| Matilda of Scotland | |
|---|---|
 13th century depiction on a family tree | |
| Queen consort of England | |
| Tenure | 11 November 1100 – 1 May 1118 |
| Coronation | 11 November 1100 |
| Born | Edith 1080 Dunfermline,Scotland |
| Died | 1 May 1118 (aged 37–38) Westminster Palace,London,England |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | |
| Issue | |
| House | Dunkeld |
| Father | Malcolm III of Scotland |
| Mother | Margaret of Wessex |
Matilda of Scotland (originally christenedEdith,[a] 1080 – 1 May 1118), also known asGood Queen Maud, wasQueen consort of England andDuchess of Normandy as the first wife ofKing Henry I. She acted asregent of England on several occasions during Henry's absences: in 1104, 1107, 1108, and 1111.[1]
Daughter of KingMalcolm III of Scotland and the Anglo-Saxon princessMargaret of Wessex, Matilda was educated at aconvent in southern England, where her auntChristina wasabbess and forced her to wear a veil.[2] In 1093, Matilda was engaged to an English nobleman until her father and her brother Edward were killed in theBattle of Alnwick in 1093. Her uncleDonald III seized the throne of Scotland, triggering a messy succession conflict. England opposed King Donald and supported first her half-brotherDuncan II as king of Scotland, and after his death, her brotherEdgar, who assumed the throne in 1097.
Henry I succeeded his brotherWilliam Rufus as king of England in 1100 and quickly proposed marriage to Matilda due to her descent from the Anglo-SaxonHouse of Wessex, which would help legitimize his rule. After proving she had not taken religious vows, Matilda and Henry were married. As Queen of England, Matilda embarked on severalbuilding projects fortransportation andhealth, took a role in government as mediator to the Church, and led a literary court. She acted as regent when her husband was away, with many survivingcharters signed by her. Matilda and Henry had two children:Empress Matilda andWilliam Adelin; through her daughter, she is the ancestor of all subsequent English and British monarchs. Queen Matilda was buried inWestminster Abbey and was fondly remembered by her subjects. There was an attempt to have hercanonised as asaint in theCatholic Church, which was not pursued.
Born in 1080, inDunfermline,Scotland, Matilda's parents were KingMalcolm III andMargaret of Wessex. She was therefore a descendant of both the Scottish and theAnglo-Saxon royal families, great-granddaughter ofEdmund Ironside and descended fromAlfred the Great.[3] The Scottish princess waschristened Edith. Present at thebaptismal font wereRobert Curthose standing as her godfather,[4] andQueen Matilda of England as her godmother. The infant Edith pulled at Matilda's headdress, which was seen as an omen that the child would one day be a queen.[5]
Edith and her siblings were raised by a loving but strict mother who did not spare the rod when it came to raising her children in virtue, and instilled in her offspring the importance of piety.[6][7] When about six years old, Edith and her younger sisterMary were sent to be educated atRomsey Abbey, in southern England, where their maternal auntChristina was abbess.[8] Their studies went beyond the standard feminine pursuits of the time, which was not surprising since their mother was a great lover of books. The princesses learned theEnglish,French, andLatin languages, enabling them to readSt. Augustine's works and theBible.[9] It is presumed Edith learnedfinancial management andgeometry as well.
During her stay at Romsey and later atWilton Abbey,[10] the still 13-year-old Edith was much sought-after as a bride, withHériman of Tournai claiming that even KingWilliam II of England considered marrying her. She refused proposals fromWilliam de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey, andAlan Rufus, Lord of Richmond.[9] However, her parents betrothed Edith to the latter in 1093. Before the marriage could take place, both her father and older brother Edward were killed at theBattle of Alnwick in November 1093.[11] Upon hearing of the death of both her husband and her son, Queen Margaret died on 16 November. Edith's paternal uncleDonald usurped the throne of Scotland, and her surviving brothers, Edgar, Alexander, and David, were sent to England to the court of KingWilliam II for safety. Shortly afterwards, the orphan princess was abandoned by her betrothed, who eloped withGunhild of Wessex, a daughter ofHarold Godwinson. Alan Rufus died, however, before marrying Gunhild.[12]
Around this time, possibly due to the succession conflict in Scotland between her uncle Donald III, her half-brotherDuncan II and her brotherEdgar, Edith left the monastery. In 1093,Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury wrote to theBishop of Salisbury, ordering that "the daughter of the late King of Scotland be returned to themonastery that she had left". Edith did not return to Wilton, however, and is largely unaccounted for in chronicles until 1100.[13] As her home in Scotland was held by her uncle, it is possible, likely even, that Edith joined her brothers at the English court of William Rufus, who supported her brother Edgar in assuming the throne of Scotland in 1097.
