Empress Matilda Beauclerc of Germany 3
- Born: Abt 1103, Winchester, Hampshire, England 4
- Marriage (1): Holy Roman Emporer Heinrich of Germany V on 7 Jan 1114 in Mainz, Germany 1
- Marriage (2): Count Geoffrey Plantagenet of Anjou on 22 May 1128 in Le Mans, , Pays de la Loire, FRA 2
- Died: 10 Sep 1167, Rouen, Normandy, France aged about 64 4
 General Notes:
In something of a political coup for her father, Matilda was betrothed to the German Emperor, Henry V, when she was only eight. They were married on 7th January 1114. She was twelve and he was thirty-two. There were no children and on the Emperor's death in 1125, Matilda was recalled to her father's court.
Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry to survive to adulthood. William's early death in the White ship disaster in 1120 made Matilda the last heir from the paternal line of her grandfather William the Conqueror.
After being widowed for a few years, she was married to Geoffrey count of Anjou,
Being absent in Anjou at the time of her father's death on 1st December 1135, possibly due to pregnancy, Matilda was not in much of a position to take up the throne which had been promised her and she quickly lost out to her fast-moving cousin, Stephen. With her husband, she attempted to take Normandy. With encouragement from supporters in England though, it was not long before Matilda invaded her rightful English domain and so began a long-standing Civil War from the powerbase of her half-brother, Robert of Gloucester, in the West Country.
Matilda was the first female ruler of the Kingdom of England. The length of her effective rule was brief, however: a few months in 1141. She was never crowned and failed to consolidate her rule (legally and politically). For this reason, she is normally excluded from lists of English monarchs, and her rival (and cousin) Stephen of Blois is listed as monarch for the period 1135-1154. Their rivalry for the throne led to years of unrest and civil war in England that have been called The Anarchy. She did secure her inheritance of the Duchy of Normandy, through the military feats of her husband, Geoffrey, and campaigned unstintingly for her oldest son's inheritance, living to see him ascend the throne of England in 1154.
In 1152 the Treaty of Wallingford recognised Henry as Stephen's heir.
She spent the remainder of her life in Normandy exercising a steadying influence over Henry II's continental dominions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matilda_of_England
Noted events in her life were:
• AKA. Maude
• Title, Apr 1141. 5 Queen of England
• Nationality. 6 Norman
Matilda married Holy Roman Emporer Heinrich of Germany V on 7 Jan 1114 in Mainz, Germany.1 (Holy Roman Emporer Heinrich of Germany V was born on 8 Jan 1081 7 and died on 23 May 1125 in Utrecht, Germany 7.)
Matilda next married Count Geoffrey Plantagenet of Anjou, son of Count Fulk of Anjou V The Younger and Countess Ermengarde of Maine, on 22 May 1128 in Le Mans, , Pays de la Loire, FRA.2 (Count Geoffrey Plantagenet of Anjou was born on 24 Aug 1113 5 and died on 7 Sep 1151 in Château-Du-Loir, France 5.)
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