Page:The Queens of England.djvu/52

 MATILDA OF BOULOGNE, THE WIFE OF STEPHEN. The reign of the usurper Stephen was a period of continual agitation ; his authority, founded only on the right of conquest, was unstable and insecure, and rebellion, strife and warfare fill the annals of his history. Even his queen, who by her gen- tleness and virtues gained the love and esteem of all around her, and, like her noble relative and prototype, Matilda, queen of Henry I., obtained the title of "the Good," found not the peace she so eminently deserved, and enjoyed no permanent conjugal felicity. The ancestors of Matilda of Boulogne were all illustrious. Eustace of Boulogne, her grandfather, served under William the Conquerer at the battle of Hastings, and his three sons shared the honors of the first Crusade. The conquest of the Holy City was effected under the direction of Godfrey, the eldest, who was regarded as the best soldier and the most virtuous gentleman of his age. He was chosen King of Jeru- salem, and his brother Baldwin succeeded him. Eustace, the third brother, returned to Boulogne, and inherited that earl- dom. He married Mary, the daughter of Malcolm III., King of Scotland, a younger sister of Matilda, queen of Henry I. The only offspring of Eustace and Mary was a daughter, Matilda, who, after the death of her father, inherited all his possessions abroad, as well as his rich estates in Essex. The English monarch, desirous of securing so much property in his own family, betrothed the fair Matilda to Stephen, fourth son of Adela, daughter of William the Conqueror, his own favorite nephew, who thus, in right of his wife, became Earl of Bou- logne. Little did Henry foresee that by this act he raised a fearful competitor for the throne in the bosom of his family. After the death of Henry and his sons, we find the two Matildas, 40