Geoffrey campaigned stolidly in Normandy every year, and in 1144 he took Rouen and had himself invested as duke in April. The loss of Normandy was a bitter blow, and the only comfort Stephen could take from it was that gradually, the barons on both sides were losing interest in the fight for England.
Historians have suggested two dates, 1148 and 1150, as the beginning of the ‘magnates’ peace’, but Earl Robert’s death in October 1147 lends support to the earlier year, as his demise marked the collapse of even nominal party adherence. One by one, the lords simply gave up fighting. The Empress lingered on for four months with her small garrison at Devizes, where she had fled after her escape from Oxford, but early in 1148 she was back in Normandy. So irrelevant had she become by now that only one source mentions her departure. Gervase of Canterbury’s clerk reported approvingly that she had returned, a humbled wife, ‘to the haven of her husband’s protection’.
The careers of Matilda of Boulogne and the Empress Matilda had mirrored each other in many ways. Both women now chose to retreat from active politics and, following the example of their mothers, Matilda and Mary of Scotland, in the tradition of pious female royalty, they electedto live apart from their husbands and to embrace religious seclusion. The Empress opted for the priory of Nôtre-Dame-du-Pré, outside Rouen, for her retirement; after 1147 Matilda of Boulogne lived mainly in Canterbury at the monastery of St Augustine. It seems that Matilda had long felt the call of the contemplative life. As early as 1141, during the negotiations for Stephen’s release, she had proposed an unusual solution: that Stephen might emulate her own father and retire to a monastery, in which case she could have decided to do likewise. Alternatively, Matilda suggested, the King could live as a sort of permanent pilgrim in the Holy Land, where she could have accompanied him. Her interest in crusading and the Templars made this an attractive idea, though it was never pursued, and Matilda settled for a less adventurous manner of drawing closer to God.
In spite of her decision to devote herself to the Church, Matilda remained busy. Some indication of her social character can be inferred from the fact that she complained of the boredom of living among the monks, who observed a rule of silence. One occupation was the supervision of the building of Faversham Abbey, seven miles west of the priory, which Stephen founded in 1147 as a dynastic monument to the house of Blois. Faversham had had royal associations since the fifth century, and a lodging house, the Maison Dieu, was built in the twelfth century for the use of royal travellers as they passed between London, Dover and Canterbury. Few buildings remain at Faversham, and those that survive are of a later date, but excavations have shown that the church, dominated by a massive central tower, was of the impressive proportions typical of Norman architecture, its nave measuring 370 feet by eighty. Faversham never achieved the prestige Stephen planned for it, any more than did his own dynasty, but Matilda, her husband and their eldest son Eustace were all eventually buried there.
Until the end of her life, Matilda was never able entirely to ignore the demands of her position as queen. Although the Empress had left England, the pursuit of the succession had passed to the next generation, in the person of her son Henry Plantagenet, known as Henry FitzEmpress, the future King Henry II. While the marriage between the Empress and Geoffrey of Anjou was emotionally distant, with neither seeming interested in the other’s company beyond the requirements of duty, as a business partnership it was a success. The Empress offered Geoffrey the opportunity to consolidate and expand his Continental holdings and he supported her fully in Normandy. The couple had three sons, Henry, born at Le Mans in 1133, Geoffrey (1134) and William (1136), but
Historians have suggested two dates, 1148 and 1150, as the beginning of the ‘magnates’ peace’, but Earl Robert’s death in October 1147 lends support to the earlier year, as his demise marked the collapse of even nominal party adherence. One by one, the lords simply gave up fighting. The Empress lingered on for four months with her small garrison at Devizes, where she had fled after her escape from Oxford, but early in 1148 she was back in Normandy. So irrelevant had she become by now that only one source mentions her departure. Gervase of Canterbury’s clerk reported approvingly that she had returned, a humbled wife, ‘to the haven of her husband’s protection’.
The careers of Matilda of Boulogne and the Empress Matilda had mirrored each other in many ways. Both women now chose to retreat from active politics and, following the example of their mothers, Matilda and Mary of Scotland, in the tradition of pious female royalty, they electedto live apart from their husbands and to embrace religious seclusion. The Empress opted for the priory of Nôtre-Dame-du-Pré, outside Rouen, for her retirement; after 1147 Matilda of Boulogne lived mainly in Canterbury at the monastery of St Augustine. It seems that Matilda had long felt the call of the contemplative life. As early as 1141, during the negotiations for Stephen’s release, she had proposed an unusual solution: that Stephen might emulate her own father and retire to a monastery, in which case she could have decided to do likewise. Alternatively, Matilda suggested, the King could live as a sort of permanent pilgrim in the Holy Land, where she could have accompanied him. Her interest in crusading and the Templars made this an attractive idea, though it was never pursued, and Matilda settled for a less adventurous manner of drawing closer to God.
In spite of her decision to devote herself to the Church, Matilda remained busy. Some indication of her social character can be inferred from the fact that she complained of the boredom of living among the monks, who observed a rule of silence. One occupation was the supervision of the building of Faversham Abbey, seven miles west of the priory, which Stephen founded in 1147 as a dynastic monument to the house of Blois. Faversham had had royal associations since the fifth century, and a lodging house, the Maison Dieu, was built in the twelfth century for the use of royal travellers as they passed between London, Dover and Canterbury. Few buildings remain at Faversham, and those that survive are of a later date, but excavations have shown that the church, dominated by a massive central tower, was of the impressive proportions typical of Norman architecture, its nave measuring 370 feet by eighty. Faversham never achieved the prestige Stephen planned for it, any more than did his own dynasty, but Matilda, her husband and their eldest son Eustace were all eventually buried there.
Until the end of her life, Matilda was never able entirely to ignore the demands of her position as queen. Although the Empress had left England, the pursuit of the succession had passed to the next generation, in the person of her son Henry Plantagenet, known as Henry FitzEmpress, the future King Henry II. While the marriage between the Empress and Geoffrey of Anjou was emotionally distant, with neither seeming interested in the other’s company beyond the requirements of duty, as a business partnership it was a success. The Empress offered Geoffrey the opportunity to consolidate and expand his Continental holdings and he supported her fully in Normandy. The couple had three sons, Henry, born at Le Mans in 1133, Geoffrey (1134) and William (1136), but
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