Matilda of Boulogne

Matilda of Boulogne
Queen consort of England
Tenure	22 December 1135 – 7 April 1141 1 November 1141 – 3 May 1152
Coronation	22 March 1136
Countess of Boulogne
Tenure	1125 – 3 May 1152
Predecessor	Eustace III
Successor	Eustace IV
Born	c. 1105 Boulogne, France
Died	3 May 1152 (aged c. 46–47) Hedingham Castle, Essex
Burial	Faversham Abbey
Spouse	Stephen, King of England
Issue more...	Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne Marie I, Countess of Boulogne William I, Count of Boulogne
House	House of Flanders
Father	Eustace III, Count of Boulogne
Mother	Mary of Scotland

Matilda I (or Maud) (1105? – 3 May 1152) was suo jure Countess of Boulogne. She was also queen consort of England as the wife of King Stephen. She is not to be confused with the Empress Matilda, her first cousin, with whom she and her husband fought for the English throne in the civil war known as the Anarchy. During this Matilda was forced to play an unusually active role for a woman of the period when her husband was captured, and proved herself an effective general who managed to force her cousin to release him. Under the agreement that settled the civil war, her children did not inherit the throne.

Early life and marriage

She was born in Boulogne, France, the daughter of Eustace III, Count of Boulogne, and his wife Mary, daughter of King Malcolm III of Scotland and Saint Margaret of Scotland. Matilda was first cousin of her husband's rival, Empress Matilda. Through her maternal grandmother, Matilda was descended from the pre-Conquest English kings.

In 1125, Matilda married Stephen of Blois, Count of Mortain, who possessed a large honour in England. When Matilda's father abdicated and retired to a monastery the same year, this was joined with Boulogne and the similarly large English honour Matilda inherited. On Eustace III's death, Matilda and her husband became joint rulers of Boulogne. Two children, a son and a daughter, were born to the countess and count of Boulogne during the reign of King Henry I, who had granted them a residence in London.^[1] The son was named Baldwin, after Matilda's uncle, King Baldwin I of Jerusalem.^[1] The daughter was named Matilda. Baldwin died in early childhood and the young Matilda is thought to have died during childhood too, although she lived long enough to be espoused to Waleran de Meulan, Earl of Worcester.^[1]

Queenship

On the death of Henry I of England in 1135, Stephen rushed to England, taking advantage of Boulogne's control of the closest seaports, and was crowned king, beating his rival, the Empress Matilda. Matilda of Boulogne was heavily pregnant at that time and crossed the Channel after giving birth to a son, Eustace, who would one day succeed her as count of Boulogne. Matilda was crowned queen at Easter, on 22nd March 1136.^[1]

Matilda was a supporter of the Knights Templar. She founded Cressing Temple in Essex in 1137 and Temple Cowley in Oxford in 1139.^[2] Like her predecessor, Matilda of Scotland, she had a close relationship with the Holy Trinity Priory at Aldgate. She took the prior as her confessor and two of her children were buried there.^[3]

In the civil war that followed, known as the Anarchy, Matilda proved to be her husband's strongest supporter. When England was invaded in 1138, she called troops from Boulogne and its ally Flanders, and besieged Dover Castle with success and then went north to Durham, where she made a treaty with David I of Scotland in 1139.^[4]

After Stephen was captured at the Battle of Lincoln in 1141, she rallied the king's partisans, and raised an army with the help of William of Ypres. While the Empress Matilda waited in London to prepare her coronation, Matilda and Stephen's brother Henry of Blois had her chased out of the city. The Empress Matilda went on to besiege Henry of Blois at Winchester. Matilda of Boulogne then commanded her army to attack the besiegers. There was a rout in which the Empress's half-brother, Robert of Gloucester, was captured. The two Matildas then agreed to exchange prisoners and Stephen ruled as king again.^[5]

Matilda died of a fever at Hedingham Castle, Essex, England, and is buried at Faversham Abbey, which she and her husband founded.^[1]

Issue

Stephen and Matilda had three sons:

• Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne, married Constance of France, no issue
• Baldwin of Boulogne (d. before 1135)
• William of Blois, Count of Mortain and Boulogne and Earl of Surrey, married Isabel de Warenne, no issue

They also had two daughters:

• Matilda of Boulogne, married Waleran de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Worcester, no issue
• Marie I, Countess of Boulogne, married Matthew of Alsace, had issue

Ancestry

Ancestors of Matilda of Boulogne

16. Baldwin II, Count of Boulogne               8. Eustace I, Count of Boulogne                       17. Adeline of Holland               4. Eustace II, Count of Boulogne                             18. Lambert I, Count of Leuven               9. Matilda of Leuven                       19. Gerberga of Lower Lorraine               2. Eustace III, Count of Boulogne                                   20. Gothelo I, Duke of Lorraine               10. Godfrey III, Duke of Lower Lorraine                       5. Saint Ida of Lorraine                             11. Doda                       1. Matilda I, Countess of Boulogne                                         24. Crínán of Dunkeld               12. Duncan I of Scotland                       25. Bethóc               6. Malcolm III of Scotland                             13. Suthen                       3. Mary of Scotland                                   28. Edmund Ironside               14. Edward the Exile                       29. Ealdgyth               7. Saint Margaret of Scotland                             15. Agatha

Notes

1. Agnes Strickland, Elisabeth Strickland: Lives of the Queens of England
2. Hilton (2008). Queens Consort, England's Medieval Queens. p. 86.
3. Duggan. p. 330. Missing or empty |title= (help)
4. Hilton (2008). Queens Consort, England's Medieval Queens. pp. 89–90.
5. Duggan. p. 3. Missing or empty |title= (help)

Sources

• Norgate, Kate (1894). "Matilda of Boulogne". Dictionary of National Biography 38. pp. 53–53.
• Marjorie Chibnall, ‘Matilda (c.1103–1152)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 .
• Duggan, Anne (1997). Queens and Queenship in Medieval Europe: Proceedings of a Conference Held at King's College London, April 1995. The Boydell Press.
• Hilton, Lisa (2008). Queens Consort, England's Medieval Queens. Great Britain: Weidenfeld & Nichelson. ISBN 978-0-7538-2611-9.
• Matthew, Donald (2002). King Stephen. Carnegie Publishing.