Matilda of Tuscany

Origins of the House of Canossa

Although these names were only created by later generations, Matilda came from the noble House of Canossa, also named the Attonids. The oldest proven ancestor of the House of Canossa was the nobleman Sigifred, who lived in the county of Lucca during the first third of the tenth century. He probably increased his sphere of influence in the area around Parma and in the foothills of the Apennines. His son, Adalbert-Atto, was able to bring several castles in the foothills of the Apennines under his control in the politically fragmented region. Adalbert-Atto married Hildegard, of the Supponid Frankish noble family who had been very influential in northern Italy.

Adalbert-Atto built the Canossa Castle in the southwest of the mountains of Reggio Emilia. After the unexpectred death of King Lothair II of Italy in 950, Adalbert-Atto provided refuge in Canossa Castle to Lothair's widow, Queen Adelaide, after Berengar of Ivrea attempted to take power in Italy and imprisoned her for a short time. King Otto I of East Francia then intervened in Italy and married Adelaide in 951. This resulted in a close bond between the House of Canossa and the Ottonian dynasty. Adalbert-Atto appeared in documents from the reign of Otto I as an advocate, and he was able to establish contacts with the Papacy for the first time in the wake of the Ottonians. Otto I also awarded the counties of Reggio and Modena to Adalbert-Atto. In 977 at the latest, the county of Mantua was added to the domains awarded to Adalbert-Atto.

Adalbert-Atto's son, Tedald, continued the close ties to the Ottonian rulers from 988. Tedald was the grandfather of Matilda. In 996 he is listed as dux et marchio (Duke and Margrave) in a document. This title was adopted by all subsequent rulers of the House of Canossa, an inheritance preventing disputes among the three sons of Tedald.

The rise of the family reached its apex under Matilda's father, Boniface. The three successive Canossa rulers (Adalbert-Atto, Tedald, and Boniface) instituted monasteries for their expansion of rule. The founded monasteries (Brescello, Polirone, Santa Maria di Felonica) were established in places of transport and strategic importance for the administrative consolidation of their large estates. Three family saints (Genesius, Apollonius, and Simeon) were used to stabilize the House of Canossa's power structure and the family sought to exert influence on convents that had been in existence for a long time (Abbey of Nonantola). Transfer of monasteries to local bishops and the promotion of spiritual institutions also enlarged their network of alliances. An appearance as the guardian of order consolidated their position along the Via Aemilia. Historian Arnaldo Tincani was able to prove the considerable number of 120 farms in the Canossa estate near the Po river.

Parents, birth, and early years

Matilda's parents, Boniface and Beatrice of Lorraine, first met on the occasion of the wedding of Conrad II's son Henry with Gunhilda of Denmark in 1036 at the city of Nijmegen shortly after Boniface had become a widower early that year. Beatrice was the niece and foster daughter of Empress Gisela of Swabia. A marriage covenant was arranged, and one year later, in June 1037, Boniface and Beatrice celebrated their marriage in high style, keeping court at Marengo for three months afterward. According to the marital agreements, Beatrice brought important assets in Lorraine: the Château of Briey and the Lordships of Stenay, Mouzay, Juvigny, Longlier, and Orval that constituted the northern part of her paternal family's ancestral lands. Beatrice and her sister, Sophia, were the daughters of Duke Frederick II of Upper Lorraine and Matilda of Swabia. After the deaths of their parents, she and her sister had been raised in the imperial court by their maternal aunt, Empress Gisela. For Boniface, the marriage to Beatrice, a close relative of the emperor, brought him not only prestige, but also the prospect to have an heir. His first wife had been Richilda, a daughter of Giselbert II, Count Palatine of Bergamo, and their only child was a daughter who was born and died in 1014. Boniface and Beatrice had three children, Beatrice (named after her mother), Frederick (named after his maternal grandfather), and Matilda (named after her maternal grandmother). Matilda, probably born around 1046, was the youngest child.

