Did Nothing Worth Remembering

De Matilde penitus taceo, quia nihil egit memorià dignum. Joannis Forduni. Translation:

I am completely silent about Matilda, because she did nothing worth remembering. John of Fordun, Scottish chronicler, late 14^th century

Back in November, I decided it would be a good time to go through my mother’s online genealogy research papers from back in the 1990s. Turns out that most of these papers are actually emails from other online researchers sharing bits of unsourced information on family lineages that we “might” tie into. There are thousands of papers.

So, as a diversion, I decided to revisit our old family lineages back to Charlemagne thinking this would be a quick and easy way to post surname lineages back to Charlemagne for my daughter, son-in-law, and husband’s families. Wrong! Nothing is ever quick or easy.

I didn’t know that a major project called Medieval Lands at the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy (https://fmg.ac/) would totally throw out my old lineages and create new ones in the process. The creator of this project, Charles Cawley, set out in 2006 to verify lineages using primary sources, quoting extracts in the original language. It is still being updated as of 2023. While it is very time consuming and labor intensive to compare the old with the new, I really enjoy seeing the final results: lineages backed up by the best sources available in an effort to get to the truth.

Now, flash back to about a year ago: a medical doctor said to me that I have “no meaningful activity in my life.” Really? And, if true, is that something that I need to change? As the granddaughter of a once-wealthy family, it was assumed that I’d be a socialite. That didn’t happen; I’ve lived an ordinary, everyday life. It’s the best thing that could’ve happened to me. So, after giving it a lot of thought, I told that doctor recently that “I’m O.K. with that.”

So, who is Matilda? Last night, I was updating my lineage, and I came across Matilda Bruce. What caught my eye was a comment that she “did nothing worth remembering.” Really? And, if true, is that something she should have changed? Matilda was 1 of 11 children born to ROBERT THE BRUCE! Yeah, that guy! It was probably assumed that she would marry a man who would expand her father’s political ambitions or land holdings and/or would donate heavily to churches, abbeys, or monasteries. Guess that didn’t happen; she ended up marrying Thomas Isaac, a squire (meaning a knight in training), and having 2 daughters with him.

I hope Matilda was content with her ordinary, everyday life, and if she ever ran into John of Fordun, she’d tell him that she “was O.K. with that!”

Sources:

Foundation for Medieval Genealogy project Medieval Lands by Charles Cawley online at https://fmg.ac/projects/medlands (Accessed 17 Dec 2023)

Joannis Forduni, Scotichronicon, Continuator by Walter Goodall, Vol. II, Lib. XI, Cap. XIII, p. 150, online at https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_joannis-de-fordun-scotic_fordun-john_1759_2/page/150/mode/2up?q=150 (Accessed 17 Dec 2023)