For Matilda, it was the first she had known in many a night.

In order for the song to become the anthem, it had to face a vote between the Royal anthem God Save the Queen, the " unofficial anthem " Waltzing Matilda and Song of Australia.

Empress Matilda ( 1102 – 1167 ) is the only British monarch commonly referred to as " emperor " or " empress ", but acquired her title through her marriage to Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, and had little legitimacy as Queen of England.

In the struggle between Stephen of England and Matilda, the daughter of Henry I of England, the English Church slipped away from the close control the Normans had exercised.

Matilda ’ s father, Henry I, had required the leading barons, ecclesiastics and officials in Normandy and England, to take an oath to accept Matilda as his heir.

The king became increasingly nervous about the possibility of his daughter Mary inheriting the throne, as England's one experience with a female sovereign, Matilda in the 12th century, had been a catastrophe.

He had three children by Matilda ( Edith ), who died on 1 May 1118 at the Palace of Westminster.

# Alice FitzRoy, married Matthieu I of Montmorency and had two children Bouchard V de Montmorency ca 1130 – 1189 who married Laurence, daughter of Baldwin IV of Hainault and had issue and Mattheiu who married Matilda of Garlande and had issue.

Following the writings of suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage and others, Margaret Murray, in her 1921 book The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, proposed the theory that the witches of the early-modern period were remnants of a pagan cult and that the Christian Church had declared the god of the witches was in fact the Devil.

Sometime in this period, Matilda finally married her stepbrother Godfrey the Hunchback, for whom she had great disdain.

The Catholic Church, possibly motivated by its claim against her property, has always asserted that Matilda never had any child at all.

Some of his allies defeated Matilda at the battle of Volta Mantovana ( near Mantua ) in October 1080, and by December the citizens of Lucca, then the capital of Tuscany, had revolted and driven out her ally Bishop Anselm.

After Henry had obtained the Pope's seal, Matilda wrote to supporters in Germany only to trust papal messages that came though her.

In 1097, Henry withdrew from Italy altogether, after which Matilda reigned virtually uncontested, although she did continue to launch military operations designed to restore her authority and regain control of the towns that had remained loyal to the emperor.

He and Matilda had three sons and two daughters:

After her husband had died in 936, Matilda and her son Otto established Quedlinburg Abbey in his memory, a convent of noble canonesses, where in 966 her granddaughter Matilda became the first abbess.

" He states that the matter was discussed at a Royal Council at Winchester, but that Henry's mother, the Empress Matilda, had protested.

In 1116, Henry had crossed the Alps to lay claim to the Italian territories of Matilda of Tuscany, which she had supposedly left to the papacy on her death.

** Philip ( July 120014 / 18 January 1234 ), Count of Boulogne by marriage ; married Matilda II, Countess of Boulogne and had issue.

King Stephen had died in October 1154, bringing to an end the long dispute with the Empress Matilda which had helped Anarawd, Cadell and Maredudd to extend their rule in Deheubarth.

Although the Marquis of Este, guided by his cousin Matilda, continued firm in the Pope's interests, his son Welf, who had succeeded to the Bavarian states, and whose views were more immediately directed to Germany, supported the emperor.

Matilda retired to Rouen in Normandy during her last years, where she maintained her own court and presided over the government of the duchy in the absence of Henry.

Owain, of restrained and prudent temperament, may have judged that the aiding in Stephen's capture would lead to the restoration of Matilda and a strong royal government in England ; a government which would support Marcher lords, support hitherto bereft since Stephen's usurpation.

Nevertheless, Godfrey took over the government of the Tuscany in right of Beatrice and Matilda.

To ascend the throne, he abdicated from the county of Boulogne and later ( 1253 ) divorced Matilda.

In this respect she seems to have been more diligent than her now widowed and subsequently sainted mother-in-law Queen Matilda whose own charitable activities only achieve a single recorded mention from the period of Eadgyth's time as queen.

His conflicts with his cousin The Empress Matilda ( also known as Empress Maud ), led to a civil war from 1139-1153 known as the Anarchy.

Matilda and her own son stood for direct descent by heredity from Henry I, and she bided her time in France.

Matilda was proclaimed queen but was soon at odds with her subjects and was expelled from London.

Matilda from the Vita Mathildis, accepting her biography from its monkish author Donizo and guarded by a man-at-arms ( left ).

In 1087, Matilda led an expedition to Rome in an attempt to install Victor, but the strength of the imperial counterattack soon convinced the pope to retire from the city.

Around 1090, Matilda married again, to Welf V of Bavaria, from a family ( the Welfs ) whose very name was later to become synonymous with alliance to the popes in their conflict with the German emperors ( see Guelphs and Ghibellines ).

* Women's Biography: Matilda of Tuscany, countess of Tuscany, duchess of Lorraine, contains several letters to and from Matilda.

Saint Mathilda ( or Matilda ) ( 877 – 14 March 968 ) was the wife of King Henry I of Germany, the first ruler of the Saxon Ottonian ( or Liudolfing ) dynasty, thereby Duchess consort of Saxony from 912 and German Queen from 919 until 936.

His wife Matilda was sent to Kent with ships and resources from Boulogne, with the task of retaking the key port of Dover, under Robert's control.

Stephen then agreed to a truce proposed by his brother, Henry of Blois ; the full details of the truce are not known, but the results were that Stephen first released Matilda from the siege and then allowed her and her household of knights to be escorted to the south-west, where they were reunited with Robert of Gloucester.

Queen Matilda and William of Ypres then encircled the Angevin forces with their own army, reinforced with fresh troops from London.

Even though Fergus decided not to tell Scrooge about the treasure, he learns about it through other ways and, like Matilda McDuck, thinks Fergus kept the secret from him because he disapproved Scrooge.

In the middle of their way to the treasure, Scrooge, Matilda and Scrooge's nephews find a letter from Fergus, who believed Scrooge would eventually find it, revealing the reason he hid the secret from Scrooge is that Scrooge would feel better building his own fortune instead of inheriting one.

From 1902 till 1930, she and Matilda ran Scrooge's empire from his homebase while he was away.

When he established his base in Duckburg, Calisota, United States he left Matilda and Hortense to run his empire from 1902 to 1930.

In that story, Scrooge returns to the McDuck Castle for another treasure and learns from Matilda that his family already knew about the treasure but their father Fergus decided not to tell Scrooge about it.

Both Scrooge and Matilda thought that was because of Fergus ' disapproval of Scrooge's greedy ways but after finding a letter on the way for the treasure ( hence the other title " A Letter from Home ") they learn Fergus's real motive was the fact he thought Scrooge would feel better building his own fortune instead of simply inheriting one.