tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post2236991893734411414..comments2024-03-26T07:37:54.729+00:00Comments on Confessions of a Ci-Devant: "The Friend of True Piety": The Life of Matilda of Flanders, Queen of EnglandGareth Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-49704074061496200712016-07-25T00:08:31.529+01:002016-07-25T00:08:31.529+01:00The Chronicle of Tours was the origin of the story...The Chronicle of Tours was the origin of the story that Matilda refused to marry William and it should be taken with a hefty grain of salt. No other medieval sources mention it, not even ones that were hostile to the Normans. If William actually had assaulted the daughter of the count of Flanders, there probably would have been an uproar similar to the one that happened a few years later when Polly Estherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06467248567631870439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-84491423890514828332010-08-01T21:49:37.112+01:002010-08-01T21:49:37.112+01:00Anne, thank you for your post. As you say, decidin...Anne, thank you for your post. As you say, deciding what 11th century people thought or felt is notoriously difficult and we have to rely on the comments of chroniclers and our own insights. I hope that, like you, any readers will be able to make up their own minds - certainly, the idea of William's psychology being similar to a gang leader's is a fascinating one.<br /><br />Henry I is Gareth Russellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09102113677858015813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-53248743425162432822010-08-01T21:40:27.771+01:002010-08-01T21:40:27.771+01:00I'm not exactly sure how to comment on this po...I'm not exactly sure how to comment on this post. You talk about her sons, but do not mention the future Henry I, who could be violent at times, but it was a kind of "controlled" violence, but in England was mostly rather peaceable. I didn't know about the possible rape, but it would seem characteristic of William, who reminds me more and more of some gang leaders today. It Anne Gilberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03045500116098233731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3354677738876576370.post-18564370059199387362010-08-01T14:19:20.691+01:002010-08-01T14:19:20.691+01:00Great post! I have always thought Matilda was a wo...Great post! I have always thought Matilda was a woman for all ages to admire - not only for her successes as a duchess and later as Queen of England, but for her kind and generous behavior, political acumen and her achievements as wife to who must, at the very least, have been a difficult man. Whatever their beginnings, it's amazing to look back on their marriage and see that it was a happy Elizabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06863958329151143572noreply@blogger.com