File talk:MatyldaAnglie.jpg

Source and identification of image

There was some discussion here about which "Matilda" images best represented Empress Matilda, and which might be Matilda of England, Duchess of Saxony.

This image of Matilda's seal was cropped and color-corrected from File:Posse Band 1 0053.jpg, which was taken from volume 1 of Die Siegel der Deutschen Kaiser und Könige.

The description of this figure in that text is as follows:

4. Mathilde, Gemahlin Heinrich V.

Gipsabdruck der Siegelsammlung des Geh. Staatsarchivs Berlin. Nr. 4341.

Umschrift: † MATHILDIS DEI GRATIA ROMANORVM REGINA.

Vorkommen: 1141 (Alland Wyon. The great seals of England Nr. 29).

I'm not a German-speaker, but I translate that as:

4. Matilda, wife of Henry V.

Plaster cast of the seal from the collection of the Privy State Archives in Berlin. No. 4341

Inscription: MATHILDIS DEI GRATIA ROMANORVM REGINA.

Date: 1141 (Allan Wyon. The great seals of England. No 29).

Reading the snippet available here seems to confirm that Wyon regarded the seal he depicted as being that of Empress Matilda. The seal is Figure 29 on Plate IV of Wyon's book, but no free copy appears to be available online. Unless the seal shown in Wyon's book does not match the one taken from Die Siegel der Deutschen Kaiser und Könige, we can assume that this does indeed represent Empress Matilda. There's a separate question as to whether this photograph, or the engraving of the same subject at file:Matilda.JPG is a more accurate depiction of Matilda. Rupert Clayton (talk) 00:17, 3 July 2014 (UTC)