Eadgyth/Matilda of Scotland
Eadgyth/Matilda of ScotlandAlthough she is usually called Matilda, she was born with the name Eadgyth (Edith), as Orderic Vitalis notes. Before her marriage to king Henry I, she had been sought in marriage by Alan Rufus of Brittany and William de Warenne, earl of Surrey ["Alanus enim Rufus, Britannorum comes, Mathildem, quæ prius dicta est Edith, in conjugem sibi a rege Rufo requisivit; sed morte præventus, non obtinuit. Deinde Guillelmus de Guarenna, Suthregiæ comes, Mathildem expetiit; sed divinitus reservata, celebrius alteri nupsit. Henricus vero, adepto Anglorum regno, præfatam virginem desponsavit; ex qua Guillelmum Adelinum, et Mathildem imperatricem genuit." OV viii, 22 (vol. 3 , pp. 399-400)].
Date of Birth: Unknown.
Place of
Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: 1 May 1118.
Place of
Death: Westminster.
Place of
Burial: St. Peters,
Westminster.
Most sources give 1 May 1118 as
her date of death ["And seo cwén Mahald forðferde on
Westmynstre þæs dæges kl. Mai. & þær wæs bebyrged."
ASC(E) s.a. 1118; "His diebus gravi damno Anglia
percussa est in morte reginæ. Defuncta siquidem est apud
Westmonasterium Kal. Maii., et in ipso monasterio decenter
sepulta." Eadmer, Hist. Nov., 248; "Mahthildis
regina Anglorum apud Westmonasterium, kal. Maii, obiit, et in
ipso monasterio decenter sepulta est." John Worc.
(continuation), s.a. 1118 (2: 71); similarly in Sim. Durh., Historia
Regum, c. 195 (2: 252); "Deinde Mathildis regina,
quæ in baptismate Edit dicta fuit, kalendis maii obiit, et in
basilica Sancti Petri Westmonasterio tumulata quiescit."
OV xii, 1 (4: 313); "Matildis regina kl. May migrauit de
hac uita, anno ab incarnatione domini .mº.cº.xviij. sepultaque
est honorifice in ecclesia beati Petri apostolorum principis
Westmonasterii iuxta Londoniam Anglorum urbem nobilissimam."
Poppleton MS, KKES 255]. According to the Chronicle of Hyde,
she died on 30 April 1118 ["Anno ab incarnatione Domini
MºCºXVIIIº, Henrico rege in Normannia constituto, venerabilis
regina Norm-Anglorum domina Matildis, secundo kalendas Maii, ...
ablatus est ..." Chron. Hyde, in Lib. Monast. Hyde,
311; "Sepulta est autem in ecclesia beati Petri
Apoostoli apud Westmonasterium" ibid., 312]. The Chronicle
of Hyde also gives her epitaph ["Hic jacet insignis
regina secunda Matildis, / Temporis ipsa sui superans juvenesque
senesque. / Morum norma, decus vitæ, fuit omnibus una."
ibid., 312]. Two necrologies of Durham give the date as 25 April
(vii kal. May), but this appears to be in confusion with the date
of death of her brother Alexander I of Scotland ["VII.
kl'. Maii ... Alexander rex Scottorum, et soror ejus Matildis
regina Anglorum" Obit. Eccles. Dunelm., Lib.
Vit. Durham, 143; "vii. kal. Maii. ... Matild' regina
Anglorum" Obit. Minor. Eccles. Dunelm., Lib.
Vit. Durham, 150]. William of Malmesbury states that she was
queen for 17 years and three months ["Obiit, regno post
septdecim annos et sex menses libenter relicto; ..."
Wm. Malmes., Gesta Regum, c. 418 (2: 495)].
Father: Máel Coluim mac Donnchada (Malcolm III), d. 13 November 1093, king of Scotland.
Mother: St. Margaret, d. (16?) November 1093, daughter of Eadweard "the Exile".
Spouse:
m. at Westminster, 11 November 1100, Henry I, d. 2 December 1135, king of England.
["And siðþan sona heræfter se
cyng genam Mahalde him to wife Malcolmes cynges dohter of
Scotlande. & Margareta þære goda cwæne Eadwardes cynges
magan. & of þan rihtan Ængla landes kyne kynne. & on
sce. Martines mæsse dæg heo wearð him mid mycelan weorðscipe
forgifen on Westmynstre. & se arce bisc. Ansealm hi him be
wæddade. & siððan to cwene gehalgode." ASC(E)
s.a. 1100 (p. 236) (Translation "And then soon after
this the king took as his wife Maud, daughter of King Malcolm of
Scotland and the good queen Margaret, King Edward's relative, of
the rightful royal family of England. And on the Feast of St.
