Matilda of Scotland

Edith of Scotland or Matilda of Scotland (c. 1080, † May 1, 1118 ) was the first wife of King Henry I.; she was a daughter of the Scottish king Malcolm III. and Saint Margaret. Robert Curthose was her godfather, godmother could have been his mother, the Queen Mathilde, who also participated in the celebration.

Life

When she was about 6 years old, Edith and her sister Mary were given to Romsey Abbey, where her aunt Christina, her mother's sister, was abbess. During their stay in Romsey and then in Wilton Edith was already a coveted bride. Requests from William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey, and Alan Rufus, Lord of Richmond, were rejected. Hermann of Tournai claims that King William II of England, she also wanted to get married. She had already left the monastery again, as Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury Osmund Sées, the Bishop of Salisbury, anschrieb, and asked him to bring back the daughter of the King of Scotland to the monastery.

After Henry I came to the throne in 1100, he looked around for a wife to, and his choice fell on Edith. But as she had spent most of her life in the monastery, there was now a debate about whether that had already taken the vows or not. Henry was looking for marriage license in Anselm, who had returned in September 1100 after a long exile in England. This, in turn, was not willing to take such a serious decision alone and therefore called a synod to examine the legality of the proposed marriage. Edith gave to the assembled bishops that they have not taken the vows, rather that her parents had sent her and her sister to be educated in England and her aunt Christina she was the only reason why " veiled " in order "before the lust of the Normans to protect. " The Synod came to the conclusion that Edith was not a nun, her parents would not have intended to make it the nun, and gave permission for the marriage.

Edith and Henry seem to have already known a long time before the wedding - William of Malmesbury states that Henry her " was inclined to long ", and Orderic Vitalis says that Henry had " long admired " Edith's character. In addition to the personal relationship but there was also a political component: Through her ​​mother Edith was a descendant of King Edmund II and thus Alfred the Great from the ancient family of the kings of Wessex, which was very important for Henry, who strove in country to be popular: with their descendants the Norman and Anglo-Saxon dynasty would be united. Another advantage was that England and Scotland moved closer together, as three of her brothers were Scottish kings, and in whose reign the relations between the two countries were unusually good.

Marriage and descendants

Edith and Henry were married on 11 November 1100 at Westminster Abbey by Archbishop Anselm. She was crowned as " Matilda", a rather Norman name. Henry and Matilda had two children:

Edith, who now Matilda was held, mainly in Westminster Court, accompanied her husband, but also in his travels through England and 1106 /07 probably in Normandy. Their farm consisted largely of musicians and poets, they commissioned a monk, perhaps Turgot, her mother's biography to be written. She was an active queen and was - like her mother - revered for their piety and their generosity towards the poor. William of Malmesbury writes that she had gone barefoot in Lent, the Church and the sick have washed your feet. In addition, she managed the goods to its vast dowry, was known as a patron of the arts, especially music.

After her death in 1118 she remained their subjects as " Matilda the Good Queen" and " Matilda of Blessed Memory " in memory. For some time the canonization was operated for them, but this was never carried out. Four years after her death, Henry married - had the two married and at least twenty illegitimate children, most of whom were born during the marriage with Matilda - a second time.