Queen of the Conqueror: The Life of Matilda, Wife of William I (50 page)

  
4.
GND, II, pp. 225, 227.

  
5.
GRA, I, p. 475.

  
6.
OV, II, p. 281; GND, II, p. 147. Orderic Vitalis claims that fitzOsbern had been instructed to act as coregent with Matilda, but this is not supported by any other source. Neither is his assertion that the English king went in person to Flanders to take up arms on Arnulf’s behalf, although it is likely that William returned to Normandy for a brief spell around that time.

  
7.
OV, II, pp. 215, 217, 218. Malmesbury claims that fitzOsbern was eager to undertake the mission because he hoped to marry the widow Richildis, for whom he had a consuming passion. However, his account of the revolt as a whole is severely flawed, and his claim is not corroborated by any other contemporary source. GRA, I, p. 475. Nevertheless, Douglas asserts that there was some truth in it. He claims that it was Richildis who sought fitzOsbern’s aid, offering herself in marriage to him and placing her son Arnulf in his wardship. According to his account, her offer was accepted with alacrity. Douglas,
William the Conqueror
, p. 217.

  
8.
GND, II, p. 225.

  
9.
OV, III, pp. 215, 217.

10.
The tale of Agatha’s betrothal to Edwin is told by the nineteenth-century poet H. M. Carey in
Matilda of Normandy
, p. 42n. Turgis also relates that Agatha was betrothed to Edwin, “beau frère d’Harold,” whom she loved deeply, and that when he was killed in the revolt, she was so inconsolable that she rejected any further talk of matrimony by taking the veil. Turgis, p. 41.

11.
OV, II, pp. 280–82.

12.
Ibid, p. 285. The reference to “another brother” is a mistake. Orderic Vitalis claims that Arnulf was Robert’s brother, whereas he was in fact his nephew.

13.
Ibid.

14.
GRA, I, p. 481. This took place in the autumn of 1085 and posed such a threat to William’s rule that he drafted in “a larger force of mounted men and foot soldiers from France and Brittany than had ever come to this country, so that people wondered how this country could maintain all that army.” Chibnall,
Anglo-Norman England
, p. 37. All his preparations were for nothing: Cnut was murdered before any invasion force could be launched.

15.
OV, II, p. 285.

16.
Bates,
William the Conqueror
, p. 37.

12:
“MATILDA, WEALTHY AND POWERFUL”

  
1.
GND, II, p. 183.

  
2.
Bates,
William the Conqueror
, p. 164.

  
3.
These were exclusive to England, because the Norman dukes did not have crowns—this was the prerogative of their nominal overlord, the king of France. Even so, William and Matilda did bend the rules slightly by wearing their English crowns at great occasions of state in Normandy.

  
4.
As such, William followed a similar pattern to his predecessor, who had tended to celebrate these festivals at the same locations. The annals of Winchester claim that the Christmas crown-wearings took place at Worcester, but most other sources concur that they were usually at Gloucester. Stevenson, “Annals of the Church of Winchester,” p. 356. An excellent analysis of these gatherings, including their origins, is provided by M. Biddle, “Seasonal Festivals and Residence: Winchester, Westminster and Gloucester in the Tenth to Twelfth Centuries,” vol. VIII (1985), pp. 51–72.

  
5.
ASC, p. 402.

  
6.
Bates,
William the Conqueror
, p. 168.

  
7.
Bates,
Regesta Regum
, pp. 247, 276, 287, 293. The most elaborate of these is
coniunxque sua reginarum nobilissima, Baldoini incliti ac strenuissimi Flandrensium comitis filia regisque Francorum Henrici neptis clarissima
. See also H.W.C. Davis, I, p. 41.

  
8.
See, for example, Farrer, vols. I–III, nos. 559, 1002; vol. IV, no. 1; vol. VI, no. 1; Stafford, “Women and the Norman Conquest,” pp. 244–45.

  
9.
W. W. Skeat (ed.),
Aelfric, Lives of the Saints
, Early English Text Society, vol. II (London, 1900), p. 6.

10.
A useful analysis of Domesday Book’s references to the queen’s household before and after 1066 is provided by Stafford,
Queen Emma and Queen Edith
, Appendix II, pp. 306–23.

11.
Morey and Brooke, p. 538.

12.
Wright,
Anglo-Latin Satirical Poets
.

13.
Bates,
William the Conqueror
, p. 145.

14.
Stafford,
Queens, Concubines and Dowagers
, p. 98.

15.
Van Caenegem, p. 157.

16.
Gathagan provides an excellent analysis of Matilda’s judicial role in the context of her predecessors and contemporaries in chapter 4, “Embodying Power,” pp. 145–73.

17.
Riley, pp. 189–91; Clover and Gibson, pp. 45, 47, 49.

18.
Bates,
Regesta Regum
, pp. 307–14; Stevenson,
Historical Works of Simeon of Durham
, p. 555.

19.
Bates,
William the Conqueror
, p. 152.

20.
Bates,
Regesta Regum
, p. 869. For another example, see pp. 619–20.

21.
Ibid., pp. 201–9, 463–65, 594–601, 603–4, 863–65. The grant for St.-Martin-le-Grand was one of the first English charters in which Matilda was involved, for it was confirmed at her coronation in 1068. Matilda’s signum is also found on a diploma relating to Worcester Cathedral, but as this has been reliably dated to 1067, her signature must have been added after her arrival in England. Ibid., pp. 987–90.

