David Starkey TV - Helen Castor TV - Dan Jones TV -
If any women could pull off that challenge it was Matilda. Monarchy by David Starkey s1e3: Conquest, Channel 4 2004
Matilda v Stephen: Norman England’s first civil war was about to begin. ibid.
Matilda: the first woman to make a claim to the English throne in her own right. Dr Helen Castor, She Wolves: England’s Early Queens I, BBC 2012
A handful of extraordinary women did attempt to rule medieval and Tudor England. ibid.
Matilda was the daughter of Henry I and granddaughter of William the Conqueror. ibid.
There was nothing explicit to say a woman couldn’t wear the crown. ibid.
Matilda might have given up on her marriage but her father hadn’t. ibid.
In 1135 ... Matilda stayed in Anjou with Geoffrey. ibid.
As soon as the news of her father’s death reached her Matilda made her first move to become Queen. ibid.
While Matilda hesitated it was her cousin Stephen who seized the moment. Stephen was a powerful man and an effective soldier. ibid.
Stephen’s masterstroke was his speedily arranged coronation. ibid.
Normandy had collapsed into anarchy and so had Stephen’s army. ibid.
All Matilda’s hopes of being crowned Queen were trampled into the dirt along with the feast she had left behind. But things were about to get still worse. ibid.
If the she-wolf couldn’t wear the crown, her cub would. ibid.
Matilda’s son, Henry Plantagenet, has watched from France as his birthright is ripped away. In 1153 Henry Plantagenet sails to England with an invasion force aiming to seize back the throne. Dan Jones, Britain’s Bloodiest Dynasty s1e1: Revenge, Channel 5 2014