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Queens of the Conquest: England’s Medieval Queens

Page 57

by Alison Weir


  24. Gervase of Canterbury

  25. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154

  26. Now in the archives of Durham Cathedral.

  27. Gesta Stephani

  28. Ibid.

  29. John of Hexham

  30. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

  31. Orderic Vitalis

  17. “Sovereign Lady of England”

  1. Gesta Stephani

  2. Oxford Castle was a ruin by the thirteenth century. While residing there, Maud issued charters granting lands to the prior and convent of St. Frideswide (Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154).

  3. William of Malmesbury

  4. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154

  5. Ibid.

  6. William of Malmesbury

  7. Ibid.

  8. Gesta Stephani

  9. Henry of Huntingdon

  10. William of Malmesbury

  11. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154; Chibnall: The Empress Matilda

  12. Castor

  13. Gesta Stephani

  14. Hilton: Queens Consort

  15. Gesta Stephani

  16. William of Malmesbury

  17. John of Hexham

  18. William of Malmesbury

  19. Gervase of Canterbury

  20. John of Worcester

  21. Chibnall: “The Empress Matilda and Bec-Hellouin”

  22. William of Malmesbury

  23. Norton: England’s Queens

  24. Chibnall: “The Charters of the Empress Matilda”

  25. Gesta Stephani

  26. William of Malmesbury

  27. Goodall

  28. Gesta Stephani

  29. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154

  30. Bradbury: Stephen and Matilda

  31. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154

  32. Simeon of Durham

  18. “Insufferable Arrogance”

  1. Truax

  2. Stow: A Survey of London

  3. Gesta Stephani

  4. Victoria County History: Essex; Stubbs; Chibnall: The Empress Matilda

  5. Reading Abbey Cartularies; Wertheimer

  6. Reading Abbey Cartularies; Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154; Hollister

  7. Truax

  8. Gesta Stephani

  9. William of Malmesbury

  10. Bradbury: Stephen and Matilda

  11. Gervase of Canterbury

  12. Gesta Stephani

  13. FitzStephen

  14. Davis: Henry of Blois

  15. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154

  16. Gesta Stephani

  17. Gervase of Canterbury

  18. John of Worcester

  19. Gesta Stephani

  20. Ibid.

  21. Henry of Huntingdon

  22. Gesta Stephani

  23. Gervase of Canterbury

  24. John of Worcester

  25. Ibid.

  26. Gesta Stephani

  27. Ibid.

  28. Chibnall: “The Empress Matilda and Church Reform”

  29. Gesta Stephani

  30. Ibid.

  31. William of Malmesbury

  32. Gervase of Canterbury

  33. Gesta Stephani

  34. William of Malmesbury

  35. Gesta Stephani; William of Malmesbury

  36. Henry of Huntingdon

  19. “Terrified and Troubled”

  1. Gesta Stephani

  2. Ibid.

  3. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

  4. William of Malmesbury

  5. Ibid.

  6. Gesta Stephani

  7. Ibid.; Gervase of Canterbury; “Annals of Waverley Abbey”; John of Worcester

  8. William of Malmesbury

  9. King: Medieval England

  10. William of Malmesbury

  11. Gesta Stephani

  12. William of Malmesbury

  13. Ibid.

  14. Gesta Stephani

  15. William of Malmesbury

  16. Gesta Stephani

  17. William of Malmesbury

  18. Gesta Stephani

  19. Henry of Huntingdon

  20. Gesta Stephani

  21. William of Malmesbury

  22. Gesta Stephani

  23. William of Newburgh; Henry of Huntingdon; Robert of Torigni

  24. William of Malmesbury; Henry of Huntingdon

  25. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; “The Chronicle of Melrose”; John of Hexham

