Queen of the Conqueror: The Life of Matilda, Wife of William I (4 page)

Matilda’s aunt, Judith of Flanders, whom she saw regularly during her childhood and youth, also enjoyed a reputation for devoutness and was an active patron of religious houses. No less renowned was Matilda’s grandfather, the appropriately named Robert the Pious, King of France. In praising her distinguished lineage, William of Poitiers draws particular attention to this king, “whose praise for his piety and wise rule of the kingdom will be sung all over the world.”
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Religion, then, had a profound impact upon Matilda’s education, and her interest in it would prove both genuine and enduring. She would have been aware of the revolutionary changes that the monastic movement had wrought across Europe, and the fact that she herself would become one of the most active religious patrons in both England and Normandy suggests that she was inspired by the examples she encountered in her childhood. She also learned to appreciate the earthly influence that such piety could bring.

In this respect, she had a powerful role model in Empress Adelaide of
Italy, an enormously influential female ruler of the tenth century who was praised for that rare ability to combine piety with power. So active was Adelaide’s role in government and religion that she came to be seen as her husband’s equal—as testified by the fact that coins were struck in Italy bearing jointly the names of Otto and Adelaide. Matilda’s mother had commissioned a vita (biography) of the empress, and she may well have included this in her daughter’s curriculum. The evidence suggests that she certainly encouraged Matilda to challenge the traditional perceptions of women’s place in society.

There were other inspiring examples of female power for the young Matilda to draw upon. The previous century had witnessed an unusually high number of queens regent, and for a brief period during the 980s, almost the whole of western Europe had been ruled by women whose force of character and political acumen had propelled them to the height of international affairs. Among them was Adelaide’s daughter-in-law, the formidable Empress Theophanu. As regent for her son, Otto III, she ruled a vast conglomeration of territories and enjoyed a level of power possessed by few of her male contemporaries. She was a fount of patronage, bestowing vast estates and prestigious appointments; she received ambassadors from across Europe; and she could make war and peace as her will dictated.

Little wonder that the late tenth century has been described as the zenith of female power. But it did not last. The eleventh century saw a return to a political climate dominated by men, and women were once more relegated to second place. The fact that Adela should commission a biography of one of the last women to enjoy such power suggests that she had drawn inspiration from Adelaide’s story, and that she wished Matilda to do the same.

As the only daughter of the comital family, it was natural that Matilda should also be trained in the accomplishments that would one day make her a fitting bride for a ruler or statesman. As well as learning the art of embroidery—at which she excelled—she may also have practiced the harp and viol, which were popular at the time. In common with other high-born women, she was taught how to manage households and estates. This was an important skill at a time when men were often absent
for long periods on military campaigns, and it would have a profound effect upon Matilda’s later career. She also learned the arts of deportment: how to present herself in public with a modest demeanor and serenity of countenance, as well as being “mannerly in clothing, sober in moving, wary in speaking, chaste in looking, honest in bearing.” She evidently excelled in this, for throughout her life she would be widely praised for her modesty, virtue, and graceful manner, which would prompt Pope Gregory VII to call her “the most serene.”
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But some of these attributes were little more than skin deep. Although Matilda appeared every bit the modest young woman, as she grew into maturity she became keenly aware of her status. William of Poitiers infers that this was largely due to Adela’s influence: “Her wise and blessed mother had nurtured in her daughter a lineage many times greater even than her parental inheritance.”
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The fierce pride that Matilda took in her ancestry would become ever more apparent in the years ahead.

As well as the conventional aspects of her education, Matilda’s upbringing at the comital court also gave her an unplanned grounding in English politics. This was largely thanks to the exiled queen Emma of England, who arrived in Bruges in 1037. Emma was the daughter of Duke Richard I of Normandy (and thus the great-aunt of the future William the Conqueror), and had married Aethelred of England in 1002. The
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
records that “in that same spring [of 1002] the Lady, Richard’s daughter, came to the land.”
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Upon her arrival in England, she had either adopted or had been given the name Aelfgifu. This was a subtle attempt by the ruling elite to sideline her, for it was the name of her predecessor. But Emma, quick to realize the potential of her queenly status, had insisted upon being called by her proper name. After the death of her mother-in-law, Aelfthryth, around November 1002, she enjoyed a position of virtually unparalleled influence at court, even rivaling the king himself. According to one recent authority, she became “the axis around which English politics turned.”
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Aethelred’s death in 1016 did not end her power, for she married his successor, Cnut of Denmark (who
had without ceremony “ordered [her] to be fetched to him as wife”), thus becoming the first woman to be made queen twice.
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During Cnut’s reign, Emma amassed a considerable fortune, making her the richest woman in England. William of Malmesbury depicts her as a profligate wife who encouraged her husband to build up his treasury and then wasted it on jewels and other precious things. “At Winchester especially he [Cnut] exhibited the munificence of his generosity, where his offerings were such that strangers are alarmed by the masses of precious metal and their eyes dazzled as they look at the flashing gems. This was prompted by Emma, who lavished her treasure on such things with holy prodigality.”
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In fact, the English queen had put her riches to far better use than this. Her wealth, which derived from her own inheritance as well as from her position as Cnut’s wife, enabled her to become one of the most influential ecclesiastical and literary patrons in western Europe.

