Empress Matilda, also known as Matilda of England or Maude (c. 7 February 1102 - 10 September 1167) was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King He nry. Her brother died in the White ship disaster, making Matilda the last heir from the paternal line of her grandfather William the Conqueror.
As a child, Matilda was betrothed to and later married Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, acquiring the title Empress. The couple had no known children. When widowed, she was married to the much younger Geoffrey of Anjou, with whom she had three sons, t he eldest of whom became King Henry II of England.
Matilda was the first female ruler of the Kingdom of England. However, the length of her effective rule was brief - a few months in 1141. She was never crowned and failed to consolidate her rule (legally and politically). For this reason, she is n ormally excluded from lists of English monarchs, and her rival (and cousin) Stephen of Blois is listed as monarch for the period 1135-1154. Their rivalry for the throne led to years of unrest and civil war in England that have been called The Anar chy. She did secure her inheritance of the Duchy of Normandy - through the military feats of her husband, Geoffrey -and campaigned unstintingly for her oldest son's inheritance, living to see him ascend the throne in 1154.
(In Latin texts Matilda was sometimes called Maude. This is a modernised spelling of the Norman-French form of her name, Mahaut.)