  26. Gesta Stephani

  27. Henry of Huntingdon

  28. Gesta Stephani

  29. John of Hexham

  30. William of Malmesbury; John of Worcester

  31. William of Malmesbury

  32. Gesta Stephani

  33. Chibnall: The Empress Matilda

  34. Gesta Stephani; Gervase of Canterbury

  35. It would not be rebuilt until the reign of Henry II (1154–89).

  36. John of Worcester; Gervase of Canterbury

  37. William of Malmesbury

  38. Gesta Stephani; William of Malmesbury

  39. Gesta Stephani

  40. Gervase of Canterbury

  41. William of Malmesbury

  42. Gervase of Canterbury

  43. Gesta Stephani

  44. William of Malmesbury

  45. Gervase of Canterbury

  46. Gesta Stephani

  47. Gervase of Canterbury; Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchale

  48. A much later account of it, probably heavily embellished, is to be found in the Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchale.

  49. Gesta Stephani

  50. John of Worcester. In the Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchale, this was at the insistence of John the Marshal, but he did not accompany her on her journey. His role in her escape is highly inflated in this text, which states incorrectly that, to avoid their pursuers, her party paused to take shelter in the ruins of Wherwell Abbey.

  51. Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchale

  52. John of Worcester

  53. Gervase of Canterbury

  54. John of Worcester; Gervase of Canterbury

  55. Gervase of Canterbury

  56. Gesta Stephani

  20. “Rejoicing and Exultation”

  1. William of Malmesbury

  2. Gervase of Canterbury

  3. Ibid.; John of Worcester

  4. William of Malmesbury

  5. Ibid.

  6. Ibid.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Given-Wilson and Curteis

  9. William of Malmesbury

  10. Gesta Stephani

  11. Ibid.

  12. Gervase of Canterbury

  13. Ibid.

  14. John of Worcester

  15. William of Malmesbury; Gesta Stephani; “The Chronicle of Melrose”

  16. Henry of Huntingdon

  17. William of Malmesbury

  18. Gesta Stephani

  19. Ibid.

  20. William of Malmesbury

  21. Gesta Stephani

  22. William of Malmesbury

  23. Ibid.

  24. Ibid.

  25. Ibid.

  26. Gervase of Canterbury

  21. “The Lawful Heir”

  1. William of Malmesbury

  2. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154

  3. William of Malmesbury

  4. Osney Priory became an abbey in c.1154.

  5. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154; Sharpe and Doherty. It may have been while Maud was at Devizes that she donated land, pasture and a dwelling at nearby Tytherington, near Heytesbury, to support two chaplains for the chapel there dedicated to St. James. (She did not forget her connection with the area. In 1165 she endowed the church of St. Peter and St. Paul at Heytesbury.) She also made benefactions to the abbeys of Haughmond, Shrewsbury and Lilleshall in Shropshire (Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154). The poet Siegfried Sassoon, who lived in Heytesbury House, commemorated her connection with the place in his poem “A Remembered Queen.�
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  6. William of Malmesbury

  7. Crouch: The Beaumont Twins

  8. William of Malmesbury

  9. John of Hexham

  10. William of Malmesbury

  11. Gesta Stephani

  12. William of Malmesbury

  13. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154; Norton: England’s Queens

  14. William of Malmesbury says this happened at Devizes, but in the next passage he refers to “all continuing at Oxford,” implying that they were already there.

  15. William of Malmesbury

  16. Ibid.

  17. Cited King: Medieval England

  18. William of Malmesbury

  19. Gesta Stephani

  20. William of Malmesbury

  21. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154. Bordesley had been founded in 1138 by Waleran de Beaumont, but Maud had insisted on taking over its patronage as a condition of receiving his allegiance (Chibnall: The Empress Matilda).

