Margaret, Matilda, Eleanor, and Joan
Extraordinary Women, Part 8
My mother, Helen Isabella Estes Seltzer, died Dec. 28, 2010, at the age of 90. She had a life-long interest in family history. In her memory, I compiled profiles of powerful and strong-willed women among her ancestors, thinking those women might inspire her descendants. These brief biographies are grouped by the lines of descent, which are shown afterwards, leading down to the present.
Saint Margaret of Scotland
maternal grandmother of the Empress Matilda (belo)
Soon after Cnut the Great, the Viking, conquered England, the previous Anglo-Saxon king, Edmund “Ironside” died, and Cnut shipped Edmund’s two young sons to Sweden, where they were supposed to be murdered. They escaped that fate, went to Kiev instead, and eventually ended up at the Hungarian court. That’s where Margaret, the daughter of one of those sons, was born and raised.
In 1057, her father, Edward the Exile, was recalled to England as a possible successor to his uncle King Edward the Confessor, who had no children. But Edward the Exile died soon after arrival and Harald II Godwinson (also an ancestor) was chosen as king. When a few months later Harald was killed at the Battle of Hastings by the forces of William the Conqueror (also an ancestor), Margaret’s brother Edgar was proclaimed King of England. But with the Normans advancing on London, Margaret and her family first fled north, then tried to sail to the Continent. A storm threw their ship off course, and they landed in Scotland, where they sought the protection of King Malcolm III. Malcolm, a widower, married Margaret as one of the few remaining members of the Anglo-Saxon royal family, and proceeded to wage war against England, in support of the claims of his new brother-in-law Edgar.
In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Malcolm kills Macbeth who had killed Malcolm’s father Duncan.
Margaret was canonized “in recognition of her personal holiness, fidelity to the Church, work for religious reform, and charity… She was considered to be an exemplar of the “just ruler”, and also influenced her husband and children to be just and holy rulers.”
Her feast day was June 10, later moved to November 16.
Matilda of Flanders — England’s Shortest Queen
paternal grandmother of the Empress Matilda, below
Matilda of Flanders was the wife of William “the Conqueror”, King of England. She bore William eleven children, including two kings, William II and Henry I.
According to legend, when William, then Duke of Normandy, sent his representative to ask for Matilda’s hand in marriage, she said she was far too high-born, to consider marrying a bastard. After hearing this response, William rode from Normandy to Bruges, found Matilda on her way to church, and dragged her off her horse by her long braids, threw her down in the street, and rode off.
When her father, Baldwin V, Count of Flanders, took offense, Matilda stopped them from coming to blows by agreeing to marry William (despite a papal ban on the grounds that they were too closely related).
According to the Guinness Book of Recrods, she was just 4'2" tall, and hence was shortest queen in the history of England.
(Her mother was Adela Capet, daughter of Robert II, King of France.)
Empress Matilda — First Woman Ruler of England
granddaugther of both Saint Margaret and Matilda of Flanders
This Matilda was the last surviving legitimate child of Henry I, King of England (the son of William the Conqueror). At the age of 12 she married Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, thereby acquiring the title “Empress”. When the Emperor died 11 years later, Matilda returned to England.
Her father named her as heir to the English throne and to the Duchy of Normandy. He saw to it that the Anglo-Norman barons, including her cousin Stephen of Blois (who was also a grandchild of William the Conqueror) swore twice to accept Matilda as ruler if he died without a male heir.
She married Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, who called himself “Plantagenet” from the broom flower (planta genista) he adopted as his personal emblem. Plantagenet became the name of the dynasty founded by their son (our ancestor) Henry II.
When her father died in 1135, Matilda and Geoffrey were in Anjou; and Stephen of Blois raced to England where, with the support of most of the barons, seized the crown.
Matilda and her husband fought to claim her inheritance. Geoffrey won Normandy and assumed the title of Count of Normandy. Then in 1139, Matilda challenged Stephen in England. In February 1141, her forces defeated and captured King Stephen at the Battle of Lincoln. Matilda was in fact Queen of England for several months. But when she arrived in London, in preparation for her coronation, the citizens requested that she halve their taxes, and when she refused, they closed the city gates to her, and the civil war started up again.
This long period of civil war came to be known as “The Anarchy”.
During the war, Matilda’s most capable supporter was her illegitimate half-brother, Robert, First Earl of Gloucester. By November, Stephen was free (exchanged for the captured Robert of Gloucester) and a year later, the tables were turned when Matilda was besieged at Oxford but escaped to Wallingford, by fleeing across snow-covered land in a white cape. Later she escaped again by disguising herself as a corpse and being carried out for burial.
In 1148, Matilda and her son Henry returned to Normandy; and Geoffrey turned Normandy over to Henry and retired to Anjou. .
