In the summer of 1100, a young woman rode swiftly to Kent on a mission to save her marriage – before it had even begun. She had spent much of her early life in the confines of abbeys in Wilton and Romsey, yet now she found herself racing east towards Canterbury Cathedral and an appointment with the church’s long-serving archbishop, Anselm.
To gain an audience with England’s most senior churchman in its religious heart was a extraordinary privilege. Yet the marriage the woman was attempting to secure that summer day was anything but ordinary.
That’s because the woman – known to history as Matilda of Scotland – had royal blood coursing through her veins. Aged no more than 20, she was the daughter of a Scottish king and an English princess. And her would-be husband was King Henry I, perhaps 12 years her elder.
Henry had come to the English throne just weeks earlier after his older brother, William II (known as Rufus), had been killed by a stray arrow while hunting in the New Forest. Now Henry was set on marrying Matilda – and, from what we can tell, the feeling was mutual. Yet there was an obstacle standing between the royal lovers and their marriage: Matilda’s aunt, Christina.
Christina, herself a nun and probably effectively Matilda’s guardian at the abbey, swore that her niece had pledged herself to God in a vow of chastity, and therefore was not free to wed any man – even if he was king of England. So Matilda made that headlong ride in a desperate bid to persuade Anselm that she had never taken vows, and had worn a nun’s veil only for protection from assault.
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