Matilda's birthplace and exact date of birth are unknown. Italian scholars have been arguing about her place of birth for centuries. According to Francesco Maria Fiorentini, a doctor and scholar of the seventeenth century, she was born in Lucca, an assumption reinforced by a miniature in the early twelfth-century Vita Mathildis by the monk Donizo (or, in Italian, Donizone), where Matilda is referred to as 'Resplendent Matilda' (Mathildis Lucens): since the Latin word lucens is similar to lucensis (of/from Lucca), this also may be a reference to Matilda's birthplace and he interpreted it as such. For Benedictine scholar Camillo Affarosi, Canossa was her place of birth. Lino Lionello Ghirardini and Paolo Golinelli both advocated Mantua as her birthplace. A recent publication by Michèle Kahn Spike also favors Mantua, as it was the center for Boniface's court at the time. In addition, Ferrara or the small Tuscan town of San Miniato have been discussed as the possible birthplace. According to author Elke Goez, sources cannot prove that there was a permanent household location for Boniface of Canossa in either Mantua or any other place.

First marriage: Godfrey the Hunchback

Possibly taking advantage of the minority of Henry IV, Beatrice and Godfrey the Bearded wanted to consolidate the connection between the Houses of Lorraine and Canossa in the long term by marrying their two children. Around 1055, Matilda and her stepbrother Godfrey the Hunchback (son of Godfrey the Bearded from his first marriage) were betrothed. In May 1069, as Godfrey the Bearded lay dying in Verdun, Beatrice and Matilda hastened to reach Lorraine, anxious to ensure a smooth transition of power. Matilda was present at her stepfather's deathbed, and on that occasion she is for the first time clearly mentioned as the wife of her stepbrother. After the death of Godfrey the Bearded on 30 December, the newlyweds stayed in Lorraine. Beatrice returned to Italy alone. Matilda became pregnant in 1070. Godfrey the Hunchback seems to have informed the Salian imperial court about this event; in a charter from Henry IV dated 9 May 1071, Godfrey or his heirs are mentioned. Matilda gave birth to a daughter, named Beatrice after her maternal grandmother, but the child died a few weeks after the birth, before 29 August 1071. In 1071, the elder Beatrice had donated property to the Abbey of Frassinoro for the salvation of her granddaughter's soul, and she granted twelve farms "for the health and life of my beloved daughter Matilda" (pro incolomitate et anima Matilde dilecte filie mee).

Matilda and Godfrey the Hunchback's marriage proved a failure after a short time. The death of their only child and Godfrey's physical deformity may have helped fuel deep animosity between the spouses. By the end of 1071, Matilda had left her husband and returned to Italy, where her stay in Mantua on 19 January 1072 can be proven. From there, she and her mother issued a deed of donation for the Monastery of Sant'Andrea. Godfrey the Hunchback fiercely protested the separation and demanded that Matilda come back to him, but she repeatedly refused. In early 1072, he descended into Italy and visited several places in Tuscany, determined not only to enforce the marriage but to lay claim to these areas as Matilda's husband. During this time, Matilda stayed in Lucca, and there is no evidence that the couple met. Additionally, Godfrey the Hunchback is named as her husband only in a single document dated 18 August 1073 signed in Mantua for a donation for the Monastery of San Paolo in Parma. In his efforts to restore his marital bond, Godfrey the Hunchback sought the help of both Matilda's mother and her ally, the newly elected Pope Gregory VII. He promised military aid to the latter. However, Matilda's resolution was unshakable, and in the summer of 1073, Godfrey the Hunchback returned to Lorraine alone, losing all hope for a reconciliation by 1074. Matilda wanted to enter in a monastery as a nun. During 1073–1074, she tried in vain to obtain the dissolution of her marriage with the pope; however, Gregory VII needed Godfrey the Hunchback as an ally and was therefore not interested in granting a divorce. At the same time, the pope hoped for Matilda's help with his crusade plans.

