| Maud (Normandie) de Anjou is managed by the England Project. Join: England Project Discuss: england |
Contents |
Name: | ♦ Adelaide[1][2] ♦ From 1114: Matilda alias "Maud" or "Maude" at first marriage[1] |
Titles: | ♦ 07 Jan 1114 - May 1125: Empress of Germany[1] ♦ 07 Apr - 01 Nov 1141: Lady of the English[1] |
Born: | 1101 / Gregorian: 1102 Winchester or Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire[3] |
Parents: | Henry I and Matilda of Scotland |
Siblings: | ♦ William Adelin (d. 25 Nov 1120 White Ship Disaster, age 17); and 2 more legitimate.[1] ♦ at least 25 illegitimate[1] |
M1: | 07 Jan 1114: Heinreich V (1081-1125), emperor of Germany[1] ♦ No issue. |
M2: | 22 May 1128: Geoffrey, count of Anjou[1] and Maine ♦ son and heir: Henry I, founder of the House of Plantagenet; and 2 more sons.[1] |
Death: | ♦ 10 Sep 1167: Abbey of Notre, Rouen. Age 65.[1] ♦ buried: Bec Abbey;[1] |
Born in 1102 to Henry I and Matilda of Scotland, Adelaide took the name Matilda ("Maud(e)" at the time of her first marriage.[1]. It's commonly thought she was born at Winchester, but she may have been born in London,[1] or the palace at Sutton Courtenay in Oxfordshire.[3]
Her maternal grandparents were Malcolm III of Scotland and [saint] Margaret of Wessex.[5] Margaret's father was Edward the Exile, son and successor of Edmund II of England.
While she had three natural siblings and at least another 25 illegitimate siblings,[1] Matilda and her younger brother William Adelin were the only surviving, direct contenders to the throne. But after seventeen-year-old William died in the White Ship disaster, Matilda became the sole heir.
Typical of the times, her first marriage was political. Betrothed on 10 April 1110, she married the 32-year-old Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor on the 7th of January in 1114 at the age of twelve[5]. She was crowned... but unfortunately, it wasn't by the pope.[5]
On the Pentecost of May 13th, 1117, the honors were done in Rome by an excommunicated member of the clergy ... the future Antipope, archbishop of Braga, Maurice Bourdin. [5] Maude, "later claimed to have been crowned twice," and managed to convince Norman chroniclers that the pope actually took part.[5]
In any case, Matilda was still, "anointed queen at her husband's coronation by Pope Paschal in 1111."[5] Even after Henry died in 1125, leaving her childless, the title of Empress continued to hold some weight at the English court. Official records address her, "regina Romanorum."[5]
Henry I and his second wife had no issue, so Matilda was the next option for dynastic continuity. After the barons pledged support, Henry arranged her second marriage to the 13-year-old Geoffrey of Anjou and Maine.[5] She was twenty-five.[5]
Once Matilda's half brother Robert, Earl of Gloucester, rebelled against Stephen, war broke out in 1136. Matilda arrived in England in 1139 and after a series of battles, Stephen was caught February 1141 at the Battle of Lincoln.[4]
During the summer of 1141, Maud almost tasted success. With Stephen out of the way, she was now "lady of the English." ... Only to turn around and blow it.
That June, she rode into London with a bad attitude ... demanding money. It incensed the public and her coronation was met with angry town folk. She fled to Oxford with no crown.[4]
Meanwhile... Stephen's wife hit the ground with an army from France. They caught the Earl of Gloucester, later ransomed in exchange for Stephen. Matilda escaped but her forces were routed at Winchester in September 1141. Thereafter she maintained a weak resistance out west.[4]
In 1148, after the death of her half-brother, Matilda left her son (Henry II) behind and returned to Normandy. She died at Notre Dame du Pré near Rouen on 10 September 1169, and was buried in Fontevrault Abbey. Her remains were moved to Rouen Cathedral in 1847.
Matilda's epitaph reads: "Great by Birth, Greater by Marriage, Greatest in her Offspring: Here lies Matilda, the daughter, wife, and mother of Henry."[4]
Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.
Maud is 26 degrees from Charlotte Brontë, 23 degrees from Louisa May Alcott, 31 degrees from Victoria Benedictsson, 25 degrees from Rosalind Nield, 23 degrees from Elizabeth Gaskell, 29 degrees from Amy de Leeuw, 19 degrees from Harriet Arbuthnot, 20 degrees from Aurore Dupin de Francueil, 32 degrees from Isabella Crawford and 27 degrees from Barry Smith on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
N > Normandie | D > de Anjou > Matilda (Normandie) de Anjou
Categories: House of Normandie | The Anarchy | First Battle of Lincoln | This Day In History February 07 | This Day In History September 10