Wife Of The Conqueror, Queen of England | Matilda of Flanders | PART 2

by 1059 Matilda Flanders was in a powerful position wife of the Fearsome and renowned Duke of Normandy William she was Duchess over a large and flourishing duche mother to several healthy children and known for her beauty hiy and patronage of culture but everything was about to change as William set his sights on England's Shores to make up for marrying before the church had officially given permission matild and William had set about building two grand abies in Penance Williams was the incredible Abbey of s in KH otherwise known as abay home which became a Benedictine Monastery Matilda's Abby was also in K The Abbey of s Trinity known as the abay odam and was a Benedict Dean nunery although the ABY wouldn't be fully completed until around 11:03 it started running in 1059 under the supervision of ABS Matilda who was Williams cousin both abies were magnificent imposing structures and they were as much a statement of the power and Grandeur of Normandy as they were an apology Duchess Matilda also ensured her Abby was sufficiently blessed and looked after by providing it with a slew of holy relics ranging from supposed splinters from Jesus's manger to a strand of hair from his mother Mary and fingers blood and even whole bodies of various Saints at the time everyone including Matilda and William were deeply superstitious and religious and they would have believed completely in the power of these strange objects but both William and Matilda were also known to occasionally dabble in seeking advice from witches or Mystics to foretell the future and The Duchess was once recorded using sheep bones to find out her Fortune something brought from her native Flanders however the church was increasingly anxious about the threat of magic to its own authority and through the early medieval period it would ensure the use of witches Mystics and superstitions would be viewed much more as a sin in the early 1060s Matilda would use her influence as Duchess of Normandy to create other Grand religious institutions much as her mother Adela had back in Flanders intens 63 she began construction of notam dup in Ruan and she also founded St George at Beville and St florant at Sumer Matilda also started to witness a lot more Charters than she had before would have her name to more than aund Charters over her lifetime although most were alongside Williams she would also much like her later granddaughter Empress Matilda be very involved in listening to petitions and legal cases brought brought before the court often either helping to come to a decision or doing it in her own right as for the personal relationship between William and Matilda they seem to have only grown stronger over the course of their marriage contemporary chroniclers recorded that the couple genuinely seemed to have cared for one another and that the Duke's tenderness for his wife only increased with each child she gave birth to they appear to have had as close as possible to an equal partnership that the 11th century would allow they had similar tastes and Matilda wasn't known to have ever gone against William although how much of this is devotion how much is simply knowing there was no point arguing and how much may have been fear of his reaction we will never know but there is other evidence to show how deeply devoted the couple were to each other sometime after 1063 William grew seriously ill enough that he gave up many of his his personal relics and swore he would establish cannons in St Mary and couton if God saved him Matilda went immediately to pray at that same church making a gift of a hundred Shillings at the altar disheveled and with her hair loose it suggests a woman who had been by her husband's side with little rest not bothering to care about her appearance and only worried that he would survive this most certainly might have been due to her love for William but equally it could have been out of a fear of losing her position as the powerful Duchess of Normandy as it turned out whether it was God or simply luck William was returned to health and did as he swore to do in that same year perhaps thinking of his own mortality after his illness William forly arranged for his eldest son Robert to become the Duke of Normandy after he died he made his Nobles swear fty to his son a practice that would be continued in England by members of his family in years to come he also in 1063 gained the county of Maine which had troubled Normandy for many years after the childless count Herbert of Maine died and promised it to his neighbor Normandy was now the Undisputed power of northern France and little could penetrate it back in 1051 the then King of England Edward the Confessor had promised his kingdom to his distant relative Juke William this was partially because Edward was childless and had fond memories of spending his childhood in Normandy and partially to irritate his most disliked courtier who wanted his throne the Earl Godwin but it was more complex than this and it's likely the whole promise was little more than a diplomatic gesture in 1056 Edward's nephew Edward the Exile son of Edmund iride was brought back to England from from Hungary the younger Edward was the perfect solution to the difficult situation of the crown going to either the godwins or William as he was more closely related he would allow a continuation of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy and his gaining the throne was voted in unanimously by the witan the king's Council he was also unattached to Normandy which went down well with the godwins unfortunately in 1057 Edward the Exile finally arrived on English Shores with his wife and children only to die in mysterious circumstances before ever getting a chance to meet his uncle the king most historians agree there is no evidence he was in ill health and there were certainly some people