Matilda of Boulogne

Matilda of Boulogne (c. 1105 – 3 May 1152) was the countess of Boulogne in her own right from 1125 and queen of England as the wife of King Stephen from 1135 until her death. She supported Stephen in his struggle for the English throne against their mutual cousin Empress Matilda, a period known as the Anarchy. Historians attribute Stephen's continued hold on the throne to her courage and determination.

Matilda was the daughter of Count Eustace III of Boulogne, from whom she inherited the French County of Boulogne as well as vast estates in England. Her maternal uncle King Henry I of England arranged for her to marry his nephew Stephen of Blois. Henry had intended to be succeeded by his daughter Empress Matilda, but when he died in 1135, Stephen took the throne. Matilda of Boulogne was consequently crowned queen in 1136. Civil war broke out in 1138 when Earl Robert of Gloucester declared for his half-sister Empress Matilda, renouncing his allegiance to King Stephen. Queen Matilda joined her husband in an attempt to quell the rebellion, leading a successful siege of Dover. The conflict intensified in 1139 when Empress Matilda arrived in England to press her claim. Queen Matilda's initial role in the war was primarily that of a diplomat: she brokered peace with her uncle King David I of Scotland and concluded an alliance with King Louis VII of France.

After Stephen's capture at the battle of Lincoln in 1141, Matilda took up the leadership of their faction and began assembling an army. Despite her efforts, the kingdom's clergy recognized the empress as ruler. The empress established herself in London and was on the verge of victory when the queen allied with dissatisfied citizenry and led her army to retake the capital. The queen soon besieged the empress in Winchester and, in the subsequent rout, captured the earl of Gloucester, crippling her cousin's war effort. By the end of 1141, she had traded her prisoner for her husband.

Matilda continued to advise Stephen and take part in his government, and came to involve herself closely with church affairs. She patronized a variety of religious orders and founded the abbeys of Coggeshall, Faversham, and Lillechurch, as well as Cressing Temple, Temple Cowley and the hospital of St Katharine's by the Tower. She probably pushed Stephen to secure the succession of their son Eustace; after she died, Stephen recognized the empress's son Henry as his heir, ending the Anarchy.