AfterWilliam II's death in theNew Forest in August 1100, his brother Henry immediately seized the royal treasury and crown.[14] He was manipulative and profoundly clever, known for his strict but proper government and utterly merciless nature in case of war or rebellion. His next task was to marry and his choice was Edith,[15] whom he had known for some time.William of Malmesbury stated that Henry had "long been attached" to her,Orderic Vitalis said that Henry had "long adored" her character and capacity.[16] Some sources add that she was "not bad looking" despite that she did not improve her appearance through face painting.[17] It is possible that Edith spent time at William Rufus's court, along with her brothers, and that the pair had met there, but Henry could have been introduced to her by his teacherBishop Osmund.[16]
Henry had been born in England, but a bride with ties to the ancient Wessex line would increase his popularity with the English and help to reconcile the Normans and Anglo-Saxons.[18] Edith was a great-granddaughter ofEdmund Ironside from the royal family ofWessex, in their heirs, the two factions would be united, further unifying the new regime.[19] Another benefit was that England and Scotland became politically closer; three of her brothers became kings of Scotland in succession and were unusually friendly towards England:Alexander I marriedSybilla, one of Henry I's illegitimate daughters, andDavid I lived at Henry's court for some time before his accession.[20]
Because Edith had spent much of her life in a convent, there was some controversy over whether she was a nun and thus canonically ineligible for marriage.[15] During her time at Romsey Abbey, her auntChristina forced her to wear a veil.[21] Strong-willed, Edith was ready to fight for her status as a marriageable woman rather than staying in a monastery, despite the fact that her aunt insisted she "was a veiled nun, and that it would be an act of sacrilege to remove her from her convent."[22][23] When Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury returned to England after a long exile, she sought him out to convince him that she had never been a nun. In fact, she had not only been forced to wear a veil, but her father had "ripped off the offensive headdress [...] and tore it to shreds" at sight of her being veiled.[24]
Professing himself unwilling to decide so weighty a matter on his own, Anselm called a council ofbishops in order to determine the canonical legality of the proposed marriage and ordered two inquiries at Wilton to get first-hand information on the matter. Edith testified that she had never taken holy vows, insisting that her parents had sent her to England for educational purposes[25] and her aunt had veiled her to protect her "from the lust of theNormans,"[10] but she had pulled the veil off and stamped on it, which made her aunt beat and scold her.[26] The council concluded that Edith was not a nun, she never had been, and her parents had not intended that she become one, giving their permission for the marriage.[27]
Edith and Henry were married on 11 November 1100 atWestminster Abbey by Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury. At the end of the ceremony, Edith was crowned and took the regnal name of "Matilda",[28] a hallowed Norman name. The exact reason for the name change remains unclear, though historians suspect she did it in an attempt to please her Norman subjects and husband.[28] By courtiers, however, she and her husband were soon nicknamed 'Godric and Godiva',[29] two typical English names from before theNorman conquest of England in derision of their more rustic style, especially when compared to William II's flamboyance. Despite this, Matilda's court atWestminster was filled with poets. She was known as apatron of the arts, especially music.[30]
Acting asregent of England during her husband's frequent absences formilitary campaigns inNormandy andFrance, Queen Matilda was the designated head of King Henry's court. She went on travels around England and probably visited Normandy in 1106–1107.[31]
During theEnglish investiture controversy of 1103–07, Matilda acted as intercessor between King Henry and Archbishop Anselm.[32] She wrote several letters during Anselm's absence, first asking him for advice and to return, but later increasingly to mediate.[33] With the Queen's help, the issue was resolved through a compromise solution in 1105: the King gave up the right to pick and invest his own bishops, but the Church agreed that he could receive homage from the bishops for the temporal lands the Church held in his domains.
