Matilda (Maud), Princess of England

     Matilda (Maud), Princess of England was born on 5 August 1102 at Winchester, Middlesex, England; Matilda was born into a powerful ruling class of Normans, who owned property in both England and Normandy.

The daughter and heir of Henry I, king of England and ruler of Normandy, she went to Germany as a child when she was married to the future Holy Roman Emperor Henry V. She travelled with the emperor to Italy in 1116, was controversially crowned empress in St Peter's Basilica, and acted as the imperial regent in Italy. Matilda and Henry V had no children.^1,2 She was the daughter of Henry I Beauclerc and Edith Matilda of Scotland. Matilda (Maud), Princess of England married Geoffrey V of Anjou, son of Fulk V of Anjou and (?) Ermengarde of Maine, on 22 May 1127 at Le Mans, Sarthe, France; While there was a great deal that occurred before this marriage, Matilda appears to have been unimpressed by the prospect of marrying Geoffrey of Anjou. She felt that marrying the son of a count diminished her imperial status, and she was probably also unhappy about marrying someone so much younger than she was; Matilda was 25 and Geoffrey was 13.

Geoffrey's marriagee to Matilda, dau of Henry I, and then through son, Henry II, led to the Plantagenet dynasty in England.

So much occurred here while they were married, but a reader needs to look elsewhere. A very powerful couple, whose history can not be told in a paragraph or two.^1,3,4 Matilda (Maud), Princess of England died on 10 September 1167 at Rouen, France, at age 65.² She was buried at Abbey of Bec, France; The tomb was destroyed by fire in 1263, and her remains were found wrapped in ox hide when it was restored in 1282. Finally the church was demolished in 1841, her lead coffin discovered in 1846, and she was moved to the cathedral church of Rouen.²