Y'know: Empress out-ranks Queen. Look at Victoria: Empress of India [for a brief duration]; Catherine the so-called Great, Empress of The Russias [if not quite-all Russians] & Austrian by birth. Matilda was a King-maker [and a Grandmother of mine]. Danged woman was never satisfied with anything! Lucky for her that she landed a Plantagenet dude, in the end. We Plantagenet Men are said-to-be comely: "Philip The Fair" & all-that. I sport all of the Plantagenet features: long legs; red hair; bone-white skin. A walking-advert for Sunscreen.

Apparently she spoke German mainly. That wouldn't have helped her win friends and influence people. Plus she had a comfortable life in Aachen. If only as a dowager Empress. That may excuse her reticence and staying in France. Stephen had no qualms it was England or nothing and stay a minor noble in the Loire Valley. Apparently also, she had raven-black hair. There is only one contemporary portrait of her sat at her table with her courtiers.

@@English_Dawn And, as for Stephen: 《Blois-Blois-Blois》! Nobody has a good thing to say about him. If I were King, I would be "Stephen-II" ! Isn't that enough to make you gag? Cheers!!

@@etiennee9813 Well, he had more nous than Matilda, being the first on the scene. Rubbish in battle being captured at the first battle of Lincoln. Going back on his word having promised Henry I he would support Matilda's claim. His brother Henry Bishop of Winchester double -crossed for fun. Crowned Stephen then sold him out to Matilda before selling her out to Stephen. Still, even he had his good points. He founded the Hospital of St. Cross (an almshouse) which serves it's original purpose to this day. Matilda who mostly spoke German probably wished her father had left her in Aachen?

@@etiennee9813 Red hair? Matilda is a grandmother of yours? She famously had raven-black hair. However Barbarossa from her court was similarly coifured as your good self but nobody had taught him to swim. Hope you learnt. You never know when it comes in handy. Many Plantagenets were dark-haired. Edward IV and his grandson Henry VIII were perhaps "runts in the litter".

Indeed she was. I just want to see Rhaenyra making a dramatic escape in the snow in season 2 :-)

*Only surviving child of Viserys and Aemma. Why did I forget about all of Alicent’s children with him?!

I was noticing that the events sounded like the Dance, only without the dragons.

@@aidanrogers4438 Viserys only considered Rhaenyra and barely acknowledged the others so it's easy to forget there were siblings lol

From the first episode, I totally got that's where George RR Martin got the inspiration from.

Ever watched "Inspector Morse"? The Randolph Hotel features in many of them. The Randolph Hotel is in Beaumont Street. Earlier Beaumont Palace had been there. Eleanor gave birth to both Richard and John in it. Ever heard of the legendary 'Fair Rosamund"? Rosamund Clifford was a nun from Godstow Abbey nearby. Alleged that she was killed (poisoned) on the orders of Eleanor.

Haha, thank you. I'd be happy to do one but given how poorly the medieval stuff is doing I'm very hesitant unfortunately. Matilda (so far) and the White Ship video have done pretty poorly by my standards, which is quite disheartening as I think they're both fascinating stories. :-(

Eleanor was a bada** from what I remember reading about her. I'd put nothing past her :-)

@@HistoryCalling I think medieval history sadly is too much of a whistle-stop tour, a box-ticking exercise, Battle of Hastings, check, Magna Carta, check, Henry V, check Bosworth Field, check (It wasn't even the last battle but Stoke Field 2 years later does not usually get a mention). People are in too much of a hurry to get to the Tudors and the "juicy stuff". The Americans make great play about Gettysburg. It's full of monuments and guides etc. The "English Gettysburg" Towton where there was appalling loss of life and butchery on a scale of it's own and the largest ever in England by comparison is practically unknown. It has a monument, singular, I think with both coloured roses placed on it at the anniversary. Go down most main streets and I dare say most people aren't aware of it or where it took place.

@@HistoryCalling It is pretty sad that people want to hear only about their knight in shining armor, Henry VIII, which I do not understand. I guess because he was a murderer. People who think medieval history is boring need to watch the movie, "The Lion in Winter."

I'll second that!

@@HistoryCalling Great report thank you

House of the dragon! Rhaenyra is based off of Matilda! The empress who never was

I love the snow escape as well. It's a brilliant medieval story (though probably not much fun for those who experienced it first hand). :-)

@@HistoryCalling People were stronger then than they are today. Greetings from Uruguay!

I always strive to be an "uppity woman"!

All good except the grating - and totally irrelevant - reference to “climate change”. Yes, there was snow on the ground throughout much of England in Matilda’s time. This was because the “Mediaeval Warm Period” was coming to an end, followed by the “Little Ice Age”. It has nothing to do with “climate change” in the modern sense of that expression, beyond proving that “climate change” - as a natural phenomenon - has been with us throughout history.

Yes, this was intended as a sequel. :-) I was going to do this video first initially and then thought, 'nope, I'm gonna need to set the scene with the White Ship disaster first so that I don't have to do too much in one video'.

William Aethling would have had no problem. He was the legitimate heir and Henry was grooming him for the day he'd wear the crown. If I remember correctly, William was supposed to be going back to England, when he boarded the White Ship, for some very important things to teach him how to be the king. In fact, though, William did survive the shipwreck. He was in a boat with his guards and he heard his sister screaming. He had the boat put about to rescue her. But, it was overwhelmed by the people in the water and he went under in an ill-fated attempt to rescue his sister.

Thank you very much. I'm glad you liked it. I've been told about Pillars of the Earth before. I really must look it up.

It’s a wonderful production with a terrific cast and a nice angle on the whole thing.

@@HistoryCalling Matilda doesn't come out well! She comes out as a child-killer. She had Donald Sutherland fighting her corner though.

@@HistoryCalling Read Ken Follett's book 'The Pillars of the Earth' first before you see the series. The book is wonderful.

Thanks Ann and I'm glad you made it into the premiere (though honestly, I don't know if I'm going to continue with them. They don't seem to help viewer numbers). I'm glad you enjoyed reading more about the White Ship disaster too :-) Yes, Matilda could have acted more decisively. I'm not sure what was going on there either.

England was unruly. The Normans had a job holding onto it. William the Conqueror cleared a lot of people from their homes because he liked hunting. This is the New Forest. Not new. His son was killed there by accident or design. You had to be a fighter to survive as well as politically astute. You had to be a people manager of the first water as well as being able to handle a sword and ride a war-horse. It wasn't an "optional extra". No one is going to support a weak king or queen. The barons called the shots. There were two more civil wars the Barons Wars 1 & 2 coming up. King John didn't keep them on-side and had to sign the Magna Carta and lost his kingdom to the French. How can you risk your life in battle, which were sadly all too common, if your king or queen would not risk theirs? The soldiers weren't "mugs". There's been any number of Saxon queens now mostly forgotten, Alfred the Great's mother for an instance as well as the widow of King Edwin who secured much of the Midlands (Murcia) against the Danes, that deserve to be better known. Very good administrators.

Matilda was a superstar!

Hmm, it's certainly a possibility and an interesting idea. If he did make such a deal with her, he'll have regretted it though, as she clearly didn't abide by it and treated him quite roughly when she had him in her power.

You're welcome. Yes, it's a wonder Matilda's story isn't more famous actually. It's a real thriller.

Yes, hopefully that gave her some solace in the end. Thanks as always for watching and commenting :-)

@@HistoryCalling always a plesure HC, till next Friday, Merry Christmas.😊

She played it better and got closer to the throne herself than most people wouldve done.

@@waltonsmith7210I think that her greatest flaw and what ultimately lost her throne was her arrogance- even pro- Matilda chronicals detail her haughtiness. If she was a bit more accommodating to her subjects, I think that she would have reigned as queen

Yes, it is difficult (for me too in fact) to let go of the idea of male primogeniture, but things were definitely more fluid back then. I'd love to know as well exactly why she didn't make a play for the throne earlier, but it makes for a fascinating debate if nothing else :-)

Thank you so much. It was quite a learning curve for me too to get to grips with it all, but it helped doing the White Ship video first as it meant I already had some idea of who the main players were.

Do you mean the Vexin? Her son put great store by it.

I think the Anjou marriage was to try and improve relations. Matilda's brother had married an Anjou princess, but his early death ruined that attempt at an alliance.

He wasn't passive; he was trying to keep things sorted out in his and also Matilda's lands in France, especially Normandy, of which by rights she was duchess after her father's death.

Thank you. Yes, the shipwreck video was intended as a bit of a prequel to this video (not that you need to watch one to appreciate the other).

I agree. It always amazes me how many people say they'd never heard anything about this period.

Someone else mentioned the same thing about the Empress title. I didn't read anything about that, but it's certainly a possibility. I wasn't taught any of this in school either, though I do remember doing a little bit about the Conquest. It was a lot of Stuart history for me though, at least in later years.

