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| Matilda (1101-69), Queen of England 1141 | ||||||||
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Later Life
Matilda retired to Rouen in Normandy during her last years, where she maintained her own court and presided over the government of the duchy in the absence of Henry. She intervened in the quarrels between her eldest son Henry and her second son Geoffrey, but peace between the brothers was brief. Geoffrey rebelled against Henry twice before his sudden death in 1158. Relations between Henry and his youngest brother, William, Count of Poitou, were more cordial, William was given vast estates in England. William wished to marry the newly widowed Countess of Surrey, but because she was his cousin a dispensation was required. Archbishop Thomas Becket refused to grant one, causing William to return to Matilda's court at Rouen. William, who was his mother's favorite child, died there in January 1164, reportedly of disappointment and sorrow. This may have been the start of the great quarrel because Henry and Becket in which she attempted to mediate, but was unsuccessful. Becket was eventually assassinated in 1170, one of his slayers had been in William's employ. However, in addition, her DNB entry states that Matilda tried in 1162 to persuade Henry not to name Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury.Although she gave up hope of being crowned Queen of England, her name always preceded that of her son Henry on official documents, even after he became King. Matilda died "after much suffering from fever and decay of strength" at Notre Dame du Pre near Rouen on 10 Sep 1169. On her deathbed she took the veil as a nun of Fontevrault. She was buried in the Abbey church of Bec-Hellouin, Normandy (or Fontevrault Abbey), though some of her entrails may possibly have been later interred in her father's foundation at Reading Abbey. In 1263, the church and her tomb were destroyed by fire. In 1282 when the church had been restored, a search was made for her remains and they were found wrapped in an ox-hide. (DNB citing Chronicle of Bec). Once again the church was destroyed by fire, but her leaden coffin was discovered in 1846. Her remains were then transferred to the Rouen Cathedral in 1847. Her original epitaph as reported by Matthew of Paris read: "Here lies Henry's daughter, wife and mother; great by birth — greater by marriage — but greatest by motherhood." She left two wills, written in 1134 and in 1160.
"Arnulf of Lisieux called her 'a woman who had nothing of the woman in her', but the words were evidently meant as praise, not blame." (DNB)
Ancestors
Matilda's Ahenentafel (Ancestor Table)- Matilda, Empress, Queen of England 1141, Countess of Anjou and Normandy
- Henry I "Beauclerc", King of England 1100-35
- Maud (Matilda) of Scotland, Queen of England
- William I, King of England 1066-87
- Matilda of Flanders, Queen of England
- Malcolm III "Caen Mor" King of Scotland 1057-93
- Margaret, Queen of Scotland
- Robert 'the Devil', Duke of Normandy
- Herleve (Harlette) de Falaise, Officer of the Palace
- Baldwin (E) V 'The Pious', Count of Flanders
- Adele (Alix), Princess of France, Countess of Corbie
- Duncan I, King of Scotland 1034-40
- Sibyl, Queen of Scotland
- Edward "the exile", Atheling of England
- Agatha, her parentage is unknown, three different sets of parents have been suggested
See Also
- "Empress Matilda", Wikipedia
- William of Malmesbury, "Chronicle of the Kings of England", ed J.A. Giles (1904)
- Robert, Earl of Gloucester (d. 1147)
| Matilda (1101-69), Queen of England 1141 | ||||||||
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