The Empress Matilda: Queen Consort, Queen Mother and Lady of the English - Softcover

Chibnall, Marjorie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0631190287 ISBN 13: 9780631190288

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 1993

Synopsis

This is the first comprehensive and fully documented study of the Empress Matilda to be published in English. Much of the serious work on her life and historical importance has never been translated from German, and almost all has concentrated on the years of her struggle with Stephen for the English crown. This book examines her career as a whole, including the years as consort of the Emperor Henry V and as regent in Normandy for her son Henry II. It illustrates the problems of female succession in the early twelfth century, and gives a balanced assessment of Matilda's character and achievements in the context of her own times.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Granddaughter of William the Conqueror and of King Malcolm of the Scots, and daughter of Henry I, Matilda fought for the throne of England, arguably hers by right, for nine years, and was denied it largely because she was a woman. Contemporary chroniclers said of her that she was "always superior to feminine softness and with a mind steeled and unbroken in adversity". Most of the serious work on her extraordinary, action-packed life and historical importance lies in untranslated German studies of the last century. In this book Marjorie Chibnall examines her career as a whole, as King Henry's daughter, as the wife and consort of Emperor Henry V, as Countess of Anjou after the emperor's death, and as regent for her son, Henry II. An outstanding biography, pieced together from archival sources all over Europe, it is of value and interest both to scholars and the general reader.

About the Author:

Marjorie Chibnall is Emeritus Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and has also lectured in the universities of Southampton and Aberdeen. She is a Fellow of the British Academy and Corresponding Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America, and her most recent books include The World of Orderic Vitalis and Anglo-Norman England 1066-1166.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0631190287
• ISBN 13: 9780631190288
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256