ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at events from the viewpoint of the empress, for just as two rivals can both have their victories, so they can both have difficulties and both make mistakes. The first difficulty that Matilda had to face was that she was a woman; the second was her husband. The real trouble was that Geoffrey was an Angevin and proud of it, making no attempt to disguise the fact that it was his typically Angevin ambition to conquer Normandy. When he invaded Normandy after Henry I's death, he made no pretence of acting merely on his wife's behalf. It would not be easy to persuade the Normans that the leader of such an army was their rightful duke; and if he was to succeed at all, the first essential was to win the support of a noble who was essentially Norman and whom other Normans would respect. The Battle of the Standard was a severe blow for the empress.
