Source Text:

Name: Matilda of Scotland Famous memorial
Birth Date: 1 Jun 1079
Birth Location:
Death Date: 1 May 1118 (aged 38)
Death Location:
Burial: Westminster Abbey
City: Westminster
County: City of Westminster
State: Greater London
Country: England
Memorial ID: 8428202

English Queen Consort. She was given the name Edith at birth and was the daughter of Malcolm III, King of Scotland, and his wife, Queen Margaret, a granddaughter of Edmund II Ironside, King of England, and a member of England's old royal line of Wessex. Her mother was canonized in 1250 by Pope Innocent IV in recognition of her personal holiness, charity, and fidelity to the Roman Catholic Church. The young Scottish princess was educated at Romsey Abbey, a Benedictine nunnery located in Hampshire in southern England, under the supervision of her maternal aunt, Christina, who was abbess. She received a good education and learned English, French, and Latin. Her father and brother Edward were killed at the Battle of Alnwick in 1093 and her paternal uncle, Donald, seized the throne. She consequently left Romsey Abbey and her whereabouts during this period are not recorded until she resurfaces in 1100 as a potential bride for the newly crowned King Henry I of England. Henry had succeeded to the throne after the death of his brother, William II, under suspicious circumstances. The princess was a desirable bride, not only because of her personal qualities, but because of her descent from the kings of Wessex, who had served as kings of England up until the reign of Edward the Confessor who died in 1066. Initially, there was some debate as to whether she had become a nun while at Romsey Abbey, but she steadfastly denied that assertion. If she had taken the vows of a nun, she would have been ineligible to marry. Eventually, a council of bishops assembled by Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, concluded she was not a nun and thus eligible to marry King Henry. They were married on November 11, 1100 at Westminster Abbey and she was crowned as queen consort following the marriage ceremony taking the name Matilda, having been known as Edith up to this point. She was a patron of the arts, especially of music and poetry, and architecture, funding the construction of Waltham Abbey and Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate, built in the Norman, or Romanesque, style. Like her mother, she had a keen interest in alleviating the suffering of the poor; was generous to the church; and founded at least two leper hospitals. Her husband relied on her judgment and she served as regent when he was out of the country in 1104, 1107, 1108, and 1111. She acted as an intermediary between her husband and Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury during the investiture controversy, a conflict between the church and state over the ability to select and install bishops, and with the Queen's intercession was able to reach a compromise in which the King relinquished his right to select and invest his own bishops and the Church agreed that the King could receive homage from bishops for the land the Church held in the territory he ruled. She died at the Palace of Westminster in London and was buried near Edward the Confessor at Westminster Abbey.

Family Members
Parents
Malcolm III 1031–1093
Saint Margaret of Scotland 1045–1093
Spouse
Henry I of England 1068–1135
(m. 1100)
Siblings
Prince Edward of Scotland 1068–1093
Edmund of Scotland 1070–1105
Aethelred of Scotland 1072–1093
Edgar King of Scots 1074–1107
Alexander I King of Scots 1077–1124
David I King of Scots 1080–1153
Princess Mary of Scotland Canmore 1082–1116
Half Siblings
Donnchadh Duncan II 1060–1094
Children
Countess Matilda Fitzroy of Perche 1086–1120
Duchess Matilda Fitzroy, of Brittany 1091–1148
Matilda "Empress Maud" of England 1102–1167
William Adelin 1103–1120