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Empress Matilda Facts & Worksheets

Empress Matilda, also known as Maud, was the only daughter of Henry I of England and Queen Matilda and sister of William the Adelin, the heir to the English and Norman thrones.

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Empress Matilda, also known as Maud, was the only daughter of Henry I of England and Queen Matilda and sister of William the Adelin, the heir to the English and Norman thrones. She was born in London in 1102 and died near Rouen, France, on September 10, 1167. She was the consort of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V. Her marriage to Geoffrey Plantagenet played a significant role in shaping the future of the English monarchy.

See the fact file below for more information on Empress Matilda, or you can download our 29-page Empress Matilda worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE

  • King Henry I of England and his wife Matilda of Scotland gave birth to Matilda, who grew up in affluence among the Anglo-Norman nobility. Her father’s marriage to Matilda of Scotland (mother) gave his rule more legitimacy and gave her position and authority. 
  • William Adelin, Matilda’s younger brother, and other half-siblings from her father’s connections with mistresses were her siblings.
  • Raised by her mother, she was educated in religious values and associated with English court lords like her uncle David and half-brother Robert of Gloucester throughout her early years.
  • While her father was away in Normandy in 1108, Anselm, Canterbury’s Archbishop, cared for her and her brother. 
  • Despite lacking specific accounts of Matilda’s beauty, her contemporaries thought she was lovely.

MARRIAGE AND CORONATION

  • Henry V, King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor, proposed to Matilda in 1108 or 1109, which appealed to her father since it would bolster his authority and provide him with an ally against France. 
  • In June 1109, the marriage negotiations were concluded, and in October, Matilda attended a royal council.
  • After departing from England in February 1110, she first saw Henry in Liège before they were formally wed in Utrecht.
  • When she was anointed the German queen at Mainz in July, Matilda was eight. She was given into the care of Archbishop Bruno of Trier so that she could learn German customs and culture. 
  • After becoming married to Henry at Worms in January 1114, Matilda became a household name in Germany.
  • Political unrest in the empire broke out after their marriage, sparking uprisings and resistance from the Church. In 1116, Matilda accompanied Henry on a military expedition to Italy to settle a score with the Pope. 
  • She actively engaged in the imperial administration by giving royal privileges, responding to petitions, and taking part in ceremonial occasions. 
  • When Henry and Matilda arrived in Rome in 1117, a papal representative named Maurice Bourdin had them crowned in St. Peter’s Basilica. 
  • Although the legality of Matilda’s claim to the title of Empress of the Holy Roman Empire was debatable, she utilized these ceremonies to assert it. 
  • Matilda insisted that she had been formally crowned Empress and continued using the title until her death, despite confusion regarding Bourdin’s standing and the ceremonies themselves. The chanceries and chroniclers began to tolerate her use of the title.

WIDOWHOOD

  • Henry placed Matilda in charge of Italy in 1118 while he put down uprisings in Germany. 
  • Although nothing is known about her reign at this time, she probably gained valuable expertise in politics. Matilda accompanied Henry to Lotharingia in 1119 while he sought a deal with the Pope.
  • They were at the Council of Worms in 1122, where a prolonged conflict with the Church was resolved. In the same year, Matilda tried to travel to see her father in England but was stopped. 
  • Henry V of Holy Roman Emperor and Matilda were childless, and Henry’s offenses against the Church were blamed for their infertility. 
  • When Henry passed away in 1125, Matilda was left in their nephew Frederick’s care and with the imperial insignia. 
  • Archbishop Adalbert persuaded her to give up the emblem, and Lothair of Supplinburg was chosen to succeed Henry as king. Matilda, who decided to return to Normandy at 23, gave up her lands inside the empire and took her priceless items and artifacts since she had few alternatives.

SUCCESSION CRISIS

  • William Adelin, Matilda’s brother, and several other nobility perished in the White Ship tragedy in 1120. This incident raised questions about the succession of the English throne. Europe’s succession laws differed, and England had no established succession law. 
  • The father of Matilda, Henry I, had initially wanted to have a second son, but Adeliza of Louvain, his second wife, could not conceive. Then, Henry I started to think about his nephews as prospective heirs, notably Stephen of Blois and William Clinton.
  • However, Henry’s intentions changed after Empress Matilda’s husband, Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, died in 1125.

