28 April 2024

Queens of Britain Series: Margaret Maid of Norway

Welcome to the Queens of Britain series. In 2024, the blog will spotlight the reigning queens from the island of Great Britain. Check back each month to learn about the women who led their nations.


Margaret Maid of Norway
image of stained glass window on Orkney
by Colin Smith via Wikimedia Commons
After years of negotiation, seven-year-old Queen Margaret finally boarded the ship that would carry her to her kingdom, inherited from her maternal grandfather King Alexander III of Scotland. Young Margaret, better known as the Maid of Norway, had never known her mother or her mother's family. Her mother, Margaret of Scotland, had died shortly after her birth leaving the infant in the care of her father, King Eric II Magnusson of Norway, who found himself a widower and single father at the age of 15.

Although the marriage treaty between Eric and Margaret of Scotland left the bride and her children in the line of succession to the Scottish throne, the baby's royal future was still just a remote chance. King Alexander's teenage son Prince Alexander and his bride were expected to carry on the dynasty. But, when baby Margaret was just seven months old, her uncle Alexander died. The hope that his wife might be pregnant with an heir was soon dashed. At that moment Margaret became the only heir to Scotland. Alexander moved quickly to have his nobles swear allegiance to baby Margaret as his heir.

However, Alexander also tried to stabilize the succession by marrying again. Now in his forties, he had waited a decade after the death of of his first wife, Margaret's grandmother,  Margaret of England, sister of King Edward I of England, a decade earlier, he at last remarried. Just six months later, he rode out in a storm to see his young wife. The next morning, he was found along the road, his neck broken in a fall from his horse. The usual wait to see if his new wife would produce a posthumous heir took place, but eventually it was clear that the Maid of Norway was the last survivor of the Scottish House of Dunkeld.

Not quite three years old, Margaret had become the first Queen of Scots, nearly three centuries before the much better-remembered Mary Queen of Scots.

A toddler and a female as monarch was not ideal in the 13th Century. The rivalry between other claimants Robert the Bruce and John Balliol threatened not just the peace of the kingdom but the little queen herself.

Fearful for her safety, Eric kept his daughter in Norway while negotiating a marriage that would not only ensure her well-being but also the well-being of her kingdom and would eventually unite Scotland and England under one ruler. Eric accepted the marriage offer from his late wife's uncle, King Edward I of England, to unite his son Edward of Caenarfon (later King Edward II) to Eric's daughter Margaret. The intended groom was a year younger than his toddler fiancee. Nevertheless, a political match of this magnitude would at last bring some peace to Scotland, which had been battling England for centuries, and eventually, the couple's child would sit on both thrones. The idea had initially been floated by King Alexander before his death, when Margaret's succession was not yet certain.

Once the Scots had been reassured that Scotland would remain independent from England, they ratified the marriage treaty. Once Margaret reached her kingdom, her marriage would be official even though both partners were not yet old enough. Margaret said farewell to her father and set sail for Scotland. The stormy North Sea drove the party far to the north to the island of Orkney, which was still Norwegin territory at the time. When she came to shore, the seven-year-old Queen Margaret was very ill, possibly from severe seasickness. Weak and depleted, she died in the arms of the Bishop who had been sent to look after her. Today, a stained glass window in the Lerwick Town Hall on Orkney remembers her brief and tragic visit.

By the time the Scottish lords who had been gathering in Perth for her coronation, learned of her death, the little body was already on its way back to Norway. Her heartbroken father confirmed her identity before she was buried with her mother. Despite this, a decade later, a "False Margaret" emerged to claim the Scottish throne--she was burned at the stake for her efforts. 

In Scotland, Margaret's death set a match that would burn for decades as 13 claimants, including John Balliol and Robert the Bruce, battled for control of the Kingdom, with King Edward I heavily interfering and seeking to assert his authority there.

Many scholars today tend to count Margaret at Scotland's first reigning queen. However, that assertion is disputed because she never actually arrived in Scotland, and more importantly, she was never crowned. As for this blogger, I prefer to give the little Maid of Scotland her due as a Queen. 


QUEENS OF BRITAIN SERIES
Boudica, Queen of the Iceni 
Empress Matilda 
Margaret Maid of Norway 

Lady Jane - coming in May 2024
Queen Mary I - coming in June 2024
Queen Elizabeth I - coming in July 2024
Mary Queen of Scots - coming in August 2024
Queen Mary II - coming in September 2024
Queen Anne - coming in October 2024
Queen Victoria - coming in November 2024
Queen Elizabeth II - coming in December 2024

MORE ABOUT MARGARET
Death of Margaret, Maid of Norway, Queen of Scotland on European Royal History
The Death of Margaret, Maid of Norway on BBC Bitesize
The Maid of Norway, The Child Queen of Scots on Fourteenth Century Fiend
The Maid of Norway--The Tragic Story of Scotland's First Queen Regnant on History...The Interesting Bits
Margaret Maid of Norway on BBC Bitesize
Margaret Maid of Norway on Britroyals
Margaret Maid of Norway on Royal.UK
Margaret (Maid of Norway) on ScotClans
Margaret (Maid of Norway) on Time Ref
Margaret Maid of Norway on Timewise Traveller
Margaret 'the Maid of Norway' on English Monarchs
Margaret the Maid of Norway on Rex Factor
Margaret the Maid of Norway on Visit Heritage
Margaret Maid of Norway and Queen of Scotland on Medievalists
Margaret Maid of Norway, Queen of Scots on Kyra Cornelius Kramer
Margaret, Maid of Norway: How Scotland's Fate Took a Tumble from a Horse and Fell into the Delicate Hands of a Child on The Scotsman
Margaret, Tragic Queen of Scotland, Maid of Norway on Owlcation
Queen Margaret, Maid of Norway on Undiscovered Scotland
Queens Regnant: Margaret, Maid of Norway on History of Royal Women
Unlucky Princesses: Margaret, Maid of Norway on The Creative Historian

24 March 2024

Queens of Britain Series: Matilda

Welcome to the Queens of Britain series. In 2024, the blog will spotlight the reigning queens from the island of Great Britain. Check back each month to learn about the women who led their nations.

Her moment had finally arrived. The day she had planned for since she was a young woman, but she couldn't seize the reins her father had left her. How she must have cursed the pregnant belly that kept her trapped on the wrong side of the English Channel while her cousin usurped her place.

The English crown had not been Matilda's original destiny. Like so many princesses, she had been sent as a tiny girl to a distant land to serve as a political pawn. Her father, King William II, was the youngest son of a bastard who had asserted his tenuous claim to the English throne in a military power move that we remember today as the Norman Conquest. As the third king of a young dynasty, William II had married Edith of Scotland, a descendant of England's revered King Alfred the Great as well as the King of Scotland's daughter. Taking the more Norman-sounding name of Matilda upon her marriage, she also named her daughter Matilda while her son was named William Adelin after his father. The couple had produced a healthy heir as well as a daughter who could extend their political power and military might.

So, it was no surprise that the King and Queen welcomed envoys from the future Holy Roman Emperor who asked for Princess Matilda as an imperial bride. Little Matilda was only eight years old the last time she saw her mother and sailed away to Germany to meet her 24-year-old fiance. Since she was so young, she was raised in a separate household and trained in the language and traditions of her intended husband. She was nearly 12 when Emperor Henry V finally married her. 

Matilda was 14 when she accompanied her husband in the fight against the Pope, who had excommunicated him. Despite her youth, she was fully imbued with political power. Once they reached Rome, Matilda was formally crowned as Empress. A couple years later, Henry left her as his regent in his Italian territories while he returned to Germany to deal with issues there. After a couple of years, they were reunited but still had no children. When he died of cancer, Matilda was 23. Her childlessness left her in a politically ambiguous state. It was not long before she decided to leave Germany forever and pursue another opportunity that fate had presented her. 

Her family had been rocked by tragedy. First, her mother had died in 1118. Then, two years later, her only legitimate sibling, Prince William Adelin had died in a tragic shipwreck. With no legitimate sons to succeed him, King Henry remarried the young Adeliza of Louvain (see my post The Not-So-Wicked Stepmother) but that marriage remained childless. Running out of options, Henry summoned Empress Matilda back to England and Normandy to proclaim her as his heir. The move was unprecedented; no woman had assumed kingship before. However, Henry was a powerful king and the nobles swore their allegiance to his daughter. 

As for Matilda, despite her glorious title and her now glorious future, she still had no authority over her life. Hoping to get grandsons to eventually succeed himself, he forced Matilda into another marriage, this time to a mere count. Geoffrey of Anjou was considered a handsome man. More importantly, his French territories bordered Henry's Norman lands, providing more military might for Henry and for Matilda in the future. Matilda was unimpressed. She had been married to one of the most powerful men of the error and reigned with him as an Empress. Worse than that, perhaps, Geoffrey was only 15 while Matilda was 26 when they married in the summer of 1128. Worse still, the couple really did not like each other and was not long before they started living separately. Realizing this would prevent the birth of a male heir, King Henry forced them back together. Their first son was finally born in March 1133. Not surprisingly, he was called Henry. A year later, her second son Geoffrey's birth nearly killed Matilda. 

The couple spent all of these years living in Anjou and Normandy. They began to be concerned that they were losing English support and demanded that the King give them authority in Normandy. He refused. Geoffrey and Matilda, united by ambition, joined a rebellion in southern Normandy. During this struggle, the 67-year-old king died from a sudden illness at the end of 1136. Matilda and Geoffrey moved immediately to secure their power in Normandy, but then they paused while Matilda awaited the birth of their third and final child, William.

In England, Henry's nephew Stephen wasted no time asserting his claim as an adult male heir even though his royal descent was through the female line, Henry's sister Adela. Stephen secured the support of many nobles, including Matilda's powerful older but illegitimate brother Robert of Gloucester. Then, Stephen got his own brother, Henry Bishop of Winchester, to crown him as king. For most people, the fact that he was male gave him a strong enough claim over Matilda. The fact that he was in England did not hurt his cause. Then, once he was anointed and crowned, his reign was sealed by God himself.

Stephen had grown up in his uncle King Henry's court. His military prowess had been well-rewarded by the king with riches and lands. He was well-liked among the Anglo-Norman nobility. And, he was a man. He quickly gathered a following and secured England as his own. At this time, the English and Norman titles had gone through several contested successions from William the Conqueror's defeat of Harold Godwinson to the battle between William's two eldest sons that split the two countries apart until his third son King Henry reunited them by force. The need for might to make right led many to doubt the ability of a woman to lead.

Stephen almost immediately faced ambushes from either end of the kingdom from both Scotland and Wales, losing territory to both. Securing Normandy was an even bigger challenge. Geoffrey had successfully launched a scorched earth strategy that allowed him to keep moving forward without having to hold or administer the land he captured. As Stephen lost support of more and more Norman nobles, partly because Stephen had spent the treasury and could not reward his allies nor pay his mercenaries. At one point, his army even split in half and battled itself, nobles versus mercenaries. Most critically, he lost the support of Matilda's illegitimate half-brother Robert of Gloucester, who held extensive land and wealth on both sides of the Channel.

King David of Scotland continued invading from the north, pushing all the way to York, claiming he did so in support of his niece Empress Matilda. Robert's declaration for Matilda started a rebellion in Kent and across southwest England. Meanwhile, he remained in Normandy, helping Matilda build an invasion force. They finally invaded England, which had descended into chaos and civil war, in the summer of 1139. Matilda's stepmother invited her to land at Arundel Castle, where Stephen encircled them while Robert led forces northward. Stephen, however, was unsure how to deal with two such highly ranked ladies and eventually allowed Matilda to leave and rejoin Robert, who was fighting in the west. (See my post Royal Escape Artist). 

Matilda's influence was growing, extending across the southwest in Devon and Cornwall up to the Welsh marshes and Herefordshire. The two sides skirmished back and forth until another defection from Stephen's side gave Matilda a powerful upper hand. In February 1141, Robert of Gloucester captured Stephen at the Battle of Lincoln. With her rival in custody, Matilda pushed forward with a deal she had made with his brother Bishop Henry. In return for control of the church, the Bishop gave her the nearly empty treasury and excommunicated any of Stephen's supporters who refused to change sides. On April 7, the Archbishop of Canterbury and other leading clergy declared Matilda "Lady of the English" and began making plans for her coronation.

Matilda made her way to London to be crowed in June, but tensions in the city were still high. The historians of the day--all male, of course--alleged that Matilda grew even more pompous than she usually was. In becoming a female King, she was no longer behaving in accordance with her gender role. Just before her planned crowning, the Londoners rose up against her, forcing her faction to flee to Oxford. As some turncoats turned back to Stephen's cause and Stephen's wife, Queen Matilda, led his supporters and soon captured Robert of Gloucester. Queen Matilda and Empress Matilda agreed to exchange their high value prisoners, returning Stephen to his wife and Robert to his sisters. Shortly thereafter, the church leaders changed their minds again and re-crowned Stephen on Christmas 1141. 

Robert of Gloucester crossed the channel to assist Count Geoffrey against the Anglo Norman nobles battling to maintain their own power. This left Matilda alone at Oxford Castle, which Stephen soon besieged. By the first snows of late 1142, Matilda executed another bold plan, sneaking out of the castle and crossing a frozen river in the dead of night.  (See my post Royal Escape Artist). 

