I was doing some random research and found out that, 'according to legend' William beat his future wife, Matilda, into submission, when she refused to marry him initially. Some other versions state he found her on her horse and pulled her down into the mud by her hair. I find this difficult to believe. Is there any truth to it?
Accidentally deleted my first comment
I do not have my primary sources on hand at the moment, however, I can recall from prior research the anecdote in question. Allegedly, when Matilda learned that the bastard Duke William of Normandy sought her hand in marriage, she spurned him because of his lowly birth (his mother's father was a tanner). William then rode to Flanders, pulled Matilda by her hair and beat her into submission until she agreed to marry him.
This anecdote is almost certainly fanciful. Matilda's father was Baldwin IV, the formidable count of Flanders. He and William would have negotiated the marriage as a political settlement. A settlement that William would not have risked by outrageously assaulting Count Baldwin's daughter in public. Furthermore, William and Baldwin took some risk in proceeding with the marriage, as it was forbidden by the Church for reasons that are still open to discussion (the most common explanation being that William and Matilda were too closely related). Lastly, it seems as though William and Matilda enjoyed a very happy marriage together, with William trusting Matilda enough to let her rule Normandy in his stead when he was in England.
Source: David C. Douglas, "William the Conqueror," 75-79, 391-395. Richard Huscroft, "The Norman Conquest: A New Introduction," 92-93.
I am not OP, but I had never heard of this particular legend so I did a very quick search. I did not find what I would consider credible or academic sources.
However here is the legend as I found it online, I hope this helps move the search along:
William negotiated a marriage in 1049 to Matilda of Flanders, a descendant of the old Saxon House of Wessex and daughter of Baldwin, Count of Flanders and Adela, daughter of Robert II, King of France. Tradition states that when Duke William sent representatives to her father's court to request Matilda's hand in marriage, she retorted by proudly informing the representative that she was far too high-born to consider marrying a bastard. Furious on receiving this response, William rode to Bruges, where he confronted Matilda on her way to church, he pulled her off her horse and threw her down in the street in front of her attendants and rode off. An alternative version of the legend states that he rode to her father's court in Lille, marched defiantly into her room and threw her to the ground in her room and hit her. Whereupon it is said Matilda refused to marry anyone but William.They were an ill-assorted pair, he strongly built and five feet ten inches tall and she ( as it emerged when her skeleton was exhumed) extremely short. It proved however, to be a highly successful union and produced a large family.
Edit:Source for those interested, the relevant section is from the last paragraph of the "William, Duke of Normandy" section.