Matilda had a smalldower but it did incorporate lordship rights, which allowed her to administer her properties. Most of her dower estates were granted from lands previously held byEdith of Wessex. Additionally, King Henry made numerous grants to the Queen, including substantial property in London, a political move made in order to win over the unruly Londoners who were vehement supporters of the Wessex Kings.[34]
Matilda had a great interest inarchitecture and used her considerableincome to instigate the construction of many Norman-style buildings, includingWaltham Abbey andHoly Trinity Aldgate.[35] After herretinue encountered problems crossing theRiver Lea to get toBarking Abbey, the Queen built the firstarched bridge in England atStratford-le-Bow, with acauseway across themarshes.[36]
Like her mother, Matilda was renowned for her devotion to the poor, building public lavatories atQueenhithe and a bathhouse with piped-in water.[36] She exhibited a particular interest inleprosy, founding at least two leper hospitals, including the institution that later became the parish church ofSt Giles-in-the-Fields.[30]
In late 1108 or early 1109, KingHenry V of Germany sent envoys to Henry I proposing a marriage alliance between himself and the King's daughter Matilda.[37] He also wrote separately to Queen Matilda on the same matter.[38] The match was attractive to the English king:[37] by marrying his daughter to one of the most prestigious monarchs in Europe, it would reaffirm his own, slightly dubious, status as the youngest son of a new royal house, and it would gain him an ally in his conflicts with France.[39] In return, Henry V would receive a dowry of 10,000marks to fund hisexpedition to Rome for hiscoronation as the Holy Roman emperor.[40] The final details of the deal were hammered out atWestminster in June 1109, and Matilda left England in February 1110 to travel to Germany in preparation for her marriage.[41]
Queen Matilda was described as "a woman of exceptional holiness, in piety her mother's rival, and in her own character exempt from all evil influence."[42] She was remembered by her subjects asMathilda bona regina[43] and for a time sainthood was sought for her, though she was never canonized.
Matilda was known for her generosity towards the church,[44] founding and supportingcloisters and hospitals for leprosies.[45] Malmesbury described her as attending church barefoot atLent, as well as washing the feet and kissing the hands of the sick.[30] Queen Matilda was patroness of the monk Bendeit's version ofThe Voyage of Saint Brendan, written around 1106–1118.[46] She also commissioned the monk Thurgot of Durham, to write a biography of her mother, Saint Margaret.[30]
While Henry had numerous illegitimate children by various mistresses,[47] he and Matilda had two children who reached adulthood:
The couple may have also had a stillborn child in July 1101. Some historians, such as Chibnall, have claimed that there was no pregnancy before the one with Empress Matilda "as it allows no time for a normal second pregnancy".[50] Through Matilda, the post-Norman ConquestEnglish monarchs were related to theAnglo-SaxonHouse of Wessex monarchs.[20]
On 1 May 1118, Matilda died at Westminster Palace.[51] Allegedly, three of her Anglo-Saxonladies-in-waiting were so distraught by the Queen's death that they immediately became nuns.[51] She would have liked to have been buried at Holy Trinity, Aldgate, but King Henry asked for her to be buried atWestminster Abbey[52] near Edward the Confessor.[53] The inscription on her tomb reads: "Here lies the renowned queen Matilda the second, excelling both young and old of her day. She was for everyone the benchmark of morals and the ornament of life."[54]
The death of Matilda's son, William Adelin, in the disaster of theWhite Ship (November 1120) and her widower's failure to produce a legitimate son from his second marriage led to the succession crisis and, as a consequence,a long civil war.[55] During his reign,Stephen of Blois insisted that Queen Matilda had in fact been a nun and that her daughter, Empress Matilda, was therefore not a legitimate successor to theEnglish throne.[43]
Queen Matilda's reputation considerably improved throughout the reign of her grandsonHenry II, but she was remembered to a continuously lesser extent between the late 13th and 14th centuries.[43]
Ritchie, R. L. Græme (1950). "The Date of the "Voyage of St Brendan"".Medium Ævum.19. Oxford, UK: Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature:64–66.doi:10.2307/43626381.ISSN 0025-8385.JSTOR 43626381.OCLC 7787819373.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
Matilda of Scotland Born:c. 1080 Died: 1 May 1118 | ||
| English royalty | ||
|---|---|---|
| Vacant Title last held by Matilda of Flanders | Queen consort of the English 11 November 1100 – 1 May 1118 | Vacant Title next held by Adeliza of Louvain |
| Vacant Title last held by Sibylla of Conversano | Duchess consort of Normandy 28 September 1106 – 1 May 1118 | Vacant Title next held by Matilda of Anjou |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |