MATILDA OF BOULOGNE

Matilda. Descended from Charlemagne and of parents who were both Crusaders, she was no passive figure in the years of the Anarchy . In 1124 Matilda was married to the young Count Stephen of Blois, bringing with her the promise of a large inheritance - the county of Boulogne and vast estates in England. It was estimated that the honour of Boulogne was worth one hundred and twenty knights' fees. Maud, the Empress was out of the kingdom. when King Henry I died in 1135 With the support of the barons, Stephen claimed the throne. Maud with all the resources at her disposal set out to press her own claim. But Stephen had control of the royal treasury and the advantage of a formal coronation. Matilda of Boulogne was a worthy descendant of the Anglo-Saxon and Scottish kings, for she played a fearless and resourceful part in the civil war between her husband King Stephen and her cousin the Empress .Throughout the war that followed until her death in 1151, Queen Matilda led her husband's troops in sieges and battles, and bargained at the court of the French king for recognition and aid. One of her most dangerous exploits was the siege of Dover Castle in 1138. Leading the assault on land in person, she called up her vassals from Boulogne to attack by sea. By the time her husband rode up to join her, the battle was won.

In 1140 Matilda represented her husband at the peace negotiations in Bath, firmly refuting all attempts by the Empress to have the dispute submitted to ecclesiastical judgment. Stephen's was captured by the Empress's army at the Battle of Lincoln and imprisoned. Matilda was undaunted. The Empress had been ejected from London and, riding from the south with a band of Kentishmen, the Queen rode in unopposed .

Although Matilda lived to see some semblance of peace, and to enjoy her husband's restored fortunes, she died before she could see the claim of her son Eustace passed over and the crown promised to the Empress's son Henry. Her own surviving children were left with the counties of Blois and Boulogne - the crown of England forever denied to them.

Though always involved in her husband's affairs to the exclusions of all else, Matilda remembered her duty to the Crusading ideals of her forefathers; in 1137 she gave lands to the Templars in Essex, and gave more estates in 1139. Queen Matilda, like her cousin the Empress, was an exception to the rule.Queen Matilda died on May 3, 1151, and her husband followed her three years later.