predecessor, Matilda of Scotland, she had a close relationship with the Holy Trinity Priory at Aldgate. She took the prior as her confessor and two of her children were buried there. In the civil war that followed, known as the Anarchy, Matilda proved to be her husband's strongest supporter. When England was invaded in 1138, she called troops from Boulogne and its ally Flanders, and besieged Dover Castle with success and then went north to Durham, where she made a treaty with David I of Scotland in 1139. After Stephen was captured at the Battle of Lincoln in 1141, she rallied the king's partisans, and raised an army with the help of William of Ypres. While the Empress Matilda waited in London to prepare her coronation, Matilda and Stephen's brother Henry of Blois had her chased out of the city. The Empress Matilda went on to besiege Henry of Blois at Winchester. Matilda of Boulogne then commanded her army to attack the besiegers. There was a rout in which the Empress's half-brother, Robert of Gloucester, was captured. The two Matildas then agreed to exchange prisoners and Stephen ruled as king again. Matilda died of a fever at Hedingham Castle, Essex, England, and is buried at Faversham Abbey, which she and her husband founded. Issue Stephen and Matilda had three sons: Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne, married Constance of France, no issue Baldwin of Boulogne (d. before 1135) William of Blois, Count of Mortain and Boulogne and Earl of Surrey, married Isabel de Warenne, no issue They also had two daughters: Matilda of Boulogne, married Waleran de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Worcester, no issue Marie I, Countess of Boulogne, married Matthew of Alsace, had issue Notes Sources Marjorie Chibnall, ‘Matilda (c.1103–1152)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 . |- 1100s births 1152 deaths 12th-century French women 12th-century English women 12th-century Scottish women 12th-century women rulers House of Boulogne Counts of Boulogne Counts of Mortain English royal consorts Duchesses of Normandy Wives of knights Women in 12th-century warfare Scottish princesses People of The Anarchy Women in medieval European warfare Year of birth uncertain Burials at Faversham Abbey