Badass Women of History--Empress Matilda

stephmckenzie (62)in #history • 8 years ago

Did you hear the story about the would-be medieval queen who became a warrior in her quest for the throne? You're about to. Matilda is about as badass as they come among medieval European nobility.

Could Have, Would Have, Should Have Been Queen

(contemporary drawing of Matilda as Lady of England and Normandy)

The thing about Matilda is that she actually should have been Queen of England. The throne was hers by right. Unlike other European countries in the 12th century, England did not have a primogeniture rule. This meant a woman could technically inherit the throne in her own right, as Queen Regnant. Other European countries required their leader to be a male, so if the king had no male heirs, they gave the throne to the next closest male relative, even if he was a grandson, nephew, or cousin.

Matilda was born February 7, 1102 to King Henry I of England (youngest son of William the Conqueror), and Matilda of Scotland (daughter of King Malcolm III of Scotland). She had one legitimate sibling, her younger (by one year) brother, William. William was supposed to be king. However, William died in a boating accident in the English Channel at age 17, reportedly while trying to save others when their boat capsized.

Henry I had numerous mistresses, and at least 22 illegitimate children by them, but when William died, Matilda was his only remaining LEGITIMATE child.

When Henry I knew he was on his way out of this life and into the next, he made his nobles swear to uphold Matilda's right to the throne. They did....to his face.

Unfortunately, Matilda was out of the country at the time, having other adventures (and they really were adventures), and her cousin Stephen claimed the throne for himself when Henry I died. The nobles who swore to support Matilda gave their support to Stephen instead.

Matilda Shows Her Badass Nature at an Early Age

(Matilda's father, Henry I, and her usurper, her cousin Stephen)

Though medieval women of royalty had very few choices they could make for themselves, especially at a time when the church was debating whether or not women were actually people, Matilda made full use of what was available to her, and then carved out even more power by sheer force of will.

Matilda became engaged to Henry V, the Holy Roman Emperor, when she was only eight years old, and went to Germany to live with him there. This was a prestigious match for Matilda, and an important one for her father, who felt his own position as king of England was a little shaky as the youngest son of the first king in a new royal family. Matilda's marriage to the Holy Roman Emperor gave the English royal family a more solid legitimacy in Europe.

Matilda was crowned Queen of the Romans shortly after her betrothal, then put into the custody of an important German archbishop, who educated her in German language, manners, and politics. When she was twelve (and her betrothed was twenty-eight), she was deemed old enough to be married, and the ceremony was performed.

A dispute with the Pope led to Matilda marching with her husband's army to take care of it, and claiming the title of Holy Roman Empress for herself, when she was only fifteen years old. She used the title of Empress the rest of her life.

Interestingly, though her claim to the Empress title was shaky and not at all clear, the people of Europe accepted it. Contemporary chroniclers of the time even wrote the Pope himself had crowned her, which was not true. Matilda never corrected any of them on this point.

Matilda's Second Marriage--Not a Great One

(Geoffrey of Anjou, Matilda's second husband)

Matilda's husband left on a military campaign to Germany to put down some rebellions, and left Matilda as regent in Italy. She governed Italy on her own from age seventeen to nineteen. She reunited with her husband then, and planned to visit her father in England, but the journey was blocked by the Count of Flanders, whose territory she would have had to pass through to get there.

Matilda continued to follow her husband down the Rhine river as he suppressed more rebellions, but he was growing ill with what was probably cancer or tuberculosis, and died in 1125. He and Matilda had no children, which the people blamed on her husband's sins against the church, and Matilda briefly stayed in the custody of her husband's nephew before returning to her father's estates in Normandy, France.

She took all of her personal belongings with her and gave up her property in Germany and Italy, apparently having no intention of returning there. With no child to rule after her husband, there was no point in her staying.

Meanwhile, in England, the succession crisis was in full swing after William's death at sea. Henry I considered fathering another son by marrying again (his wife, Matilda's mother, died in 1118), but the new marriage produced no children. The only legitimate son of his older brother Robert was in rebellion against England at the time, and would not do. He also considered making one of his illegitimate sons his heir, but English custom looked unfavorably upon this.

When Henry I heard Matilda's husband had died, he had a new avenue to explore for the succession.

Henry I decided to marry Matilda to Geoffrey of Anjou, a mere Count, though he received many offers of marriage for Matilda from princes of much higher rank in Europe. Matilda herself did not care for this match, because she considered Geoffrey's title to be beneath hers, and because she was 25 and he was only 13. However, Henry I had lands in Normandy with borders that needed to be secured, and Geoffrey was the best choice to get that job done.

It was at the time of Matilda's marriage to Geoffrey that Henry I asked all his nobles to swear to uphold her right to the crown of England, and they did.

Matilda did not like Geoffrey, nor he her, and she left him soon after their marriage in 1127. Henry I persuaded her to return to him at a meeting of the King's Great Council in 1131, and the nobles once again affirmed their support for Matilda as Henry's heir at this meeting.

Matilda and Geoffrey's reconciliation was a successful one, as she gave birth to her first child, Henry, in 1133.

A son named Geoffrey followed in 1134. Matilda thought she might die as a result of this childbirth, and he and her father argued over where she should be buried, even as she wrote her will. She survived, though, and her father was delighted to have a second grandchild.

Matilda and the Contest for the English Throne

(a coin minted with Matilda's image on it by her supporters during the English civil war)

Henry I had given Matilda and Geoffrey some of his castles in France, but was unclear on when they could actually use them. They asked him to let them move into the castles after the birth of their second son, but Henry refused, believing his son-in-law might try to take too much power....power he wanted for Matilda.