  22. Gesta Stephani

  23. Ibid.

  24. Beem: “The Virtuous Virago”

  22. “One of God’s Manifest Miracles”

  1. William of Malmesbury

  2. Gesta Stephani

  3. Ibid.

  4. John of Hexham

  5. Gesta Stephani

  6. William of Malmesbury

  7. Ibid.

  8. Gesta Stephani

  9. William of Malmesbury

  10. Ibid.

  11. Laplane; Januauschek

  12. Bernard himself had refounded Clairmarais on 26 April 1140 (Williams: Saint Bernard of Clairvaux). He and three other abbots of the Order—among them Matilda’s friend Thierry of La Capella—witnessed the Queen’s charter granting land in the forest of Beaulo at Eperlecques to the abbey (Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154). Around 1142, at Matilda’s request, King Stephen was to give more lands to the brethren of Clairmarais to help build their abbey; six years later, he, Matilda and Eustace would further endow this foundation (ibid.), doubtless hoping to retain the support of Count Thierry (Laplane; Dark).

  13. Gesta Stephani

  14. William of Malmesbury

  15. Gesta Stephani, who says there were three knights; William of Malmesbury says there were four.

  16. William of Malmesbury

  17. Henry of Huntingdon

  18. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

  19. William of Malmesbury; Henry of Huntingdon

  20. Henry of Huntingdon

  21. William of Malmesbury; Gesta Stephani

  22. Gesta Stephani

  23. William of Malmesbury; Gesta Stephani

  24. Gesta Stephani

  25. Ibid.

  26. It was not six miles away, as the Gesta Stephani states.

  27. William of Malmesbury; Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

  28. Gesta Stephani

  29. Gervase of Canterbury

  30. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154

  31. Map

  32. Barber: Henry Plantagenet

  23. “Wretchedness and Oppression”

  1. Chibnall: The Empress Matilda

  2. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154

  3. Ibid.

  4. Gesta Stephani

  5. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154

  6. Hilton: England’s Queens

  7. Davis: “Henry of Blois and Brian Fitz Count”

  8. Gesta Stephani

  9. Ibid.

  24. “A New Light Had Dawned”

  1. Chroniques des Comtes d’Anjou

  2. Poole: Illustrations of the History of Medieval Thought

  3. Chartes de Saint-Julien de Tours

  4. Chibnall: The Empress Matilda

  5. Henry of Huntingdon

  6. Gesta Stephani

  7. Ibid.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Ibid.

  10. Henry of Huntingdon

  11. William of Newburgh

  12. Maud held the castles at Tamworth, Dudley, Worcester, Hereford, Gloucester, Cardiff, Bristol, Devizes, Trowbridge, Salisbury, Castle Cary, Sherborne, Exeter, Wareham, Newbury, Marlborough, Wallingford, Bungay, Framlingham and Orford.

  13. Gesta Stephani

  14. Ibid.

  15. Robert of Torigni

  16. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154

  17. Chibnall: “The Empress Matilda and Church Reform”; Chibnall: The Empress Matilda

  18. Patrologia Latina, Vol. 180

  25. “An Example of Fortitude and Patience”

  1. Ralph of Diceto

  2. William of Malmesbury

  3. Charters and Documents illustrating the History of the Cathedral Church and Diocese of Salisbury

  4. Liber Feodorum. The date of his death is not recorded, but in 1151 his widow, Matilda of Wallingford, confirmed by charter the grants that she and Brian had made to Bec-Hellouin, with the consent of the Empress and Henry, Duke of Normandy (Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154).

  5. Additional Charters 19577, 19579, 19581, British Library

  6. Gervase of Canterbury; Hilton: Queens Consort

  7. Chibnall: The Empress Matilda

  8. Marshall

  9. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

  10. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154

  11. Crouch: The Normans

  12. Chibnall: “The Empress Matilda and Bec-Hellouin”

  13. Stephen of Rouen

  14. The area has been engulfed by modern industrial development, and nothing remains of the palace or the priory apart from the chapel of Saint-Julien at Petit-Quevilly, founded by Henry FitzEmpress in 1160, which contains frescoes that Maud may have commissioned herself (Chibnall). In “The Empress Matilda and Bec-Hellouin,” Chibnall stated that they dated from after Maud’s death, but she revised this view after reading Lindy Grant’s article, “The architecture of the early Savigniacs and Cistercians in Normandy.”

