Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior
Gone Medieval
History Hit
4.5 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 4 June 2022
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
To celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, Matt Lewis revisits the fascinating story of Empress Matilda who came within a hair’s breadth of being crowned England’s first Queen regnant in the 12th century.
Sent away aged eight to match with the Holy Roman Emperor, Matilda represented status for her father and money for her intended. However, Matilda was independent, intelligent, educated and authoritative. Join medieval historian Dr. Catherine Hanley as she takes Matt through the early life of Matilda, her ascension to Empress and her changing position in the succession to the English throne.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Gone Medieval from History Hit. |
| 0:02.6 | To listen to all of our episodes, add free and watch hundreds of history documentaries |
| 0:06.8 | download the History Hit app or go to historyhit.com forward slash subscribe. |
| 0:12.4 | And if you're an Apple listener, you can subscribe for new add free episodes within the app. |
| 0:22.7 | Welcome to this episode of Gone Medieval, I'm Matt Lewis. |
| 0:26.2 | This week, to celebrate the once in a lifetime moment of the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty |
| 0:31.5 | Queen Elizabeth II, we thought we'd have a dig around in our archives and bring you |
| 0:35.6 | an episode that relates to this moment. |
| 0:38.8 | Now the link might be a little bit tenuous, but it works as an excuse to revisit this |
| 0:42.9 | amazing and fascinating episode. |
| 0:46.1 | Empress Matilda came within a hair's breadth of being crowned, Lady of the English, and |
| 0:51.5 | becoming the first Queen Regnant of England in 1141. |
| 0:56.0 | Instead, the kingdom would wait another four centuries for that moment. |
| 1:01.0 | In this episode, originally released in May 2021, I was joined by the wonderful Cath |
| 1:06.1 | Hanley to talk about Empress Matilda's life, her struggle for the throne, and what followed |
| 1:11.5 | her setback in 1141. |
| 1:13.7 | I hope you have a fantastic Jubilee weekend, sit back and enjoy learning the story of a |
| 1:19.2 | 12th century woman who would be a king in the company of Cath Hanley. |
| 1:28.1 | Great to have you here with us, Cath to give us some insights on Empress Matilda. |
| 1:31.6 | Hello, I'm very glad to be here. |
| 1:33.7 | Cath has written a biography of the Empress and no doubt will have lots and lots of fascinating |
| 1:37.9 | stories to tell us about her, so if you could start off Cath with an idea of who Matilda |
... |
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