Welcome to the British History Podcast. My name is Jamie and this is episode 445,

Feeding Friendsy.

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Matilda was dead, and now things were coming apart at the seams.

The fact is, she appears to have been holding the House of Normandy together, though you wouldn't know that if you just relied on her eulogies left by the scribes.

Churchmen like Orderick, while writing these eulogies emphasized the fact that she was a good woman.

And for them, that meant she was a quiet one who was focused on her faith.

And by focused on her faith, they meant a woman who gave the church

fat stacks of cash on the regular. Now to be clear, I have no reason to think that Matilda didn't have a deep faith in her religion.

However, when we read these eulogies, we're reading a curated account of a person.

The scribes were telling us that Matilda was a very good woman, and to do that,

they were focusing on what their culture defined as a very good noble woman.

So we're not going to read about her very real impact on the political stage

when we're reading these eulogies.

We also won't read about how she regularly governed as regent, nor how much William benefited from her connections

and political clout. We won't read about how it was her effort, and specifically her influence on

William that appears to have kept this dysfunctional family together.

Matilda was likely a good medieval noble woman, but she was also a highly skilled politician.

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