You are right. English history is so full much of it is jettisoned and slipped over, especially on tv, in the rush to get to the Tudors and Victoria. Many monarchs are skipped over ruthlessly. Did you know Richard II is supposed to have invented the handkerchief? That James I of England (VI of Scotland) was responsible for Sirloin steak? Talking about Civil Wars we have had too many. Not just the anarchy but a couple of Barons Wars ending with the Parliament we have today, the problems with Edward II and the Earl of Lancaster ending at Boroughbridge. The WotR starting in 1455 and lasting until Stoke Field in 1487, the Hotspur Rebellion near Brother Cadfael's Abbey at Shrewsbury, in 1403 and Henry V's first battle where he was badly wounded with an arrow in the face 6 inches deep, to the Civil War between Charles I and Parliament, these are purely in England in the main not to mention wars with Wales and Scotland. Credit to you for not falling into the regular mysandry trap. It was a men's world etc. Monarchs had to live in the saddle and fight. If they didn't no one would fight alongside them in the many frequent battles. You had to earn loyalty for hundreds of years. You swore fealty to only those whom had your respect. If a woman or weak male didn't pass the audition because they were no good with a sword then that was that. Stephen's queen fought from her castle but am not so sure if she fired bows etc. Phillipa of Haunault when her husband Edward III was abroad, addressed her troops at Neville's Cross but didn't stay for the battle but at least she was there. Invasions, rebellions happened on a regular basis, perhaps monthly. You needed a monarch in the thick of it or they wouldn't be monarch much longer. John was a disaster. You had to "earn your spurs". At Crecy in 1346 Edward the Black Prince at 16 in his first battle was getting the worst of it. Reports were sent to his father Edward III to send reinforcements. Edward's reply? Nothing doing let him "earn his spurs". It was absolutely brutal. Women's main danger was childbirth with some paying the ultimate price for heresy. Apart from that women had a "free pass" from execution. Confiscation of property and occasional "house arrest" was the worst it got for political/traitor crimes. Anne Boleyn was the first noble woman to be executed in the 1500's. Not one woman was executed during the WotR even though one third of the the male nobility died violently, hung drawn and quartered etc with their heads and other body parts at the entrance to towns. If it was grim being a woman, not offered top jobs etc It was grimmer being male. Matilda's main language was German, being brought up there. She probably spoke a smattering of Norman-French only and probably no English at all. She was comfortable in Aachen at the Imperial Court and may have planned to stay there in an obscure location. Sadly her husband died and the fat was in the fire. Recalled by her father from her probably comfortable existence and a pawn in the marriage market in semi-strange lands, Capetian France and England. An England that had only recently been conquered by her paternal grandfather and full of res entful Saxons. Her Pre-coronation feast was held in Westminster Hall. It is one of the few parts of the original Westminster Palace remaining, surviving 2 major fires and blitz in the Second World War. It was built by her uncle who perhaps was murdered by her father. It was the largest room North of the Alps and maybe in the whole of Europe. She was chased out by the people probably before she got to the final course. Her paternal grandfather had a similar experience in the Abbey nearby. The Saxons loved a good shindig and wassail They cheered William on Christmas Day 1066 when he was crowned. Unused to this exuberance the Norman soldiers thought it was a riot and sadly people were killed. Pax Vobiscum.

You are right. English history is so full much of it is jettisoned and slipped over, especially on tv, in the rush to get to the Tudors and Victoria. Many monarchs are skipped over ruthlessly. Did you know Richard II is supposed to have invented the handkerchief? That James I of England (VI) of Scotland was responsible for Sirloin steak? Talking about Civil Wars we have had too many. Not just the anarchy but a couple of Barons Wars ending with the Parliament we have today, the problems with Edward II and the Earl of Lancaster ending at Boroughbridge. The WotR starting in 1455 and lasting until Stoke Field in 1487, the Hotspur Rebellion near Brother Cadfael's Abbey at Shrewsbury, in 1403 and Henry V's first battle where he was badly wounded with an arrow in the face 6 inches deep, to the Civil War between Charles I and Parliament, these are purely in England in the main not to mention wars with Wales and Scotland. Credit to you for not falling into the regular mysandry trap. It was a men's world etc. Monarchs had to live in the saddle and fight. If they didn't no one would fight alongside them in the many frequent battles. You had to earn loyalty for hundreds of years. You swore fealty to those who had your respect. If a woman or weak male didn't pass the audition because they were no good with a sword then that was that. Stephen's queen fought from her castle but am not so sure if she fired bows etc. Phillipa of Haunault when her husband Edward III was abroad addressed her troops at Neville's Cross but didn't stay for the battle but at least she was there. Invasion and rebellion were common -place, perhaps monthly, the monarch had to regularly be in campaign. Women sadly faced childbirth fatalities and paid the ultimate price for heresy, Lollardism etc however no women were executed for political/traitor crimes until Anne Boleyn in the 1500's. None were executed before that. During the WotR one third of the male nobility died violently. It had been males that were hung, drawn and quartered with heads and body parts over gates. Matilda had lived most of her life at Aachen, spoke mainly German and probably happy to stay in obscurity permanently in the Imperial Court. Sadly her husband died and the party was over. Recalled by her father to strange lands, Capetian France and Norman England. Spoke perhaps a smattering of Norman_French and likely no English. Told to marry someone she didn't like. She was pregnant in France when her father sadly died and was beaten to the punch by Stephen. Eventually when she did get to England for her coronation when his brother Henry of Blois changed sides she was attending her Pre-coronation feast in Westminster Hall. Westminster Hall is one of the few remnants of the original palace that has survived 2 major fires and blitz in the Second World War. It was built by her uncle who perhaps was murdered in order of her father. It was the largest single-room North of the Alps and probably in the whole of Europe. Sadly the London populace threw her out before she got to the final course! This is an echo of Christmas Day 1066 when her paternal grandfather William I was crowned. The Saxons loved a shindig and wassail and the exuberance was mistaken by the Normal soldiers as a riot the result sadly was peiple being killed. Pax Vobiscum.

