Matilda was born in 1102 in London, the only daughter of Henry I of England. She was married to Henry V until his death, then to Geoffrey Plantagenet. Matilda was Henry I's sole heir, and was in
line for the English throne but was opposed in a coup. She was elected “lady of the English” by a clerical council but was chased out before she could be crowned queen. Matilda died in 1167.
NAME: Matilda
OCCUPATION: Empress, Queen
BIRTH DATE: c. 1102
DEATH DATE: September 10, 1167
PLACE OF BIRTH: London, United Kingdom
PLACE OF DEATH: Rouen, France
AKA: Maud
AKA: Mathilde (German)
(born 1102, London—died Sept. 10, 1167, near Rouen, Fr.) consort of the Holy Roman emperor Henry V and afterward claimant to the English throne in the reign of King Stephen.
She was the only daughter of Henry I of England by Queen Matilda and was sister of William the Aetheling, heir to the English and Norman thrones. Both her marriages were in furtherance of Henry I's policy of strengthening Normandy against France. In 1114 she was married to Henry V; he died in 1125, leaving her childless, and three years later she was married to Geoffrey Plantagenet, effectively count of Anjou.
Her brother's death in 1120 made her Henry I's sole legitimate heir, and in 1127 he compelled the baronage to accept her as his successor, though a woman ruler was equally unprecedented for the kingdom of England and the duchy of Normandy. The Angevin marriage was unpopular and flouted the barons' stipulation that she should not be married out of England without their consent. The birth of her eldest son, Henry, in 1133 gave hope of silencing this opposition, but he was only two when Henry I died (1135), and a rapid coup brought to the English throne Stephen of Blois, son of William I the Conqueror's daughter Adela. Though the church and the majority of the baronage supported Stephen, Matilda's claims were powerfully upheld in England by her half brother Robert of Gloucester and her uncle King David I of Scotland. Matilda and Robert landed at Arundel in September 1139, and she was for a short while besieged in the castle. But Stephen soon allowed her to join her brother, who had gone to the west country, where she had much support; after a stay at Bristol, she settled at Gloucester.
She came nearest to success in the summer of 1141, after Stephen had been captured at Lincoln in February. Elected “lady of the English” by a clerical council at Winchester in April, she entered London in June; but her arrogance and tactless demands for money provoked the citizens to chase her away to Oxford before she could be crowned queen. Her forces were routed at Winchester in September 1141, and thereafter she maintained a steadily weakening resistance in the west country. Her well-known escape from Oxford Castle over the frozen River Thames took place in December 1142.
Normandy had been in her husband's possession since 1144, and she retired there in 1148, remaining near Rouen to watch over the interests to her eldest son, who became duke of Normandy in 1150 and King Henry II of England in 1154. She spent the remainder of her life in Normandy exercising a steadying influence
Diameter: 19.000 mm Weight: 1.050 g
Summary:
Silver coin, Denomination: Penny
Wareham Mint
Empress Matilda (1139-1148) Angevin Party
Moneyer: Raul
Matilda, daughter of Henry I and mother of Henry II, was crowned at Oxford in 1141. She was defeated in 1142 and returned to Normandy.
Acquisition Information:
Transfer from National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), 1976
Discipline: Numismatics
Dimensions: 20 mm (Width), 20 mm (Length)
Weight: 1.129 g (Weight)
