Orderic Vitalis names “Guillelmum Adelinum, et Mathildem imperatricem” as the children of King Henry I and his wife Matilda. The Chronicle of Gervase records the birth "secundo anno regni" of "filiam…Matildis". According to Weir, she was christened Adelaide but adopted the name Matilda on her first marriage. The primary source on which this is based has not yet been identified.
The chronology of Matilda´s first marriage is complicated. Negotiations for the marriage started in 1109: Henry of Huntingdon records that ambassadors were sent by “Henrico imperatore Romano” to request “filiam regis” in marriage for “domini sui”, that they were received in the English court “ad Pentecosten”, and that “filia regis” was given (“data”) to “imperatori” in the following year, dated to [1109/10] from the context. The English king's presence in London at that time is confirmed by the Regesta Regum Anglorum which lists three charters dated 13 June 1109 “Pentecost” issued at Westminster in King Henry's name. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records in 1109 that “before Whitsuntide” King Henry I returned to England from Normandy and “held his court at Westminster” where “the contracts were completed and the oaths sworn for the marriage of his daughter to the emperor” and in 1110 that “before Lent, the king sent his daughter oversea with innumerable treasures and gave her in marriage to the emperor”. Florence of Worcester records that "rex Anglorum Henricus” granted “filiam suam...in conjugem" to "Heinrico regi Teutonicorum", dated to 1110 from the context. In a later passage, the same source records that "Matildis filia regis Anglorum” who was “Heinrico, Romanorum imperatori...desponsata" was consecrated empress "VIII Id Jan" (6 January) at Mainz, dated to 1114 from the context. The Continuatio of the Gesta Ducum Normannorum records that “Henricus quintus rex et quartus imperator Romanorum et Alemannorum” requested in marriage the daughter of the king of England who was brought to his kingdom, that the couple were betrothed (“desponsavit”) in Utrecht at Easter, and that Matilda was consecrated queen in Mainz “in festivitate sancti Iacobi” (25 July) by the archbishop of Köln. Matilda was then carefully brought up (“studiose nutriri precepit”) by Bruno archbishop of Trier, including learning the German language and customs, until the time for her marriage (“tempus nuptiarum”). Orderic Vitalis records that "Henricus rex Anglorum" gave “Mathildem filiam suam...in uxorem” to “Imperatori”, that “Rogerius filius Ricardi [identified as Roger FitzRichard de Clare] cognatus regis, cum nobili comitatu in Anglia” escorted her to Germany, and that her dowry was 10,000 marks, undated but dated to [1110] from the context. The dating is confirmed approximately by a later passage in the same source, recording the death of Emperor Heinrich, which states that he married Matilda three years after succeeding his father (who died in August 1106). Another passage records that “Henricus rex” gave “Mathildem filiam suam...in conjugium” to “Karolo [error for Henrico] Henrici filio Imperatori Alemannorum”, that she was led to her husband by “Burchardus præsul Cameracensium”, in the presence of “Rogerius...filius Ricardi, aliique plures ex Normannis comitati”. This last passage is dated to [1109] from the context. However, Burchard was not appointed bishop of Cambrai until 1114: the Annales Cameracensis record that “domnus Burgardus” was elected [as bishop] in 1114[183]. The Annals of Winchester record that “rex” sent “filiam suam Matildem” for betrothal (“desponsandam”) to “imperatori Henrico” with 5,000 marks of silver in 1110, adding that she was only 8 years and 15 days old. The Annals of Winchelcombe, Gloucestershire record in 1114 that “Matildis filia regis Anglorum Henrici” married (“desponsatur...sponsam suscepit”) “Anglici regis filiam” and that the dowry was agreed (“more dotavit”) in Utrecht at Easter. Simeon of Durham records in 1110 that "rex Anglorum Henricus" gave “filiam suam” in marriage (“in conjugem dedit”) to “Henrico imperatori”, adding that he sent her from Dover “usque ad Witsand” at the start of “Quadragesimæ...IV Id Apr”. The same source records in 1114 that "Mathildis filia regis Anglorum Henrici" was married (“desponsata”) to “Henrico Romanorum imperatori” and was consecrated empress at Mainz “VIII Id Jan”. The Annales Hildesheimensis record a synod held “Non Mar” in 1110 by Pope Paschal who sent legates to Liège (“Leodium ad regem”) and that there (“ibi”) “rex” received as wife (“sponsam suscepit”) “Anglici regis filiam” and that he granted her dower in accordance with the customs of the kingdom (“regio more dotavit”) in Utrecht at Easter. The same source records in 1114 that Matilda married (“desponsatur”) “Henrico Romanorum imperatori”. The Annales Sancti Disibodi record in 1109 that “Rex” was betrothed (“desponsata”) to “filia regis Anglorum” and in 1114 that “Imperator” passed Christmas at “Babinberg” and married (“nuptias fecit”) at Mainz “post epiphaniam”.