@@HistoryCalling Sad about that Stuartry. Talk about after the Lord Mayor's show. King Charles II with his spaniels, Monmouth Rebellion, John Felton popping out of the Greyhound pub in Portsmouth to murder the Duke of Buckingham, Samuel Peppys, Dutch sailing up the Medway, another plague and worst _ St. Paul's including the tombs of John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster his wife going up in the Great Fire. Can you believe it! Christopher Wren was partly to blame. He got the job of restoring it, encased it with wooden scaffolding. Without the scaffolding it may have been saved but acted like a tinder-box.

OH WOW. THANK YOU DON for such a remarkably kind donation to the channel. That's so generous of you, especially at this time of year and given lots of people's financial uncertainties these days. I certainly hope you continue to enjoy the channel's content so that you're getting your money's worth :-)

Rhaenyra is based off Matilda good catch! George likes to turn these real life historical events 10x crazier than the real thing but with dragons things go off the rails 😂

Thank you :-) I wish more people did the same as you to be honest. Poor Matilda isn't getting that much love at the moment (at least not by my standards). There's more medieval madness next week :-)

Me too! I love anything Mediaeval!

My pleasure. Thanks for coming to the premiere :-)

Yes and she got to live to see it which is nice too (unlike Anne Boleyn for instance, who never knew what would happen to Elizabeth).

You're very welcome :-) I think I saw the odd Cadfael mystery when I was younger. I must look them up again.

The Cadfael books by Ellis Peter's run to 21 volumes, and are excellent. There are quite a lot of details about the events of the Anarchy that get wrapped up in the plots of the books.

Thanks James. I think so too. They just weren't in the mindset to really have a Queen regnant yet.

If you couldn't handle a sword and ride a war-horse you were toast. How could you get other people to risk their necks (which was required all too frequently) if your weren't going to risk yours? Non-starter. Wasn't just women, weak makes needn't apply for any opening.

Thank you :-) That's very kind of you to say.

Thanks Henry. I think she has a fascinating and surprisingly understudied story.

Thank you so much. I think Matilda's is a fascinating story.

Thanks Nathan. She has a fascinating story for sure.

Now that would certainly be an historical plot twist!

@@HistoryCalling A descendant of the Gray House is living in Britain and technically have A stronger claim to the throne.

THANK YOU SO MUCH MADELINE for donating to the channel. I hope you enjoyed hearing about Matilda. She's a very underrated and understudied character from history in my opinion.

Thanks Don. She certainly had a fascinating story.

@@HistoryCalling I first got interested in the period after reading Sharon Key Penman's "When Christ and His Saints Slept". The white ship disaster seemed like such needless and tragic accident and it put into motion a terrible 30 years. Unbelievable. I am astounded when I think about all of the deaths that may have been prevented if Stephen had not taken her throne. Then to think that the period produced Henry II. What an amazing and tragic time.

She's on my list :-)

Thanks Kristen. You rock :-) (See what I did there? It was an awful pun I know. Please forgive me :-) )

@@HistoryCalling No! I actually really do love puns. My last name is cool, so it is appropriate. And you're always very welcome. Keep the awesome videos coming 👑👑💗💗

You're welcome. I found it tricky to get it all straight in my head as well.

@@HistoryCalling , I have been a fanf of the Caedfal stories since my mother began buyinin in the what? Early 70's? Dame Edith dealt with it year by year, but I have been trying to understand it ever since! THank you again!

Thanks Tauna. It's a fascinating era of history.

Hi Bea :-)

Thanks Tony and greetings from across the pond :-)

King Steven also held William Marshall hostage and was threatening to launch him in a catapult at them. I can picture King Steven and the 5 or 6 year old setting back and playing chess or something, being King Steven had taken a liking to the boy. While Matilda was negotiating for others held captive. Later King Steven was captured and exchanged for Matilda's half brother Robert of Gloucester.

