The Norman Queens & Consorts of England 2/8

[Music] queens and consorts of england part two the normans the lives of the many kings and handful of queens regnant who have held dominion over the kingdom of england and later the united kingdom takes center stage in history but the lives of their spouses and mothers are often relegated to the wings in this series we will learn the stories of the mini queens consort and the handful of male consorts who have been at the monarch's sides through love hate adultery and sometimes murder these women and men have played vital roles in the history of england 1066 was a pivotal year in english history king harold godwinson's death in the battle of hastings opened the gates for the norman invasion and a change in the anglo-saxon way of life william the conqueror was crowned king of england on christmas day and he and his norman knights overhauled england's political structure legal system and defenses they married noble anglo-saxon women in order to integrate into their new country king william's wife ally and queen was matilda of flanders daughter of count baldwin v ruler of flanders in the modern day netherlands and adella of france daughter of king robert ii of the franks when william only a duke at the time wrote to ask for her hand she refused replying that she was too high born to marry him william didn't take her rejection well he rode to flanders and confronted her on her way to church he is said to have pulled her off her horse by her braids and thrown her onto the ground after this violent incident matilda agreed to marry him unusual for the time william is believed to have been faithful and is not known to have fathered any illegitimate children the couple had 10 offspring including the future william ii and henry the first of england and adella who married the count of blue and was the mother of king stephen of england matilda took a great interest in her children's well-being and her sons and daughters received impressive educations fifteen years into her marriage william set his eye on claiming the english throne matilda supported his venture with the gift of a warship the mora on which he sailed to england she stayed behind to rule normandy as regent in 1068 the newly minted queen came to england to visit her husband and be crowned in westminster abbey she also accompanied her husband on a campaign of terror and brutality against northern lords who had risen up against him matilda gave birth to her youngest son henry while on the march she also sought revenge on an old flame the former english ambassador to flanders who had rejected her teenage infatuation now as his sovereign queen matilda used her power to confiscate the ambassador's land and throw him in prison where he died it seems neither william nor matilda could handle rejection matilda died at the age of 51. william swore to give up hunting and grief over the death of his beloved queen he left the throne of england to their son william ii rufus william never married most likely because he preferred the company of men he was murdered by his brother henry while the pair were out hunting henry the first was proclaimed king in 1100. his wife was matilda of scotland the daughter of king malcolm iii of scotland and margaret of wessex later saint margaret a loving well-educated and deeply pious mother at her baptism queen matilda of flanders stood as her godmother and namesake the infant pulled the queen's headdress down on herself and this was seen as an omen that the baby would one day wear a crown of her own at six matilda was sent to be educated at an abbey in southern england where her aunt was abbess as the princess entered adolescence her pedigree as the descendant of both the scottish and anglo-saxon royal families made her an attractive bride to the normans her aunt feared the lust of the norman lords and encouraged her to take holy vows and become a nun her father forbade her to do so as she was a valuable asset on the marriage market and was being considered as a bride for king william ii of england but before a marriage could take place scotland and england went to war matilda's father and brother were killed in battle and her mother died of grief a messy conflict ensued over the scottish succession which resulted in her brother edgar seizing the throne once henry the first sees the throne of england he proposed to the scottish princess in the hopes of brokering peace and using her anglo-saxon heritage to legitimize his own reign it is through her that the current royal family can trace their ancestry back to ethelstan the first king of england king henry had known matilda for many years and he is said to have been quite fond of her he admired her intelligence and didn't mind that she dressed modestly and refused to paint her face as other ladies did but it was unclear if she had taken holy vows therefore making marriage a sin against god she testified that she had been offered the veil but had thrown it off and stomped on it as queen matilda gave generously to the poor she attended mass barefoot on lint and washed the feet and kissed the hands of the sick she built public lavatories and bath houses with piped in water and leprosy hospitals she was a patron of arts music and architecture and built the first arched bridge in england as an anglo-saxon she was much more popular with the people than her norman husband she served as regent several times when king henry was at war and traveled the country extensively to broker peace among her people henry was notoriously unfaithful and fathered many children out of wedlock he had two children with his queen a daughter matilda and a son william queen matilda died at 38 and was buried at westminster abbey king henry would have been content to remain a widower and womanize but two years after his queen's death his only legitimate son and heir perished in a drunken shipwreck with only a daughter left the king remarried in the hopes of producing an heir adeliesa of luvon was the daughter of the count of leuvon in modern day belgium and was referred to as the fair maiden she was 18 when she came to england to marry the 53 year old king henry to increase the chances that she would conceive henry had adeliesa travel with him wherever he went to wage war she prayed that she might become pregnant but she never did king henry was severely depressed about the future of the kingdom and suffered frequent nightmares it is said that after his son died he never smiled again unlike her husband queen adeliesa was able to find some joadave she was a patron of arts and popularized french literature at the english court after 15 years of marriage henry died the dowager queen married one of the late king's advisors the couple lived at her castle by the sea and had seven children while adeliesa was living out