Maud, Abbess of Montivilliers, was a natural daughter of

Henry I of England Henry I ( – 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 1087, Henr ...

by an unknown

mistress Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to: Romance and relationships * Mistress (lover), a female lover of a married man ** Royal mistress * Maîtresse-en-titre, official mistress of a ...

.Geoffrey H. White, ‘ "Associates" and Illegitimate Children of King Henry (I) Beauclerc of England’, Appendix D of ''

The Complete Peerage ''The Complete Peerage'' (full title: ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom Extant, Extinct, or Dormant''); first edition by George Edward Cokayne, Clarenceux King of Arms; 2nd edition re ...

'', Volume XI, 1949. She is not to be confused with Isabel, another illegitimate daughter of Henry I by his mistress Isabel de Beaumont (c. 1102 – c. 1172), herself a sister of

Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester (1104 – 5 April 1168) was Justiciar of England 1155–1168. The surname "de Beaumont" was given to him by genealogists. The only known contemporary surname applied to him is "Robert son of Count Robe ...

. Maud (or Mathilda) was a half-sister of the

Empress Matilda Empress Matilda (10 September 1167), also known as Empress Maud, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter and heir of Henry I, king of England and ruler of Normandy, she went to ...

, who agreed to work with her.Kathleen Thompson, ‘Affairs of State: the illegitimate children of Henry I’, ''Journal of Medieval History'', 29 (2003), pp. 129–151. She may have valued her company and advice. Matilda became the

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa'') is the female superior of a community of nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Lutheran and Anglican abbeys, the mod ...

of the Montivilliers Abbey, and for that reason is best known as Maud of Montivilliers.

References

Year of death missing Illegitimate children of Henry I of England 12th-century English nuns Anglo-Norman Roman Catholic abbesses 12th-century Christian abbesses Year of birth missing 12th-century French nuns People from Montivilliers Daughters of kings {{Normandy-stub