@@jameshalley9763 it reminds me of the old vendors at the ballpark “you can’t tell your players without program“ the really amazing part is that all this knowledge has come down the centuries to us

I know. It's like the Richards/Edwards/Henrys of the 15th/16th centuries. So confusing! Thank you for the lovely accent compliment too :-)

@@HistoryCalling henry seems like a popular name across Europe. France, England, spain too i think. What's the origin of the name?

I would love to actually, but I'm quite hesitant as the early medieval videos (this one and the White Ship) are doing so poorly. :-(

Oh no! i love the medieval ones just as much as any time period in Royal history! Just make one for me then! Lol! 🤣🤣🤣But maybe give it a couple of weeks then try? Perhaps at the top of the year? 🤞🤞🤞

@@HistoryCalling For me, I get a bit lost earlier than Henry VII. Individual stories from that period and after, I can more easily place into a geo-political, and artistic and cultural framework in my head. Before that, no matter how much I seem to learn, it is still an amorphous blob that I can’t quite get my head around. And maybe I am less inclined to click on something I know will leave my feeling a bit more stupid by the end. Maybe more super basic Medieval History 101 would be good.

I used to feel like that! My "education" started at Henry the VIII and before that I had no clue! But I found out that if I went backwards from there i understood it better. I think it's cuz i could relate things I already knew to what I was reading. I'm still learning! But maybe try learning that way. May help you too! And as for videos, I agree....start very basic! Any video on this channel will be great!😊

Thanks Justin and I'm glad you liked the video :-)

Thanks Philip. do you mean the video of the chair? That was just meant to be illustrative. It's definitely not the real thing. It's in the Tower of London in the room where Henry VI was supposedly killed.

@@HistoryCalling Oh I see, thank you. Have been to the tower but don't remember seeing a replica of the coronation chair, some time ago.

Possibly it's a newish addition? I was there in March this year and that was the first time I remember seeing it as well.

THANK YOU PATRICIA for so kindly donating to the channel. I hope you enjoyed hearing Matilda's story. :-)

@@HistoryCalling Hi from North Queensland Australia, you are very welcome. I love your channel I wait for the new story every week.

Not to worry. I don't think I'm going to keep up with the premieres anyway. They don't seem to be helping viewer numbers at all and it's just added stress on a Friday night from my point of view (plus remembering to set them up on Thursdays). Enjoy the video though :-)

@@HistoryCalling Honestly I only made it to a few premieres. During the pandemic, my son's school put on virtual concerts, & those were the only premieres I made it to. :)

@@HistoryCalling I do think it's gender related though, the reason Matilda didn't become queen. Elizabeth I will change all that.

Yes, probably her late and unexpected change in circumstance didn't help. Had Henry known she'd be Queen, he might have made more of an effort to keep her in England where she could have been better known by the local nobles and forged stronger ties with them. She doesn't seem to have been terribly diplomatic either, as you say.

@@HistoryCalling Hi, rather late to the show, but just wanted to mention it was possible Matilda was influenced by the German politics of the time as she practically grew up in Germany. At that time the German dynasty of the Salier was in dire conflict with the German nobles, trying their hardest to enforce their royal supremacy on them. So maybe she gathered the impression you had to be tough and uncompromising towards your subjects if you wanted to rule them at all.

I think probably a bit of both. She doesn't seem like she was easy work to be sure, but then neither were a lot of men in her position.

@@HistoryCalling I wonder what Empress Matilda's relationship was like with her Daughter-in-law Eleanor? Two powerful personalities.

Yes, she was called Maud as well, though I don't know if it was short for Matilda, or just a different name (the way her mother was sometimes Edith, sometimes Maud). I must look up Pillars of the Earth. A few people have suggested it to me.

She was sometimes referred to as Maud to differentiate between her and the other Matildas of the time. It was mostly done by later historians. It's another form of disrespect of her because of her gender. None of the Kings or other male nobles had their names changed, even though there were a lot of Henry's.

It's on Prime Video.

@@Crusty_Camper The male monarchs garnered plenty of disrespectful nicknames though. Maud was not an uncommon alternate to Matilda. (I'm sure Elizabeth I never objected to hearing herself called Good Queen Bess.)

THANK YOU so much for your kind donation to the channel Sandra. I wonder that too sometimes. I also think it's funny to think that they'll be using things like the Facebook and Twitter archives and maybe even the KZfaq archives, including comments like ours here!

No problem. Honestly, I'm not sure Im going to continue with premieres. They don't seem to help viewer numbers at all. :-(

@@HistoryCalling The premiere time is six a.m. where I live, but I'm usually still up then.