In 1035, however, following Cnut’s death, Emma was ousted from power by Harold Harefoot, Cnut’s son from his first marriage, who “had taken from her all the best treasures which King Cnut had.”
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She remained holed up in her house at Winchester for two years before being “driven out without mercy to face the raging winter.”
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Shortly afterward, she set sail for Flanders.

Although William of Malmesbury claims that Baldwin, “a man of well-tried integrity,” offered the beleaguered English queen sanctuary out of kindness and generosity, the wily count was no doubt eager to cultivate this potentially valuable ally for more tactical reasons.
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He organized a lavish reception, and his daughter was probably among the welcoming committee. At most, Matilda would have been five or six years old when the exiled queen visited her father’s court, and she may have been a good deal younger. Given that Emma stayed for some considerable time, it is likely that Matilda became well acquainted with her.

The
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
notes that Baldwin “received her [Emma] well, and kept her there as long as she had need,” and Emma herself attested that she was “honourably received.”
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Baldwin and Adela arranged for a house to be made available for her use in the city. It is a mark of Emma’s pride and independence that although she received shelter from Count Baldwin, she lived off her own income and funded her own patronage throughout her stay at his court.

Her visit was recorded in the
Encomium Emmae Reginae
, a very flattering account of her life written during her stay in Bruges, probably by a monk of St.-Omer. The
Encomium
was one of several illuminated manuscripts commissioned by the English queen, which she intended as a means of asserting her power during her enforced absence from England. The book refers to her as queen throughout, and her name is highlighted whenever it appears, leaving the reader in no doubt of her regal status. In the frontispiece, she is depicted crowned and seated on a throne while Edward and Harthacnut, her sons by Aethelred and Cnut respectively, bow deferentially at her side. Meanwhile, the author of the work kneels at her feet in silent supplication. It was extremely rare for anyone other than Christ or another deity to be enthroned in contemporary illustrations such as these, let alone a woman. Moreover, Emma and her sons had been thrown out by Harold Harefoot, and the prospect of their inheriting the English crown was far from certain, so this was an audacious piece of propaganda.

Nevertheless, the illustration proved remarkably prophetic. Emma made good use of her time in Bruges, drawing upon her international contacts to champion the claim of her favorite son, Harthacnut, to the English throne. He joined her in 1039, arriving with an impressive fleet, and spent that winter as the honored guest of Count Baldwin. The following year, news came from England that Harold Harefoot was dead. Thanks in no small part to Emma’s campaigning, Harthacnut was now acknowledged as the rightful heir.

Three years after her arrival in Bruges, Emma returned to England in triumph to see her younger son become king of England. Although her departure was under the most auspicious of circumstances, according to Emma’s own account it prompted much grieving among the people of Flanders, who had come to view her as one of their own. “They wept, in short, that she, whom during her whole exile they had regarded as a fellow citizen, was leaving them … Such was the lamentation on the whole shore, such was the wailing of all the people standing by.” Emma proceeded to kiss her hosts goodbye, “after a great abundance of tears had been shed on both sides.” It is likely that Matilda was among them, and this touching description (exaggerated though it may be) implies that she and her family had formed a close bond with the powerful exiled queen.
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As queen mother, Emma regained the position of power that she had enjoyed during her husbands’ reigns. The
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
records that, accompanied by an impressive retinue, she took up residence in her former home at Winchester, where it was decided that she would “hold all Wessex in hand” for her son.
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When troubles in Denmark forced Harthacnut to return there, she became regent in all but name, seizing the reins of government in Wessex, the most powerful province in the land. In order to appease Edward (later known as the Confessor), her son by Aethelred, and avoid any rebellion on his part, in 1041 he was awarded dual kingship with Harthacnut. When the latter died suddenly the following year,
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Emma was forced to adopt a more conciliatory attitude toward Edward, who resented the favor that she had always shown toward his younger half-brother. He was not fooled by her apparent change of heart, however, and “robbed her of all the treasures which she owned, which were untold, because earlier she was very hard on the king her son, in that she did less for him than he wanted before he became king.”
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She died in relative obscurity ten years later. The
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
dismisses the passing of “the Old Lady” in cursory prose, adding merely that she was buried next to King Cnut in Winchester Cathedral.
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Matilda may have been aware of Emma’s vacillating fortunes across the Channel. Even though her power had waned during Edward’s ascendancy, she had wielded considerable influence in international politics for more than half a century. She had also proved just how much could be achieved by sheer force of personality, and she had had a keen sense of the importance of image to royal authority. As such, she provided a powerful example of what a shrewd and determined woman could achieve in the male-dominated world of international politics. It may have been at this formative period of Matilda’s young life that she was inspired with the ambition for power that would become the driving force of her later career.