At the request of her husband she took, upon her
coronation day, the Norman name of Matilda, or Maud, and by this
name she is known in history and among the queens of England.
So scarce four and thirty years after the Norman conquest, a
Saxon princess sat upon the throne of Norman England, the loving
wife of the son of the very man by whom Saxon England was
conquered.
"Never, since the battle of Hastings," says Sir Francis Palgrave,
the historian, "had there been such a joyous day as when Queen
Maud was crowned." Victors and vanquished, Normans and Saxons,
were united at last, and the name of "Good Queen Maud" was long
an honored memory among the people of England.
And she was a good queen. In a time of bitter tyranny, when the
common people were but the serfs and slaves of the haughty and
cruel barons, this young queen labored to bring in kindlier
manners and more gentle ways. Beautiful in face, she was still
more lovely in heart and life. Her influence upon her husband,
Henry the scholar, was seen in the wise laws he made, and the
"Charter of King Henry" is said to have been gained by her
intercession. This important paper was the first step toward
popular liberty.
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