Almost 500 views in under an hour!!

Yikes, 6am! I appreciate you staying awake for that. Sadly, 500 is actually really poor. It needs to do 1000 in the first hour to be what I consider 'on track'. It seems this early medieval stuff isn't really very popular. The White Ship did badly too. Back to a famous piece of royal jewellery next week though, so hopefully it will do a lot better than the last few videos.

I tell a lie. It's another medieval one, but it's corpse related. Maybe that'll still do better? Guess we'll find out!

Your channel is my favorite!!

Why thank you :-) Mind you, I wish more people had followed your example.

It's actually sleeting here in Northern Ireland too as I type this! ⛄

Your mysandy is showing through. Any monarch had to be "strong and authoritative" or were toast? Not only talk a good game but back it up in the saddle in the thick of it. Not many women had what Saint Joan of Arc had and actually fought with sword in hand when the arrows were flying. She was condemned for wearing male clothes but had earned the respect of her comrades-in-arms like Dunois and Ponton de Xantrailles. When she was ransomed, Charles VII whom she had crowned at Rheims and risked her life for, did not pay her ransom when asked. Ingratitude. I don't recall Charles VII being covered in glory on any battlefield. You just could not come on the scene and expect soldiers to risk their lives for you, that's just common sense if you weren't going to risk your life! The soldiers aren't "mugs" and know a good leader when they see one. Female or male? They'd never get past the audition. You earn respect, in the field and by putting your life on the line. The fact that she probably couldn't speak to them probably didn't help help her either. She was fluent in German being brought up at the Carolingian Court in Aachen from a little girl. Norman-French was probably a struggle for her and she was probably unable to speak English.

I know Edgar will probably disagree with me on this, but I do think sexism was a part of the problem here and I don't say that out of mysandry, but just because that was the nature of the times. A lot of Matilda's negative personality traits can be found in male rulers too (think what a nightmare Henry VIII could be), but they didn't lose their crowns for it. Acknowledging that double standard doesn't mean that one hates all men. There were other factors at play of course, but it seems unfair to expect her to ride into battle. No other English Queen has done that for instance, but their armies still fought for them. Joan of Arc was really the exception to the rule and that's one of many reasons she stands out so much. I do agree that it didn't help that Matilda had spent so much time out of England but I'm certain she'll have spoken fluent French. Her second husband was an Anjou after all, her children, father and siblings will have spoken French, she lived much of her life in what is now modern-day France and she'll have had an excellent education. I'm not so sure about English, but then much of the ruling elite at this time didn't speak it as the Conquest was still comparatively recent, so that's not a big mark against her. Anyways, it's certainly a fascinating debate to have regarding the reasons things in England didn't work out for her in the end. :-)

​@@English_Dawn Actually I think you are showing more of your biases than I am. First of all, where did I mention battle? Of course you had to back up your claim through martial might, that goes without saying. Very few monarchs ever had a challenge to their crowns without the need for violence of some sort either on the battlefield or via execution. Also women throughout history have been shown to be perfectly capable of being warriors (Scythians for example, had noted women warriors) so claiming that Joan of Arc was some sort of exception to the rule when she didn't even fight on the battlefield herself is...a tad condescending. Also you are completely ignoring the fact that there had been (and for centuries later continued to be) strict social rules on what either gender could and could not do. Women were not supposed to be in power and religion was often used to enforce this. Matilda struggled not just military but culturally as well because women were seen as inferior to men in terms of bodily strength and at this time they were considered spiritually and intellectually inferior to. Soldiers cared less about whether Matilda was a good ruler and more about how much she was paying them and how often. Also since the Conquest the lingua franca of the upper classes was French. Matilda could most definitely speak French. In fact, English was seen as a barbaric language below nobility to learn and only started to become commoner to speak around the time of Edward III.

You Go, Girl ! Seems so weird to me that 600-year-old White-Male-Supremecist arguments still rule, to this day. When you don't have a better argument to make, play the sexist card. I get it. History is what you make of it: Matilda Rules !!

Thanks Colette. She was indeed sometimes called Maud. It's interesting to speculate if the main problem was her gender or her personality. Possibly a man would have got away with more, or maybe even a man would have struggled when there was an alternative king alive and in the country at the time. We'll never know for sure I guess.

She-Wolves by Helen Castor dives into this further and acknowledges both Matilda's failings and the unfairness she suffered from because of her gender. Ironically Stephen was criticized for not displaying the same traits that Matilda herself was hated for. His faults were seen as feminine and hers as too masculine. There was no winning

Yes, it is surprising that he wasn't more interested in helping her, but then again maybe he just prioritised Anjou over England which is understandable given his own background. Also, given their difficult relationship, maybe they were happy to have an excuse for another separation?

