| Born: 1103 in Winchester
Died: 10 Sept. 1169 in Rouen, France Buried in Fontevrault Abbey Married: 1st German Emperor, Henry V 2nd Geoffrey V “The Fair” Plantagenet Comte de Anjou and Maine |
Only surviving legitimate child of King Henry I
Matilda was betrothed to the German Emperor, Henry V, when she was only eight. They were married on 7th January 1114. She was twelve and he was thirty-two. Unfortunately there were no children and on the Emperor's death in 1125, Matilda was recalled to her father's court Matilda's only legitimate brother had been killed in the disastrous Wreck of the White Ship in late 1120 and she was now her father's only hope for the continuation of his dynasty. The barons swore allegiance to the young Princess and promised to make her queen after her father's death. She herself needed heirs though and in April 1127, Matilda found herself obliged to marry Prince Geoffrey of Anjou and Maine (the future Geoffrey V, Count of those Regions). He was thirteen, she twenty-three. Matilda was designated Henry's heir, and on his death, Stephen siezed the throne and Matilda invaded England in 1139, inuagurating a period of inconclusive civil war. She and Geoffrey, captured normandy and in 1152 the Treaty of Wallingford recognised Henry as Stephen's heir. Burke says she was betrothed in her eight year (1119) to Henry. In 1148, after the death of her half-brother, Matilda finally returned to Normandy, leaving her son, who, in 1154, would become Henry II, to fight on in England. She died at Rouen on 10th September 1169 and was buried in Fontevrault Abbey. |
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