In 1153, when Stephen’s son Eustace died and Henry arrived with another military expedition, Stephen acknowledged Henry as his heir.
Matilda is a character in Jean Anouilh’s play Becket and the movie based on that, about Thomas Becket the Archbishop of Canterbury and his contentious relationship with King Henry II.
Eleanor of Aquitaine — the Lioness in Winter
daughter-in-law of the Empress Matilda
Eleanor was one of the richest and most powerful women of the Middle Ages. At the age of 15, she succeeded her father as ruler of Aquitaine (in what is now the south of France, on the Mediterranean). Since her duchy would belong to whoever she married, she was the most sought-after bride in Europe. First she married Louis VII, King of France (our ancestor through another wife of his, Adela of Champagne).
With Louis, she took part in the Second Crusade. She recruited her ladies-in-waiting and 300 vassals as Crusaders, and she served as the leader of the troops from Aquitaine. According to some accounts, she and her ladies dressed as Amazons.
On their return to France, she asked for a divorce and was granted an annullment, with her lands returning to her. She then married Henry II, Duke of Normandy, the future King of England, who was 12 years younger than her. She bore him five sons and three daughters. The sons included the future kings Richard I and John (our ancestor).
This marriage was a bit rocky. She supported her son Henry’s attempt to overthrow her husband, for which her husband had her imprisoned for 16 years. When her husband died, Richard became king and freed his mother. She ruled as regent while Richard went on the Third Crusade.
She appears in the movie “The Lion in Winter” (played by Katharine Hepburn) and figures in the play and movie Becket, and in Shakespeare’s play King John.
Joan Stewart — the Deaf Princess
seven greats granddaughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine
Joan Stewart, daughter of James I, King of Scotland, was born deaf. Reportedly, she used sign language, even in public. She married James Douglas, First Earl of Morton and her effigy on the family tomb is the world’s oldest image of a known deaf person.
Line of Descent
1) Saint Margaret of Scotland (1045–1093) (md. Malcolm III, King of Scotland)
2) Matilda of Scotland (1080–1118) (md. Henry I, King of England)
1) Matilda of Flanders (1031–1083) (md. William the Conqueror, King of England)
2) Henry I, King of England (1068–1135) (md. Matilda of Scotland)
3) Empress Matilda (1102–1110) (md. Geoffrey Plantagenet, “the Handsome”, Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou)
4) Henry II, King of England (1133–1189) (md. Eleanor of Aquitaine)
5) John I, “Lackland”, King of England (1166–1216) (md. Isabella of Angouleme)
6) Henry III, King of England (1207–1307) (md. Eleanor of Provence)
7) Edward I, “Longshanks”, King of England (1239–1307) (md. Eleanor of Castille)
8) Edward II, King of England (1284–1327) (md. Isabella of France)
9) Edward III, King of England (1312–1377) (md. Philipa of Hainault)
10) John of Gaunt, First Duke of Lancaster (1340–1399) (md. Katherine Swynford)
11) John Beaufort, First Earl of Somerset (1371–1410) (md. Margaret Holland)
12) Joan Beaufort (1404–1445) (md. James I, King of Scotland)
13) Joan Stewart (1428–1486) (md. James Douglas, First Earl of Morton)
14) John Douglas, Second Earl of Morton (1459–1513) (md. Janet Crichton)
15) Agnes Douglas (md. Alexander Livingston, Fifth Lord Livingston of Callandar, guardian of Mary Queen of Scots)
16) William Livingston, Sixth Lord Livingston of Callandar (1528–1602) (md. Agnes Fleming)
17) Alexander Livingston (1561–1621) (md. Eleanor Hay)
18) Margaret Livingston (1586–1634) (md. John Fleming)
19) Alexander Fleming, emigrated from Scotland to Virginia (1612–1668) (md. Elizabeth Anderson)
20) John Fleming, emigrated with his father from Scotland to Virginia) (1627–1686) (md. Mary)
21) Charles Fleming (1659–1717) (md. Susannah Tarleton)
22) Susannah Tarleton Fleming (md. John Bates)
23) James Bates (1721–1786) (md. Winnifred Grymes)
24) Daniel Bates (1756–1801) (md. Elizabeth Cary Bell)
25) Sarah Langhorne Bates, moved from Virginia to Tennessee (1781–1825) (md. Joel Estes)
26) Albert Monroe Estes (1804–1863) (md. Mildred Colman)
27) Louis Powhatan Estest (1849–1902) (md. Lily Yates Moore)
26) Smith William Estes, moved from Tennessee to Philadelphia (1881–1943) (md. Mae Griffith)
27) Helen Isabella Estes (1920–2010) (md. Richard Warren Seltzer, Sr.)
