The non-reign of Queen Matilda

Who was the first Queen of England? This question refers to queens who ruled as monarch, as opposed to being the wife of a king (by convention, such a lady is given the honorary title of Queen, but the husband of a reigning queen is never titled King!). The official answer is Mary I, unless one allows Lady Jane Grey to be credited for her nine-day “rule” in 1553. However, for a few brief periods in the 12^th century it could be said that “Queen Matilda” was more in charge than anybody else.

Matilda and Stephen

The messy period of civil war that followed the death of King Henry I in 1135 was due entirely to the unwillingness of the English aristocracy to be ruled by a woman. King Henry’s only legitimate male heir had been William the Aetheling who had drowned in the White Ship tragedy of 1120. Henry twice made his barons swear allegiance to his daughter Matilda, but they clearly did so under duress because as soon as Henry was in his grave they offered the crown to Henry’s nephew, Stephen of Blois (the province immediately south of Normandy), although it might be fairer to say that Stephen seized the crown and the barons were not minded to put up much resistance. 

Stephen had had a lucky escape in 1120 because he had chosen to cross the Channel that night in Henry’s ship rather than William’s. It should probably not be wondered at that questions have been raised as to whether there might not have been some sinister reason for Stephen’s choice. However, it is difficult to see how he could have known that the White Ship would be lost with all hands or, indeed, could have arranged that this would happen. 

The fact remains that as soon as Henry died, having eaten too many lampreys (a sort of eel) at a banquet in Normandy, Stephen set off immediately for Winchester and grabbed hold of the royal treasury. He was crowned king three weeks later.

Civil war breaks out

This did not please Matilda, who possessed the Norman fighting spirit in no little measure. A confusing 20-year period of history was to follow in which the fortunes of the two cousins ebbed and flowed. Armies were raised, nobles were bribed, and horrific acts of savagery were performed as the conflict became increasingly bitter.

There were times when Matilda was able to capture Stephen and others when Stephen captured Matilda, but neither could keep the upper hand for long. On one occasion Matilda and her followers escaped from a castle in the depth of winter; they dressed in white so that they would not be seen against the snow.

One thing that eventually became clear was that neither Stephen nor Matilda would be acceptable as ruler of England. Stephen was too weak, inconstant and good-natured to be an effective medieval monarch. Matilda, on the other hand, was spiteful, vengeful and bloody-minded. Neither was likely to attract the wholehearted support of the barons for long.

Indeed, the barons at first regarded the civil war as a good excuse for settling old scores with each other. Each local strongman built himself a castle and set off to ravage the lands of his neighbours, which was easy to do if the neighbours in question had declared for the rival royal claimant. 

The end of the war

However, the net result was that nobody benefitted from a situation of general anarchy. Crops were not grown or harvested and the barons had to spend more on arming men to fight than they would be getting if those men were farming their land and paying their rents. 

With the country facing starvation and the war between two unattractive opponents getting nowhere, a truce was eventually arrived at. Matilda agreed that she would surrender her claim in favour of her son, Count Henry of Anjou. This would come into effect on the death of Stephen, who was not in good health. As it happened, Stephen died in 1154, only a year after the truce was declared, and the throne passed peacefully to King Henry II who would thus be the founder of the Plantagenet dynasty that would rule England for the next 331 years.

Matilda outlived Stephen by twelve years. She never ruled as queen, but was for a brief time known as “The Lady of the English” during one of her brief periods of power. There would be powerful women at the helm in England in the years to come – Edward II’s wife Isabella comes to mind – but an official queen would not sit on the throne until almost exactly 400 years later.

© John Welford