Matilda's Room Flashcards
I’ve already…
told you that many prisoners have stayed here, but before Oxford Castle was a prison, it was briefly a royal castle with its very own princess, The Empress Matilda. She was the granddaughter of William the Conqueror and daughter of King Henry I and Matilda’s life was governed by power and politics from a young age. By the age of 12, she had been married to Henry V the Holy Roman Emperor. It was this marriage that gave Matilda the title she used for the rest of her life, Empress Matilda
By the age of…
26, Matilda had been widowed and her marriage to the Holy Roman Emperor had been childless. Matilda got married again to a 13-year-old count, Geoffrey of Anjou. Matilda was unhappy about this arrangement, given the fact that her and Geoffrey hated each other, but was eventually persuaded to go ahead with the marriage. Matilda moved to France, married Geoffrey and had three sons with him
While she…
was recovering from the birth of her second son, Matilda’s father, King Henry I, died, leaving England with no monarch. Before he died, Henry had made his barons swear allegiance to Empress Matilda, and had arranged for his daughter to succeed him to the throne. But Stephen, Matilda’s cousin and another grandchild of William the Conqueror, seized the throne and proclaimed himself King before Matilda had a chance to reach England. There’s always that one annoying cousin in the family isn’t there?
Civil War…
broke out in England and in 1142 the war came to Oxford Castle. Matilda held the castle, but Stephen’s army had captured Oxford. According to local history, it was St Georges Tower, the ancient tower we stand in today, where Matilda stayed during the resulting siege. After three long months of bitter siege warfare, food began to run out and Matilda’s army was fed up, hungry and ready to surrender
Matilda needed…
to escape, so the famous story goes that one dark, snowy December night, Matilda and three of her brave knights disguised themselves from head to toe in white cloaks and climbed out the window using white bed sheets tied together. The wintery snow provided the perfect cover for their escape
At the…
base of the tower they walked backwards in the snow, so the foot prints led going towards the Tower and did not give away their escape. Local legend has it that Matilda then put on ice skates made from horse bones and skated down the frozen River Thames, on to Abingdon about 8 miles south of here. From there she could reach Wallingford castle, allowing her to continue the war
But despite…
many more years of fighting, Matilda never became Queen of England. However, she did live long enough to see her son become Henry II who began the Plantagenet dynasty that lasted for 300 years
In 1642…
another civil war broke out in England between King Charles I and Parliament. King Charles used Oxford Castle to imprison the parliamentarian prisoners of war. There are reports of up to 60 men per room being kept in St Georges Tower and the conditions were terrible. Large numbers were forced to sleep cramped together in filthy conditions with no fresh water or toilets
Surviving accounts state…
that prisoners could even be standing in human feces in these cells. Due to this awful mistreatment many prisoners of war did not survive. It’s no wonder that when Oxford fell to Parliamentarian Sir Thomas Fairfax in 1646, the parliamentarians pulled down most of the castle. St Georges Tower still stands to this day only because it housed a water mill that was useful to the city
The remains…
of the castle were used as the county jail where prisoners continued to suffer and attempt dashing escapes. Unfortunately, there will be no magical escaping like our heroine Matilda, but we are already half way up to the top of St George’s Tower. So, there’s only one way to go from here and that is up! Once again mind your heads as you exit and hold onto the handrails as you climb up. Follow me!