22.
Eadmer, p. 12.

23.
OV, II, p. 239.

24.
Ibid., IV, pp. 45, 47.

25.
Gundulph had a talent for architecture as well as religious observance. William employed his skill in the construction of various key Norman buildings, most notably the Tower of London.

26.
See, for example, Morris, vol. V, no. 53:2; XXIII, no. 3:4.

27.
Strickland, pp. 9, 57.

28.
When they refused, Thurstan summoned armed retainers, who “shot cruel arrows in their midst,” killing several monks. OV, II, p. 271.

29.
GRA, I, p. 727.

30.
Morris, vol. XV, no. 1:24.

31.
Houts,
Normans in Europe
, p. 199.

32.
GRA, I, p. 351.

33.
GG, p. 115.

34.
Stafford,
Queen Emma and Queen Edith
, p. 55.

35.
While a queen or consort might be afforded some attention in contemporary chronicles, farther down the social scale the lives of women in the early medieval
period are typically obscure. The rise of monasticism afforded them some distinction, but only if they enjoyed particular longevity or were extraordinarily generous in their benefactions. A cousin of Matilda named Beatrice of Valenciennes was among those considered worthy of note. She married Gilbert, son of Richard of Heugleville, who shared kinship with Duke William. According to Orderic, he was a great-grandson of William’s uncle, Duke Richard II. This made the two men cousins, albeit distant. Richard had established a town at Auffay in the region of Talou, Normandy, and founded a priory of secular canons there, which was linked to the influential monastery of St.-Évroult. His son Gilbert gained renown as a soldier in William’s forces, but was evidently a pious man. Although he took part in the Norman invasion of England in 1066, he refused to take his share of the spoils and instead focused his energies upon developing the priory of Auffay. His wife was no less devout, and it was at her suggestion that the secular canons were replaced by monks in 1079. OV, III, pp. xix–xx.

36.
Hilton, p. 420, provides an excellent analysis of the role of women in
Beowulf
.

13:
A “WHOLLY WRETCHED MOTHER”

  
1.
ASC, p. 209.

  
2.
Eadmer, p. 26.

  
3.
He was referred to as duke in a number of charters, and by his father’s biographer, Jumièges. Bates,
William the Conqueror
, p. 152.

  
4.
Bridgeford, p. 209. It has been estimated that Odo’s total fortune in England was worth £43.2 billion in modern money. Ibid.

  
5.
ASC, p. 219; Eadmer, p. 17.

  
6.
OV, II, p. 265.

  
7.
Ibid., pp. 203, 205.

  
8.
Ibid., p. 202n. By contrast, Poitiers praises their “wise vigilance” and strong sense of justice and claims that the English rebelled without provocation. GG, pp. 181, 183.

  
9.
Pelteret, p. 83.

10.
The document was a confraternity agreement signed by Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester, and various other important English ecclesiastics sometime between 1075 and 1078. It included a declaration of loyalty to William and Matilda. Mason, “Wulfstan of Worcester.”

11.
Delisle,
Receuil de Travaux d’Erudition
, pp. 223–24.

12.
Rudborne,
Historia Major
, cited in Strickland, p. 99.

13.
ASC, p. 212.

14.
GRA, I, p. 503.

15.
Ibid.

16.
Cowdrey,
Register of Pope Gregory VII
, p. 75.

17.
Ibid., pp. 357–58.

18.
GND, II, p. 71. See also Crispin.

19.
Bates,
Regesta Regum
, pp. 564–65.

20.
Ibid., pp. 621–23.

21.
It is not clear who Hugolin of Cherbourg was, or what his offense had been. Round, p. 425; Bates,
Regesta Regum
, pp. 638–39.

22.
Riley, p. 194.

23.
GRA, I, p. 505.

24.
OV, III, p. 115.

25.
Less credibly, in his original text, Malmesbury claims that Richard “caught some sickness from breathing the foggy and corrupted air.” There was an outbreak of malaria in Hampshire at that time, but the fact that most sources refer to an accident involving hunting makes this the more likely cause of death. GRA, I, p. 505. See also GND, II, p. 216n; Bates,
William the Conqueror
, p. 159; Strickland, pp. 76–77.

26.
OV, III, p. 115.

27.
According to the educational traditions of the day, boys were dubbed a knight between the ages of thirteen and twenty-two, after emerging from childhood. Barlow,
William Rufus
, pp. 13, 13n, 16. This means that Richard might have been even younger when he died. Aird points out that Richard’s brothers were all knighted in their mid- to late teens, and therefore asserts that Richard’s death could well have been as early as 1069. Aird,
Robert Curthose
, pp. 56–57. Robert of Torigni, one of the more reliable of the early medieval chroniclers, claims that Richard was killed in 1074, when he was about nineteen. GND, pp. 251, 279.

28.
OV, III, p. 115.

29.
Williams,
The English and the Norman Conquest
, pp. 79n, 80. See also Stafford,
Queen Emma and Queen Edith
, p. 312. It is not known why Matilda chose Eadgifu for this benefaction. The woman may have been known to her through her chamberlain, Humphrey, from whom Eadgifu held her lands. William made a similar bequest in Richard’s memory by granting the town of Tewin in Hertfordshire to a man named Halfdane.

30.
Musset, “La Reine Mathilde,” p. 193.