"It is a measure of the peculiarity of Matlida's position in 1135 that we know so little about her. Her contemporaries, whether friends, enemies, or neutral observers, struggled to decide how to handle or to judge her, how to place her within a political narrative that expected its chief protagonists to be male. As a result, she is an insubstantial, inconsistent presence in the chronicles, rarely seen in more than two dimensions, often disconcertingly portrayed as a marginal figure in her own story." - Helen Castor
Matilda, born in England in 1102, was the daughter of Henry I of England and granddaughter of William, duke of Normandy (AKA, William the Conqueror). Her mother, Edith-Matilda was the daughter of Malcolm III, King of the Scots and Saint Margaret of Scotland. What little we know of Matilda we must glean from her male contemporaries. We know nothing of her own looks. We can only speculate based on descriptions of her father. There are also no descriptions of her mother other than as a very holy and pious woman. Matilda was not an only child. She had a brother, William, who was heir to England and Normandy and numerous half siblings from the many affairs of her father's.
In 1109, when Matilda was only seven years old she was betrothed by proxy to Heinrich V of Germany. Her dowry was 10,000 silver marks which Heinrich needed to pay for a large army to help him secure the title of Holy Roman Emperor. The following year Matilda said goodbye to her family and her life in England and set off to meet her husband-to-be in person. Imagine an 8 year old girl traveling from home for over 200 miles in a bumpy carriage to meet a stranger she was meant to spend the rest of her life with as his wife. Heinrich was twenty-four and had been King of the Germans for four years. The royal couple met for the first time at the city of Liege. Traveling onward together to the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands, Matilda and Heidrich were formally betrothed again. When they arrived at the German town of Mainz, Matilda was crowned as Heinrich's queen. Their official wedding took place in January 1114, just before Matilda's twelfth birthday.
Pope Paschal II had crowned Heinrich Holy Roman Emperor by force in Rome but had recanted his anointment as soon as Heinrich and his army had left to return to Germany for the royal wedding. War and political conflict waged back and forth between Heinrich and the Pope and where Heinrich went, so did Matilda. Across the Alps and all through Italy to Rome, Heinrich, Matilda and their imperial army travelled. Pope Paschal fled Rome before Heinrich arrived. There, at St Peter's Basilica, Matilda was crowned Empress. Unfortunately, since she wasn't crowned by the Pope but by an excommunicated Archbishop, she wasn't technically an anointed Empress of the Holy Roman Empire. Officially, she was still titled Queen of the Romans, but for the rest of her life she was known as Mathilda Imperatrix.
A peace accord was finally reached in 1122 and Matilda and Heinrich began to settle down to their lives. Happiness was not to last. While visiting Utrecht in 1125, Heinrich became ill and and died at the age of thirty-eight. Matilda was a twenty-three year old widow of an Emperor with no heir. She had to give up her own seat as Mathilda Imperatrix. She gave up the lands that Heinrich had given her and returned to her father's lands in Normandy. She was a very eligible widow and must have had several marriage offers but didn't accept any of them. Maybe she hoped she would have the freedom to choose her own path. If that were the case, she was mistaken.
Remember Matilda's brother William who was supposed to inherit his father's throne? Well, he had died in 1120 in a tragic ship wreck. That left Matilda as Henry I's only surviving legitimate heir. Henry had married again after Matilda's mother died but so far that union had not produced a child. At Christmas time in 1126 Henry presented his newly returned and widowed daughter to his nobles at the English court and made them all swear oaths of fealty to Matilda as the successor to Henry's throne. He also once again decided her fate when he married her in 1128 to fifteen year old Geoffroi of Anjou, thus creating an alliance with Normandy's southern neighbor. Matilda seems to have protested marrying such a young and inexperienced boy, especially when compared to Heinrich V. She scoffed at the title of "countess"; she was an Empress. But marry him she did. It doesn't seem like it was a happy union but it achieved two goals that were paramount to Henry. One, Matilda produced male heirs, and two, it added clout to her name as ruler of England when Anjou was joined with Normandy.
Henry, the first of his name to rule England, died on December 1, 1135. Matilda would set a precedent as the first woman to become Queen in her own right of England. No woman had ruled independently before. There were questions raised about Matilda coming to the throne. Even though the nobles had sworn an oath of loyalty (twice actually) to recognize Matilda as the rightful ruler, there was concern. Could a woman rule? Wasn't she the "fairer" sex for a reason? She certainly couldn't act as a warrior ruler which to the Anglo-Normans that was what was required in order to rule successfully. Since there was doubt about her ability, and since she wasn't in England at the time of her father's death, her cousin and Henry's favorite nephew, decided to seize the throne for himself. Stephen of Blois, Count of Mortain, raced to Winchester and had himself crowned as King of England by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
When Matilda received word of Stephen being crowned King, she denounced him as a traitor. He had been among the first to swear his oath to Henry to recognize Matilda as the heir apparent. Now he had broken his oath and taken the crown for himself. Years of war ravaged England and threw the country into civil war known as the Anarchy. Sometimes Stephen had the upper hand, then the roles would reverse and Matilda would come out on top. Stephen's army was beaten and Stephen taken hostage by Matilda's half brother at one point. Likewise, Matilda found herself penned down while Stephen's army besieged her castle. Her husband Geoffroi was not much help. He was busy trying to secure lands denied him by Henry in Normandy.
Stephen's brother Henry, Bishop of Winchester had helped his brother take possession of the crown, but when he saw Matilda about to win out over his brother, Henry switched sides and declared Stephen's coronation had been false and he then crowned Matilda queen, styling her "Lady of England". Many men who would have supported Matilda's claim didn't simply because they thought she was too proud and conceited. Wouldn't you be if you had been Empress and wife of the most formidable and titled Emperor of the Western World? But it was unbecoming and unladylike of her. Wouldn't any female ruler, a female king, try to rule the same way any other king would rule? When she tried to act as king she was criticized.
Years of fighting, conflict in her own court and criticism from every direction finally led Matilda to the conclusion that even though she was the rightful king, no one would accept the reign of a female monarch. She decided to bring her oldest son Henry to England. Parading Henry around allowed the nobles to realize that a legitimate male heir was right before their eyes. Matilda felt that if she couldn't rule in her own right then she might as well fight for her son's right to the throne. Stephen also saw this and realized that though he might be king for the time being, his own son wouldn't stand a chance against Henry I's grandson. Stephen recognized Henry as his heir and successor.
Once Stephen died and Henry II was successfully placed on the English throne, Matilda acted as an adviser and counselor to the new king. She tried to act as mediator when her second son Geoffrey unsuccessfully fought Henry for the crown. From her sanctuary in Rouen she guided Henry, watched her other sons die and lived her life in relative tranquility. Matilda died on September 10, 1167 at age 65. She was buried at Bec-Hellouin abbey where she had been living. The inscription on her tomb reads "Great by birth, greater by marriage, greatest in her offspring: here lies Matilda, daughter, wife, mother of Henry". The abbey and her tomb were destroyed by fire in 1263 but were restored in 1282. In 1684 her bones were reburied in a new coffin at Bec abbey. They were once again destroyed by Napoleon's army and finally buried at Rouen Cathedral where they remain today.
She-Wolves: The women who Ruled England before Elizabeth - Helen Castor
