Biography of Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England 1080-1118
1080 Christening of Edith Matilda of Scotland
1087 King William "The Conqueror" Dies King William II Succeeds
1100 Marriage of Henry I and Matilda
1100 Death of William II Accession of Henry I
1120 Sinking of The White Ship
On 16 Mar 1058 Lulach King Scotland died. [her father] King Malcolm III of Scotland (age 26) succeeded III King Scotland.
Before 1060 [her father] King Malcolm III of Scotland (age 28) and Ingibiorg Finnsdottir Queen Consort Scotland were married. She by marriage Queen Consort Scotland. He the son of [her grandfather] King Duncan I of Scotland and [her grandmother] Bethóc Unknown Queen Consort Scotland.
Before 1070 [her father] King Malcolm III of Scotland (age 38) and [her mother] Margaret Wessex Queen Consort Scotland (age 24) were married. She by marriage Queen Consort Scotland. He the son of [her grandfather] King Duncan I of Scotland and [her grandmother] Bethóc Unknown Queen Consort Scotland.
Around 1080 Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England was born to King Malcolm III of Scotland (age 48) and Margaret Wessex Queen Consort Scotland (age 35) at Dunfermline [Map].
Around 1080 Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England was christened at Dunfermline [Map]. [her future brother-in-law] Robert Curthose III Duke Normandy (age 29) was godfather, Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England (age 49) godmother.
On 09 Sep 1087 King William "Conqueror" I of England (age 59) died at the Priory of St Gervaise, Rouen [Map]. He was buried at the Abbaye aux Hommes, Caen [Map], at a ceremony presided over by Gilbert Arques Bishop Evreux. [her future husband] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 19) attended. His son King William II of England (age 31) succeeded II King England. His son [her future brother-in-law] Robert Curthose III Duke Normandy (age 36) succeeded III Duke Normandy.
On 13 Nov 1093 the Battle of Alnwick was fought at Alnwick, Northumberland [Map] between the forces of [her father] King Malcolm III of Scotland (age 62) and Robert de Mowbray 1st Earl Northumbria.
King Malcolm III of Scotland was killed at The Peth Alnwick [Map]. His son [her half-brother] King Duncan II of Scotland (age 33) succeeded II King Scotland. He died a year minus day later.
Malcolm's son [her brother] Edward Dunkeld was killed.
King Duncan II of Scotland: Around 1060 he was born to King Malcolm III of Scotland and Ingibiorg Finnsdottir Queen Consort Scotland. Florence of Worcester. 12 Nov 1094. Meanwhile, the Scots perfidiously murdered their king, Duncan, and some others, at the instigation of Donald, who was again raised to the throne. On 12 Nov 1094 King Duncan II of Scotland died. His uncle King Donald III of Scotland succeeded III King Scotland.
Edward Dunkeld: he was born to King Malcolm III of Scotland and Margaret Wessex Queen Consort Scotland. Florence of Worcester. 13 Nov 1093. Malcolm, king of the Scots, and his eldest son, Edward, with many others, were slain by the troops of Robert, earl of Northumbria, on the feast-day of St. Brice [13th November]1. Margaret, queen of the Scots, was so deeply affected by the news of their death, that she fell dangerously ill. Calling the priests to attend her without delay, she went into the church, and confessing her sins to them, caused herself to be anointed with oil and strengthened with the heavenly viaticum; beseeching God with earnest and diligent prayers that he would not suffer her to live longer in this troublesome world. Nor was it very long before her prayers were heard, for three days after the king's death she was released from the bonds of the flesh, and translated, as we doubt not, to the joys of eternal salvation. For while she lived, she devoted herself to the exercise of piety, justice, peace, and charity; she was frequent in prayer, and chastened her body by watchings and fastings; she endowed churches and monasteries; loved and reverenced the servants and handmaids of God ; broke bread to the hungry, clothed the naked, gave shelter, food, and raiment to all the pilgrims who came to her door ; and loved God with all her heart2. On 16 Nov 1093 Margaret Wessex Queen Consort Scotland died three days after her husband King Malcolm III of Scotland and her son Edward Dunkeld were killed at the Battle of Alnwick.
