Page:The Queens of England.djvu/42

 30 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. levied the enormous tax of three shillings upon every hide of land in England ; a custom before unknown, but which afforded a precedent to succeeding monarchs. The following year the little Matilda, all resplendent with jewels, and richly endowed with bridal gifts, set off for Germany ; her dower of ten thousand marks of silver being committed to the care of the trusty knight, Roger FitzRichard, who, with a princely retinue, attended the infant bride on her progress towards the land destined to be her future home. Her reception was magnificent. The emperor met her at Utrecht, a prince old enough to have been her father, but age was of no consequence in a match of policy, and on the follow- ing Easter the royal betrothal took place. Matilda was after- wards solemnly crowned at Mayence ; upon which occasion, in presence of all the nobility of the empire, the Archbishop of Treves held the royal child in his arms, while the Archbishop of Colonge encircled her brow with the imperial diadem. The English retinue of Matilda was then dismissed by the emperor, who desired that his future partner should continue her education in conformity with the habits and manners of the Germans, and with the knowledge of their language ; he gave, therefore, the necessary directions for her studies, ap- pointed her a magnificent dower, and arranged her household on a scale suitable to her imperial dignity. But young as she then was, Matilda probably yearned for the scenes she had left, for her playmate, Prince William, whom she was destined never more to behold, and greatly must she have felt the estrange- ment from her tender mother, and from that pious preceptor who had taught her infant mind. To this isolation, at so early an age, from home and kindred, may possibly be traced many of the faults which became conspicuous in her after-life. One prelate only of all her numerous train, Henry, Arch- deacon of Winchester, was permitted to continue at the German court ; and her affectionate regard for him was testified some years after, when she obtained for him, from her husband, a grant of the Bishopric of Verdun. In 1 1 14, the emperor considering that the education of Ma- tilda was completed, assembled a splendid court at Mayence, where the royal nuptials were celebrated upon the 7th of Jan- uary ; and the young empress was a second time crowned, after which she took up her abode with her husband. It has been supposed that, when Henry the Fifth was