Matilda of Scotland

Matilda was born in 1080 in Dunfermline, the daughter of the Scottish king Malcolm III and the Anglo-Saxon princess Saint Margaret. As such, she was a descendant from both the Scottish and the Anglo-Saxon royal family, since her mother was the granddaughter of Edmund Ironside (and henceforth also descended from Alfred the Great[4]). Matilda was christened Edith, with the Anglo-Norman prince Robert Curthose standing as godfather at the ceremony. The English queen Matilda of Flanders was also present at the baptismal font and served as her godmother. Edith pulled at Queen Matilda's headdress, which was seen as an omen that the infant would be queen one day.[5]

The Life of St Margaret, Queen of Scotland was later written for Matilda possibly by Turgot of Durham. It refers to her childhood and her relationship with her mother. In it, Margaret is described as a strict but loving mother. She did not spare the rod when it came to raising her children in virtue, which the author presupposed was the reason for the good behaviour Matilda and her siblings displayed, and Margaret also stressed the importance of piety.[6]

When she was about six years old, Edith and her sister Mary were sent to Romsey Abbey, near Southampton in southern England, where their maternal aunt Cristina was abbess. During her stay at Romsey and, some time before 1093, at Wilton Abbey, both institutions known for learning,[7] the Scottish princess was much sought-after as a bride; refusing proposals from William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey, and Alan Rufus, Lord of Richmond. Hériman of Tournai claimed that William Rufus considered marrying her. Her education went beyond the standard feminine pursuits. This was not surprising as her mother was a great lover of books. Her daughters learned English, French, and some Latin, and were sufficiently literate to read St. Augustine and the Bible.[8]

In 1093, her parents betrothed Edith to Alan Rufus, Lord of Richmond, one of her numerous suitors. However, before the marriage took place, her father entered into a dispute with William Rufus. In response, he marauded the English king's lands where he was surprised by Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumbria and killed along with his son, Edward. Upon hearing of her husband and son's death, Queen Margaret died on 16 November. Edith was now an orphan. She was abandoned by her betrothed who ran off with a daughter of Harold Godwinson, Gunhild of Wessex. However, he died before they could be married.[9]

Edith had left the monastery by 1093, when Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote to the Bishop of Salisbury ordering that the daughter of the King of Scotland be returned to the monastery that she had left. She did not return to Wilton and until 1100, is largely unaccounted for in chronicles.[10]

After William II's death in the New Forest in August 1100, his brother, Henry, immediately seized the royal treasury and crown.[11] His next task was to marry and Henry's choice was Matilda. Because Matilda had spent most of her life in a convent, there was some controversy over whether she was a nun and thus canonically ineligible for marriage.[12] During her time at Romsey Abbey, her maternal aunt Cristina, forced her to wear the veil, as Matilda told later.[13] When archbishop Anselm of Canterbury returned to England after a long exile, Matilda 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, at sight of her being veiled, "ripped off the offensive headdress [...] and tore it to shreds."[14] Professing himself unwilling to decide so weighty a matter on his own, Anselm called a council of bishops in order to determine the canonical legality of the proposed marriage. He also ordered two inquiries at Wilton to get first-hand information on the matter. Matilda testified that she had never taken holy vows, insisting that her parents had sent her and her sister to England for educational purposes[15], and her aunt Cristina had veiled her to protect her "from the lust of the Normans."[16] Matilda claimed she had pulled the veil off and stamped on it, and her aunt beat and scolded her for this act. The council concluded that Matilda was not a nun, never had been and her parents had not intended that she become one, giving their permission for the marriage.[17]

Matilda and Henry seem to have known one another for some time before their marriage – William of Malmesbury states that Henry had "long been attached" to her, and Orderic Vitalis says that Henry had "long adored" her character. It is possible that Matilda had spent some time at William Rufus's court and that the pair had met there. It is also possible Henry was introduced to his bride by his teacher Bishop Osmund. Whatever the case, it is clear that the two at least knew each other prior to their wedding. Additionally, the chronicler William of Malmesbury suggests that the new king loved his bride.[18]

Matilda's mother was the sister of Edgar the Ætheling, proclaimed but uncrowned King of England after Harold, and, through her mother, Matilda was descended from Edmund Ironside and thus from the royal family of Wessex (see above), which in the 10th century had become the royal family of a united England. This was extremely important because although Henry had been born in England, he needed a bride with ties to the ancient Wessex line to increase his popularity with the English and to reconcile the Normans and Anglo-Saxons.[19] In their children, the two factions would be united, further unifying the new regime. Another benefit was that England and Scotland became politically closer; three of Matilda's brothers became kings of Scotland in succession and were unusually friendly towards England during this period of unbroken peace between the two nations: Alexander I married Sybilla, one of Henry I's illegitimate daughters, and David I lived at Henry's court for some time before his accession.[20] Matilda had a small dower but it did incorporate some lordship rights. Most of her dower estates were granted from lands previously held by Edith of Wessex. Additionally, Henry made numerous grants on his wife including substantial property in London. Generosity aside, this was a political move in order to win over the unruly Londoners who were vehement supporters of the Wessex kings.[21]