On 16 Nov 1093 [her mother] Margaret Wessex Queen Consort Scotland (age 48) died three days after her husband [her father] King Malcolm III of Scotland (deceased) and her son [her brother] Edward Dunkeld were killed at the Battle of Alnwick.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1100. Then, before Michaelmas, came the Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury (age 67) hither to this land; as the [her future husband] King Henry (age 32), by the advice of his ministers had sent after him, because he had gone out of this land for the great wrongs that the King William (age 44) did unto him. And soon hereafter the king took him to wife Maud (age 20), daughter of [her father] Malcolm, King of Scotland, and of [her mother] Margaret the good queen, the relative of King Edward, and of the right royal132 race of England. And on Martinmas day she was publicly given to him with much pomp at Westminster, and the Archbishop Anselm wedded her to him, and afterwards consecrated her queen. And the Archbishop Thomas of York soon hereafter died.
Note 132. This expression shows the adherence of the writer to the Saxon line of kings, and his consequent satisfaction in recording this alliance of Henry with the daughter of Margaret of Scotland.
On 11 Nov 1100 King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 32) and Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England (age 20) were married. Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England was crowned Queen Consort England at which time Edith was renamed Matilda. She the daughter of King Malcolm III of Scotland and Margaret Wessex Queen Consort Scotland. He the son of King William "Conqueror" I of England and Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England.
On 02 Aug 1100 King William II of England (age 44) was killed whilst hunting, not known whether accidentally or otherwise, in the New Forest, Hampshire. His brother [her future husband] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 32) succeeded I King England. The brothers Robert Beaumont 1st Earl of Leicester Count Meulan (age 60) and Henry Beaumont 1st Earl Warwick (age 50), and Roger de Clare (age 34) and Gilbert de Clare (age 34) were present.
On 05 Aug 1100 [her future husband] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 32) was crowned I King England by Bishop Maurice at Westminster Abbey [Map].
On 07 Feb 1102 [her daughter] Empress Matilda was born to [her husband] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 34) and Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England (age 22).
Before 25 Oct 1102 [her brother-in-law] Robert Curthose III Duke Normandy (age 51) and Sybilla Conversano Duchess Normandy were married. She by marriage Duchess Normandy. He the son of King William "Conqueror" I of England and Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England.
Letters. 1103. Letter I. Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England (age 23) to Archbishop Anselm (age 70).
To her piously remembered father and worthily reverenced lord, Anselm the archbishop, Matilda, by the grace of God qaeen of England, the least of the handmaidens of his holiness, wishes perpetual health in Christ.
I give unnumbered thanks to your unceasing goodness, which, not unmindful of me has condescended, by your letters presented to me, to shew forth your mind, though absent. The clouds of sadness in which I was wrapped being expelled, the streamlet of your words has glided through me like a ray of new light. I embrace the little parchment sent to me by you, as I would my father himself: I cherish it in my bosom, I place it as near my heart as I can; I read over and over again the words flowing from the sweet fountain of your goodness; my mind considers them, my heart broods over them; and I hide the pondered treasures in the very secret place of my heart. Yet, while I praise all you have said, at one thing alone I wonder; that is, at what your discreet excellency has said about your nephew. Yet I do not think I can deal otherwise with your friends than my own. I might say with mine than my own, for all who are yours by kindred are mine by love and adoption. Truly the consolation of your writing strengthens my patience, gives and preserves my hopes, raises me when falling, sustains me when sliding, gladdens me when sorrowful, softens me when angry, pacifies me when weeping. Farther, frequent, though secret, consultation promises the return of the father to his daughter, of the lord to his handmaiden, of the pastor to his flock. I am encouraged to hope the same thing from the confidence which I have in the prayers of good men, and from the good will which, by skillfully investigating, I find to be in the heart of my lord. His mind is better disposed towards you than many men think; and, I favouring it, and suggesting wherever I can, he will become yet more courteous and reconciled to you. As to what be permits now to be done, in reference to your return, he will permit more and better to be done in future, when, according to time and opportunity, you shall request it. But even though he should persist in being an unjust judge, I entreat the affluence of your piety, that, excluding the bitterness of human rancour, which is not wont to dwell in you, you turn not from him the sweetness of your favour, but ever prove a pious intercessor with God for him and me, our common offspring, and the state of our kingdom. May your holiness ever fare well.
Letters. 1103. Letter II. Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England (age 23) to Pope Paschal II.
To the highest pontiff and universal pope, Paschal, Matilda, by God's grace queen of the English, trusting that he will so dispense in this life the rights of the apostolic dignity, that he may deserve to be numbered among the apostolic senate in the joys of perpetual peace with the companies of the just.
