Empress Matilda (
c. 7 February 110210 September 1167), also known as the
Empress Maude, was the claimant to the English throne during the civil war known as
the Anarchy. The daughter of
King Henry I of England, she moved to Germany as a child when she married the future
Holy Roman Emperor Henry V. She travelled with her husband into Italy in 1116, was controversially crowned in
St. Peter's Basilica, and acted as the imperial
regent in Italy. Matilda and Henry had no children, and when he died in 1125, the crown was claimed by
Lothair II, one of his political enemies.