Silvius Rex

"Scholars have offered a number of explanations for why Matilda chose to style herself as domina Anglorum [Lady of the English]. It has been suggested that she might have balked at usage of the term regina, which, translated into the Anglo-Saxon English cwen, implied the wife of a king. The title queen, then, carried with it representational difficulties, as it was the office of king, not queen, that Matilda was seeking. In contrast, the term domina, or hlaefdige in Anglo-Saxon (lady in modern usage), was used to describe a woman exercising political and military power, such as the ninth-century Mercian queen Aethelflaed. As some scholars have suggested, Matilda’s use of the term domina may be related to a wider European usage, as dominus, or lord, described any number of public roles and offices men such as kings performed. Yet another explanation is the convention of kings elected but not yet crowned using the title dominus during the interregnum before their coronation. The title domina Anglorum undoubtedly drew from a number of meanings present in twelfth-century Anglo-Norman society, but all described a woman exercising power. As the Lady of the English, Matilda advertised herself as an individual woman capable of possessing and wielding regal power."

“You have to get to a point where your mood doesn’t shift based on the insignificant actions of someone else.”

MEMENTO MORI