Matilda was crowned empress again in 1117 with her husband at St Peter’s Basilica, Rome. Her second marriage is recorded by Orderic Vitalis. The Chronicle of Gervase records the second marriage of "filiam suam…viduam" to "Gaufrido comiti Andegaviæ". Matilda asserted the right to succeed after the death of her father and fought King Stephen in a civil war in which she was finally defeated 1 Nov 1141.
Robert of Torigny records the death "1167…IV Id Sep Rothomagi" of "matris suæ [Henrici regis] Mathildis imperatricis" and her burial "Becci". The necrology of Angers Cathedral records the death "II Id Sep" of "Mathildis imperatrix filia Henrici regis uxor Goffredi comitis". 1
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Matilda, also called Maud..., consort of the Holy Roman emperor Henry V and afterward claimant to the English throne in the reign of King Stephen.
She was the only daughter of Henry I of England by Queen Matilda and was sister of William the Aetheling, heir to the English and Norman thrones. Both her marriages were in furtherance of Henry I’s policy of strengthening Normandy against France. In 1114 she was married to Henry V; he died in 1125, leaving her childless, and three years later she was married to Geoffrey Plantagenet, effectively count of Anjou.
Her brother’s death in 1120 made her Henry I’s sole legitimate heir, and in 1127 he compelled the baronage to accept her as his successor, though a woman ruler was equally unprecedented for the kingdom of England and the duchy of Normandy. The Angevin marriage was unpopular and flouted the barons’ stipulation that she should not be married out of England without their consent. The birth of her eldest son, Henry, in 1133 gave hope of silencing this opposition, but he was only two when Henry I died (1135), and a rapid coup brought to the English throne Stephen of Blois, son of William I the Conqueror’s daughter Adela. Though the church and the majority of the baronage supported Stephen, Matilda’s claims were powerfully upheld in England by her half brother Robert of Gloucester and her uncle King David I of Scotland. Matilda and Robert landed at Arundel in September 1139, and she was for a short while besieged in the castle. But Stephen soon allowed her to join her brother, who had gone to the west country, where she had much support; after a stay at Bristol, she settled at Gloucester.
She came nearest to success in the summer of 1141, after Stephen had been captured at Lincoln in February. Elected “lady of the English” by a clerical council at Winchester in April, she entered London in June; but her arrogance and tactless demands for money provoked the citizens to chase her away to Oxford before she could be crowned queen. Her forces were routed at Winchester in September 1141, and thereafter she maintained a steadily weakening resistance in the west country. Her well-known escape from Oxford Castle over the frozen River Thames took place in December 1142.
Normandy had been in her husband’s possession since 1144, and she retired there in 1148, remaining near Rouen to watch over the interests to her eldest son, who became duke of Normandy in 1150 and King Henry II of England in 1154. She spent the remainder of her life in Normandy exercising a steadying influence over Henry II’s continental dominions. 2
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