Martin [11 Nov.] she was given to him in Westminster with great
honour, and the archbishop Anselm married her to him and
afterwards consecrated her queen." ASC(Eng), 236);
"Interim rex Anglorum Heinricus majores natu Angliæ
congregavit Lundoniæ, et regis Scottorum Malcolmi et Margaretæ
reginæ filiam, Mahtildem nomine, in conjugem accepit, quam
Dorubernensis archiepiscopus Anselmus, Dominica, die festivitatis
S. Martini, reginam consecravit et coronavit." John
Worc., s.a. 1100 (2: 47-8); similarly in Sim. Durh., Historia
Regum, c. 182 (2: 232); "Hinc paucis diebus
interpositis, Mathildis filia Malchomi nobilissimi regis
Scottorum et Margaritæ, quæ scitiur exorta de semine regum
Anglorum, nupsit præfato Henrico regi Anglorum."
Eadmer, Hist. Nov., 121; "... die sancti
Martini accepit Mathildem filiam Malcolmi regis Scottorum ..."
Wm. Malmes, Gesta Regum, c. 393 (2: 470); "...
rex ... duxit eodem anno [1100] uenerabilem Matildem, filiam
Malcomi regis Scocie et Margarite. ... eadem Matildis in
festiuitate sancti Martini apud Westmonasterium Henrico regi
nobilissimo desponsata ..." GND (Rob. Tor.) viii, 10
(2: 216-7); OV viii, 22 (vol. 3 , pp. 399-400), see above; ibid.,
x, 15 (4: 95)]
Children:
See the page of Henry I for details.
Matilda, b.
1102, d. 10 September 1167, claimant to the throne of England;
m. (1) 1114, Heinrich (Henry) V, d. 22 May 1125,
Emperor;
m. (2) 1127, Geoffroy
V, d. 7 September 1151, count
of Anjou.
William "the Aetheling", b.
1103, before 23 November, drowned in the White Ship, 25 November
1120;
m. June 1119, Mathilde, daughter
of Foulques
V, count of Anjou.
Supposed children (improbable):
See the page of Henry I for details.
Euphemia.
Richard.
ASC = Charles Plummer, Two of the Saxon Chronicles parallel, based on the earlier edition by John Earle, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1892-9). ASC(A) indicates the "A" manuscript of the chronicle, and similarly for the other manuscripts.
Eadmer = Martin Rule, ed., Eadmeri Historia Novorum in Anglia, et opuscula duo, de Vita Sancti Anselmi et quibusdam miraculis ejus (Rolls Series 81, London, 1884).
Gerv. Cant. = William Stubbs, ed., The Historical Works of Gervase of Canterbury, 2 vols. (Rolls Series 73, 1879).
GND = Guillaume de Jumièges, Gesta Normannorum Ducum, as edited in Elisabeth van Houts, ed. & trans., The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni, 2 vols., (Oxford, 1992).
GND (Rob. Tor.) = Additions to GND by Robert de Torigny.
Hen. Hunt. = Thomas Arnold, ed., Henrici Archidiaconi Huntendunensis Historia Anglorum. The History of the English, by Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon (Rolls Series 74, London, 1879).
John Worc. = Benjamin Thorpe, ed., Florentii Wigorniensis monachi chronicon ex chronicis, 2 vols., (London, 1848-9). (The work formerly attributed to Florence of Worcester is now generally attributed to John of Worcester.)
Lib. Monast. Hyde = Edward Edwards, ed., Liber Monasterii de Hyda: a Chronicle and Chartulary of Hyde Abbey, Winchester, 455-1023 (Rolls Series 45, London, 1866).
Lib. Vit. Durham = Joseph Stevenson, ed., Liber Vitæ Ecclesiæ Dunelmensis (Surtees Society 13, London, 1841).
OV = Augustus le Prevost, ed. Orderici Vitalis Historiæ Ecclesiasticæ, 5 vols. (Paris, 1838-55); also available in Marjorie Chibnall, ed. & trans., The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, 6 vols. (Oxford, 1969-80). As I do not have easy access to all volumes of Chibnall's edition, citations here are given from Prevost's edition.
Sim. Durh. = Thomas Arnold, ed., Symeonis Monachi Opera Omnia, 2 vols. (Rolls Series 75, 1882-5).
Wm. Malmes., Gesta Regum = William Stubbs, ed., Willelmi Malmesbiriensis Monachi De gestis regum Anglorum. libri quinque; Historiæ Novellæ libri tres, 2 vols. (Rolls series 90, 1887-9). [I lack easy access to the more recent edition of William of Malmesbury's work edited by Mynors, Thomson, & Winterbottom.]
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 20 June 2010.