granted from lands previously held by Edith of Wessex. Additionally, King Henry made numerous grants to the Queen, including substantial property in London, a political move made in order to win over the unruly Londoners who were vehement supporters of the Wessex Kings. Matilda had a great interest in architecture and used her considerable income to instigate the construction of many Norman-style buildings, including Waltham Abbey and Holy Trinity Aldgate. After her retinue encountered problems crossing the River Lea to get to Barking Abbey, the Queen built the first arched bridge in England at Stratford-le-Bow, with a causeway across the marshes. Like her mother, Matilda was renowned for her devotion to the poor, building public lavatories at Queenhithe and a bathhouse with piped-in water. She exhibited a particular interest in leprosy, founding at least two leper hospitals, including the institution that later became the parish church of St Giles-in-the-Fields. Marriage negotiations with Henry V In late 1108 or early 1109, King Henry V of Germany sent envoys to Henry I proposing a marriage alliance between himself and the King's daughter Matilda. He also wrote separately to Queen Matilda on the same matter. The match was attractive to the English king: by marrying his daughter to one of the most prestigious monarchs in Europe, it would reaffirm his own, slightly dubious, status as the youngest son of a new royal house, and it would gain him an ally in his conflicts with France. In return, Henry V would receive a dowry of 10,000 marks to fund his expedition to Rome for his coronation as the Holy Roman emperor. The final details of the deal were hammered out at Westminster in June 1109, and Matilda left England in February 1110 to travel to Germany in preparation for her marriage. Piety Queen Matilda was described as "a women of exceptional holiness, in piety her mother's rival, and in her own character exempt from all evil influence." She was remembered by her subjects as Mathilda bona regina and for a time sainthood was sought for her, though she was never canonized. Matilda was known for her generosity towards the church, founding and supporting cloisters and hospitals for leprosies. Malmesbury described her as attending church barefoot at Lent, as well as washing the feet and kissing the hands of the sick. Queen Matilda was patroness of the monk Bendeit's version of The Voyage of Saint