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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;johnmilton, post: 3401737, member: 101855&quot;]When Henry I died, he had only one surviving child, the Empress Matilda. Matilda had been married to the Holly Roman Emperor. That accounted for her title which met nothing after he died. She had had experience in running a kingdom while she had been married to the emperor and was probably qualified to be a head of state.</p><p><br /></p><p>Unfortunately the nobles of the time would have none of that. During this period a Queen of England could only be the wife of a king. She could represent the king at events, and even run the government for a short time when the king was out of the country, but she could not rule alone. Henry had made the nobles accept Matilda as their queen, but after he died, they went back one their word. A little less than 400 years later, King Henry VIII was undoubtedly well aware of this history, which explains some of his behavior, but I’m getting ahead of myself.</p><p><br /></p><p>Instead of Matilda, Stephen became the king. Stephen was the nephew of William the Conqueror. He had no direct claim to the crown.</p><p><br /></p><p>Matilda pushed for her rightful place which resulted in the first English civil war after the rise of William the Conqueror. She came close to getting a coronation but never quite made it. Famously she once escaped imprisonment by dressing in a white robe that blended in with the snow to make an escape. Ironically Matilda’s son would become king. This was not the only time that parent would fail to become queen only to have her son become king.</p><p><br /></p><p>Stephens coins are pretty bad. I found this one in a Heritage auction and won it. It might not look like much to some, but it really does have a “wow factor.”</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]903272[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]903273[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>There are also coins for Matilda, but they so rare that dealers speak of them in legendary terms. One dealer told me he had one 35 years ago the he now regrets selling. The piece had been broken in half and held together with glue. In my Internet searches I found a reference to another Matilda piece that similar problem that had a “museum repair.” I found pictures, but I’m not sure about the copyright issue so I won’t post them here. Needless to say, Matilda is on my “cannot obtain list” along with Edward V and Edward VIII.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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