With Robert's return to England in 1143, Matilda's position improved for a bit, but the civil war soon devolved into back-and-forth struggles, with various nobles switching from one side to the other, temporarily boosting whoever they newly supported. As for Matilda, she could never quite consolidate her power. The war between the cousins limped along during the rest of the decade as various nobles decamped to join the Second Crusade or made peace locally to protect their own land and power. Neither Stephen nor Matilda were greatly esteemed.

However, the war had dragged on long enough that Matilda's son Henry had grown into a strong teenage commander. Matilda returned to Normandy while Henry led the efforts in England. Henry secured the support of the French king for Henry while Count Geoffrey convinced the Pope to endorse Henry before Geoffrey died in 1151. Matilda had effectively vacated her claim to her son.

In 1153, Empress Matilda returned to England but by then only Stephen and Henry were interested in the fight. Everyone else pushed for a truce that was brokered by the church. Henry recognized Stephen as king in return for being named as Stephen's heir. It was an uneasy peace that may not have lasted had Stephen not died the following year. 

Initially, Henry and Matilda issued charters jointly, with Matilda primarily administering Normandy while Henry focused on his father's Angevin lands, England, and the powerful Aquitaine that he had acquired by marrying the dynamic former French queen consort, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Like many leaders of the day, Matilda focused on the church in her later years, but never fully yielded her royal authority. As Henry and Eleanor took on more and more power, Matilda passed away in 1167, leaving everything to the church. She was 65 years old.

QUEENS OF BRITAIN SERIES

Boudica, Queen of the Iceni 
Empress Matilda 
Margaret Maid of Norway 
Lady Jane - coming in May 2024
Queen Mary I - coming in June 2024
Queen Elizabeth I - coming in July 2024
Mary Queen of Scots - coming in August 2024
Queen Mary II - coming in September 2024
Queen Anne - coming in October 2024
Queen Victoria - coming in November 2024
Queen Elizabeth II - coming in December 2024

MY OTHER POSTS ABOUT MATILDA

The Not-So-Wicked Stepmother
Royal Escape Artist
Today's Princess

MORE ABOUT MATILDA

Great by Birth: Empress Matilda on Plantagenet Lions
Lady of the English on The Mad Monarchist
The Empress Matilda on Dangerous Women
Empress Matilda on Emily Kittel-Queller
The Empress Matilda on History Is Important
Empress Matilda on Meandering through Time
Empress Matilda on Sagas of She
Empress Matilda on Sheroes of History
Empress Matilda and 'The Anarchy' on The Historic England Blog
Empress Matilda, Lady of the English on Oxford Castle & Prison
Empress Matilda's Bling on Living the History
Empress Maud on Historic UK
Historic Figures: Matilda on BBC History

31 January 2024

Queens of Britain Series: Boudica

Welcome to the Queens of Britain series. In 2024, the blog will spotlight a different reigning queen from the island of Great Britain. Check back each month to learn about the women who led their nations.

Boadicea and Her Daughters, statue by Thomas Thornycraft
Image by Luke McKernan via Wikimedia Commons
The Celtic queen raises her spear and commands her rearing horses toward the Palace of Westminster. Behind her, her ravaged daughters kneel on the armed chariot, urging their mother toward revenge. The trio seems to thrust out of their bronze casing still seeking justice for their people. 

Boadicea and Her Daughters, a sculpture by Thomas Thornycraft, has stood across the Thames facing the center of British power since 1902, but their story stretches deep into British history and folklore to a moment in time when it was Britain that was under the foot of a foreign imperial conqueror and a mere woman pushed back against the might of Rome.

Long before English was a language, the Queen of the Iceni tribe in East Anglia was a woman called Boudica or Boadicea or Buddug. However you choose to spell her name today, it is synonymous with British national pride. Every schoolchild learns her story. 

Boudica ruled jointly with her husband King Prasutagus. At that time, in the first century, Britain was divided among various tribes. The Iceni controlled a large area that today is identified as Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, and Lincolnshire. A fierce warrior people, they trained their women as well as their men to fight with weapons.

As the Romans ran roughshod over Britons, they kept the powerful Prasutagus as an ally. This far north of Rome's power base, it was easier for the Empire to have some client-kings who would do their bidding when required in exchange for limited autonomy. During the king's lifetime the Iceni were left in peace and they were also disarmed. With only daughters to succeed him, Prastagus wanted to ensure the safety of his people after his death. He decided the best way to do this would be make Roman Emperor Nero co-heir with the girls. Nero would receive half his kingdom while his daughters kept the other half.

Whether Boudica agreed with this bright idea or bitterly discouraged her husband is lost to history. However, it was Boudica and her daughters who had to face the consequences. The Romans did not recognize female inheritance or property ownership. Once the king died, the Roman military governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus absorbed the Iceni territories into the Roman province of Britannia and unleashed his armies to raid and plunder the villages. They also required the Iceni to repay loans they had received from previous Roman leaders. Boudica objected, believing that their service to Rome had been their repayment. 

