Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 1.djvu/165

TO 1089.] in England who were baronesses in their own right, and as such took their place at the court of the king.

It would be a most interesting task to trace the outline of the plan of education pursued in these establishments; unfortunately the materials for such an undertaking are too scanty. From Alfred of Rieviesby, a contemporary, we learn that very young children were sometimes admitted, and that the nuns displayed towards them an almost maternal affection.

These children were taught reading, and in most instances writing. Music was also an important part of a conventual education, since all the scholars were expected to take their parts in the seven daily services of the church.

As Matilda grew towards womanhood, more than one Norman chieftain had endeavoured to obtain her hand in marriage; but on preferring their request to William Rufus, that politic monarch had refused his consent. He did not wish to see a Saxon princess, a lineal descendant of Alfred the Great, allied to any man whose power or abilities might enable him to aspire to the throne. Matilda therefore remained in the seclusion of the cloister until King Henry sent to her his proposals of marriage. It is related that the young princess received the offer with dislike, if not with disdain. She was not ignorant of the sufferings which the Norman invasion had brought upon her countrymen, and her sympathy with their sorrows induced a hatred of their oppressors.

Her friends and attendants, however, combated these scruples, and argued that, by her consent, she might restore, in some degree, the safety and happiness of the people, while her refusal would certainly tend to increase the enmity between the Norman and Saxon races. It is one of the penalties attached to royalty that those connections which, in a lower and happier sphere of life, are matters of choice and affection, become among princes mere questions of state policy. Matilda felt herself unable to resist the arguments brought forward in favour of the match, and she gave an unwilling consent. An opposition on the other side, meanwhile, arose among the Norman adherents of Henry, who were ill-disposed to have a Saxon queen to reign over them, and were probably jealous of the effect such a marriage would produce among the people in the king's favour.



It was asserted that the chosen wife of the king was already the bride of Heaven; that she had been seen to wear the veil of a nun, which shut her out for ever from the world.

In this difficulty it was necessary for Henry to obtain the assistance of the clergy, and he therefore sent messengers to Anselm, entreating him to return to England and resume the see of Canterbury. The king promised to restore the privileges of the Church, and to submit to its authority. Anselm acceded to the request, and agreed to perform the marriage ceremony; but when he heard the reports in circulation that Matilda had taken the veil, he declared that the matter required to be investigated, and that he would himself examine the princess on the subject.

On the question being put to her, Matilda denied that she had ever been dedicated to a religious life, or had worn the veil of her own consent. The reason she gave for