her tranquil life england was falling into civil war over her late husband's crown henry the first had named his daughter empress matilda as his heir but england had never before been ruled by a queen many favored henry's nephew stephen of blue who sailed to england to take the throne before matilda could get there his queen was matilda of balone daughter and heir of the count of balone and of mary daughter of saint margaret of scotland she was a first cousin of queen matilda of scotland when her father died she and stephen became joint rulers of bologna they also held land in england and spent a good deal of time there matilda was unusually politically active for a woman of her time when steven saw the chance to seize the english throne she supported him but had to remain behind as she was heavily pregnant after giving birth she traveled to join her husband and was crowned queen of england empress matilda was building an army in france to reclaim the english throne when she finally struck queen matilda proved to be king stephen's greatest ally she called troops from france to defend her husband and rode north to forge a treaty with king david the first of scotland empress matilda captured stephen in battle and held him prisoner for four years during this time she was crowned queen of england the first queen regnant in the country's history matilda of balone built up support for her husband and eventually chased the empress out of london and captured her half-brother the two matildas met and exchanged prisoners and once free stephen again took throne matilda of bologna died a fever at the age of 46. during empress matilda's brief and disputed four-year rule england had its first male royal consort jeffrey plantagenet count of anjou was handsome red-haired jovial and a renowned warrior his nickname plantaginate sprung from the yellow sprig of broom blossoms or in latin plantae jainist he wore in his hat when the dowager empress matilda returned to england after the death of her first husband holy roman emperor henry v her father arranged her marriage to jeffrey he was 15 and matilda 26 jeffrey's father left him to rule anju while he went on crusade to become king of jerusalem jeffrey and matilda had a stormy marriage oscillating between happiness and hot tempers when her father died jeffrey supported her claim to the english throne and backed her with an army of 140 nights he helped her take normandy also part of her birthright and stayed there to secure it while matilda traveled on to take england back from her cousin stephen jeffrey proclaimed himself duke of normandy and was busy there putting down rebellions when matilda lost favor with the english and lost her throne jeffrey died a year later a fever at 38. his son would go on to found a new dynasty bearing his name of plantagenet but first he had to win the crown back from king stephen henry was greatly helped by his powerful wife eleanor of aquitaine a highly intelligent woman with an outstanding education when she was 15 her father died and she inherited the substantial duchy of aquitaine fearing that she would be kidnapped and forced to wed her father had named king louis vi of france as her guardian the king immediately married her to his own son and claimed her lands louis then died and the young couple became king and queen of france king louis vii adored his beautiful and worldly bride while she was rather disappointed to find herself married to a prudish boy who disliked sex it took them seven years to have children and by the time they had two daughters their marriage was falling apart the couple went on crusade each with their own army she proved to be a superior military commander while traveling through the mountains eleanor rode her troops ahead while louise men disorganized and undisciplined lagged behind the king's men were ambushed by the turkish army and thrown into the canyon below louis barely escaped the slaughter by dressing as a pilgrim when he caught up with his wife he blamed her for the disaster but eleanor was having none of it and demanded a divorce single again she wrote to duke henry of normandy and asked him to marry her eleanor was 30 and henry 21. her support bolstered his campaign to reclaim the english throne from his cousin stephen when stephen's last surviving son died and he no longer had an heir to pass the throne to he called an end to the 18 years of bloodshed he made a treaty with empress matilda that her son henry would inherit the throne and he died shortly after henry and eleanor were crowned king and queen of england they had a tumultuous relationship and argued relentlessly but they got on well enough to have eight children henry's rule was plagued with problems a bitter feud with thomas beckett ended in the archbishop's murder at the hands of henry's knights and henry nearly being excommunicated after 15 years of marriage eleanor left her husband and moved back to aquitaine bringing her younger children with her their eldest surviving son henry became a jousting champion and was much more popular than his father he demanded to be crowned co-king but that wasn't enough he raised an army and marched against his father with the support of his mother and younger brothers while the family was locked in battle queen eleanor was captured by her estranged husband's army and held prisoner for 16 years when henry's beautiful young mistress rosamund died mysteriously many thought eleanor had ordered her murder young henry died of dysentery at 28. his brothers richard jeffrey and john continued to wage war against their father after 19 years of family feuding king henry died and his son became king richard the first his first order was to set his mother free eleanor was a valuable advisor to her sons richard and john as they took their turns on the throne she lived to the remarkable age of 80. in the next chapter we'll meet the plantagenet queens some went on crusade some marched into battle alongside their spouses and one overthrew her husband and took control of england herself don't want to wait to see the rest of the series patrons get 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Channel: History Tea Time with Lindsay Holiday

Views: 355,627

Keywords: history, game of thrones, royalty, bbc, the crown, historic costumes, queens of the world, european royalty, queens of europe, womens history, women in history, queens of england, Queens Consort, medieval queens, fairy tale Queens, Queens and Consorts of England, the norman Queens and Consorts of England, middle ages, medieval history, Plantagenet queens, norman conquest, 1066, Plantagenet, norman queens, Matilda of Flanders, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Matilda of Boulogne

Id: Usk1vTDajpg

Length: 15min 53sec (953 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 18 2021