The passage of the bill in British Parliament last week, to allow a woman to inherit the crown, brings to mind Queen Mathilda, who in 1120 was the first woman to be named as legitimate successor to the king.
Mathilda was the daughter of Henri 1st and the granddaughter of William the Conqueror, who invaded England in 1066. When her brother died in a channel crossing from Normandy to England, Mathilda who was then married to another Henri, the Holy Roman Emperor, was named by her father as his legitimate successor. Her father went as far as to have his nobles swear fealty to her (twice), to ensure their acceptance of Mathilda as the next monarch.
When the king eventually died in 1135, Mathilda was pregnant and in France with her new husband, Geoffrey of Anjou. Her cousin Stephen of Blois took advantage of her inability to travel quickly and sailed for England, claiming the throne as his own. Mathilda eventually raised an army on her own and invaded England, setting off a civil war that lasted for years. At one point, in 1141, Mathilda’s army briefly captured Stephen and held him prisoner. The conflict ended when Stephen, without heirs, named Mathilda’s son Henry as his successor.
When Henry assumed the throne in 1154, he took the name Henry Fitzempress—son of the empress—to honor his mother.
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