KS3 · History

Medieval women: Matilda and life for women

At eight, promised to an emperor and sent abroad. Later, fighting a civil war for England's crown. That's Matilda. So what can her life tell us about medieval women?

Medieval women · Compare

Matilda and most medieval women

Start with the big question. For each feature of life below, was it true of Matilda, of most medieval women, or of both? Tick the circles, then check.

  • A Matilda
  • B Most medieval women
  1. Had their lives controlled by men
  2. Expected to have children
  3. Marriage arranged for them
  4. Married young
  5. Crowned an empress
  6. Ruled lands in Italy at 16 on behalf of her husband
  7. Named heir to the throne of England and Normandy
  8. Directed a war campaign from Gloucester
  9. Farming and cooking as part of everyday life

History · Cause & effect

Matilda's life, one link at a time

Tap an event to see what led to it and what it led to. The start of the Anarchy is the big turning point.

Causes ←

What led here

Henry I has only two legitimate children, and William is the heir.

Event

White Ship

1120

William Adelin, Henry I's legitimate son and heir, dies in the White Ship disaster.

→ Consequences

What followed

A succession crisis: there is no clear heir.
Henry could choose an illegitimate son such as Robert of Gloucester, but he would not be accepted.
His nephews, Stephen and Theobald of Blois, are not direct descendants.

History · Rival claims

1135: two claims to one crown

Henry I has just died. Both sides think the crown is theirs. Tap each side in turn.

Who should rule England after Henry I?

Matilda's claim

  • She is Henry I's eldest legitimate child and a direct descendant.
  • Henry I named her his heir in 1126, and the leading barons swore an oath to respect her claim, repeating it several times.
  • From 1138 her half-brother Robert of Gloucester rebels against Stephen and declares for her.
  • To Matilda and her supporters, Stephen is a usurper: somebody who takes something by force without the right to do so.

Stephen's claim

  • He is a male blood relative of the last king, very rich and well-liked by the barons.
  • He has the support of the people of London and of the Church, whose leading figure, Henry of Blois, is his younger brother. The pope has already given his support to Stephen.
  • When Henry I dies, Stephen is in Boulogne, close to England. Matilda is in Anjou and pregnant, with barons and their armies in Normandy blocking her path.
  • He claims his oath to support Matilda is invalid because she was rebelling against the king.

Common ground

  • Both are relatives of Henry I: Matilda is his daughter and Stephen is his nephew.
  • Neither side accepts the other's claim, and that begins the Anarchy.

Which of these points are about who each person was, and which are about where they were and who backed them?

Comparing 2 positions: Matilda's claim, Stephen's claim.

Women and power

Did medieval women really have no power?

A classmate says: “Medieval women had no power, and they never took part in wars. That was a man's world.”

Which is closest to what you think right now?
How sure are you?

Judging Matilda

Did Matilda fail because she was a woman?

The claim

Matilda failed to become queen because she was a woman.

Place each piece of evidence to load the balance. Mark the strong ones — they count double.

  1. Matilda couldn't command armies in the field herself, because people believed women were unsuitable for fighting.

    Evidence 1: does it support or challenge the claim?

  2. She behaved as a ruler was expected to, but because most rulers were male, many people rejected her for it.

    Evidence 2: does it support or challenge the claim?

  3. England had no female ruler for roughly the next 400 years.

    Evidence 3: does it support or challenge the claim?

  4. The barons seemed able to accept a woman as monarch. What they disliked was the idea of a Plantagenet on the throne.

    Evidence 4: does it support or challenge the claim?

  5. Stephen had a head start: he was very rich, well-liked by the barons, and backed by the people of London and the Church.

    Evidence 5: does it support or challenge the claim?

  6. The people of London were put off by her actions and forced her to flee before she was crowned.

    Evidence 6: does it support or challenge the claim?

  7. A woman ruling in her own right had never come up before, so there was no law preventing it.

    Evidence 7: does it support or challenge the claim?

WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED

A quick recap of today's lesson.

What one royal life can (and can't) tell us about medieval women

What you need to know

  • Matilda's life is a particularly well-documented way into the lives of medieval women, but it's only one life.
  • Matilda was born in 1102, the eldest legitimate child of King Henry I. Legitimate means born to parents legally married to each other.
  • At eight she was betrothed (promised in marriage) to the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry V, and sent away to live in his empire.
  • Royal children were often betrothed young to secure alliances between nations. Marriage came later, though still younger than people marry today.
  • Have a goMatilda was betrothed to an emperor at eight. Why would a king promise his young daughter away like that?

    To secure an alliance and improve relations between two countries.

    Royal children were regularly betrothed young to secure alliances between nations. The wedding itself came later.

