Wiki – Matilda

Edith/Matilda is better known to history as Matilda of Scotland.

She was the daughter of the Scottish King, Malcom Canmore and his English wife, St. Margaret.

She was christened Edith but left Scotland as a small child to be educated in England. A few years later she married Henry I, son of William the Bastard.

Now – there has been a bit of a dingdong amongst mainstream historians (when is there never?) about the role of Magnus Barelegs in the story of Edith/Matilda. Some say that Malcolm agreed a contract of marriage between Edith and Magnus. Some say that Magnus never actually set foot in Scotland. But –

There is a poem extant.

Many believe that Magnus wrote it about Edith,

 

The lover hears, – across the sea

A favouring word was breathed to me.

The lovely one with the light brown hair

May trust her thoughts to senseless air,

Her thoughts will find like thoughts in me;

And though my love I cannot see.

Affection’s thoughts fly in the wind,

And meet each other, true and kind.