MARRIAGE TO GEOFFREY OF ANJOU

  • Matilda was compelled by her father, Henry I, to wed Geoffrey Plantagenet, the son of Fulk, Count of Anjou, after first rejecting him. 
  • Their union was one of convenience, intending to safeguard Normandy’s southern frontiers. 
  • Matilda and Geoffrey had a tumultuous relationship and did not get along. 
  • Despite their disagreements, Henry I finally convinced them to have a child to inherit the crown. Henry was one of their three sons, who would grow up to become Henry II of England. 
  • But when Matilda’s relationship with her father deteriorated, Matilda’s nephew Stephen of Blois succeeded to the English crown after Henry I died in 1135. 
  • This infuriated Matilda, who in 1136 gave birth to William, her third son. 
  • Geoffrey and Stephen engaged in a string of invasions and truces throughout Normandy.

ROAD TO WAR

  • Robert, Earl of Gloucester, Matilda’s illegitimate half-brother, launched a revolt against Stephen and professed his support for Matilda. Geoffrey of Anjou then took advantage of the situation by re-entering Normandy.
  • Invading the north of England, her maternal uncle David I, King of Scotland, declared his support for his niece.
  • The English army under William, Count of Aumale, routed David’s army at the Battle of the Standard, which took place on August 22, 1138, on Cowton Moor close to Northallerton in Yorkshire.
  • When Matilda and Robert of Gloucester invaded England in September 1139, they were welcomed at Arundel Castle, the residence of Adeliza of Louvain (her stepmother), now wed to William d’Aubigny, Earl of Arundel. To rally support for the uprising, Gloucester marched to Wallingford and Bristol.
  • When King Stephen eventually agreed to a ceasefire after besieging his cousin Matilda at Arundel Castle, Matilda, and her household were freed and led to the southwest of England, where they met Robert of Gloucester.
  • After that, a protracted period of civil conflict tore the nation apart. The 19-year reign of King Stephen is described as a time “when Christ and his saints were asleep” in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.  
  • Wallingford Castle, which Brian FitzCount was guarding for Matilda, was well fortified when Stephen besieged it. 
  • He then went on to assault Trowbridge in Wiltshire. At Wallingford, Miles of Gloucester, Earl of Hereford, attacked Stephen’s retaliatory men while threatening to move on London. 
  • As a result, Stephen was compelled to return to London to defend his city.
  • Henry of Blois organized a peace conference in Bath. Still, it was unsuccessful because Stephen’s agents refused to accept Henry’s demand that he and the clergy establish the conditions of any peace accord. King Stephen and the influential Ranulf of Chester disagreed in 1141, and Stephen stormed Ranulph’s stronghold in Lincoln. 
  • King Stephen was kidnapped by Earl Robert and imprisoned in Bristol Castle because of the Battle of Lincoln, fought on February 2, 1141, when Robert of Gloucester and his ally Ranulf marched to Stephen’s stronghold.
  • Matilda was proclaimed the “Lady of England and Normandy” by the Winchester clergy. She traveled to London to organize her coronation, but Matilda, rumored to be arrogant and prideful, enraged the locals. 
  • A crowd of angry Londoners assaulted her while she was enjoying supper in Westminster, and she was forced to leave the area. 
  • The rebel Bishop Henry of Winchester, brother of King Stephen, was besieged by Robert and Matilda in Winchester, forcing them to flee quickly.

CONCLUSION OF WAR

  • When Matilda of Boulogne, the maternal cousin of Empress Matilda and Stephen’s queen, seized Robert of Gloucester at the Rout of Winchester, the mercurial wheel of destiny once more spun. 
  • Finally, a prisoner exchange was reached, with neither side getting the upper hand. 
  • When Stephen besieged Matilda at Oxford, she came perilously close to being kidnapped, but she staged a daring escape across the icy river while hiding in a white cloak. 
  • Geoffrey of Anjou invaded Normandy again and seized the entire Duchy south of the Seine and east of the Risle.
  • Stephen was under siege by Robert of Gloucester at Wilton Castle in 1143, which led to the Battle of Wilton, from which Stephen managed to flee.
  • Matilda’s young son Henry Plantagenet was called to England, hoping his presence would give his mother’s cause new vitality. 
  • In 1148, Matilda unwillingly made her way back to Normandy. Her son Henry, then known as Henry FitzEmpress, began a battle with Stephen for the throne of England.
  • A settlement was achieved in the Treaty of Wallingford, ending the protracted civil war during the young Henry of Normandy’s second invasion of England in 1153. 
  • According to its conditions, Stephen was to hold the throne for the rest of his life, after which it would pass to Henry and his successors.
  • Stephen’s now-disinherited son, Eustace, reacted angrily and proceeded to Cambridge to organize a new campaign. There, he passed away the next month. 
  • Henry II, the first of the famous Plantagenet dynasty, succeeded King Stephen when he passed away in 1154 at 51 from apoplexy.
  • Matilda continued to reside in Normandy and was still actively involved in running the Duchy when she passed away on September 10, 1167, at 65. 
  • She was buried in the Bec-Hellouin Abbey beneath the high altar. 
  • Her son was the pride of her life, according to the inscription on her grave, which says, “Here lies Henry’s daughter, mother, wife, great in all three.” 
  • A fire in 1263 caused damage to the tomb, but it was repaired in 1282.
  • In 1684, the Congregation of St Maur found and reburied some of her remaining bones at Bec-Hellouin, but after Napoleon Bonaparte destroyed the church, her remains were lost again until 1846, when they were rediscovered and interred at Rouen Cathedral, where they remain today.

