In early February of 1102, Queen Matilda was giving birth.

Now, while we have a rather precise record of King Henry's itinerary, the life of Queen

Matilda isn't nearly as well documented, so we don't know exactly where she was at this

very important moment.

One suggested possibility is Sutton Corteur.

Historians reason that because Abbott Farretius was the queen's physician and Sutton-Cortenay was close to Ferretius's home abbey of Abington, then maybe that's where she was for the final days of her pregnancy. And honestly, the idea that Matilda had to travel to accommodate the wishes of her OBGYN, makes that actually kind of sound plausible.

Ours barely even made it to the delivery.

Now, the 12th century biographer of Thomas Beckett believed that Queen Matilda actually went to labor in London, though we probably won't ever know for sure where she was.

But this was a very exciting moment for the royal family, because with an air, that tauntine

between Henry and Robert would be leaning heavily in Henry's favor.

Also, you know, they'd have a baby, which for most people would be the

exciting part of it. But let's face it, Henry did have plenty of kids already. The guy couldn't

throw a peasant without hitting one of his own bastards. But then again, an official heir?

Well, that was different. So this is a big deal. And then at last, the baby was born.

And even better, both the mother and child were safe. And the kingdom welcomed their new princess.

Yeah. These people were not that big on girls.

Boys is what they wanted. Not sure where they thought all the boys were going to come from,

but no one accused 12th century Normans of being geniuses. So this wasn't greeted as particularly good news,

with the exception that it did confirm that Queen Matilda was fertile, which meant they could try again to have a boy. Because everyone knew that the future of this dynasty and this kingdom would lay with a boy.

Not with some girl who probably would never amount to much.

But, you know, she was here, so might as well name her.

And Henry almost certainly picked the name.

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