Matilda of England

Infobox British Royalty
princes
consort
name = Matilda
title = Duchess consort of Saxony and of Bavaria


caption = Coronation of Henry the Lion and Matilda, from an idealized portrait on their tomb, c. 1230–1240
cornoation = 1188
spouse = Henry the Lion
issue = Matilda, Countess of Perche; later Countess of Coucy
Richenza of Bavaria
Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine
Lothar of Bavaria
Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor, Duke of Swabia
William of Winchester, Lord of Lunenburg
issue-link = #Marriage
royal house = House of Welf
House of Plantagenet
father = Henry II of England
mother = Eleanor of Aquitaine
date of birth = 1156
place of birth = Windsor Castle, Berkshire
date of death = death date|1189|7|13|df=yes (aged 32–33)
place of death = Brunswick, Lower Saxony
place of burial = Brunswick Cathedral, Lower Saxony|

Matilda of England (also called Maud; 1156 – 13 July 1189) was the eldest daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Through her marriage with Henry the Lion, she was Duchess of Saxony and later of Bavaria.

Early life

Matilda was a younger maternal half-sister of Marie de Champagne and Alix of France. She was a younger sister of William, Count of Poitiers and Henry the Young King. She was also an older sister of Richard I of England, Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, Leonora of Aquitaine, Joan of England and John of England. Matilda seems to have spent much of her early life in the company of her mother, Queen Eleanor.

Marriage

In 1165 Rainald of Dassel, Archbishop of Cologne, arrived at the court of King Henry II at Rouen, to negotiate a German match for Matilda. There was conflict during the negotiations, however, when Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester refused to greet the archbishop, alleging him to be a schismatic and a supporter of the anti-pope, Victor IV. The original plan to match a daughter of Henry II with a son of Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, was abandoned, and instead Matilda left England in September 1167 to marry Henry the Lion.

She married Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, on 1 February 1168 at Minden Cathedral. They had four sons and two daughters:
* Matilda (1171–1210), married Geoffrey III, Count of Perche
* Richenza (1172–1204)
* Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (1173–28 April 1227)
* Lothar (1174–16 October 1190).
* Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Duke of Swabia (1175/1176–19 May 1218).
* William, Duke of Lüneburg (11 April 1184–12 December 1213).

Three other children are listed, by some sources, as having belonged to Henry and Matilda;
* Eleanor (born 1178); died young
* Ingibiorg (born 1180); died young
* Son (stillborn 1182)

Regency and exile

At the time of their marriage, Henry the Lion was one of the most powerful allies of Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor. Matilda governed her husband's vast estates during his absence in the Holy Land from 1172 to 1173. In 1174, Henry the Lion became involved in a conflict with the Emperor Frederick, and Henry and Matilda were forced to flee Germany and take refuge in Normandy at her father's court in 1182. During this time at the royal court at Argentan, Matilda became acquainted with the Troubadour Bertran de Born, who, calling her "Elena" or "Lana", made her the object of his desire in two of his poems of "courtly love".

Matilda, her husband, and their family remained in Normandy under the protection and support of King Henry until 1185, when they were able to return to Saxony. When her father Henry II died in 1189, Matilda survived him by only one week.

Ancestry

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1= 1. Matilda of England
2= 2. Henry II of England
3= 3. Eleanor of Aquitaine
4= 4. Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou
5= 5. Empress Matilda
6= 6. William X of Aquitaine
7= 7. Aenor de Châtellerault
8= 8. Fulk of Jerusalem
9= 9. Aremburga de la Fleche of Maine
10= 10. Henry I of England
11= 11. Matilda of Scotland
12= 12. William IX of Aquitaine
13= 13. Philippa of Toulouse
14= 14. Aimery I de Rochefoucauld, Viscount of Châtellérault
15= 15. Dangereuse de l'Isle-Bouchaard
16= 16. Fulk IV of Anjou
17= 17. Bertrade de Montfort
18= 18. Elias I of Maine
19= 19. Matilda of Chateau-du-Loire
20= 20. William I of England
21= 21. Matilda of Flanders
22= 22. Malcolm III of Scotland
23= 23. Margaret of England
24= 24. William VIII of Aquitaine
25= 25. Hildegarde of Burgundy
26= 26. William IV of Toulouse
27= 27. Emma of Mortain
28= 28. Boson II de Châtellérault, Viscount of Châtellérault
29= 29. Aenora of Thouars
30= 30. Bartelmy de l'Isle-Bouchaard
31= 31. Gerberg

ee also

*Betran de Born, [http://www.cam.org/~malcova/troubadours/bertran_de_born/poem8.html Casutz sui de mal en pena]
*Bertran de Born, [http://www.cam.org/~malcova/troubadours/bertran_de_born/poem9.html Ges de disnar non for'oimais maitis]

ources

*Ralph of Diceto
*Robert of Torigny
*Wheeler, Bonnie. "Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady", 2002
* Diggelmann, Lindsay. [http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/parergon/v022/22.1diggelmann01.html Exile and the Poetic Standpoint of the Troubadour Bertran de Born] , 2005