Matilda (c.1105 – 3 May 1152) was
Countess of Boulogne
Count of Boulogne was a historical title in the Kingdom of France. The city of Boulogne-sur-Mer became the centre of the county of Boulogne during the ninth century. Little is known of the early counts, but the first holder of the title is recor ...
in her own right from 1125 and
Queen of England
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiw ...
from the accession of her husband,
Stephen
Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...
, in 1136 until her death in 1152. She supported Stephen in
his struggle for the English throne against their mutual cousin
Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda ( 7 February 110210 September 1167), also known as the Empress Maude, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter of King Henry I of England, she moved to Germany as ...
. She played an unusually active role for a woman of the period when her husband was captured, and proved herself an effective general who managed to force the Empress to release Stephen. Under the agreement that settled the civil war, the Queen's children did not inherit the English throne; however, her three surviving children ruled Boulogne in turn as
Eustace IV
Eustace IV (c. 1129/1131 17 August 1153) ruled the County of Boulogne from 1146 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Stephen of England and Countess Matilda I of Boulogne. When his father seized the English throne on Henry I's death in ...
,
William I
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087 ...
, and
Marie I.
Background
Matilda was born in
Boulogne
Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. Her father was Count
Eustace III of Boulogne
Eustace III (c. 1050 – c. 1125) was the count of Boulogne from 1087 succeeding his father, Eustace II. He joined the First Crusade, being present at Nicaea, Dorylaeum, Antioch, and Jerusalem. After fighting in the battle of Ascalon, he returne ...
. Her mother,
Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
, was the daughter of King
Malcolm III of Scotland
Malcolm III ( mga, Máel Coluim mac Donnchada, label=Medieval Gaelic; gd, Maol Chaluim mac Dhonnchaidh; died 13 November 1093) was King of Scotland from 1058 to 1093. He was later nicknamed "Canmore" ("ceann mòr", Gaelic, literally "big head" ...
and
Saint Margaret of Scotland
Saint Margaret of Scotland ( gd, Naomh Maighréad; sco, Saunt Marget, ), also known as Margaret of Wessex, was an English princess and a Scottish queen. Margaret was sometimes called "The Pearl of Scotland". Born in the Kingdom of Hungary to th ...
. Through her maternal grandmother, Matilda was descended from the Anglo-Saxon
kings of England
This list of kings and reigning queens of the Kingdom of England begins with Alfred the Great, who initially ruled Wessex, one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which later made up modern England. Alfred styled himself King of the Anglo-Sax ...
.
Countess of Boulogne
In 1125, Matilda married
Stephen of Blois
Stephen (1092 or 1096 – 25 October 1154), often referred to as Stephen of Blois, was King of England from 22 December 1135 to his death in 1154. He was Count of Boulogne ''jure uxoris'' from 1125 until 1147 and Duke of Normandy from 1135 unt ...
, Count of Mortain, who possessed a large
honour
Honour (British English) or honor (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of socia ...
in England. When Matilda's father abdicated and retired to a monastery the same year, this was joined with Boulogne and the similarly large English honour Matilda inherited.
On Eustace III's death, Matilda and her husband became joint rulers of Boulogne. Two children, a son and a daughter, were born to the countess and count of Boulogne during the reign of King
Henry I of England
Henry I (c. 1068 – 1 December 1135), also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. On William's death in ...
, who had granted them a residence in London.
[Agnes Strickland, Elisabeth Strickland: ''Lives of the Queens of England''] The son was named Baldwin, after Matilda's uncle King
Baldwin I of Jerusalem
Baldwin I, also known as Baldwin of Boulogne (1060s – 2April 1118), was the first count of Edessa from 1098 to 1100, and king of Jerusalem from 1100 to his death in 1118. He was the youngest son of Eustace II, Count of Boulogne, and Ida of Lorr ...
.
The daughter was named Matilda. Baldwin died in early childhood and the young Matilda is thought to have died during childhood too, although she lived long enough to be espoused to Waleran de Meulan, Earl of Worcester.
Queenship
On the death of
Henry I of England
Henry I (c. 1068 – 1 December 1135), also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. On William's death in ...
in 1135, Stephen rushed to England, taking advantage of Boulogne's control of the closest seaports, and was crowned king, beating his rival, the
Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda ( 7 February 110210 September 1167), also known as the Empress Maude, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter of King Henry I of England, she moved to Germany as ...
. Matilda of Boulogne was heavily pregnant at that time and crossed the Channel after giving birth to a son,
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
, who would one day succeed as count of Boulogne. Matilda was crowned queen at Easter, on 22 March 1136.
Matilda was a supporter of the
Knights Templar
, colors = White mantle with a red cross
, colors_label = Attire
, march =
, mascot = Two knights riding a single horse
, equipment ...
. She founded
Cressing Temple
Cressing Temple is a medieval site situated between Witham and Braintree in Essex, close to the villages of Cressing and White Notley. It was amongst the very earliest and largest of the possessions of the Knights Templar in England,http://www. ...
in Essex in 1137 and
Temple Cowley
Cowley () is a residential and industrial area in Oxford, England. Cowley's neighbours are Rose Hill and Blackbird Leys to the south, Headington to the north and the villages of Horspath and Garsington across fields to the east. Internationally ...
in Oxford in 1139. Like her predecessor,
Matilda of Scotland
Matilda of Scotland (originally christened Edith, 1080 – 1 May 1118), also known as Good Queen Maud, or Matilda of Blessed Memory, was Queen of England and Duchess of Normandy as the first wife of King Henry I. She acted as regent of England ...
