The Queen Who Never Was: Empress Matilda
Tudors Dynasty & Beyond
RedTop Media / Rebecca Larson
4.4 • 869 Ratings
🗓️ 5 March 2026
⏱️ 83 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When people think of the English civil war known as the Anarchy, one name often stands at the center: Empress Matilda, the daughter of Henry I and the woman who almost became England’s first ruling queen. But who was Matilda really-and why did she never wear the crown?
In this episode, Rebecca is joined by historian Matt Lewis to explore the fascinating and often misunderstood story of the woman sometimes called “The Queen Who Never Was.” After the death of her father, Matilda was his designated heir, yet the throne was seized by her cousin Stephen of Blois, plunging England into nearly two decades of conflict.
Matt takes us through Matilda’s extraordinary life-from her time as Holy Roman Empress to her return to England to claim her inheritance. Together, Rebecca and Matt discuss Matilda’s personality and political style, the challenges she faced as a woman claiming power in the 12th century, and the moments when the crown seemed almost within her grasp.
But this conversation also complicates the traditional narrative. Was Stephen simply a usurper-or was he a more sympathetic figure than history often allows? Matt explains why Stephen’s actions might make more sense when viewed through the lens of medieval politics and loyalty.
It’s a story of ambition, legitimacy, personality, and power-and of a woman who came closer than anyone before her to ruling England in her own right.
Join us as we explore Empress Matilda: The Queen Who Never Was.
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Support the podcast over on Patreon! https://patreon.com/tudorsdynasty
Matt's Website: https://mattlewisauthor.com/
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Host: Rebecca Larson
Guest: Matthew Lewis
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the Tudors Dynasty and Beyond podcast, history with a twist. |
| 0:07.3 | And now your host, Rebecca Larson. |
| 0:11.1 | Hello and welcome back to the show. |
| 0:13.4 | I am Rebecca Larson and I'm very pleased to welcome back yet again, Mr. Matt Lewis. |
| 0:19.5 | Welcome. |
| 0:25.9 | Not him again. After last time, I'm surprised you invite me back, but thank you very much for having me again. I feel like, why have you not been knighted yet? I feel like I'm going to call |
| 0:29.9 | you, Sir, Matt Lewis. Okay, you can do that. I will take that. You know what? One of my all-time |
| 0:36.1 | dreams is to be one day become a knight of the garter. I think that would be the coolest group to ever be part of. I have zero chance of it happening. I have never done anything worthwhile enough for that to happen. But, you know, every Christmas, I'm waiting for the letter. |
| 0:52.3 | You ask Santa every Christmas, don't you? And every Christmas. I'm waiting for the letter. You ask Santa every Christmas, don't you? |
| 0:57.4 | And every Christmas he says, shut up. |
| 1:00.0 | Not again. |
| 1:01.9 | How many times I have to tell you, you don't qualify. |
| 1:05.9 | Exactly. |
| 1:07.3 | Oh, gosh. Well, I always enjoy having you on, and I wanted to have you back again to help |
| 1:12.9 | fill in on Thursdays. And today we're talking about another one of your specialties. Obviously, |
| 1:20.0 | you've written several books. And this one is one of the topics that I am just so fascinated by, and it's Matilda. And I think you guys know |
| 1:32.4 | how much I like Matilda. And Matt, you did a special event for me on Empress Matilda as well. |
| 1:40.4 | So I know my listeners enjoy her too. I feel like she I feel like every time you're on now, |
| 1:47.1 | I'm going to swear, but I feel like Empress Matilda was just a badass woman from history |
| 1:52.2 | who doesn't get enough credit. I feel like she and Ethel fled were really like the two first queens, don't you think? |
| 2:03.7 | Absolutely. I'm going to take it as a challenge to make you swear every time I'm on now. |
| 2:07.8 | If we get to the end of an episode and you haven't sworn, I'm going to consider myself a failure. |
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