The seal of Matilda

After Matilda and Henry were married on 11 November 1100 at Westminster Abbey by Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury, she was crowned as "Matilda," a hallowed Norman name. By courtiers, however, she and her husband were soon nicknamed 'Godric and Godiva'.[22] These two names were typical English names from before The Conquest and mocked their more rustic style, especially when compared to the flamboyance of William II.

Matilda gave birth to a daughter, Matilda, born in February 1102, and a son, William, called "Adelin", in November 1103. As queen, she resided primarily at Westminster, but accompanied her husband on his travels around England, and, circa 1106–1107, probably visited Normandy with him. Matilda was the designated head of Henry's curia and acted as regent during his frequent absences.[23]

During the English investiture controversy (1103–07), Matilda acted as intercessor between her husband and archbishop Anselm. She wrote several letters during Anselm's absence, first asking him for advice and to return, but later increasingly to mediate.[24]

Matilda and Henry had issue

1. Matilda of England ( c. 7 February 1102 – 10 September 1167), Holy Roman Empress, Countess consort of Anjou, called Lady of the English
2. William Adelin, (5 August 1103 – 25 November 1120), sometimes called Duke of Normandy, who married Matilda (d.1154), daughter of Fulk V, Count of Anjou.

The couple possibly had a third child, born in July 1101, that was stillborn. But historians are not entirely sure whether there is enough evidence for this, and many, such as Chibnall, have claimed that there was no pregnancy before the one with Matilda "as it allows no time for a normal second pregnancy".[33]

Matilda died on 1 May 1118 at Westminster Palace. She would have liked to be buried at Holy Trinity, Aldgate, but her husband let her be buried at Westminster Abbey[34] near Edward the Confessor and his wife.[35] The inscription on her tomb says as follows: "Here lies the renowed 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." [36] The death of her son, William Adelin, in the disaster of the White Ship (November 1120) and Henry's failure to produce a legitimate son from his second marriage led to the succession crisis and, as a consequence, a civil war.[37]

After her death, Matilda was first remembered by her subjects as Mathilda bona regina and "Good Queen Maud", and for a time sainthood was sought for her, though she was never canonized. Although she still was a present figure in the century following her death, her memory did not survive so much into the Modern Period. At the time of his reign, Stephen of Blois (seizing the throne in 1153) insisted that Matilda had in fact been a nun, and that her daughter (also called Matilda) was henceforth not legitimate for the English throne. Her reputation improved throughout her grandson's reign, but she was remembered to a continuously lesser extent between the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.[38] Matilda is also thought to be the identity of the "Fair Lady" mentioned at the end of each verse in the nursery rhyme London Bridge Is Falling Down. The post-Norman conquest English monarchs were via her related to the Anglo-Saxon House of Wessex monarchs as she was the great-granddaughter of King Edmund Ironside[39]; see also House of Wessex family tree.

• Chibnall, Marjorie (1992). The Empress Matilda: Queen Consort, Queen Mother, and Lady of the English. Oxford, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 0-631-19028-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Green, Judith A (2006). Henry I. King of England and Duke of Normandy. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-59131-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Hilton, Lisa (2010). Queens Consort: England's Medieval Queens from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Elizabeth of York. New York, NY: Pegasus Books LLC. ISBN 9781605981055. OCLC 649718519.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Hollister, C. Warren (2001). Frost, Amanda Clark (ed.). Henry I. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300143720. OCLC 907375996.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Huneycutt, Lois L. (2003). Matilda of Scotland: A Study in Medieval Queenship. Rochester, NY: Boydell Press. ISBN 9781846151149. OCLC 229990725.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Tyler, Elizabeth M. (2017). England in Europe. English Royal Women and Literary Patronage, c. 1000–c. 1150. Toronto, Buffalo, London: Toronto University Press. ISBN 978-1-4426-4072-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Weir, Alison (2017). Queens of the Conquest: England's Medieval Queens. London, England: Penguin Random House UK. ISBN 9781910702079. OCLC 1003999244.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Matilda of Scotland.

• Matilda 3 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
• Medieval Women: The Life Of St Margaret, Queen Of Scotland By Turgot, Bishop of St Andrews Ed. William Forbes-Leith, S.J. Third Edition. Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1896 . Retrieved 14 March 2011.