Matilda of Anjou, also known as Mahaut ( – 1154) was married in 1119 to

William Adelin William Ætheling (, ; 5 August 1103 – 25 November 1120), commonly called Adelin (sometimes ''Adelinus'', ''Adelingus'', ''A(u)delin'' or other Latinised Norman-French variants of '' Ætheling'') was the son of Henry I of England by his wife M ...

, son and

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

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 ...

Life

Matilda was the daughter of Count Fulk V of Anjou, and his first wife

Ermengarde, Countess of Maine Ermengarde or Erembourg of Maine, also known as Erembourg de la Flèche (died 1126), was Countess of Maine and the Lady of Château-du-Loir from 1110 to 1126. She was the daughter of Elias I, Count of Maine, and Mathilda of Château-du-Loire, da ...

. In February 1113, Fulk V and Henry I met near

Alençon Alençon (, , ; nrf, Alençoun) is a commune in Normandy, France, capital of the Orne department. It is situated west of Paris. Alençon belongs to the intercommunality of Alençon (with 52,000 people). History The name of Alençon is firs ...

where they entered into a treaty of peace which was secured by the betrothal of Henry's son William Adelin and Fulk's daughter Matilda. The young couple were married in June 1119. On the evening of 25 November 1120, returning from

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

to England, William chose to sail aboard the ''

White Ship The ''White Ship'' (french: la Blanche-Nef; Medieval Latin: ''Candida navis'') was a vessel transporting many nobles, including the heir to the English throne, that sank in the Channel during a trip from France to England near the Normandy ...

'' and subsequently drowned when that ship sank in the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

just outside

Barfleur Barfleur () is a commune and fishing village in Manche, Normandy, northwestern France. History During the Middle Ages, Barfleur was one of the chief ports of embarkation for England. * 1066: A large medallion fixed to a rock in the harbour ...

harbour. Matilda had avoided the disaster, as passage for her had been arranged aboard another ship, presumably the one that her father-in-law was traveling on. His death left her a widow with no immediate heir to the throne of England and thus ended the treaty with Anjou.Sandy Burton Hicks, 'The Anglo-Papal Bargain of 1125: The Legatine Mission of John of Crema', ''Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies'', Vol. 8, No. 4 (Winter, 1976), p. 302 On his return from Jerusalem, , Fulk V demanded the return of Matilda's dowry, comprising castles and towns in

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

, to which Henry flatly refused. After months of fruitless quarreling Fulk was considering warring with Henry once more. Finally, Fulk countered Henry by marrying his other daughter, Sibylla, to

William Clito William Clito (25 October 110228 July 1128) was a member of the House of Normandy who ruled the County of Flanders from 1127 until his death and unsuccessfully claimed the Duchy of Normandy. As the son of Robert Curthose, the eldest son of William ...

, the son of

Robert Curthose Robert Curthose, or Robert II of Normandy ( 1051 – 3 February 1134, french: Robert Courteheuse / Robert II de Normandie), was the eldest son of William the Conqueror and succeeded his father as Duke of Normandy in 1087, reigning until 1106. ...

, Henry's nephew and rival for Normandy.C. Warren Hollister and Thomas K. Keefe, 'The Making of the Angevin Empire', ''Journal of British Studies'', Vol. 12, No. 2 (May, 1973), pp. 10-11 Fulk dowered the couple with the lordship of Maine. Meanwhile, after her husband's death Matilda remained at Henry's court and was treated as one of the king's daughters.Ordericus Vitalis, ''The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy'', trans. Thomas Forester, Vol IV (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1856), p. 59 Henry maintained she could remain as long as she wishedOrderic contradicts himself on this point: he states that she was a guest who could stay as long as she likes in one sentence, then in another states she was ''detained'' at court by Henry, implying she was not free to leave. Given the state of affairs between Anjou and England between 1120 and 1123, the second scenario seems more plausible. See Orderic Vitalis, trans. Forester, Vol. IV (1856), p. 38. and intended to marry her to one of his great nobles, "heaping on her wealth and honours which would have raised her above all her family." She remained in England for several years, unmarried, but according to Orderic, wishing to see her parents and home, she returned to Anjou. After a time in Anjou she took the advice of Geoffrey, Bishop of Chartres and in 1128 she took her vows at

Fontevrault Abbey The Royal Abbey of Our Lady of Fontevraud or Fontevrault (in French: ''abbaye de Fontevraud'') was a monastery in the village of Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, near Chinon, in the former French duchy of Anjou. It was founded in 1101 by the itinerant preache ...

as a nun. In 1150 she became the

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic ...

and died in 1154.Ordericus Vitalis, ''The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy'', trans. Thomas Forester, Vol IV (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1856), p. 59, n. 3

Notes

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Matilda of Anjou Duchesses of Normandy Anglo-Norman Roman Catholic abbesses Burials at Fontevraud Abbey Abbesses of Fontevraud 1100s births 1154 deaths 12th-century English people 12th-century English women 12th-century French nuns 12th-century Norman women Daughters of kings