This year marks the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s
coronation which is a remarkable achievement.
Elizabeth II is the 6th Queen regnant in over 1,000 years of
English history, following in the footsteps of Mary I, Elizabeth I, Mary II,
Anne, and Victoria. The anniversary also
started me thinking about the woman, who should have been the first Queen
regnant of England, the Empress Matilda. One can’t help but speculate how the history
of England might have been different if Matilda had been able to take her
rightful place on the throne of England.
Would it have made the road easier for later Queens such as Margaret of
Anjou who worked to hold the throne for her husband and son, or later on Mary
Tudor? Or would Matilda have been seen as a fluke, an experiment never to be
repeated?
Matilda was the eldest child of Henry I of England, son of William the
Conqueror, and his first wife Edith of Scotland. She was born on February 7, 1102 in England,
where has been a subject of debate. Some
historians claim that she was born in Winchester, others that she was born at
the royal palace at Sutton in Berkshire.
Little is known about her early childhood, like most royal children, she
probably soon had her own establishment.
She would have seen little of her father. When she was two years old, he went to Normandy
and stayed there for three years. Norman
French would have been her first language, although she probably learned
English as well. She was betrothed to Henry V, the Holy Roman Emperor at a
young age, traveling to Germany at the age of 8 along with her large
dowry.
Like Marie Antoinette centuries later, Matilda’s Anglo-Norman retinue
was dismissed soon after her arrival. Her education was taken over by the
Archbishop Bruno of Trier. Matilda would
have quickly learned German in order to communicate with her subjects. Over the next four years, she was educated to
be the spouse of the Emperor, sort of Queen school if you like. At the age of 12, she was considered old
enough to wed and the couple was married in June of 1114. Despite the age
difference, Henry was 15 years older than his bride; the couple appears to have
grown fond of each other. Henry trusted
her and respected her enough to leave her as regent in Italy for two years
which gained her valuable political experience. The only thing that would have cemented the
relationship would have been if Matilda had given birth to a son, but there
were no children of the marriage. However
there are some historians who believe that Matilda may have had a son who died
when he was a few months old.
Two events changed Matilda’s life forever. The first event was the death in 1120 of her
brother William Atheling who drowned in the White
Ship disaster. His death cast a
shadow over the succession. As Matilda
was Henry’s only legitimate child, she should have been named his
successor. Instead Henry I married
again, to Adeliza of Louvain. There was
every chance that Adeliza would bear a son who would inherit (after Henry’s
death, Adela remarried and gave birth to seven children by her new husband).
The second event was the death of her husband in 1125. At the age of 23, she was now a childless
widow. Matilda was now summoned to
Normandy by her father. She was
displeased at his summons; she was a respected and much loved figure by her
husband’s subjects. There had even been
offers of marriage by other German princes.
After 15 years abroad, she was now more German than Norman. There was however one upside to her
return. Her father had now decided that
she would be the heiress presumptive to the throne. In 1127, Henry made his court, including his
nephew Stephen of Blois; swear an oath of allegiance to Matilda. There was also
a second oath a year later at Henry’s Easter Court.
However Matilda’s succession was not a sure thing as she had several
strikes against her. The idea of primogeniture was a new one for England. Before the Norman Conquest, the King of
England was chosen by a council of nobles.
After William’s death, the throne was seized by his second son William
Rufus who fought his eldest brother Robert for the crown. After William Rufus’s early death, his
youngest brother Henry wasted no time before having himself crowned King of
England. There were other claimants to
the throne including Henry’s nephews Stephan and his brother Eustace (sons of
his sister Adela), and another nephew William Clito, the son of Henry’s oldest
brother Robert. Henry also had something
like twenty illegitimate children. Later
on, her husband Geoffrey would be considered a problem. The Normans actively disliked and distrusted
the Angevins.
But the biggest obstacle was that England was not ready for a Queen,
certainly not one who actually expected to rule. Chroniclers of the era called
her proud and haughty, traits that would have been applauded in a man but not
in a woman. While it was perfectly
permissible for a woman to rule in her husband’s stead while he is off waging
war or tending to his other lands (as Matilda’s mother did), it was another for
her to rule alone. The church taught
that women were weaker than men, more prone to sin. For a woman to rule was considered an
abomination. Church leaders were fond of
bringing up Queen Jezebel as an example of why women should not rule,
forgetting of course that Jezebel was only a Queen consort. And then there’s Cleopatra, another
cautionary tale of what happens when a woman rules. This attitude didn’t change
even in the 16th century. Ask
Mary, Queen of Scots about her bête noire John Knox.