  • She married in 1114, aged about 12, and in 1117 was crowned empress of the Holy Roman Empire.
  • At 16 she governed the empire's lands in Italy for her husband, and became known as the Good Matilda for her mercy.
  • In 1120 William Adelin, Henry I's only other legitimate child and heir, died in the White Ship disaster, leaving no clear heir: a succession crisis.
  • Widowed in 1125, Matilda returned to her father in Normandy. In 1126 Henry I named her his heir, and the barons swore to back her.
  • Have a goHenry I's only other legitimate child had died by now. So why did he name Matilda as heir?

    She was the only legitimate child he had left.

    Legitimacy mattered: an illegitimate son such as Robert of Gloucester would not have been accepted as heir.

  • When Henry I died in 1135, her cousin Stephen was crowned king of England. Matilda refused to accept it, and the Anarchy began.
  • Matilda, an aristocrat, can tell us something about medieval women, but not what life was like for all of them.
  • Have a goYour mate announces: “Matilda ruled lands at 16, so medieval girls basically ran the place.” What do you say back?

    One aristocrat's life can't speak for everyone. Most women lived very differently.

    Matilda's life was very different from most ordinary women's, so she can only partly stand in for them.

The big picture

Matilda was named heir to the English throne, fought a civil war for it and ruled lands for her husband and her son. She never wore the English crown, but her son became Henry II. Her life is particularly well documented, yet she was an aristocrat, so it can only partly tell us what life was like for medieval women.

Key points

1Matilda was born in 1102, named heir to England and Normandy in 1126, rival to Stephen in the Anarchy, and mother of Henry II.
2She shared four things with most medieval women: men controlled her life, she was expected to have children, her marriage was arranged, and she married young.
3Her empress title, her rule in Italy, her place as named heir and her campaign from Gloucester were her aristocratic extras.
4Women could hold power and even lead in war, but that was uncommon, and they met beliefs that women were unsuitable for fighting.
5Historians now question the traditional view that Matilda was unfit to rule because of her gender.

Worked example

Problem

You find a new fact: Matilda's marriage to Geoffrey of Anjou was arranged by her father. Does it belong to what she shared with most medieval women, or to what made her different? And what can you safely say about women in general?

⚠ Watch out

Treating Matilda as typical. It's tempting to think “she ruled lands and led a war, so medieval women did too”. But she was an aristocrat, and her life was very different from most ordinary women's. Use her story for what she shared with others, not for her privileges.

🧠

Memory hook

Think of the four Ms Matilda shared with most medieval women: Men in control, Marriage arranged, Married young, Mothers expected. Everything else about her life? Those were her aristocratic extras.

✓

Check yourself

Henry I named Matilda his heir in 1126, yet Stephen was crowned in 1135. Give two things that helped Stephen.

Flashcards

(15)
What does betrothed mean?
Promised in marriage. Matilda was betrothed at eight to the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V.
What does legitimate mean?
Born to parents legally married to each other. Only two of Henry I's estimated 24 children were legitimate: Matilda and William Adelin.
What are an empress and an empire?
An empress is the wife of an emperor, the ruler of an empire. An empire is a group of countries or provinces ruled from the centre by one person or group.
What is a succession crisis, and what started the one in 1120?
A situation with no clear heir (an heir is someone legally entitled to another person's property or rank when they die). It began when William Adelin died in the White Ship disaster.
Who was Robert of Gloucester?
Matilda's half-brother and the eldest of Henry I's illegitimate children. In 1138 he rebelled against Stephen and declared his support for her claim.
What is a usurper?
Somebody who takes something by force without the right to do so. Matilda and her supporters saw Stephen this way.
What was the Anarchy?
A long civil war that left large parts of England and Normandy in ruins. Anarchy means an absence of government or a state of political or social disorder.
Who commanded Arundel Castle during the Anarchy?
The dowager queen Adeliza, Matilda's stepmother, who sheltered her there in 1139.
What did Queen Matilda of Boulogne do?
Stephen's wife commanded troops, took Dover and directed the royalist forces after Stephen was captured, keeping the war going.
Why couldn't Matilda command armies in the field, and what did she do instead?
People at the time believed women were unsuitable for fighting. She managed her campaign from Gloucester, directing her barons and rewarding them with lands and titles.
Which women's roles in the Anarchy show women leading in war?
Adeliza (a castle) and Queen Matilda of Boulogne (troops). Women leading castle defences was uncommon, but not unheard of.
How did Matilda reportedly escape from the Siege of Oxford?
She scaled out of a window down a rope and, with just four other knights, fled across the frozen River Thames.
What was Henry II's connection to Matilda?
He was her eldest son, crowned in December 1154. He called himself Henry FitzEmpress, meaning son of the Empress.
What did Matilda do for the rest of her life?
She successfully ran the Duchy of Normandy for Henry II, helped him by communicating with foreign rulers, and died on 10 September 1167.
What have historians questioned about Matilda?
The traditional view that she was unfit to rule because of her gender. Many flaws critics criticised her for would have been seen as strengths in a male ruler.

Tap any card to flip it, or use Study as deck to go through them one at a time. In the full lesson these run as a spaced-repetition deck — you rate each card Hard, Good or Easy and the tricky ones keep coming back until they stick.

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