Changes

|title=Matilda: Wife of the Conqueror, first Queen of England

|author=Tracy Borman

|publisher=Vntage

|date=September 2012

|website=http://www.tracyborman.co.uk/

|summary=The first biography in English of Queen Matilda, consort of William the Conqueror. Although little is known for certain about her life, the author has done well in supplementing the bare facts with a very readable life and times.

}}

Writing the biography of any woman who lived as long ago as the eleventh century, even someone as illustrious as a Queen, is a pretty thankless task. There will always be huge gaps in the knowledge available. For example we do not know when Matilda was born, and likewise we do not have a precise date for her marriage, although we do know when she died. No lifelike images of her are known, though evidence suggests that she was quite short of stature. In a male-dominated society, there are approximate records of when her sons were born, but not her daughters. Even more confusingly perhaps, many of the stories passed down to us throughout history are quite probably false. It is hardly surprising that this appears to be the first full-length life of her yet to appear in English.