England's Uncrowned Queen | Mother Of The Plantagenet Dynasty | The Formidable Empress Matilda
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ส.ค. 2024
- Empress Matilda should have been England's first queen regnant, all the way back in the 12th century. She was bride to the most powerful monarch in Western Europe, the only surviving legitimate grandchild of William the Conqueror, and was descended from many royal bloodlines. Yet her crown would be usurped by her cousin, Stephen, and the fact she was a woman would be used against her, not only at the time, but in the centuries afterwards to justify events. Empress Matilda was a formidable woman who would not stand down in the face of the expectations of her time, fighting for her crown for nearly two decades, eventually ensuring England's throne for her son to become Henry II. This video looks at her life, from a young princess in Germany, to her second unwanted marriage to a Count of Anjou, to her war against Stephen, to her eventual peaceful life as mother to the king...
YES, for some of you, this is a repeat! :) Empress Matilda made up the first three videos I ever made on my channel, but I've always wanted to redo them with better audio and images than I had at the time. I felt my 100th video was the perfect time to do this - if you have seen my originals, this has some new information in places, and the script has been tightened up.
For my images and footage, thanks to:
Pexels
Pixabay
Wikimedia Commons, especially:
Hel-Hama
MrsEllacott
Egjoni98
Hchc2009
Jebulon
Parma1983
hugh llewelyn
Katherine Weikert
Nilfanion
Bede735c
Copyleft
Selbymay
Dave Hitchborne
Gary Bembridge
Hadrianus1959
Gb4dot
Juan J. Martínez
Motacilla
Pitou250
Many of my images in this video were made with Midjourney, see if you can spot which ones! Other clips are from iStock or the sources listed above.
I strive to always credit everyone whose images I use, and try as much as possible to use images freely in the public domain (purchased where not possible) - please let me know if I have missed you so I can give you due credit.
![ถามตรงๆ กับ อาจตุพร ทำไม ประเทศไทย ใครเป็นนายก ก็โดนด่า พอออกเเล้วคนคิดถึง!!?? l [Nickynachat]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3YFLMXxBGAs/mqdefault.jpg)
Can't believe this is video #100! Seemed only fitting that I should commemorate the occasion by finally re-doing my very first videos, back when I had a cheap £10 mic and a free editing program, so hopefully you guys enjoy this up-to-date documentary about my very favourite queen in history. 😄
On another note, A HUGE THANK YOU to all of you! 🥰 This channel would be nothing without its viewers, you guys, and I love that you're here on this journey with me - some of you I know have been here literally since I started 2 years ago. And I love you for it, so much. So here's to many more years, hopefully a second channel at some point soon, and yes - Eleanor of Aquitaine and Matilda of Boulogne are getting the VIP treatment very soon too. 😉
awww I’m glad you got here too! Your videos really are amazing and the effort really shows🙏🙏
congratulations!
Well done!
Was she the inspiration for the king thrushbeard fairytale?
That would be awesome if she bears responsibility for that fairy tales.
Empress Matilda was always one of my favorite historical figures. I've learned about her in the context of Henry I and the Anarchy, but this is the first time I've learned anything about her early life in Germany. Excellent video!
It's certainly a part that often gets left out, but I think it was so integral to knowing that she had the skills to rule, not just the bloodline. And thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the video! 😊
@@HistorysForgottenPeopledid she get along with her father does anyone know?
@@leeannproctor47that's covered in the video. If I'm remembering the info in the video correctly, she left her father's House to prepare for the marriage he arranged for her at age 6. She returned to his House after her 1st husband died and followed his wishes for her. They had a falling out at a very important point. But you should really watch the video for all the specifics. I've watched it twice. It's worth watching
This feels so much like the historical inspiration for House of the Dragon, even Matilda's husband doing his own military campaign at Normandy and paying little attention to his wife's dealings in England sounds awfully like Daemon storming off to Harrenhal in order to raise his own army in the riverlands away from team black court.
It is the inspiration. George RR Martin used a lot of English history as inspo for his books.
What could explain that Geoffroy of Anjou focused more on Normandy than England is that he had no ties with england while Anjou and Normandy were rivals since the 10th century and the platagenet could become the most powerful house in France, even if Matilda failed with England.
Mom of king henry ii of England . Without her the Plantaganets would have never existed . ❤❤
Please make a video on isabell nevile duchess of Clarence. She is a truly forgotten woman .
Beautifully done video! I'm so glad TH-cam suggested it to me. I knew nothing about Empress Matilda when I started your video, and I'm very grateful for the care you obviously put into crafting this piece. I'll be subscribing and working my way through your videos.
