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Rh MATILDA, OR MAUD, of Germany and Queen of England, daughter of Henry the First, of England, and Matilda of Scotland, was born in 1102. At eight years of age, she was betrothed to Henry the Fifth, Emperor of Germany, and was sent to that country for education. The emperor dying without issue, in 1125, Matilda returned to her father's court, who, having lost his only son, caused all his nobles, prelates, etc., to swear fealty to her as his successor, in case he died without male issue; and in 1127, he married her to Geoffrey Plantagenet, eldest son of Fulke, Count of Anjou.

Matilda went to reside in Normandy, where, in 1132, her son, afterwards Henry the Second, was born. By the death of her father, in 1135, she became heiress of all his dominions in England and France. She was then at Anjou with her husband, of which circumstance her cousin Stephen, Earl of Blois, took advantage, and seized on the crown of England. The barons of Normandy also submitted to Stephen; but his administration soon becoming unpopular, Matilda, in 1139, landed in England, and a number of powerful barons declared in her favour. A civil war ensued, and in 1141, Stephen was taken prisoner, and Matilda crowned queen in the cathedral at Winchester. But no sooner was she seated on the throne, than her haughty and impolitic conduct irritated the nobles and estranged her friends. She refused to listen to their requests, or to the petition of the Londoners for the restoration of the laws of Edward the Confessor. Conspiracies were formed against her, and she was obliged, in 1148, to flee to Normandy, where she resided till her death. The art of government consists mainly in an accurate knowledge of the human heart; by which princes are enabled to conciliate the affections of those around them, and by graceful condescensions, win the regard of the lower orders, of whom the great body of the nation, emphatically called "the people," is composed. The German education of the Empress Matilda, as well as her pride, prevented her from duly estimating the importance of these things; and thus she failed in obtaining the crown of England, which was hers in the order of regular succession.

MATILDA, Scotland, daughter of Malcolm Canmore, King of Scotland, and Margaret Atheling. a descendant of the Anglo-Saxon line of England's kings, was a beautiful and accomplished lady. She married Henry the First, and proved a wise and excellent queen. She was charitable to the poor, and always watchful to do what was most useful for her people. She caused bridges to be built, and roads to be made and repaired, while she acted as regent during her husband's absence in Normandy. As King Henry was obliged to pass most of his time in Normandy, then belonging to the English crown, in order to suppress the continual revolts of his subjects, the good Matilda was left to govern England in her own way. She was always popular; and at her decease. In 1118, she was "passionately lamented by every class of the people, to whom her virtues and wisdom had rendered her inexpressibly dear." She was mother of the Empress Matilda.