out to her fast-moving cousin, Stephen. With her husband,she attempted to take Normandy. With encouragement from supporters inEngland though, it was not long before Matilda invaded her rightfulEnglish domain and so began a long-standing Civil War from thepowerbase of her half-brother, Robert of Gloucester, in the WestCountry.

After three years of armed struggle, she at last gained the upper handat the Battle of Lincoln, in February 1141, where King Stephen wascaptured. However, despite being declared Queen or "Lady of theEnglish" at Winchester and winning over Stephen's brother, Henry ofBlois, the powerful Bishop of Winchester, Matilda alienated thecitizens of London with her arrogant manner. She failed to secure hercoronation and the Londoners joined a renewed push from Stephen'sQueen and laid siege to the Empress in Winchester. She managed toescape to the West, but while commanding her rearguard, her brotherwas captured by the enemy.

Matilda was obliged to swap Stephen for Robert on 1st November 1141.Thus the King soon reimposed his Royal authority. In 1148, after thedeath of her half-brother, Matilda finally returned to Normandy,leaving her son, who, in 1154, would become Henry II, to fight on inEngland. She died at Rouen on 10th September 1169 and was buried inFontevrault Abbey, though some of her entrails may possibly have beenlater interred in her father's foundation at Reading Abbey.

She was the Empress of Germany. From Encyclopedia Britannica Online,article entitled Matilda:

"Her brother's [William the Aetheling] death in 1120 made her HenryI's sole legitimate heir, and in 1127 he compelled the baronage toaccept her as his successor, though a woman ruler was equallyunprecedented for the kingdom of England and the duchy of Normandy.The  Angevin marriage was unpopular and flouted the barons'stipulation that she should  not be married out of England withouttheir consent. The birth of her eldest son, Henry, in 1133 gave hopeof silencing this opposition, but he was only two when Henry I died(1135), and a rapid coup brought to the English throne Stephen ofBlois,  son of William I the Conqueror's daughter Adela. Though thechurch and the majority of the baronage supported Stephen, Matilda'sclaims were powerfully upheld in England by her half brother Robert ofGloucester and her uncle King David I of Scotland. Matilda and Robertlanded at Arundel in September 1139, and she was for a short whilebesieged in the castle. But Stephen soon allowed her to join herbrother, who had gone to the west country, where she had much support;after a stay at Bristol, she settled at Gloucester.

"She came nearest to success in the summer of 1141, after Stephen hadbeen captured at Lincoln in February. Elected "lady of the English" bya clerical council at Winchester in April, she entered London in June;but her arrogance and tactless demands for money provoked the citizensto chase her away to Oxford before she could be crowned queen. Herforces were routed at Winchester in September 1141, and thereafter shemaintained a steadily weakening resistance in the west country. Herwell-known escape from Oxford Castle over the frozen River Thames tookplace in December 1142.

"Normandy had been in her husband's possession since 1144, and sheretired there in 1148, remaining near Rouen to watch over theinterests to her eldest son, who became duke of Normandy in 1150 andKing Henry II of England in 1154. She spent the remainder of her lifein Normandy exercising a steadying influence over Henry II'scontinental dominions."

It is possible that she may have died in 1167.

The vast majority of the information presented is obtained from online sources.  While I believe it to be accurate, caution must be taken to always be careful of its validity.
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