I was so impressed by your video that I emailed it to my favorite teacher from high school. She taught me 3 different levels of English and was the first person to ever teach me about William the Conqueror. I think she will enjoy learning about his granddaughter as much as I have!
This is an outstanding overview of one of the most intriguing people of the Middle Ages. Thank you!!
Nice photos, audio, and great research! Haven't seen an in-depth video about empress Matilda until now! Really enjoyed it ❤️
Living 65 years was a feat in it's self but to have lived the long hard dangerous life Mitilda lived is just Amazing 👏 Thank you for such a detailed,so well presented vidio i realy enjoyed 😉 😀 ❤ looking farward to the next 😀 ❤ 😊 Thanks
She and her daughter in law, Eleanor of Aquitaine both lived long, eventful lives.
@@jamellfoster6029I think Eleanor lived into her 80s.
Feeling 100% sure that, amongst other English royal drama, Matilda's story inspired GRRM in writing The Dance Of The Dragons. Rhaenyra was also sworn fealty to when her father had no other heirs, learned of her father's death while pregnant, and fought a civil war for the throne.
I'm happy to know I've been secretly getting a history lesson while watching House of the Dragon.
Interesting 😊
Oh, DEFINTELY! And House of the Dragon, too - when I'm watching it at the moment with my husband, he must get annoyed with me pausing it and going, "That's just like what happened to Empress Matilda!" 😂😂😂
@@HistorysForgottenPeople Yeah but her father has legitime heirs, unlike Henry who didn't. Matilda was the only legitime.
Legitimate
@@animallover6645 I mean, William the Bastard was king by conquest, not legitimacy (he wasn't even a legitimate child of his father). At the end of the day, a claim to the throne is only valid insofar as it can be confirmed by bigger army diplomacy. And Stephen was as valid an heir as Matilda, considering Matilda's own father seized the throne from his own living elder brother Robert Curthose, instead of respecting the rights of primogeniture.
Omg. Two hours?! Thank you!!
I hope you guys enjoy it! 😊Definitely going to need more than two weeks if I do another long one like this though! 😂
@@HistorysForgottenPeople That would be pretty understandable lol you do such a great job of storytelling and I can only imagine how much research must go into each and every video. So far I’ve loved literally everything you’ve uploaded lol I’m certain I’m not the only one
I love all your videos, they are stunning. Could you post something about the sister of Anne Boleyn, Mary? I find her story extremely interesting and captivating. Thank you so much for all your work
Well worth the wait! Thank you! Xxx
I cannot belive my luck! I'm binging your history of Englands royal women in order, and as I'm watching the third part of your first Empress Matilda documentary - you upload this one! Must be fate haha. Congratulations on #100!
Does empress matilda have surviving portraits?
Hehehe, I hope you enjoyed both! 😊
Brilliant - thankyou very much indeed. Looking forward to the 100.....!!
Another great video about another great Mathilda Thanks!
Thank you so much! :) I know it's a repeat, in a way, but I've always felt bad that my first ones weren't up to the standard of my current ones, haha.
Which of these Anglo-Saxon consorts is your favorite?
1. Emma of Normandy
2. Edith of Wessex
3. Elfthryth of Devon
4. Ealdgyth of Mercia
Hmm. I think ultimately my favourite (although they're all impressive in different ways) has to be Emma of Normandy. She was queen of England TWICE, through her own determination to survive and protect her sons, she did protect her sons very well, she was intelligent and highly capable, and she was an excellent regent to boot. 😊
Boudicca!
This is the best video about "The Anarchy" I have ever seen.
This is a special one!! And one of your best videos too- the original ones were great, this one must be top notch!
Hi friend ! I hope you’re doing well and your studies are going well. Did know: Kaiser Wilhelm I was in love with a Polish woman but he could not marry her.
@@DarthDread-oh2ne Hello! My studies are done for now, thank God :) I didn’t know that, what was her name?
Awww, thank you! You know Empress Matilda is (not so secretly) my favourite of all time, so I couldn't just let her languish with my cheap £10 mic recording and free editing program forever! 😂😂 Hopefully soon I'll redo Eleanor of Aquitaine as well, as I think firstly she needs a do-over, and I probably missed a lot of stuff.
Elisa Radziwill
Empress Matilda was truly a fascinating woman. I first heard about her through the 'Pillars of the Earth' miniseries, and I was really happy to find your first wonderful documentary series about her. Im glad to watch your second in-depth, wonderful documentary about her. ❤
Me too! Pillars of the earth is how I learned of matilda.
@@user-fg9xz4bz3b 'Pillars of the Earth' is such a great miniseries! Love it! 👍🏾
I love this so much. Thank you!