It seems a little odd to me that Geoffry Plantagenet would go to Jerusalem and marry the Queen,or was that his Father, Fulk V?

@@jameshalley9763 HIs father, Fulk V, married Melisande the daughter of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem. She ruled as queen after her father's death.

I know. Sooo many Matildas. Surely it must have been confusing for people at the time as well?

@@HistoryCalling I believe so.I count at least six in the story of the white ship and the anarchy.

Hi Kalo. I hadn't heard that story before. Thank you for sharing :-)

Yes the Emperor paying homage to the pope at Canossa in the snow is famous though I can't say the phrase "Going to Canossa" us famous in the Anglo centric world.

@@English_Dawn If you know the plays of the famous Nobel prize winning Sicilian dramatist Pirandello she is one of the characters in his play "Henry IV" which deals with this historical event which is very important in both Italian and German history."Henry IV" was the Holy Roman emperor involved.

Hehe, best of luck claiming the throne. Remember your favourite history KZfaqr when you get there and maybe make me the official royal KZfaqr :-)

Cs @@HistoryCalling Sure. How-about Chancellor of the Exchequer, for you? That's where the real Loot is. I just want to wear the spinels and carry that bejeweled clobber-mace. Call me, "The Glitter King." Party all-night. Sleep with the hounds by-day. Camelot, only much funkier & fun. Pardons for Everyone! War-No-More ! Join me!!

I'M Spartacus, I tell you!🤣

That's the trouble with the Lords Appellant, Richard II kept grudges.

@@English_Dawn Little Dickie was SUCH a stinker. He sent agents posing as servants to Calais; stifled Grandpa Thomas to-death, under a feather-bed. Other Lords Appellant met similar grim fates. The manner of his assassination was so absurd; that when sad supporters memorialized Thomas of Woodstock with a commemorative stained-glass window, they rewrote History & made it look-like a Garroting. So-much for the 'sanctity' of History !! I'll stick to my "Jackobite"-style claim to that Worthless throne. 《Vive la Feather-bed !》

Matilda was brought up as a German and German was her natural language. She probably could have had a comfortable life in Aachen at the Imperial Court as a dowager Empress. She was recalled by her father and married someone she was unenthusiastic about. She probably pined for Germany.

Hmm, that is a really interesting point. I don't remember seeing anything in my reading which touched on it, but it's certainly not impossible that she was viewed as a bit Germanic. At the same time though I think it's worth noting that the 'English' royal family and aristocracy at this time were primarily French (we're only one or two generations away from the Conqueror after all), so it was quite common to have non-English rulers as well. I don't know anything about Aethelflead so I can't comment on her situation I'm afraid.

@@HistoryCalling I study the pre-Norman English. 1st amoung equals, in noble society, was common. How much it was actually practiced, I am not sure. I know most of the nobles were of Norman descent, but London was mostly English. I think this concept would have hung around for several decades after the Conquest even with the Normans, especially during stressful times like these.

@@HistoryCalling You are right. The Saxons had only recently been restored to throne when Edward the Confessor was king. It had been part of the Danish kingdom not long before. The majority were English -Speaking. The Normans were Johnny-come-latelies even by Matilda's reign. Norman-French, e.g. "Parlement", "Governement", "Assizes", "Appellant" was slowly getting thr upper hand and had just introduced rabbits to the English countryside and trial by juries had just taken over from trial by ordeal, carrying red hot iron bars and putting your hands into boiling water, it wasn't certain if trial by juries was the way to go from the "tried and trusted" trial by ordeal! The only measure William the Conqueror ever regretted even in a brutal time was the "Harrowing of the North". The North is where Christianity had been kept alive in The Dark Ages, St. Bede, St. Cuthbert, St. Aidan, St. Oswald. The Midland and Northern earls had not joined Harold at Hastings. He fought with only a third of his army. The Domesday Book of 1086 gets sparcer the further North you go. It was Matilda's uncle William II that got as far as Scotland. Important to remember the Lake District was NEVER conquered and was absorbed peacefully by the 1400's. It is remarkable how far people travelled in the Dark Ages to the Early Middle Ages when sea travel was perilous and roads were often impassable through often bandit country. So to members of the Saxon Royal family turning up in Central Europe was amazing. In the days before Easyjet the logistics of Matilda travelling to Aachen with her entourage and moveables must have been formidable. It always amazes me how Church people, abbots etc were in contact with Rome for even small matters, who was to be excommunicated, who owns which piece of land etc, before the internet. Sending what must have been an army of messengers over the Alps and when the Papacy spilt into two, to Avignon as well. Matilda doesn't seem to have gone to the Midlands or the North. She seems permanently to be in the old "Wessex" , London, Sussex, Wiltshire, Thames Valley and the West Country. So whoever was monarch their "writ" was small. Lancashire and Cheshire were awarded Palatinate status as was Durham. That means they were practically autonomous being so far from the Court. An Earl, Bishop in the case of Durham, called the shots not the monarch. They were hand-picked by the monarch and left to get on with it. Marchers were similar but probably had less powers. Like the Mortimers adjacent to Wales. The monarch tended to look the other way when they were increasing territory. It was only if they were really behaving badly would the monarch intervene. Think Wild West.

