Biography of Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England 1031-1083

Paternal Family Tree: Flanders

Maternal Family Tree: Gerberge Unknown Viscountess Anjou

1080 Christening of Edith Matilda of Scotland

1087 King William "The Conqueror" Dies King William II Succeeds

In 1028 [her father] Baldwin "The Good" V Count Flanders (age 15) and [her mother] Adela Capet Duchess Normandy (age 19) were married. She the daughter of [her grandfather] Robert "Pious" II King France (age 55) and [her grandmother] Constance Arles Queen Consort France (age 42). He the son of [her grandfather] Baldwin "Bearded" IV Count Flanders (age 48) and [her grandmother] Ogive Luxemburg Countess Flanders. They were half third cousin twice removed.

Around 1031 Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England was born to Baldwin "The Good" V Count Flanders (age 18) and Adela Capet Duchess Normandy (age 22).

Before 1051 King William "Conqueror" I of England (age 22) and Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England (age 19) were married. She the daughter of Baldwin "The Good" V Count Flanders (age 38) and Adela Capet Duchess Normandy (age 41). He the illegitmate son of Robert "Magnificent" Normandy I Duke Normandy and Herleva Falaise. They were third cousin once removed.

Around 1051 [her son] Robert Curthose III Duke Normandy was born to [her husband] King William "Conqueror" I of England (age 23) and Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England (age 20).

Around 1053 Lambert Flanders II Count Lens (age 37) and [her sister-in-law] Adelaide Normandy Countess Troyes and Meaux Champagne Aumale Ponthieu (age 23) were married. She the daughter of Robert "Magnificent" Normandy I Duke Normandy. He the son of Eustace Flanders I Count Boulogne and Matilda Reginar Countess Boulogne. They were fifth cousins.

Around 1054 [her son] Richard Normandy was born to [her husband] King William "Conqueror" I of England (age 26) and Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England (age 23).

Around 1056 [her daughter] Cecilia Normandy Abbess Caen was born to [her husband] King William "Conqueror" I of England (age 28) and Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England (age 25).

Around 1056 [her son] King William II of England was born to [her husband] King William "Conqueror" I of England (age 28) and Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England (age 25).

In 1057 [her daughter] Constance Normandy Duchess Brittany was born to [her husband] King William "Conqueror" I of England (age 29) and Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England (age 26).

Around 1061 [her daughter] Matilda Normandy was born to [her husband] King William "Conqueror" I of England (age 33) and Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England (age 30).

All About History Books

The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough, a canon regular of the Augustinian Guisborough Priory, Yorkshire, formerly known as The Chronicle of Walter of Hemingburgh, describes the period from 1066 to 1346. Before 1274 the Chronicle is based on other works. Thereafter, the Chronicle is original, and a remarkable source for the events of the time. This book provides a translation of the Chronicle from that date. The Latin source for our translation is the 1849 work edited by Hans Claude Hamilton. Hamilton, in his preface, says: "In the present work we behold perhaps one of the finest samples of our early chronicles, both as regards the value of the events recorded, and the correctness with which they are detailed; Nor will the pleasing style of composition be lightly passed over by those capable of seeing reflected from it the tokens of a vigorous and cultivated mind, and a favourable specimen of the learning and taste of the age in which it was framed." Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.

Before 1066 [her brother-in-law] Robert Mortain Count Mortain 1st Earl Cornwall (age 34) and Matilda or Maud Montgomery were married. She the daughter of Roger "The Great" Montgomery 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and Mabel Belleme.

After 1066 Odo Blois Count Troyes, Champagne and Aumale and 1st Earl Holderness (age 26) was created 1st Earl Holderness Feudal. There is some confusion around this creation. His wife, [her sister-in-law] Adelaide Normandy Countess Troyes and Meaux Champagne Aumale Ponthieu (age 36) may have been created Countess of Holderness with Odo holding it by right of his wife.

14th October 1066 Battle of Hastings

                    On 14th October 1066 the Norman army led by [her husband] King William "Conqueror" I of England (age 38) defeated the English army of King Harold II of England (age 44) at the 14th October 1066 Battle of Hastings fought at Senlac Hill Hastings. Aimery Thouars (age 42), Ralph de Gael 2nd Earl East Anglia (age 24), Eustace Flanders II Count Boulogne (age 51), William Fitzosbern 1st Earl Hereford (age 46), Geoffrey Chateaudun II Count Mortain III Count Perche, William Warenne 1st Earl of Surrey, Raoul Tosny, Robert Beaumont 1st Earl of Leicester Count Meulan (age 26), Hugh Grandesmil (age 34), Roger "The Great" Montgomery 1st Earl of Shrewsbury (possibly), [her brother-in-law] Robert Mortain Count Mortain 1st Earl Cornwall (age 35) and [her brother-in-law] Bishop Odo of Bayeux fought for William.
                