Another wonderful history video on Matilda! Beautifully done. Thank you 💖
So very excited to watch this one!! I love the longer episodes, thank you so much! And congratulations on 100, I’ve enjoyed them all 🎉
Thank you so much! I'm planning on many more to come. 😊
I have just started to watch 👀 and i already know... Your the best 👌 👍 Thank you 😊
Aww, you just made my day! Thank you, I hope you enjoyed the video. 😊
2 hour video? we eating good today!
God damn I love this channel
What a badass!!
What a comprehensive and compelling video you have created about this fascinating woman. It seems she had many incredible lives, one after another. However, I’m definitely not a fan of hers.
I don’t doubt that her naturally regal bearing would have been seen as arrogant by her English detractors, but did wonder how much of this was used as an excuse for rejecting her? It seems there were very serious trade/financial issues at stake, treachery from the pivotal bishop and, maybe most importantly, universal dislike for her husband. Her husband was viewed as a foreigner and not trusted at a time when a husband’s authority over a wife was not questioned, one of the main reasons Elizabeth I gave for never marrying.
Under these circumstances, I really questioned her father’s wisdom in leaving her in such a position (if he didn’t actually change his mind as he neared death.) I wondered why he wouldn’t have negotiated some kind of settlement that would have hopefully provided more stability. Maybe he just kept believing he would have a son, until it was too late.
But I wondered the same of her. How could she allow such death and destruction for 19 years, especially when, no matter what she believed, she had no way to be sure her father had not changed his mind. This is not only plausible given the many obstacles she would face, the war it could and did bring, but that they were estranged.
It’s tragic that it wasn’t till an entire generation of destruction had passed that her son reached the compromise she should have done from the start, in my opinion.
I wonder how she could sleep at night with how many thousands of men, women and children brutally slaughtered for her futile hope of wearing yet one more crown on her head?
Honestly it isn’t really surprising when considering that a mere two generations past, her grandfather led the Norman invaders to rape, pillage and brutally murder their way across England, taking total control as if it belonged to them. I’d be ashamed to be the first Norman queen on that blood soaked throne.
You're right, the issues surrounding why she was rejected as a possible queen are definitely more layered than her just being female, although this was undoubtedly the excuse used - most likely because it was better than saying, "Honestly, Stephen gave us more stuff, and we don't want a 'foreign' count ruling us." As you say, Henry I would have made everything much stronger if he had perhaps firmly stated that Matilda would hold the crown until her sons were old enough to take over. Not something I agree with, but it would have worked for the time they lived in!
I do agree with your second statement, that Matilda also definitely put her own need to wear the crown above the needs of people in England, and there was absolutely an air of defiance about her actions that suggests she would never have stopped. Having said that, the question can equally be placed at Stephen's door - he also willingly left Normandy to fall into chaos (and didn't bother much with the north of England, either), and took a crown knowing it would cause problems. I honestly think both were as bad as each other! There's also the uncomfortable knowledge that at that time in the medieval period, ordinary people were believed (by themselves as well) to be part of a hierarchy that was designed to serve those above them. This included having to put up with your crops being burnt, and fighting on behalf of whoever was monarch that month, and you couldn't get out of it or you lost what little protection you might have had within your community. Both Stephen and Matilda treated themselves in the manner they had been brought up; that they came before the general population, and that only the church required any sort of input from themselves.
As you also point out, the example before both of them was their grandfather William the Conqueror, but his brutal take-over of England also wasn't unexpected at this point. Taking a crown by force was a legitimate way to become a king, and was seen as ordained by God if it happened. Neither Stephen nor Matilda would have batted an eye at the idea, although I'm sure the general populace saw it a different way. It was, for all its culture, religion and literature, a very brutal time to be alive. On top of this, both Stephen and Matilda (Matilda especially) had people siding with them and vehemently declaring they were the rightful sovereign - if you already have a sense of majesty, believe you should be monarch, and you surround yourself with people who agree, it's difficult to see beyond that.
I'll admit Empress Matilda is one of my favourite people in history (I'm afraid I probably wouldn't have given up on reclaiming my birthright either, although I like to hope I would have tried politics before war!), but I can' totally understand why a lot of people would also dislike her! 😂 It makes me wonder what sort of roles Stephen and Matilda would have today if they were alive in our time instead - perhaps two members of a business family sniping, like in Succession, haha.
Thanks for your additional insights! I have to admit to a really romantic, i.e. ignorant idea of these times that is nothing like reality, I’m sure. I kept trying to put myself more in mind of, say, “A Lion in Winter” to try to remember how incredibly rough life was then, and that’s for royalty. Absolutely savage in some respects, even in daily life. Of course, You’re right, people then would have had a totally different worldview and yes, still very primitive rule by conquest. (Not really different today sadly.)