Now that Henry had made her his heiress, it was time to arrange another
marriage for her. As before, Matilda
would have no say in the choice of her groom. To her dismay, her father arranged
for her to marry Geoffrey, the son of Count Foulke of Anjou. Her new husband, although handsome with blond
hair and blue eyes, was not quite fourteen to her twenty-five. He was also, like most adolescents, spoiled
and petulant. He was also a mere count
when Matilda had once been an Empress.
She considered the marriage to be beneath her. When Matilda refused to through with the marriage,
Henry locked her in her room until she agreed. The couple was married at Le
Mans in June of 1128. All her life,
Matilda refused to use her new title as Countess, preferring to be known as
Empress.
The marriage was tempestuous from the beginning and after a year
Matilda left her husband and returned to Normandy. Matilda no doubt took out her resentment on
her young husband. Having been in the
same position once as her new husband, you would have thought Matilda would
have cut him some slack and shown him the same kindness and consideration she
had been shown when she arrived in Germany. The estrangement didn’t last
long. Henry wanted grandchildren and for
that to occur Matilda needed to go back to her husband. Henry got his wish when Matilda gave birth to
healthy baby boy in 1133 named Henry. A
second son was born a year later, but Matilda almost died from complications
with the labor. Her condition was so
critical that burial arrangements were planned.
However Matilda recovered and a third son named William was born two
years later.
Although Henry had named Matilda his successor, no doubt he had hopes
of living until his eldest grandson was old enough to ascend the throne. His
wishes were thwarted with his sudden death in 1135 after eating an excessive
amount of lampreys. Of course there were
all kinds of conspiracy theories surrounding his death. The relationship between Matilda and her
father had become strained in the last few years of his life. Matilda and Geoffrey had suggested that Henry
turn over the royal castles in Normandy to them and have the Norman nobles
swear allegiance to her. This would have
put her in a more powerful position after Henry’s death, but Henry refused.
Matilda was caught off guard by her father’s death. There was no time to raise an army and her
way to the coast was blocked by enemies of her husband. She was also pregnant with her third child. Like Henry I before him, Stephen acted
swiftly to consolidate his hold on the crown. He was crowned at Westminster
Abbey the day after Christmas in 1135 by his brother Henry, Bishop of
Winchester. Matilda was furious. Even
her half-brother Robert of Gloucester rallied to Stephen. This period of
English history is called ‘The Anarchy’ and anarchy it certainly was. It went on for fifteen years. Matilda was bowed but not broken. Since Stephen had been anointed, Matilda
appealed to the Pope. But Stephen’s lawyers claimed that Matilda was
illegitimate since her mother had not only been raised in a convent but
professed desire to be a nun. It was a bit of a stretch but the Pope bought
it. There would be no help for Matilda
from that quarter.
Matilda was not without friends and supports. Her uncle King David of Scotland invaded
England several times. Her former
stepmother Adeliza was also in her corner. For two years, Geoffrey waged war to
secure Normandy, always a thorn in the English crown. It wasn’t
until 1138 that Matilda finally set foot in England after eight years. Her half-brother Robert of Gloucester now
switched sides, accusing Stephen of trying to kill him. It wasn’t until 1141 that Matilda’s forces
defeated and captured King Stephen at the Battle of Lincoln. Now a prisoner, he was deposed as King. When she arrived in London, the city was
ready to welcome and support her coronation.
It was Matilda’s moment of triumph but it was short-lived. Matilda had
the crown within her grasp so what went wrong?
Stephen’s Queen, Matilda, pleaded with the Empress for his release but
was refused. In response, she raised an
army to put her husband back on the throne.
The city of London asked Matilda to halve their taxes. Again she refused and with good reason but
this didn’t sit well. To be a Queen
regnant, Matilda had to take on the characteristics of a King and that just
wasn’t acceptable. She was seen as
unwomanly. If Matilda had been a man, no
one would have thought twice about her actions. Apparently they expected
Matilda to rule with more compassion. Because of Matilda’s actions, the city of
London closed its gates to her and the civil war was reignited in June of
1141. By November, Stephen was free in
exchange for Robert of Gloucester who had been captured and the war raged
on. In 1148, Matilda finally returned to
Normandy after the death of Robert of Gloucester. There she remained in Rouen until her death
1167 at the age of 65.
After waging war for a decade for her right to wear the crown, Matilda
had to settle for her eldest son Henry succeeding to the throne after her
cousin’s death in 1153. But even in
defeat, Matilda triumphed. She was her
son Henry’s confidante and advisor until her death. But her ‘reign’ was used as evidence for four
hundred years that women weren’t meant to rule.
Sources:
Helen Castor – She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England before
Elizabeth, Harper Collins, 2011
Antonia Fraser – Warrior Queens: The Legends and the Lives of the Women
Who Have Led Their Nations in War, Anchor, 1990
Elizabeth Norton – She Wolves: The
Notorious Queens of Medieval England, The History Press, 2010