Yes, it has to be tough to not be affected by being an Empress when you're 12. That would make anyone a bit aloof I think. She was def. the inspiration for Rhaenyra Targaryen too, as you rightly point out. I don't know anything about her sister, but you've got me interested now :-)

@@HistoryCalling Persue it. It has everything. I don't understand why a movie hasn't been made about it. It's an amazing, albeit terrible, horrific, story. I mean 8t, it's horrendous!

Thanks Rob. It's just me I'm afraid (I wish I earned enough to have a team - that would be the dream life!). Ahh the history of Ireland is a bit messy indeed. Don't worry, you're not the first one to look at us and think 'I just don't understand what's happening there. How come they keep killing each other?' Have a wonderful Christmas too and greetings from Northern Ireland :-) 🎄⛄

You awake! Lass of mystery! Give my idea about Tudor lreland. If not keep up amazing work. Thank you again 👳👳

North . That's the posh bit! Never been myself. I'm from suffolk. Where worsley was born. Son of a butcher I think. Maybe do one on him ? Thank you again 👳👳

I see mysandry is alive and well. Matilda spoke German as her first language as she had been brought up there. Comfortable life as dowager Empress at the Carolingian Court in Aachen beckoned. Then she gets recalled by he father to Capetian France and Norman England. England where she probably couldn't speak the lingo, only Norman French and probably a smattering at that, to her nobles most of which saw her as a foreigner unlike Stephen.

@@English_Dawn Just levelling the playing field a little. Long way to go on that score. Giving your word, or swearing fealty, whatever actually happened at the time, obviously didn't mean that much to some. If a whole army was camped outside your property, then maybe a change of mind might be considered judicious, but I don't think that happened very often, too expensive and time consuming.

Yes, I def. think there was to it than that. It had a role to play of course, but it wasn't the only issue.

I blame Stephens wife's trade connections

Haha, yes that is pretty much what happened (though Stephen was physically closer to London too which helped).

Thanks Amy. Yes, he doesn't seem to have helped much. This was definitely her 'project' if you will.

She spoke mainly German. Was not too interested in Geoffrey of Anjou. She had been mainly brought up in Aachen in the Imperial Court. She probably could have had a comfortable life even if as a Dowager Empress but was recalled by her father. Tchuss!

@@English_Dawn Thank you Edgar for the info. I didn’t know much about her.

@@amymahers2957 You are welcome. There are many monarchs in England and generally most are skipped over especially on t.v. It's like the Tudors and Victoria take up most of the "bandwidth" there's precious little space for anyone else. Not a lot is recorded about Matilda, she spoke mainly German, had raven-black hair and would probably have spent her life in comfortable obscurity at the Carolingian Court had her husband not died and she became a pawn in the marriage market. One of the surprising thing of the Dark Ages and Early Middle Ages was the distances people travelled. The Anglo-Saxon royal family turning up in all sorts of places in Central Europe when sea-travel was hazardous and the roads largely unmettalled and impassable in bad weather in countryside peopled by bandits. The last people to build proper roads were the Romans. Their successors, the Angles, the Jutes, Goths and Visigoths were happier in forests getting drunk than constructing capital infrastructure projects. The Iron Age Britons would take clay from Roman roads to make their dishes and plates hence the name "potholes". England's Henry IV went as far as Lithuania with the Teutonic Knights on crusade. The Lithuanians were the last pagans in Europe in the 14th century.

@@English_Dawn I love HC and learning from her videos. She sets me on new paths and now you’ve set me on some new ones as well. I shall be busy this weekend!

I know. It's typical that that would happen :-) What I meant of course, was that you don't typically get the kind of really deep snow in the cities that Matilda was contending with any more, but yeah - that video would have to go out in the week when it actually snows in England! 😜

Basically, she's the real Rhaenyra Targaryen (if you're into House of the Dragon). It's quite a story. Hope you enjoy :-)

@@HistoryCalling HOTD recorded on Sky. Yet to watch!! Thanks.

It's really good. Not as good as GoT at its peak, but hopefully it'll have a more satisfactory ending.