Matilda (Maud) Empress of Germany
(1141 AD)
Matilda is the Latin form of
Maud, and the name of the only surviving legitimate child of King Henry
I. She was born in 1101, generally it is said at Winchester, but recent
research indicates that she was actually born at the Royal Palace in
Sutton Courtenay (Berkshire).
In something of a political coup for her father, Matilda was
betrothed to the German Emperor, Henry V, when she was only eight. They
were married on 7th January 1114. She was twelve and he was thirty-two.
Unfortunately there were no children and on the Emperor's death in 1125,
Matilda was recalled to her father's court.
Matilda's only legitimate brother had been killed in the disastrous
wreck of the White Ship in late 1120 and she was now her father's only
hope for the continuation of his dynasty. The barons swore allegiance to
the young Princess and promised to make her queen after her father's
death. She herself needed heirs though and in April 1127, Matilda found
herself obliged to marry Prince Geoffrey of Anjou and Maine (the future
Geoffrey V, Count of those Regions). He was thirteen, she twenty-three.
It is thought that the two never got on. However, despite this unhappy
situation they had had three sons in four years.
Being absent in Anjou at the time of her father's death on 1st
December 1135, possibly due to pregnancy, Matilda was not in much of a
position to take up the throne which had been promised her and she
quickly lost out to her fast-moving cousin, Stephen. With her husband,
she attempted to take Normandy. With encouragement from supporters in
England though, it was not long before Matilda invaded her rightful
English domain and so began a long-standing Civil War from the powerbase
of her half-brother, Robert of Gloucester, in the West Country.
After three years of armed struggle, she at last gained the upper
hand at the Battle of Lincoln, in February 1141, where King Stephen was
captured. However, despite being declared Queen or "Lady of the
English" at Winchester and winning over Stephen's brother, Henry of
Blois, the powerful Bishop of Winchester, Matilda alienated the citizens
of London with her arrogant manner. She failed to secure her coronation
and the Londoners joined a renewed push from Stephen's Queen and laid
siege to the Empress in Winchester. She managed to escape to the West,
but while commanding her rearguard, her brother was 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 the
death of her half-brother, Matilda finally returned to Normandy, leaving
her son, who, in 1154, would become Henry II, to fight on in England.
She died at Rouen on 10th September 1169 and was buried in Fontevrault
Abbey, though some of her entrails may possibly have been later interred
in her father's foundation at Reading Abbey.
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