, she had a close relationship with the
Holy Trinity Priory at Aldgate. She took the prior as her confessor and two of her children were buried there.
In the civil war that followed, known as
the Anarchy
The Anarchy was a civil war in England and Normandy between 1138 and 1153, which resulted in a widespread breakdown in law and order. The conflict was a war of succession precipitated by the accidental death of William Adelin, the only legiti ...
, Matilda proved to be her husband's strongest supporter. When England was invaded in 1138, she called troops from Boulogne and its ally
Flanders
Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...
, and besieged
Dover Castle
Dover Castle is a medieval castle in Dover, Kent, England and is Grade I listed. It was founded in the 11th century and has been described as the "Key to England" due to its defensive significance throughout history. Some sources say it is the ...
with success and then went north to
Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
*Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...
, where she made a treaty with
David I of Scotland
David I or Dauíd mac Maíl Choluim (Modern: ''Daibhidh I mac haoilChaluim''; – 24 May 1153) was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians from 1113 to 1124 and later King of Scotland from 1124 to 1153. The youngest son of Malcolm ...
in 1139.
After Stephen was captured at the
Battle of Lincoln in 1141, she rallied the king's partisans, and raised an army with the help of
William of Ypres
William of Ypres ( nl, Willem van Yper; 1090 – 24 January 116524 January 1164 O.S., 1165 N.S.) was a Flemish nobleman and one of the first mercenary captains of the Middle Ages. Following two unsuccessful bids for the County of Flanders, ...
. While the Empress Matilda waited in London to prepare her coronation, Matilda and Stephen's brother
Henry of Blois
Henry of Blois ( c. 1096 8 August 1171), often known as Henry of Winchester, was Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey from 1126, and Bishop of Winchester from 1129 to his death. He was a younger son of Stephen Henry, Count of Blois by Adela of Normandy, da ...
had her chased out of the city. The Empress Matilda went on to besiege Henry of Blois at
Winchester
Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...
. Matilda of Boulogne then commanded her army to attack the besiegers. There was a
rout
A rout is a panicked, disorderly and undisciplined retreat of troops from a battlefield, following a collapse in a given unit's command authority, unit cohesion and combat morale (''esprit de corps'').
History
Historically, lightly-equi ...
in which the Empress's half-brother,
Robert of Gloucester, was captured. The two Matildas then agreed to exchange prisoners and Stephen ruled as king again.
[Duggan, page 3]
Matilda died of a fever at
Hedingham Castle
Hedingham Castle, in the village of Castle Hedingham, Essex, is arguably the best preserved Norman architecture, Norman keep in England. The castle fortifications and outbuildings were built around 1100, and the keep around 1140. However, the ke ...
,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
, England, and is buried at
Faversham Abbey
Faversham Abbey was a Cluniac style monastery immediately to the north-east of the town of Faversham, in north Kent, England.
History
It was founded by King Stephen and his wife Matilda of Boulogne in 1148. A party of monks from Bermondsey Ab ...
, which she and her husband founded.
Issue
Stephen and Matilda had three sons:
*
Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne
Eustace IV (c. 1129/1131 17 August 1153) ruled the County of Boulogne from 1146 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Stephen of England and Countess Matilda I of Boulogne. When his father seized the English throne on Henry I's death in ...
, married
Constance of France, no issue
*Baldwin of Boulogne (d. before 1135)
*
William of Blois, Count of Mortain and Boulogne and
Earl of Surrey
Earl of Surrey is a title in the Peerage of England that has been created five times. It was first created for William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, William de Warenne, a close Companions of William the Conqueror, companion of William the Con ...
, married
Isabel de Warenne
Isabel de Warenne, Countess of Arundel (c. 1228 – 23 November 1282) was an English peer. She was widowed before she was 20 years old, with a large estate, upon which she founded a Cistercian order convent, England's only convent to be Cister ...
, no issue
They also had two daughters:
*Matilda of Boulogne, married
Waleran de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Worcester
Waleran de Beaumont, Count of Meulan, Earl of Worcester (1104 – 9 April 1166, in Preaux), was the son of Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester and Elizabeth de Vermandois, and the twin brother of Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leice ...
, no issue
*
Marie I, Countess of Boulogne
Marie I or Mary (1136 – 25 July 1182 in St Austrebert, Montreuil, France) was the ''suo jure'' Countess of Boulogne from 1159 to 1170. She also held the post of Abbess of Romsey for five years until her abduction by Matthew of Alsace, who for ...
, married
Matthew of Alsace
Matthew, Count of Boulogne, also known as ''Matthew of Alsace'' (–1173) was the second son of Thierry, Count of Flanders and Sibylla of Anjou. Matthew forcibly abducted the nun Marie de Boulogne, daughter of Stephen, King of England, and constr ...
, had issue
Notes
Sources
*
*
Marjorie Chibnall
Marjorie McCallum Chibnall (27 September 1915 – 23 June 2012) was an English historian, medievalist and Latin translator. She edited the ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' by Orderic Vitalis, with whom she shared the same birthplace of Atcham in Shro ...
, ‘Matilda (c.1103–1152)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
*
*
*
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matilda Of Boulogne
1100s births
1152 deaths
House of Boulogne
Counts of Boulogne
Counts of Mortain
English royal consorts
Duchesses of Normandy
12th-century French people
12th-century English people
12th-century French women
12th-century English women
12th-century Scottish women
12th-century Scottish people
Women in 12th-century warfare
Scottish princesses
People of The Anarchy
Women in medieval European warfare
Year of birth uncertain
12th-century women rulers
Burials at Faversham Abbey