Matilda II: The Forgotten Queen by Joanna ArmanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
For the purposes of her place in history, Matilda, queen of Henry I of England, had the misfortune of being surrounded by larger-than-life figures: her mother, St. Margaret of Scotland; her husband; and her daughter, the redoubtable Empress Matilda (also known as Maud), who fought King Stephen for the throne, to name but a few. In addition, her mother-in-law, William the Conqueror’s wife; her daughter; and her niece, who was Stephen’s queen, all shared her name. Consequently, it is not surprising that she is often overlooked, portrayed as a relatively colorless figure, or even confused with another of the plethora of Matildas. In Matilda II: The Forgotten Queen, Joanna Arman aims, with considerable success, to remedy this situation.
She was christened Edith and was the daughter of Malcolm Canmore (who succeeded Macbeth as King of Scotland) and his English wife Margaret, who died when her daughter was young; it is not clear whether the name Matilda was part of her birth name or was added later as a tribute to her husband’s mother. Through Margaret, young Edith was descended from the Saxon kings of England, which made her a valuable bride for Henry, who seized the crown on the death of William Rufus, taking advantage of his older brother’s absence from the country. Since she was at the time residing in the abbey of Wilton in the care of her aunt Christina, who appears to have wanted her to become a nun, controversy over the legality of their marriage would dog her and Henry throughout what appears, despite her husband’s frequent infidelities, to have been a happy and loving, if not passionate match.
Although Matilda tends to be portrayed in stereotyped terms as a rather boring medieval queen with her chief quality being her piety, Arman argues persuasively that she was a strong-minded, intelligent, and competent woman who not only refused to bow to pressure to take the veil, but in fact actively participated in her abandonment of the convent and elevation as Henry’s queen. Later on, she presided over a court that was favorably compared with later medieval universities in its learning, kept up correspondences with several prominent churchmen, and served as Henry’s regent when he was on the Continent, as he was often required to be to defend his Norman possessions. Arman makes it clear, however, that Matilda was no plaster saint; she also faced criticism for extravagance, although admittedly some of that seems to have been in the service of her cultural interests, and she seems to have had a well-developed sense of her own rank and importance.
She also gave birth to the coveted male heir, William Adelin, who perished in the White Ship disaster in 1120, setting the stage for the later civil war between her daughter Empress Maud (Henry’s chosen heir) and Maud’s cousin Stephen. By then, however, Matilda was also dead, having passed away at the relatively young age of 38 from an unknown illness. She was sincerely mourned, and in the descendants of her daughter, her bloodline - and that of the ancient kings of Wessex - continues on the English throne.
I received a copy of Matilda II: The Forgotten Queen from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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