When rebellions broke out against Henry I in Normandy, Matilda and Geoffrey sided with them against her father, and thus, Henry I died unexpectedly during this argument with his daughter.

Because Matilda was in France and had been fighting with her father, her cousin Stephen, son of Henry I's sister Adela, claimed the throne for himself, as the most worthy candidate from Henry I's line. Stephen had been among those to take the oath to support Matilda, but Stephen's brother, the new Bishop of Winchester, convinced most of the English people Henry I had been wrong to ask them to take this oath.

England proclaimed Stephen their new king.

Matilda gave birth to a third son, William, at this time, then spent the next three years in France, with she and Geoffrey alternating between battling Stephan for Norman territory and having periods of truce with him.

Meanwhile, Stephen had a good start to his reign in England, but Scotland and Wales did not support him. Rebellions arose on the border lands, and invasions came from the rulers of both of the neighboring kingdoms. Welsh nobility made their way to Normandy to support Matilda and Geoffrey.

Two years after Stephen's coronation, Matilda's illegitimate half-brother, Robert of Gloucester, a powerful lord and landowner, rebelled against Stephen, and the country descended into civil war. One half was for Stephen, and one half, led by Robert, was for Matilda.

By 1139, three years after Stephen's coronation, Matilda and Geoffrey secured Normandy firmly for themselves, and, with Robert's assistance, began assembling an invasion force to take England.

Matilda Asserts Her Right to the Crown of England

(Matilda actually owned this clerical tunic and donated it to the church in her will)

This was the first English civil war, though the one in the mid-17th century is better known, maybe because it is more recent, or because they actually did away with the monarch for a time in that one. Either way, the civil war between Matilda and Stephen was no less violent and detrimental to the country.

Matilda was taken captive early in the campaign, but released, as Stephen viewed her half-brother as the bigger threat and the one behind the war. Meanwhile, Matilda established strong areas of control in the south and west of England. In these areas, she was considered queen.

In 1141, Stephen was taken captive by Robert of Gloucester's forces, and Matilda was finally put on the throne of England. The clergy of the nation declared her the "Lady of England and Normandy," and a coronation was planned. However, despite having the support of some very strong and powerful people, Matilda still faced threats from equally strong supporters of Stephen, who were still in London, where her coronation was to take place.

Stephen, though imprisoned by Robert, had enough influence over his followers that they eventually drove Matilda and Geoffrey out of London just before the coronation was to take place. Though still technically England's monarch, Matilda was un-crowned, and had to make a retreat to Oxford.

She gained more followers during this time, thanks to a dispute between Geoffrey's brother and the French king. With Geoffrey's family so strong in Normandy and Stephen captive in England, many of the powerful nobles and clergy thought they might lose their lands on both sides of the English Channel if they did not side with Matilda.

Eventually, both Stephen and Robert were held prisoner by their opposing sides. Matilda and Stephen's queen, also named Matilda, were left to negotiate with each other, but neither was willing to give any concessions to the other side. Eventually, an exchange of prisoners was performed, and Stephen went back to his queen, while Robert went back to his half-sister.

Other battles ensued, one that saw Matilda besieged in Oxford and having to sneak out the back of the city's castle to another of her strongholds in England. Both sides had powerful supporters, and it seemed the war kept going around in circles.

Eventually, it was clear that neither Stephen nor Matilda was going to win England outright. A compromise had to be reached.

Matilda's Badass Compromise

As the civil war drew on for nearly a decade, it fizzled out, rather than ended. Matilda's son, Henry, was growing up, and taking a more active part in the government of Normandy. Both Matilda and Geoffrey expected Henry to become King of England, especially after Stephen's only heir and son died as a youth. Once Geoffrey died in 1151 and Henry took over the ruling of Normandy, which Matilda eventually returned to, she worked out an agreement with Stephen.

Stephen would adopt Henry as his son and make him his heir. This is exactly what Stephen did, and when Stephen died in 1154, Henry was crowned as King Henry II of England, the first in a long, three century line of what would come to be known as Plantagenet kings. The Plantagenet line only lost power in the late 1400's, after Richard III lost the Battle of Bosworth Field to Henry Tudor.

Matilda's Legacy

Though Matilda was briefly the English monarch, she was never officially crowned, so is not usually included in lists of English kings and queens. Technically, the first English Queen Regnant was Mary Tudor, four hundred years later (though Lady Jane Grey briefly ruled as another un-crowned queen for nine days just before Mary took the throne). Yet, she spent a good part of her life at war, first with the rebellions in Germany with her first husband, and then with her cousin Stephen for the English throne. In each instance, she held her own remarkably, as good as any man.

And, in the end, she got what she wanted....her heirs on the throne of England. Every monarch who has sat on the throne since, even to the present queen, has been a descendant of Empress Matilda, Lady of England and Normandy.

She even got to be the legitimate ruler of Normandy, as there was no question that land was left to her by her father, and she co-ruled it with her son Henry in her later years.

The epitaph on her original tomb (she has now had four) said it all. It read: " Great by birth, greater by marriage, greatest in her offspring: here lies Matilda, the daughter, wife, and mother of Henry."

It's a saying that was popular during Henry II's reign, and one of which Matilda herself would have approved.

(Alison Pill as Empress Matilda in the 2010 BBC miniseries, Pillars of the Earth)

If you enjoyed this post (and I hope you did), please take a moment to follow me here at @stephmckenzie to get more articles from me on life, the universe, and everything. Thank you!

#life #blog #writing #psychology

8 years ago in #history by stephmckenzie (62)

$3.51

Sort:

Trending

[-]

sandaraclark (53) 8 years ago