I give all the thanks and praise I can to your sublime holiness, O apostolic man, for the things which your paternal charity, as though for admonition, has deigned to send to me and to my lord the king, both frequently by the words of your legates and also by your own writings. I visit the threshold of the most holy Roman apostolic seat, and as far as it is lawful and I am able, clasping your paternal knees with my whole heart, my whole soul, my whole mind, praying with importune and opportune petition, 1 cease not, nor will I cease, to entreat, till I know that my submissive humility, or rather the persevering importunity of my application, is heard by you. Yet let not your excellency be angry, let not the prudent Roman clergy, people, or senate, be amazed at this my rashness, that thus I presume to speak. Once, once, I say, we and the English people, - then how happy! - had, under your apostolic dignity, Anselm (age 70) our archbishop, a foster-child of the Holy Ghost, the most prudent counsellor and pious father of us and the aforesaid people. From the most opulent treasures of his Lord, whereof we knew him to hold the keys, he took abundantly, and bestowed them upon us more abundantly; for this same faithful minister and prudent dispenser of the Lord seasoned those things which he bestowed with the most excellent salt of wisdom, softened them with the sweetness of eloquence, and sweetened them by the wonderful conceits of rhetoric. And so it was that neither did the tender lambs lack the abundant milk of the Lord, nor the sheep the richest fatness of the pastures, nor the pastors the most opulent satiety of aliments. But now, when all these things are otherwise, no thing remains but that the pastor wanting food, the flock pasture, the young milk, utter forth the heaviest groans. Since, by the absence of the chief pastor, Anselm, each is deprived of something, or rather all of all things. In such lugubrious mournings in such opprobrious grief, in such deformity and loss of our kingdom, nothing remains to me, stunned as I am, but, shaking off my stupor, to fly to the blessed Apostle Peter, and his vicar the apostolic man. Therefore, my lord, I fly to your benignity, lest we and the people of the kingdom of England perish in such a defect and lapse. What good will our life do us when we go down to corruption? Let your paternity take good counsel concerning us, and deign, within the term which my lord the king asks of your goodness, to let your paternal bowels be moved towards us, that we may both rejoice at the return of our dearest father. Archbishop Anselm, and preserve, uninjured, our subjection to the holy apo8tolic see. I, indeed, taught by your most sound and gracious advice, will as far as woman's strength may suffice, and with the help of worthy men, which I shall procure, endeavour, with my whole power, that my humility may, as far as possible, fulfil what your highness advises. May your paternity enjoy eternal happiness!
On 05 Aug 1103 [her son] William Adelin Normandy Duke Normandy was born to [her husband] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 35) and Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England (age 23). The name Adelin an Anglo-Saxon term meaning Noble, or Prince, reflecting his mother's descent from the House of Wessex (her mother was [her mother] Margaret Wessex Queen Consort Scotland ).
On 28 Sep 1106 [her husband] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 38) defeated his older brother [her brother-in-law] Robert Curthose III Duke Normandy (age 55) at the Battle of Tinchebray at Tinchebray, Orne.
William Warenne 2nd Earl of Surrey and Robert Beaumont 1st Earl of Leicester Count Meulan (age 66). Elias La Flèche De Baugency I Count Maine commanded the reserve. The following fought for Henry:
William "Brito aka Breton" D'Aubigny (age 20).
Alan Canhiart IV Duke Brittany (age 43).
Raoul Tosny (age 26).
William "Pincerna aka Butler" D'Aubigny (age 42).
Robert Grandesmil (age 28), and.
William Normandy I Count Évreux.
Robert Curthose III Duke Normandy was captured and spent the next twenty-eight years in prison; never released.
William Mortain Count Mortain 2nd Earl Cornwall (age 22) was also captured. He spent the next thirty or more years in prison before becoming a monk. Earl Cornwall forfeit.
[her uncle] King Edgar Ætheling II of England (age 55) was captured and subsequently released; Henry had married to Edgar's niece Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England (age 26) in 1100.
Robert II Belleme 2nd Count Ponthieu 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury (age 50) escaped.
Robert Stuteville was captured.
Around 1107 [her illegitimate step-daughter] Sybilla Fitzroy Queen Consort Scotland (age 15) by marriage Queen Consort Scotland.
On 07 Jan 1114 [her son-in-law] Henry V Holy Roman Emperor (age 32) and [her daughter] Empress Matilda (age 11) were married. She by marriage Holy Roman Empress. The difference in their ages was 20 years. She the daughter of [her husband] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 46) and Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England (age 34).
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1115. This year was the [her husband] King Henry (age 47) on the Nativity in Normandy. And whilst he was there, he contrived that all the head men in Normandy [Map] did homage and fealty to his son [her son] William (age 11), whom he had by his queen (age 35).
