Matilda was now free,
but nothing had changed.
England remained in military deadlock,
it was time to develop a new game plan.
As the destructive stalemate continued,
Matilda came to the realisation
that, as a woman,
she would never fit her most powerful subjects' idea
of what a King should be
but she was the mother of a son,
Henry,
and he was an entirely different prospect.
Matilda recognised that the battle she now faced
was to win the crown for her son,
not to wear it herself.
If the she-wolf couldn't wear the crown,
then her cub would.
While Matilda had been fighting in England,
her son Henry had grown up in France.
As a strong and energetic warrior
he had all the promise of a future King
and Matilda decided that the time had come
for him to fight for his grandfather's kingdom.