who would have preferred he didn't take the throne now this just left his eldest son in his place named Edgar who now became Edgar eing in recognition of the king approving him for a to the throne however Edgar was only about five or 6 years old and so he was hardly a stable replacement for his father but in 1064 an event occurred which played right into Williams hands sometime early in the year Harold godwinson the son of old Godwin landed on the shores of Normandy it's still a bit of a mystery as to why he was traveling towards France some chroniclers claimed it was to confirm Edward the the confessor's promise others that he had gone to fetch his brother and nephew wolf nor and Haron who was still hostages in Normandy and one Chronicle even claims he drifted away from England on a fishing Expedition the most likely explanation seems to be that Harold had indeed gone to retrieve his relatives but against the wishes of king Edward something supported by the biotapestry whatever the reason he was brought to U and presented to William at his court in Ruan politically William had rescued his English visitor and was treating him as an honored guest in reality the dukee was keeping him close and keeping him prisoner for the time being William and Matilda showed off their wealth and influence with lavish entertainments and banquets which Matilda would have been in charge of arranging as well as ensuring Harold met all of their children in order to really bolster the fact they had a strong Rich Dynasty that could easily take him on but while nothing is recorded of what Matilda thought personally about their visitor some later sources state that the duchess and Harold would often stay up talking long after William had gone to bed nothing is hinted at of an actual Affair but more that they found much in common as Matilda had grown up with her father receiving English visitors to his court and she knew quite a lot about the politics of England it's like likely she and Harold had more in common than anyone else at the Duke's Court anything else is purely imagination but as we will see there may have been another reason for these late night talks William then really polished off this PR stunt in being a benevolent jke to English Nobles by inviting Harold to join him on campaign to Britany this was to give the impression that they were actively fighting side by side but again it was really a chance for William to show off his military prowess his soldiers and could be seen as a warning however Harold is also recorded as rescuing two of William's soldiers from quicksand the battle was won and Britany was surrendered to William he presented Harold with arms and weapons and knighted him on the spot it is Apparently after this point according to Norman sources only that Harold swore on holy relics that would uphold Williams claim to the English Throne witnessed by several of William's Nobles whether or not this really happened this way is strongly contested and even if it did how much would it have been by Harold's own desire to do so is unknown in fact it's much more likely Harold knew he wouldn't be allowed to return home unless he agreed a promise he had no intention of really keeping to to seal the deal the Duke also offered up his eldest daughter adeliza to be married to Harold which was also to be conferred to a later date as she was just 7 years old at the time further to this William also suggested Harold should send one of his sisters to Normandy once he was home in order to marry her to one of the Norman Nobles it has been suggested that the late night talks between Matilda and Harold was actually The Duchess arranging the m marriage between the Earl and her daughter to facilitate the agreement William wished to make with him after this Harold was free to return to England with Haron although wolf no still remained in William's custody however not more than a year after returning the Earl broke off his engagement to adeliza and married Edith sister to the Earls of Mercia the Norman Duke and Duchess did not take the news well sometime in 10 65 without actually specifying properly who he wished to follow in his stad Edward the Confessor fell into a coma with few Lucid moments leaving most people to assume he wanted Edgar to be his Heir on the 5th of January 1066 the English king died leaving his kingdom to a boy in his early teens at around 15 edar would not have been considered old enough to effectively lead his military or his country at the same time Harold godwinson emerged as the strongest possibility to the crown of England he was well-liked by the people despite having a distant and tenuous claim to the English Royal Line and danish Royal relatives he was extremely wealthy and most importantly was an adult who had already proven himself in battle many times the witan voted him in as king without even blinking at Edgar and in England was a country worth fighting for over the last few centuries it had emerged as one of the wealthiest Kingdoms in Europe at that time and had a flourishing economy partially thanks to its Rich resources and its easy placement for trading with Scandinavia France and what would become known as the low countries including Flanders the Normans immediately saw Harold accepting the English crown as the worst possible betrayal or at least they definitely played up that angle of it William immediately began making preparations to invade and press his claim and it appears Matilda completely agreed with her husband and supported him William wrote to the pope to ask for his support in justifying his claim and as Harold didn't consider doing the same thing the pope threw his lot in with the Juke on the 18th of June 1066 Matilda arranged an important animportant ceremony at her Abby in con inviting senior churchmen and Nobles from across the duy but more than this the Dual couple offered up their daughter Cecilia to be entered