On 01 May 1118 Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England (age 38) died at Westminster Palace [Map]. She was buried at Westminster Abbey [Map].
Florence of Worcester. 01 May 1118. Matilda (age 38), queen of England, died at Westminster on the calends [the 1st] of May, and was interred with due ceremony in that monastery. Many of the Normans broke the fealty they had sworn to king Henry, and regardless of the rights of their natural lord, transferred their homage to Lewis, king of France, and his great lords, although they were enemies. The before-mentioned pope, Gelasius, came by sea to Burgundy, and his arrival was immediately notified to all parts of France.
On or before 17 Jul 1119 at the Battle of Bures-en-Bray [her former husband] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 51) fought against the army of King Louis VI of France (age 37).
Baldwin VII Count Flanders (age 26) who was killed. His first cousin Charles Estrigen I Count Flanders (age 35) succeeded I Count Flanders. Marguerite Clermont Countess Flanders (age 14) by marriage Countess Flanders.
On 25 Nov 1120 the White Ship left Barfleur, Basse Normandie, with a party of young Normans. [her former husband] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 52) had left earlier on another ship. A mile out the White Ship foundered on a submerged rock. [her son] William Adelin Normandy Duke Normandy (age 17), his half-siblings Richard Fitzroy (age 19) and Matilda Fitzroy Countess Perche, William Bigod (age 27), Lucia Mahaut Blois Countess Chester, brothers Geoffrey Aigle and Engenulf Aigle, half-brothers Richard Avranches 2nd Earl Chester (age 26) and Ottiwel Avranches, brothers Ivo Grandesmil and William Grandesmil and Geoffrey Ridel were all drowned.
Florence of Worcester. 29 Jan 1121. On the fourth of the calends of February the maiden (age 18) already mentioned as selected for queen was married to the [her former husband] king (age 53) by William, bishop of Winchester, at the command of Ralph, archbishop of Canterbury; and on the following day, the third of the calends of February (30th January), she was consecrated and crowned as queen by the archbishop in person.
Note. Some sources say 24 Jan 1121.
Around May 1121 Miles Gloucester 1st Earl Hereford and Sibyl Neufmarché Countess Hereford (age 21) were married. The marriage had been personally arranged by [her former husband] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 53).
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1126. All this year was the [her former husband] King Henry (age 58) in Normandy-all till after harvest. Then came he to this land, betwixt the Nativity of St. Mary and Michaelmas. With him came the queen, and his [her daughter] daughter (age 23), whom he had formerly given to the [her former son-in-law] Emperor Henry of Lorrain to wife. And he brought with him the Earl Waleram (age 22), and Hugh, the son of Gervase (age 28). And the earl he sent to Bridgenorth [Map] in captivity: and thence he sent him afterwards to Wallingford, Oxfordshire [Map]; and Hugh to Windsor Castle [Map], whom he ordered to be kept in strong bonds.
On 01 Dec 1135 [her former husband] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 67) died at Lyons-la-Forêt, Normandy [Map]. The succession fell between Henrys daughter [her daughter] Empress Matilda (age 33) and Henry's nephew King Stephen I England (age 41), son of [her former sister-in-law] Adela Normandy Countess Blois (age 68) daughter of King William "Conqueror" I of England. The period from 1135 to 1153 during which the succession was fought over is known as The Anarchy.
In Apr 1156 [her great grandson] William Plantagenet IX Count Poitiers (age 2) died at Wallingford Castle [Map]. He was buried at Reading Abbey, Berkshire [Map] at the feet of his great-grandfather [her former husband] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England.
Kings Wessex: Great Grand Daughter of King Edmund "Ironside" I of England
Kings Scotland: Grand Daughter of King Duncan I of Scotland
GrandFather: King Duncan I of Scotland
Father: King Malcolm III of Scotland
GrandMother: Bethóc Unknown Queen Consort Scotland
Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England
Great x 4 Grandfather: King Edmund I of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: King Edgar I of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Aelfgifu of Shaftesbury Queen Consort England
Great x 2 Grandfather: King Æthelred II of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Ordgar Earldorman Devon
Great x 3 Grandmother: Aelfthryth Queen Consort England
Great x 1 Grandfather: King Edmund "Ironside" I of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: Thored Northumbria
Great x 2 Grandmother: Aelfgifu of York Queen Consort England
GrandFather: Edward "The Exile" Wessex
Great x 1 Grandmother: Ealdgyth Unknown
Mother: Margaret Wessex Queen Consort Scotland
GrandMother: Agatha