To add terror to the violence, the Romans publicly raped Boudica's virgin daughters and they flogged the queen herself.

Boudica was not terrified. She was enraged and determined to have her revenge. Taking advantage of Suetonius' absence while he was fighting the Welsh and far-ranging scattering of other Roman troops, she organized the combined forces of the Iceni, the Trinobantes, and other British tribes to rebel against the imperial overlords. The 120,000 Britons first attacked the Roman colony at Camulodunum (now Colchester), where the Britons had been forced to finance and build a temple to Emperor Claudius. Their resounding victory and slaughter of all Romans at the site caused Suetonius to rush to Londinium, the modern site of London, but he soon realized he would be unable to defend it. He abandoned the post leaving a just a detachment of the Ninth Legion to face the onslaught of Boudica and her allies. She defeated the mighty Romans and burned both Londinium and Verulamium (the modern site of St. Albans), located 25 miles away. As many as 80,000 were killed by the rebelling Britons. Roman historian Cassius Dio later reported that women's breasts were cut off and sewn to their mouths by rejoicing by the victors.

Despite being heavily outnumbered, Suetonius gathered 10,000 troops in the Midlands and prepared for the attack from a British force estimated to have grown to 230,000. Boudica drove her war chariot with her daughters around her gathered army. According to legend, she exhorted the men to "win the battle or perish." And, perish they did. Despite their massive numbers, the Britons were lightly armed and took a strategically poor position in a narrow gorge with their supply wagons blocking any retreat. They fell prey to Rome's military superiority, which included javelins and cavalry, and experience. The Romans were able to trap the rebels and brutally slaughter tens of thousands of them. Tacitus recorded that the Romans did not even spare women or the animals pulling the wagons. The Queen (and probably her daughters) died soon thereafter, perhaps from suicide by poisoning. 

The ferocity and early success of the rebellion nearly led Rome to abandon Britain. Their shame was all the greater because they had been brought to their knees by a woman--in Rome, women were not permitted a public life of any kind, much less to be trained as warriors. However, Suetonius' ultimate victory guaranteed the success of the occupation, which continued another 350 years until Rome itself was falling.

Over the two millennia since she nearly drove the Romans out of Britain, Boudica has been a powerful symbol of the British people, even as the makeup of those people changed over the centuries. She has been celebrated as cultural icon across the centuries and even served as a rallying point for the suffragettes in the early 20th century. 

Interestingly, Boudica (by any of its various spellings) may not have been the Queen's personal name. It may instead have been a title. According to some linguists, it likely mean "victorious". 

Queens of Britain Series

Boudica, Queen of the Iceni 
Empress Matilda 
Margaret Maid of Norway - coming in April 2024
Lady Jane - coming in May 2024
Queen Mary I - coming in June 2024
Queen Elizabeth I - coming in July 2024
Mary Queen of Scots - coming in August 2024
Queen Mary II - coming in September 2024
Queen Anne - coming in October 2024
Queen Victoria - coming in November 2024
Queen Elizabeth II - coming in December 2024

MORE ABOUT BOUDICA
11 Facts About Boudica, Warrior Queen of the Iceni on Mental Floss
The Ancient Sources for Boudica on Warwick Classics Network
Boudica on English History
Boudica on Historic UK
Boudica on Warwick Classics Network
Boudica & Britain in The Roman Empire on PBS
Boudica: A British Queen, Mother, Warrior, and Folk Hero on The Curious Rambler
Boudica: Celtic War Queen Who Challenged Rome on History Net
Boudica: The Headhunter Queen on Rejected Princesses
Boudica and the Iceni Revolt on Roman Britain
Boudica: Queen, Mother, Warrior, Folk Hero on Medium
Boudica: scourge of the Roman empire on History Extra
Boudica and The Slaughter at Camulodunum on Historic UK
Boudica: Warrior Queen on Honey Grail
Boudica the warrior queen on aeon
Boudica: Warrior queen of the Iceni on LiveScience
Boudica's Revolt: When Britannia's Warrior Queen Took on Rome on The Collector
Boudicca: The Celtic Queen Who Unleashed Fury on the Romans on Ancient Origins
The Celtic Queen Boudica as a Historiographical Narrative by Rachel L. Chenault
Queen Boudica on Study
Queen Boudica, A Life in Legend on History Today
Who Was Boudica? on History
Who was the Celtic warrior Queen Boudica, and what did she look like? on Royalty Now