Hi my name is
Jon and welcome to another edition of History Roadshow.
This lady was born into wealth; her father was Count Eustace of Bologne.
Her mother was Mary, the younger daughter of Malcolm
Canmore and Margaret of Scotland.
Eustace was a famous crusader of the time alongside his brothers
Godfrey and Baldwin, who had both been Kings of the newly
established Christian realm out in the Holy Land.
Eustace had also been offered the same role, but he stayed home
and sought to help his daughter find the man of her dreams.
However, the era was considered a perilous time.
Eustace was one of those rare people we talk about in history,
being what you'd call today the perfect gentleman.
When it came to his daughter getting married,
he permitted her to choose whoever she wanted.
She did, and her choice was Stephen of Blois, a man
she would remain with throughout the rest of her life.
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and with that said, lets begin todays story.
Stephen was quite some way below Matilda
in status; he was the youngest son of the Count of Blois,
so he had little in the way of opportunity to gain any control on his father's
death as that would go to his elder brother Theobald.
However, Stephen's saving grace was on his mother's side of the family.
His mother was Adele, daughter of William the Conqueror.
It would be through his mother that Stephen gained the upper hand.
She doted on him and oversaw his life in an authoritarian way.
She even advised her brother Henry of England that this lad
was literally the bee's knees when it came to marrying Matilda.
Stephen was said to be a fine-looking chap.
He was tall and fair, with lots of charisma to charm any girl.
Henry was so enamoured by this coming together of this twosome
they were invited to London.
Not only that, but he built them a private residence, said to be
almost equal to the Tower of London yet far more comfortable.
It was here the couple settled down
into married life, both being the sensation of the court.
You see, half the women at court drooled when they saw Stephen.
I know how he feels!
But he would dote on his wife, and the couple were pretty much inseparable.
When Empress Matilda returned to her father's court in England, she,
like many others, liked very much what she saw!
Although Stephens Matilda knew what the empress was up to,
she held back on making any remarks that could unsettle life at court.
The two Matildas would both be vying for this man; eventually,
Stephen's wife held on for the victory.
Matilda had a son called Baldwin, but sadly he died.
She then had another boy and named him Eustace.
On seeing this now, the empress possibly realised
there was no chance of a romantic engagement, and her fantasies were over.
The wedge
she hoped that would split Stephen from his wife never materialised.
The empress wasn't about to give up yet she always
she always found a way of leaving the court only to return.
It seems she couldn't fully let go, but when she did come back
it usually meant trouble.
Stephen, in all this, was quite the gent; it's said he only ever had one affair
in his life with a lady called Dameta, who had three children by him.
But this happened before his marriage,
and no evidence exists that he ever strayed from his wife.
The empress eventually gave up and returned to Geoffrey Plantagenet;
where she would give birth to a son, Henry.
Stephen pounced on the throne in 1135 after the death of Henry.
He was crowned on Christmas day, with his wife and son by his side.
But this would mark a steady downturn in fortunes for the family
eventually prove to be one of the weakest kings ever to sit on the throne.
His troubles began when he made promises to just about
everyone, his barons, the church and even the general public.
Yet these were promises he couldn't keep, and his barons
quickly realised he had set open a trap door
and one in which he would find difficult to climb out.
In 1139 the empress returned again, but this time
to overthrow the king and claim the kingdom.
A civil war was inevitable; the laws of the land had suddenly come
tumbling down after all the hard work of the former ruler
to galvanise the country and exact peace across Anglo Saxon and Norman kingdoms.
It was a time of tyranny and anarchy.
Stephen had got himself in a bit of a mess and was struggling with what to do next.
Matilda didn't sit back and watch the fall.
She took her son to France to arrange a marriage
between him and Constance, the very young sister of Louis VII.
It was agreed and would give Stephen's heir
a claim to both England and Normandy if the marriage was successful.
Matilda returned to England in 1140, happy with her work,
but she found that the empress's forces had captured her husband.
Stephen was safe in the East and London, but beyond, he was considered fair game.
Unfortunately for him, he travelled to Lincoln to gain support,
but that would be a wrong move.
He was taken and imprisoned at Gloucester under the watchful of the empress.
Matilda was distraught
by these revelations and requested a meeting with the empress.
She begged the empress to let her husband go and promised he would
give up the throne and leave the country and she would reside in a nunnery.
It was a way of saying to the empress that she understood all the previous
sexual jealousy the empress had held for her husband and herself.
The empress was not in the mood to listen.
She scorned at what she thought was a feeble attempt
to release Stephen and told Matilda that no further discussions would occur.
Matilda, now on a war footing, gathered as many as she could of
Stephen's scattered force and began to make plans.
Back in London, the empress was heading into town looking to claim the throne.
She was accompanied by Robert of Gloucester, her right-hand man, but
although the people accepted this change, the empress would cause an uproar.
She treated the public as enslaved people and raised taxes beyond their reach.
It, of course, caused a fierce
rebellion; the Londoners rose as one and turned on the empress.
They were forcing her now to retreat to a safer haven of Oxford.
Although it didn't end there, Matilda joined forces
with the growing army with one goal now to chase down the empress.
Again the empress attempted to flee, but her leading man
Robert was this time captured.
It gave Matilda an opportunity to exchange him for her husband.
There was no word from the empress.
Matilda then went to the wife of Robert and told her that if she did not
do the exchange, her husband
would spend the rest of his life in a dungeon in Boulogne.
Amabel, without consulting the empress, agreed, and Stephen rode free.
He was reunited with his beloved Matilda once again; they would travel to Lincoln,
but this time to be crowned the king of England for a second time.
Stephen never really learnt from his mistakes, he had a chance
to capture the empress at oxford castle after he lay siege,
but somehow she managed to escape yet again.
Eventually, peace would return but not in a way you'd expect,
it was only on the death of Robert of Gloucester
the news reached the empress, and now she realised the game was up,
she fled England with her son Henry to Anjou.
The ongoing wars had affected the royal couple.
Matilda was utterly drained after her heroism in releasing her husband
from his cell.
She would die on 3 May 1151, at Heningham castle in Kent.
Stephen was completely lost without his wife,
now buried in their newly built abbey at Faversham.
Within two years, Eustace Matilda's son had also died;
Stephen's will to live now had diminished so much; just one year
later, at the age of 52, he was buried by his wife.
Today the tombs have gone, apparently covered over by Henry II.
It's no wonder, given what Stephen did to England.
Even now, it should not be forgiven or forgotten.
During his 19 year reign, a third of the population
died through war and starvation and hardship caused by his barons.
Matilda did her very best in life.
She protected her husband as much as possible and truly loved him,
that is clear, but Stephen let her down by lack of leadership skills.
In the twelfth century, Queen Matilda, also known as Matilda of Boulogne,
was one of the most influential monarchs in England.
The Queen was an integral part of Stephen's defence
of the throne and the kingdom throughout this period.
She established herself as an effective leader
as a result of her efforts, she was instrumental
in reversing the civil war's tide at the Rout of Winchester 1141.
Matilda of Boulogne accomplished much more in her own
right than her military prowess and devotion to her husband's cause.
She supported the Knights Templar and helped establish numerous abbeys
and temples.
According to Matilda's epitaph, "If ever a woman deserved
to be carried to Heaven by angels' hands, it was this holy queen."