Matilda of Flanders is little remembered alongside her more famous husband, William the Conqueror. But she was a formidable woman in her own right, whose regal ancestry aided her husband and children, whose political knowledge was fundamental to ruling England, and she would prove herself to be every inch the equal to William. This video looks at her early life, how she REALLY married William, and her life as Duchess of Normandy...come back next week for Part 2!

Sources/Related Books:

Matilda: Wife of the Conqueror, First Queen of England by Tracy Borman https://amzn.to/3VdDvth

Queens of the Conquest: The extraordinary women who changed the course of English history 1066 1167 by Alison Weir https://amzn.to/3V9bsfA

'Matilda of Flanders' by Elisabeth van Houts (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography) https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10....

De Gestis Regum Anglorum by William of Malmesbury https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/...

Medieval Elite Women and the Exercise of Power, 1100–1400 by Heather J. Tanner https://amzn.to/3QSIxtO

Memory and Gender in Medieval Europe, 9001200 by Elisabeth van Houts https://amzn.to/3wM4t2N

Orderic Vitalis: Life, Works and Interpretations by Various https://amzn.to/3WTQliO

The Normans in Europe by Elisabeth van Houts https://amzn.to/4bxkvge

Conquests in EleventhCentury England: 1016, 1066 by Laura Ashe and Emily Ward https://amzn.to/4bLOq3R



For my images and footage, thanks to:

Pexels
Pixabay
Wikimedia Commons, especially:
Pradigue
Urban~commonswiki
Nilfanion
Midnightblueowl


Many of my images in this video were made with Midjourney, see if you can spot which ones!


I strive to always credit everyone whose images I use, and try as much as possible to use images freely in the public domain (purchased where not possible) please let me know if I have missed you so I can give you due credit.