MATILDA (1102-1167), queen of England and empress, daughter of Henry I. of England, by Matilda, his first wife. In 1109 she was betrothed to the emperor-elect, Henry V., and was sent to Germany, but the marriage was delayed till Her husband died in 1125, leaving her childless; and, since both her brothers were now dead, she was recalled to her father's court to receive formal recognition as his successor in England and Normandy. The reluctance of the Great Council of England to acknowledge a female sovereign was increased by her marriage to Geoffrey Plantagenet, the heir of Anjou and Maine (1129) ; nor was it removed by the birth of the future Henry II. in 1133. On Henry I.'s death England and Normandy accepted his nephew, 1 Stephen, of Mortain and Boulogne. Matilda and her husband made an attempt to win Normandy; but Matilda was at last persuaded by her half-brother, Earl Robert of Gloucester, to visit England and raise her standard in the west, where his influ ence was supreme. With the help of the Church and the barons
of the west, Stephen was captured at Lincoln (I 141 ) ; the em press was acclaimed lady or queen of England (she used both titles indifferently) and crowned at London. But her arrogance alien ated the Londoners and the papal legate, Bishop Henry of Win chester. Routed at the siege of Winchester, she was compelled to release Stephen in exchange for Earl Robert, and her cause steadily declined. In 1148, having lost by the earl's death her principal supporter, she retired to Normandy, of which her husband had gained possession. Henceforward she left Henry to pursue the struggle with Stephen. She died on Jan. 3o, 1167.
See 0. Rossler, Kaiserin Mathilde (1897) ; J. H. Round, Geoffrey de Mandeville (1892).