                    King Harold II of England was killed. Earl Wessex, Earl Hereford extinct.
                
                    Leofwine Godwinson 2nd Earl Kent (age 31) was killed. Earl Kent extinct.
                
                    His brothers Gyrth Godwinson Earl East Anglia (age 34) and Engenulphe Aigle (age 56) were killed.

Around 1067 [her daughter] Adela Normandy Countess Blois was born to [her husband] King William "Conqueror" I of England (age 39) and Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England (age 36).

In 1067 [her brother-in-law] Bishop Odo of Bayeux was created 1st Earl Kent.

On 1st September 1067 [her father] Baldwin "The Good" V Count Flanders (age 55) died at Lille.

Around 1068 [her son] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England was born to [her husband] King William "Conqueror" I of England (age 40) and Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England (age 37).

Coronation of Queen Matilda

On 11th May 1068 Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England (age 37) was crowned Queen Consort England at Westminster Abbey [Map].

Chronicon ex Chronicis. 1068. After Easter [23rd March], the countess Matilda (age 37) came to England from Normandy, and was crowned queen by Aldred, archbishop of York, on Whitsunday [1lth May]. After this, Mariesweyn and Cospatric, and some of the most noble of the Northumbrian nation, in order to escape the king's tyranny, and fearing that, like others, they might be thrown into prison, took with them Edgar (age 17) the etheling, with his mother Agatha and his two sisters, Margaret (age 23) and Christina (age 11), and, embarking for Scotland, wintered there under favour of Malcolm (age 36), king of Scots. Meanwhile, king [her husband] William (age 40) marched his army to Nottingham, Nottinghamshire [Map], and, having fortified the castle there, proceeded to York [Map], where he erected two strong forts, and having stationed in them five hundred men, he gave orders that strong castles should be built at Lincoln, Lincolnshire [Map] and other places.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 11th May 1068. This Easter came the [her husband] king (age 40) to Winchester, Hampshire [Map]; and Easter was then on the tenth before the calends of April. Soon after this came the Lady Matilda (age 37) hither to this land; and Archbishop Eldred hallowed her to queen at Westminster on Whit Sunday.

Flowers of History. 11th May 1068. Matilda (age 37), the wife of king [her husband] William (age 40), was consecrated queen on the day of Pentecost, by Aeldred, archbishop of York, on the twenty-second of March. [Note. The date a mistake. Pentecost the fiftieth day after Easter so usually in May. Pentcost known as White Sunday, or Whit-Sunday.] This year also, William had a son born in England, who was called [her son] Henry. For his first-born, [her son] William Rufus (age 12), and also [her son] Robert (age 17), were born in Normandy, before their father had conquered England.

In 1072 [her brother-in-law] Robert Mortain Count Mortain 1st Earl Cornwall (age 41) was created 1st Earl Cornwall.

Accord of Winchester

                    In 1072 the Accord of Winchester established the primacy of the Archbishop of Canterbury over the Archbishop of York. It was signed by ...
                
                    [her husband] King William "Conqueror" I of England (age 44) and Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England (age 41).
                
                    Archbishop Stigand.
                
                    Archbishop Ealdred who signed "I concede" whereas other signatories signed "I subscribe".
                
                    Bishop Wulfstan (age 64).
                
                    Herfast Bishop Chancellor.

All About History Books

The Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.

Before 1075 [her son] Richard Normandy (age 20) died in a hunting accident at New Forest, Hampshire. He was buried at Winchester Cathedral [Map].

On 8th January 1079 [her mother] Adela Capet Duchess Normandy (age 70) died at Messines.

Christening of Edith Matilda of Scotland

Around 1080 [her future daughter-in-law] Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England was christened at Dunfermline [Map]. [her son] Robert Curthose III Duke Normandy (age 29) was godfather, Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England (age 49) godmother.

In 1080 [her son-in-law] Stephen Blois II Count Blois and Chartres (age 35) and [her daughter] Adela Normandy Countess Blois (age 13) were married at Chartres [Map]. She by marriage Countess Blois. The difference in their ages was 22 years. She the daughter of [her husband] King William "Conqueror" I of England (age 52) and Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England (age 49). He the son of Theobald Blois III Count Blois (age 68) and Gersenda Maine Countess Blois. They were third cousins.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1083. And in this same year departed Matilda (age 52), queen of [her husband] King William (age 55), on the day after All-Hallow-mass [2nd November 1083].

On 2nd November 1083 Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England (age 52) died.

King William "The Conqueror" Dies King William II Succeeds

On 9th September 1087 [her former husband] King William "Conqueror" I of England (age 59) died at the Priory of St Gervaise, Rouen [Map]. He was buried at the Abbaye aux Hommes, Caen [Map], at a ceremony presided over by Gilbert Arques Bishop Evreux. [her son] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 19) attended. His son [her son] William (age 31) succeeded II King of England. His son [her son] Robert (age 36) succeeded III Duke Normandy.