  15. Chibnall: The Empress Matilda

  16. Stephen of Rouen

  17. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154

  18. Ibid.; Chibnall: The Empress Matilda

  19. Stephen of Rouen

  20. Charters and Documents illustrating the History of the Cathedral Church and Diocese of Salisbury; Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154; Castor; Chibnall: The Empress Matilda

  26. “For the Good of My Soul”

  1. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154

  2. Saltman

  3. Gervase of Canterbury

  4. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154

  5. Hilton: Queens Consort

  6. For an excellent account of Marie’s life, see Brown: “Elegit domum sibi placabilem”

  7. Cited Dark; Saltman

  8. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154

  9. Gervase of Canterbury

  10. Ibid.

  11. Ibid. A sixteenth-century carved panel relief depicting Stephen and Matilda can be seen at the entrance to the Old Grammar School in Faversham. It is thought to have originally been in a room above the town gate.

  12. Saltman

  13. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154

  14. Castor

  15. Map

  16. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154

  17. Ibid.; Tierney

  18. Sanderus

  19. Ibid.

  20. “Annals of Margam, 1066–1232.” The Canterbury Obituary Lists (published in The Culture of Christendom) give the date as 26 March. Adeliza is listed on Affligem Abbey’s mortuary roll (Sanderus).

  21. Sanderus

  22. Baxter

  23. Lambeth Palace MS. 371

  24. Baxter

  25. Norton: England’s Queens

  26. Robert of Torigni

  27. “Adeliza of Leuven”

  28. St. Giles’s Hospital at Fugglestone St. Peter long claimed that Adeliza was buried in its chapel (Britton; Dugdale and Burnett). It was the only part of the foundation still standing in 1814, but has now disappea
red.

  27. “Carried by the Hands of Angels”

  1. Chroniques des comtes d’Anjou

  2. Chibnall: The Empress Matilda

  3. Hilton: Queens Consort

  4. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

  5. Ibid.

  6. The Cartulary of Holy Trinity, Aldgate

  7. Hilton: Queens Consort

  8. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

  9. Crouch: The Normans

  10. Le Livere de Reis

  11. Southouse gives a different translation from the Latin, calling Matilda the “happy wife of King Stephen. She died outstanding in character and titles. She was a true follower of God and a follower of poverty. Here she was elevated by God in whom she rejoices. If any woman whatever deserves to rise up to heaven, she does. Angels hold this godly Queen in their hands.”

  PART FIVE: THE EMPRESS MAUD

  1. “Joy and Honour”

  1. Giraldus Cambrensis

  2. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154

  3. Turner

  4. Ibid.

  5. Richard

  6. Chronicon Valassense, cited by Chibnall: The Empress Matilda

  7. A spurious thirteenth-century tale related by Matthew Paris had Maud present, pleading with Stephen and Henry to desist from fighting, for they were father and son, and it did not become them to kill each other.

  8. Gervase of Canterbury; Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

  9. Castor

  10. Henry of Huntingdon

  11. Robert of Torigni

  2. “The Light of Morning”

  1. Brewer

  2. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

  3. Histoire des ducs de Normandie et des rois d’Angleterre; Crouch: The Normans

  4. Dark

  5. Dodson

  6. Stow: The Annals of England

  7. Aelred of Rievaulx: “Genealogia regum Anglorum”

  8. Seward

  9. Map

  10. Cited Meade

  11. Chibnall: The Empress Matilda

  12. Chadwick: Empress Matilda’s Bling; Castor

  13. Chibnall: The Empress Matilda

  14. Chibnall: “The Charters of the Empress Matilda”

  15. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154

  16. Recueil des Actes de Henry II

  17. Robert of Torigni; Recueil des Actes de Henry II

 

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