by Mayv 'SpearBourne' Amaia

Created on: February 04, 2010   Last Updated: February 16, 2010

Matilda of Boulogne, queen consort of England's King Stephen, was born circa 1105. She was the only daughter of Eustace III, Count of Boulogne, and his wife, Mary of Scotland.

Eustace III's father, Eustace II, accompanied William the Conqueror when he invaded England in 1066. Eustace II's mother was the similarly named Matilda, or Maud, of Boulogne, also called Matilda of Leuven. Indeed, there were quite a few women named Matilda in her extended family.

Mary of Scotland was a daughter of King Malcolm III of Scotland and Saint Margaret of Scotland, also known as Margaret of Wessex. Margaret was a sister of Edgar Aetheling, the last male member of the House of Wessex, England's ruling dynasty before William the Conqueror took the crown.

Like so many other mediaeval queens consort, few details are known of Matilda's early life or childhood.

In 1125, she married Stephen of Blois, Count of Mortain, son of Stephen, Count of Blois, and Adela of England. Adela was a daughter of William the Conqueror and a sister of King Henry I of England.

In 1128, after Eustace III's death, Matilda and Stephen became joint rulers of the county of Boulogne. Their union was a happy one, producing three children before 1135.

Their first son, Baldwin, named for Matilda's uncle, Baldwin I, King of Jerusalem, sadly died while still in his early childhood. Their daughter, also named Matilda, likely died young as well, though a few sources claim she lived at least long enough to marry an unnamed count of Milan.

A second son, Eustace IV, who would later become Count of Boulogne, was born in or about 1130.

Upon King Henry I's death in 1135, even though he had named his only surviving legitimate child, Empress Matilda (widow of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor), as his heir, she was the least popular of the contenders for the throne. Her lack of popularity was not only due to the fact that she was a woman, but because her second husband, Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, was an enemy of the Normans.

It is interesting to note that Empress Matilda's mother was Matilda of Scotland, a sister of Mary of Scotland, making her a first cousin of Matilda of Boulogne as well as of Stephen of Blois.

Even though Stephen had been the first of the barons to swear allegiance to Empress Matilda when her father named her as his heir, he rushed to England to make a bid for the crown, saying that Henry had changed his mind on his deathbed and named Stephen his heir.

Stephen was crowned King of England in late December 1135. At the time

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