COURT, LAW, AND GOVERNMENT

  • Empress Matilda held political power and influential positions in both the Holy Roman Empire and England. 
  • She was an effective regent in Italy, controlling local authorities and handling lesser tasks on her husband’s behalf. Matilda cleverly employed titles and seals to establish her dominance and claim the throne.
  • She used “Lady of the English” (domina Anglorum) to emphasize her independence and autonomy as a powerful woman. 
  • Matilda ran a parallel government to that of her adversary, Stephen, and portrayed herself as carrying on the English heritage of centralized royal rule. 
  • She appointed earls, received money from royal domains, and produced coinage under her name. When Matilda returned to Normandy, she resumed using the empress title and continued her involvement in local administration.

LEGACY

  • Although her sole known biography is lost, contemporaneous chroniclers have written about Matilda’s life and character. 
  • Various areas’ chroniclers had multiple opinions on Matilda; during the Anarchy, English chroniclers took a more critical stance while German chroniclers lavished praise on her. 
  • Although opinions on Matilda’s personality have changed over time, everyone agrees that she had a high rank and a solid commitment to her cause. 
  • According to some feminist researchers, Matilda has been unfairly condemned for traits that would be commended in her male counterparts because of gender bias in the traditional assumptions about her role and personality.

Empress Matilda Worksheets

This fantastic bundle includes everything you need to know about Empress Matilda across 29 in-depth pages. These ready-to-use worksheets are perfect for teaching kids about Empress Matilda. She was the consort of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V. Her marriage to Geoffrey Plantagenet played a significant role in shaping the future of the English monarchy.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

  1. Empress Matilda Facts
  2. Empress Profile
  3. Events in Time
  4. People Involved
  5. Questions About Her
  6. Significant News
  7. A Quote to Understand
  8. Power She Holds
  9. Journal to Write
  10. Make a Stand
  11. Puppets of Life

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Empress Matilda?

Empress Matilda, also known as Matilda of England, was a medieval English noblewoman who was born in 1102. She was the daughter of King Henry I of England and Matilda of Scotland. She married the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V and later Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou. Due to her lineage, she had a strong claim to the English throne.

What was Empress Matilda’s claim to the English throne?

Empress Matilda’s claim to the English throne was based on the fact that she was the only legitimate surviving child of King Henry I of England. Her father had no male heir, and he designated Matilda as his successor, intending to pass the throne to her upon his death.

What was the period of Empress Matilda’s struggle for the English throne known as?

The period of Empress Matilda’s struggle for the English throne is known as “The Anarchy.” It occurred between 1135 and 1154 and was a time of political instability and civil war in England. After the death of her father, King Henry I, Empress Matilda faced significant opposition and a power struggle ensued as her cousin Stephen of Blois also claimed the throne. This resulted in a prolonged conflict between Matilda’s forces and those loyal to Stephen.

Was Empress Matilda successful in her bid for the English throne?

Empress Matilda’s claim to the English throne faced numerous challenges and setbacks during The Anarchy. Though she gained support from some nobles, she was never officially crowned as the reigning queen. The conflict continued even after her rival Stephen’s death. Ultimately, the situation was resolved in favor of her son, Henry II, who became King of England in 1154.

What was Empress Matilda’s lasting impact on English history?

Despite not becoming the queen regnant, Empress Matilda’s role in The Anarchy had a lasting impact on English history. Her struggle for the throne highlighted the importance of a clear and stable line of succession. This issue would later lead to the development of strict rules regarding the inheritance of the English crown, as seen in the Magna Carta and subsequent legal developments. Empress Matilda’s descendants, particularly her son Henry II and the Plantagenet dynasty, played significant roles in shaping medieval England and beyond.

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