into the nunnery other noblemen present did the same presenting their daughters sisters and occasionally their mothers to enter the Abbey it was in their eyes a deal with God our daughters in exchange for England while it's likely Matilda felt great pain at handing over one of her much loved daughters it was seen as a worthy path for a woman to follow and as a young girl of the nobility Cecilia would have found something of a life of Freedom within the cloysters she would have been allowed visitors to her private Apartments likely including her mother and siblings and her own chaplain as well as a higher standard of Life generally Cecilia would also have had her aunt with her the ABS Matilda who ran the ABY Who provided the girl's education from that point on Cecilia would also later become the ABS herself in adulthood but Matilda still had work to do in helping her husband's Invasion and she did this by providing him with a magnificent ship for his voyage across the English Channel it was named MOA built in the style of a Scandinavian longship and was larger and faster than any of the other ships in Williams Fleet interestingly Matilda also committ commissioned an unusual figurehead that was different to the usual dragons or sea monsters a golden child pointing with one hand and holding a horn to their lips with the other historians have wondered over whether this represented one of their existing Sons or perhaps a son that Matilda thought might be born in England to continue their Dynasty it is possible she was pregnant at this time although it would turn out to be a daughter the Mast head also featured a sacred Banner that had been sent from Rome with the Pope's blessing to indicate his agreement of William's Endeavor to top it all off Matilda kept it secret until William was putting his Fleet together in late August and he was so astounded with the Mora that it was immediately made his Flagship by July William had gathered his forces although estimates of how many there were ranged between 5,000 and the wildly unlikely 50,000 by William of patier there were probably around 700 to 1,000 ships and around 5,000 to 7,000 men from Normandy France Britany Maine and Flanders but before he set off the dukee had the small matter of who to leave in charge of his lands although his eldest son Robert was now 14 and with some military experience under his belt could easily have been expected to rule the duchy in his father's absence it was Matilda who was named as Regent this widened the gap between Father and Son but it only served to bring Matilda and Robert closer together as he remained by her side throughout her Regency she would now be able to Levy taxes use a military force left at her disposal oversee Justice and make laws other contemporary women would have been able to become Regents but this was usually in the wake of their husband's death that Matilda had been given this position over all other possible male candidates was unprecedented and it would have been fairly shocking but to try and soften the blow William also left three of his closest men to advise Matilda including his rightand man Roger de Montgomery finally on the 27th of September a favorable win picked up and William set off for England the situation in England was already warlike Harold raced up to the north to Face Off his brother tostig who had joined forces with Harold hardrada of Norway the two armies met at Stanford bridge near York and Harold emerged Victorious he had little time to enjoy the victory though as news reached him that Williams forces had arrived at pavy in East Sussex and he turned his men around in a 5-day forced March back to London they rested there for 6 days before moving south to meet the Duke's challenge William had a much more relaxed time of it his new ship apparently so fast that he paused in the middle of the channel to have breakfast with wine while the rest of his Fleet caught up by October the 2nd the juke's men were stationed at Hastings where William set up camp he declared that wherever his victory would be won he would build a church there in celebration and for the sins of him his family and of everyone who had accompanied him on the 14th of October October the two armies finally met Harolds surprised by Williams as the Duke had sent ahead spies to know where his enemy was Harold's troops were made up of Saxon Nobles and their household troops many armed with Danish two-handed axes the Norman troops by contrast were made up of archers and crossbow men with armored infantry behind and knights in chain mail bringing up the rear this was in William's favor as he was able to employ a range of tactics while the English could only really defend albeit from a high position on a hill the fighting was ferocious and went on nearly a full day the two armies fairly evenly matched despite their advantages famously there was supposedly a panic amongst Williams ranks that he was dead whereupon he lifted his helmet to prove he was still alive shouting I am alive and with God's help I will conquer an incident that was immortalized on the the biotapestry eventually the deciding factor was Harold falling in the fight the story was that he received an arrow in the eye and died from this injury but more likely is that he was set upon by a group of knights after being injured from the arrow the English troops either fled or faced off in what would be a Norman Slaughter of their ranks William was now the Conqueror and Matilda was the conqueror's wife this was actually the beginning of what would be a yearslong long campaign to bring England under Norman control the battle bloody and Furious was a start with many English Nobles now dead William's cruel streak came through already with both English and Norman accounts stating that he ordered his own men to be buried but for the Anglo-Saxons to be left out to rot especially that of Harolds his justification