HISTORY: Matilda: The Queen England could have had, but did not!
What you need to know:
- Well, in History books, the ‘Lady of the English’ – what an awkward title! – was Queen of the Romans (January 7, 1114-May 23, 1125), being married to Henry-V, the Holy Roman Emperor.
Today, November 1, was when in 1141CE (Christian Era), Holy Roman Empress Matilda’s ‘reign as Lady of the English’ ended after failing to become Queen. Her cousin ‘Stephen of Blois’ - backed by the English Church - became King of England! ‘So what,’ you may say...
Well, in History books, the ‘Lady of the English’ – what an awkward title! – was Queen of the Romans (January 7, 1114-May 23, 1125), being married to Henry-V, the Holy Roman Emperor.
Born to King Henry-I of England and Matilda of Scotland around February 7, 1102 (and fated to die September 10, 1167), Empress Matilda was virtually the Queen that England needed, but never got!
Had the Sisters of Fate overslept on that one, our Matilda (not to be confused with ‘Waltzing Matilda,’ the unofficial national anthem of Australia! But, that’s another story...) stood a real chance of becoming England’s first Queen Regina – thereby highlighting that early in time and space what’s today the ubiquitous, volatile concept of gender equality... Consternating; discombobulating? You can say that again!
Indeed, Matilda (aka Maud; Maude) was a rightful claimant to the English throne at the time, everything else being equal – especially in gender terms! As Fate would have it, however, King Henry’s only legitimate (?) son, William Aethling (Adelin), died in a drunken shipwreck (the ‘White Ship’) on November 25, 1120 - thereby fomenting a succession crisis...
Efforts by the King to shoehorn his daughter Matilda into the throne as his successor met with more than stiff resistance. Henry’s contrivance at making his Anglo-Norman Courtiers recognise and swear allegiance to Matilda as their (future) Queen didn’t go down well with the (male chauvinistic pigs among the) nobles!
What with one thing leading to another, ‘Anarchy’ ravaged England and Normandy in earnest between 1135 and 1154, following the King’s demise in 1135 and the succession controversy.
In due course of time and events, our Matilda lost the struggle to become the first Queen of England on her own terms – and those of his father, the late King Henry!
It was, therefore, on a date like to-days that our Matilda, having failed to become the first 24-carat Queen of England, also perforce gave up her title as the ‘Lady of the English!’
Oh, there were a bazillion (pardon the hyper-expletive!) other equally interesting events down History on today’s date, mostly relating to human activities. But, two of then don’t...!
It was on November 1, 1947 that an American thoroughbred racehorse named ‘Man-o’-War’ (‘born’ in 1917) died. Sired by ‘Fair Play’ and mothered by ‘Mahubah’ (sounds like ki-Swahili for mapenzi; affectionate love!), the stallion reportedly won 20 of his 21 races in two years, earning $249,465 for his owners... Not ‘vijisenti,’ peanuts, in 1919-20!
Another event is ‘National Bison Day,’ observed in the US every November 1 since 2012 to celebrate ‘the historical, economic, ecological and cultural contributions of bison across the American landscape...’ Well, perhaps we in this part of the world also need to have a National Wildlife Day...’ Cheers!
