Matilda of Scotland (originally christened Edith, 1080 – 1 May 1118), also known as Good Queen Maud, was Queen of England and Duchess of Normandy as the first wife of King Henry I. She acted as regent of England on several occasions during Henry's absences: in 1104, 1107, 1108, and 1111.
Daughter of King Malcolm III of Scotland and the Anglo-Saxon princess Margaret of Wessex, Matilda was educated at a convent in southern England, where her aunt Christina was abbess and forced her to wear a veil. In 1093, Matilda was engaged to an English nobleman until her father and her brother Edward were killed in the Battle of Alnwick in 1093. Her uncle Donald III seized the throne of Scotland, triggering a messy succession conflict. England opposed King Donald and supported first her half-brother Duncan II as king of Scotland, and after his death, her brother Edgar, who assumed the throne in 1097.
Henry I succeeded his brother William Rufus as king of England in 1100 and quickly proposed marriage to Matilda due to her descent from the Anglo-Saxon House of Wessex, which would help legitimize his rule. After proving she had not taken religious vows, Matilda and Henry were married. As Queen of England, Matilda embarked on several building projects for transportation and health, took a role in government as mediator to the Church, and led a literary court. She acted as regent when her husband was away, with many surviving charters signed by her. Matilda and Henry had two children: Empress Matilda and William Adelin; through her daughter, she is the ancestor of all subsequent English and British monarchs. Queen Matilda was buried in Westminster Abbey and was fondly remembered by her subjects. There was an attempt to have her canonised as a saint in the Catholic Church, which was not pursued.
Born in 1080, in Dunfermline, Scotland, Matilda's parents were King Malcolm III and Margaret of Wessex. She was therefore a descendant of both the Scottish and the Anglo-Saxon royal families, great-granddaughter of Edmund Ironside and descended from Alfred the Great. The Scottish princess was christened Edith. Present at the baptismal font were Robert Curthose standing as her godfather, and the English queen Matilda of Flanders as her godmother. The infant Edith pulled at Matilda's headdress, which was seen as an omen that the child would one day be a queen.
Edith and her siblings were raised by a loving but strict mother who did not spare the rod when it came to raising her children in virtue, and instilled in her offspring the importance of piety. When about six years old, Edith and her younger sister Mary were sent to be educated at Romsey Abbey, in southern England, where their maternal aunt Christina was abbess. Their studies went beyond the standard feminine pursuits of the time, which was not surprising since their mother was a great lover of books. The princesses learned the English, French, and Latin languages, enabling them to read St. Augustine's works and the Bible. It is presumed Edith learned financial management and geometry as well.
During her stay at Romsey and later at Wilton Abbey, the still 13-year-old Edith was much sought after as a bride, with Hériman of Tournai claiming that even King William II of England considered marrying her. She refused proposals from William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey, and Alan Rufus, Lord of Richmond. However, her parents betrothed Edith to the latter in 1093. Before the marriage could take place, both her father and older brother Edward were killed at the Battle of Alnwick in November 1093. Upon hearing of the death of both her husband and her son, Queen Margaret died on 16 November. Edith's paternal uncle Donald III claimed the throne of Scotland, and her surviving brothers, Edgar, Alexander, and David, were sent to England to the court of King William II for safety. Shortly afterwards, the orphan princess was abandoned by her betrothed, who eloped with Gunhild of Wessex, a daughter of Harold Godwinson. Alan Rufus died, however, before marrying Gunhild.
Around this time, possibly due to the succession conflict in Scotland between her uncle Donald III, her half-brother Duncan II and her brother Edgar, Edith left the monastery. In 1093, Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury wrote to the Bishop of Salisbury, ordering that "the daughter of the late King of Scotland be returned to the monastery that she had left". Edith did not return to Wilton, however, and is largely unaccounted for in chronicles until 1100. As her home in Scotland was held by her uncle, it is possible, likely even, that Edith joined her brothers at the English court of William Rufus, who supported her brother Edgar in assuming the throne of Scotland in 1097.
After William II's death in the New Forest in August 1100, his brother Henry immediately seized the royal treasury and crown. He was manipulative and profoundly clever, known for his strict but proper government and utterly merciless nature in case of war or rebellion. His next task was to marry and his choice was Edith, whom he had known for some time. William of Malmesbury stated that Henry had "long been attached" to her, Orderic Vitalis said that Henry had "long adored" her character and capacity. Some sources add that she was "not bad looking" despite that she did not improve her appearance through face painting. It is possible that Edith spent time at William Rufus's court, along with her brothers, and that the pair had met there, but Henry could have been introduced to her by his teacher Bishop Osmund.
Henry had been born in England, but a bride with ties to the ancient Wessex line would increase his popularity with the English and help to reconcile the Normans and Anglo-Saxons. Edith was a great-granddaughter of Edmund Ironside from the royal family of Wessex, in their heirs, the two factions would be united, further unifying the new regime. Another benefit was that England and Scotland became politically closer; three of her brothers became kings of Scotland in succession and were unusually friendly towards England: Alexander I married Sybilla, one of Henry I's illegitimate daughters, and David I lived at Henry's court for some time before his accession.
Because Edith had spent much of her life in a convent, there was some controversy over whether she was a nun and thus canonically ineligible for marriage. During her time at Romsey Abbey, her aunt Christina forced her to wear a veil. Strong-willed, Edith was ready to fight for her status as a marriageable woman rather than staying in a monastery, despite the fact that her aunt insisted she "was a veiled nun, and that it would be an act of sacrilege to remove her from her convent." When Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury returned to England after a long exile, she sought him out to convince him that she had never been a nun. In fact, she had not only been forced to wear a veil, but her father had "ripped off the offensive headdress [...] and tore it to shreds" at sight of her being veiled.
Professing himself unwilling to decide so weighty a matter on his own, Anselm called a council of bishops in order to determine the canonical legality of the proposed marriage and ordered two inquiries at Wilton to get first-hand information on the matter. Edith testified that she had never taken holy vows, insisting that her parents had sent her to England for educational purposes and her aunt had veiled her to protect her "from the lust of the Normans," but she had pulled the veil off and stamped on it, which made her aunt beat and scold her. The council concluded that Edith was not a nun, she never had been, and her parents had not intended that she become one, giving their permission for the marriage.
Edith and Henry were married on 11 November 1100 at Westminster Abbey by Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury. At the end of the ceremony, Edith was crowned and took the regnal name of "Matilda", a hallowed Norman name. The exact reason for the name change remains unclear, though historians suspect she did it in an attempt to please her Norman subjects and husband. By courtiers, however, she and her husband were soon nicknamed 'Godric and Godiva', two typical English names from before the Norman conquest of England in derision of their more rustic style, especially when compared to William II's flamboyance. Despite this, Matilda's court at Westminster was filled with poets. She was known as a patron of the arts, especially music.