I wonder if Matilda and Eleanor ever met? They don’t come much more formidable! It would be fantastic if someday you could bring the two together in a play to discuss their lives!
One finally passes along her dream to her son, Henry. The other invests her dreams in Henry her husband. In the end, there are no dreams about it. Husbands, sons, kings all, look to them to keep it all together.
If you haven’t heard it already, you might enjoy the BBC radio Comedy, “A Leopard in Autumn.” It was on TH-cam but most recently I found it on Internet Archive. I thought it was hilarious. And the brilliant Dame Sian Phillips did a perfect portrayal, very much in keeping with just the Matilda/Eleanor every kingdom needs to keep it on its toes!
Thanks for all your hard work and great research! Wishing you well.
Sharon Kaye Penman wrote an excellent series of fictional books about this period as well as through Henry II through Richard the Lionheart.
Similar to young Rhaenyra in the house of Dragon, a haunty woman. She was a child so she can grow out of it.
Holy shiz! How did I not know there was ever a “Courtney”+the 27th(bday) same interests, etc. Now I’m going to have to instantly find out any and all possible on her! Thank You!
Can you redo your video about Eleanor of Aquitaine
It won't be my next one, but YES! I'm re-doing Eleanor of Aquitaine at some point soon, as well as doing a new one on Matilda of Boulogne to complete them.
I loved Allison’s pill takes on her. In pillars of the earth
Hi, awesome live history video. I enjoyed it. How are you and Mallard your cat doing? I'm doing well, and so is my cat Benjamin. We have a heatwave in Ontario, Canada. How is the weather where you are? In the next video in the future could you do King William the second. He was king of england in the 10th century. Have a great weekend. See you next video 😊
Hi Michelle, we're doing well, thank you! I'm glad you and Benjamin are good, too. 😊Our weather is a bit dodgy at the moment, haha! We've had cold days with rain, but today is warmer and sunny - feel free to send some of that heat our way! I will add William II to my list, definitely, thanks for the suggestion!
@1:08 I have that same picture of Heny I in my family tree. It seems that he is my 19th great grandfather.
Mathilde = 26 for me. Odd that it is so far off.
The first time I read about her, betrothed to a grown man while she was a child, sent back to her father after being widowed, married off again, etc. I thought, Geoffrey the Fair… Athletic, handsome. Maud’s landed on her feet. “He was three months shy of his 15th birthday.” 😂😂😂
Can you imagine poor Geoff, coming back from hunting with his friends and walking into the woman he’s known of all his life as “The Empress” but WTF, I’m married to her now?
You redid it??????
I did! I felt bad that poor Empress Matilda had rubbish sound quality and dodgy editing, so I thought it was only fair to bring her 'up to date'. 😂😂😂
I can’t think of a question to match the occasion, but what are your thoughts on Eleanor of Provence? She seems to divide people👀👀
Oooh....Eleanor of Provence is tricky. I can't decide on her - I dislike her for some things, although I also have some sympathy for her. My main dislike of her comes from that medieval favourite - expelling Jewish people. It's a difficult one, because obviously it's a horrible thing to have done, but at the same time, Eleanor was born at a time where she was brought up to believe Jewish people were bad. Without knowing her motivation, we can't know if she was doing this because she thought she should, or if she was a raging racist. Either way, I don't like it, although as a historian I try to view it through the lens of the time.
She herself faced racism, of course, as the Barons and general population disliked her for bringing foreign members of her own family with her to England, who were then given lucrative positions in the government. I've got sympathy for her on that, and it certainly wasn't the only time in history that a foreign queen was instantly disliked by the population merely for not being English. Other good things - Eleanor loved reading, can't fault that, and she did a lot for the culture of the court and her time. She was also apparently a devoted mother and tried to be a good regent when Henry III was away.
I'm definitely doing a video on her at some point, because like you say, Eleanor divides opinion! She was very human, and had her good points and her bad points - but like everyone in a high position of society, Eleanor had to be a paragon of virtue or she was the total opposite LOL.
❤
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
My 25th great grandmother.
Poor Matilda. On an unhappy second marriage.
That's my mom's name❤❤❤
Hey there spicy chicken
How was she only raised by her parents till 8, how could her parents instill in her how she should behave? Who took over to look after her when she was sent away or did she have a nanny?
On the scale of the Titanic?
lol! Henry I didn’t wait for the death of his 3 older brothers to become king of England. Hell, he kept one of them prisoner until he died of old age.
Narrator's voice a little hard to stomach. Too bad
Way better than the AI. It's kind of fun voice for me :)
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤amenamenamen❤❤❤❤❤❤❤😂
annoying and very boring