was that they had supported a tyrant but of course of course it was simply a cruel act because he could a messenger was sent to Normandy to give Matilda the news she was delighted as she was now Queen of England something she could not have imagined being when she was a small girl back in Flanders Matilda immediately set out to send large amounts of money to various religious institutions in Normandy in the name of her husband's Victory making sure they were very publicly known she may even have commissioned an epic poem in 1068 by gee Bishop of Aman lording Williams achievements in a propaganda puff piece that basically said the dukee had only taken what was his by right and Harold had stolen his crown the one thing Matilda was not responsible for which for many years was credited to her was the biotapestry most historians now agree it was probably William's half brother Odo Bishop of bio and was crafted by a combination of English artists in Kent and possibly French artists in Normandy but Matilda had no reason yet to give up her Regency as all the Duke had really done was kill the English king and fight a battle in which most of the local nobility were bumped off he still had to work his way across England and subjugate it beneath Norman Rule and that would be far from an easy job after learning about Harold's death the remaining Anglo-Saxon Nobles who had gathered in London decided to pull poor Edgard eing back out again declaring him once more as king of England it was obvious they didn't really have any conviction in the idea of Edgar ruling as they had only recently ruled against him coming to the crown and it was entirely about trying to repel William no doubt had they succeeded he would have been little more than a puppet for their Ambitions William ensured that his invasion was the bloodiest England had ever faced on his march to London he and his forces used Brute Force against the Anglo-Saxon people to force them to bend to his Rule and entire towns Villages and hamlets were systematically burned to the ground and their inhabitants killed or Worse Queen Edith the Widow of Edward the Confessor and sister to Harold was taken from her stronghold at Winchester to prevent the English rallying behind her both cities collapsed to Williams brutality and as the jke narrowed in on London some of the Nobles began to negotiate with him Edgar's coronation was put to one side never to happen and he was taken to burstead to officially bend the knee to William and relinquish the Throne of England Arrangements were made for William's coronation in December although he had initially wanted to wait until he and Matilda could be crowned together to allow her Regal ancestry and links to Alfred the Great add legitimacy to himself instead it was decided it would be prudent in the face of English resistance to get it done as soon as possible his crown was new but William planned the ceremony to not only be done in the traditional Anglo-Saxon style but also in Westminster Abbey where Harold had been crowned far from being a gleeful celebration the English who turned up to witness the coronation were silent and resentful against the new king they saw as a usurper only the Norman's cheering as the Duke went passed on Christmas Day 1066 Matilda now began treating herself as a queen but William wanted to ensure she would be properly crowned it was an unpopular idea and only Edith of Wessex and elth of Devon before Matilda had actually been given the p an importance of a coronation for themselves there's no doubt the new Queen would also have been eager to get hold of her New Wealth having been granted Rich lands in the south of England possibly around a quarter of what William had claimed for himself on top of this she received Queen's gold a tenth of all fines paid to the crown however two years would go by until Matilda actually reached England for her crowning most likely because she was pregnant when William set sail with their daughter Adela traveling the English Channel could be difficult enough in the 11th century but it was definitely not advisable for pregnant women a similar delay would cause problems for Matilda's grandaughter Empress Matilda when she needed to claim her crown years later not that the Anglo-Saxons would have been happy to see her as they were busy hating their current Norman ruler Williams rule was inflexible ible and brutal and those who didn't agree were tortured mutilated or killed motten Bailey castles were rapidly built to remind the population who was now in charge kept in check by laws passed stating only William himself could give permission for building them Anglo-Saxon nobles were replaced with Norman ones although the one thing the English possibly agreed with was the building of several new churches and Cathedrals although William retained much of the English system of government and administration which was Superior to that of normandies keeping a council of advisors the new Earls no longer had the autonomy their English predecessors had now they were all expected to raise taxes and armies but under the control of the new king meanwhile Matilda had maintained her son's Regency successfully in Normandy ensuring no threats within or outside were a problem and keeping it running smoothly and ensuring the economy was great but her ambition wouldn't let her remain there for long and by 1068 England's new Queen was ready to cross the English Channel for the first time to join her husband and far from stemming Williams tyer violence Matilda would instead support him as he stamped his authority literally on England but she would also also be part of enormous changes to both England and Normandy as well as influencing the choices her sons would make come back next week for part three the final part of Matilda's story if you enjoyed this video don't forget to like And subscribe so you don't miss any new documentaries [Music]