Co-rulership with her mother Beatrice

Matilda's bold decision to repudiate her husband came at a cost, but it ensured her independence. Beatrice started preparing Matilda for rule as head of the House of Canossa by holding court jointly with her and, eventually, encouraging her to issue charters under her own authority as countess (comitissa) and duchess (ducatrix). Both mother and daughter tried to be present throughout their territory. In what is now Emilia-Romagna, their position was much more stable than in the southern Apennines, where they could not get their followers behind them despite rich donations. They therefore tried to act as guardians of justice and public order. Matilda's participation is mentioned in seven of the sixteen placita held by Beatrice. Supported by judges, Matilda had already held placitum placita alone. On 7 June 1072, Matilda and her mother presided over the court in favor of the Abbey of San Salvatore in Monte Amiata. On 8 February 1073, Matilda went to Lucca without her mother and presided over the court alone, where she made a donation in favor of the local Monastery of San Salvatore e Santa Giustina. At the instigation of the abbess Eritha, the monastery possessions in Lucca and Villanova near Serchio were secured by the King's ban (Königsbann). For the next six months, Matilda's residence is not known, while her mother took part in the enthronement ceremony for Pope Gregory VII.

Matilda was introduced by her mother to numerous personalities in church reform, especially Pope Gregory VII. She had already met the future pope, then Archdeacon Hildebrand, in the 1060s. During 9–17 March 1074, she met him for the first time after his election as pope. He developed a special relationship of trust with Matilda and Beatrice in the period that followed. However, Beatrice died on 18 April 1076. On 27 August 1077, Matilda donated her town of Scanello and other estates to the extent of 600 mansus near the court to Bishop Landulf and the chapter of Pisa Cathedral as a soul device (Seelgerät) for her and her parents.

The deaths of both her husband and mother within two months considerably augmented Matilda's power. She now was the undisputed heir of all lands allotted to both her parents. Her inheritance could have been threatened had Godfrey the Hunchback survived her mother, but she now enjoyed the privileged status of a widow. It seemed unlikely, however, that Emperor Henry IV would formally invest her with the margraviate.

Personal rule

Matilda's role during the Investiture Controversy

After the death of her mother, Matilda took over her immense paternal inheritance. This was contrary to the provisions of the Salic and Lombard law currently in force in the Kingdom of Italy, according to which Emperor Henry IV would have been the legal heir. In view of the minority of Henry IV and close cooperation with the reform papacy, a lending under imperial law was of secondary importance for the House of Canossa.

Between 1076 and 1080, Matilda travelled to Lorraine to lay claim to her husband's estate in Verdun, which he had willed (along with the rest of his patrimony) to his nephew Godfrey of Bouillon, the son of his sister Ida. Godfrey of Bouillon also disputed Matilda's rights to Stenay and Mosay, which her mother had received as dowry. The quarrel between aunt and nephew over the episcopal county of Verdun was eventually settled by Theoderic, Bishop of Verdun, who enjoyed the right to nominate the counts. He easily found in favor of Matilda, as such a verdict happened to please both Pope Gregory VII and King Henry IV. Matilda then proceeded to invest Verdun to her husband's pro-reform cousin, Albert III of Namur. The deep animosity between Matilda and her nephew is thought to have prevented her from travelling to Jerusalem during the First Crusade that he led in the late 1090s.

Matilda was a second cousin of Henry IV through their respective grandmothers, sisters Matilda of Swabia and Empress Gisela. Because of her family ties to the Salian dynasty, she was suitable for a mediator role between the Emperor and the Holy See. Matilda's mother died at the time when the conflict between King Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII was escalating. Matilda and Beatrice were among the closest confidants of Gregory VII. From the beginning, he took both into his confidence and let them know about his plans against the Roman-German king.

The disagreement between Pope Gregory VII and King Henry IV culminated in the aftermath of the synod of Worms on 24 January 1076; together with the Archbishops Siegfried of Mainz and Udo of Trier and 24 bishops, the king formulated drastic accusations against Gregory VII. The allegations included Gregory VII's election (which was described as illegitimate), the government of the Church through a "women's senate", and that "he shared a table with a strange woman and housed her, more familiar than necessary." The contempt expressed was so immense that Matilda was not even called by name. The pope responded on 15 February 1076 with the excommunication of the king, releasing all his subjects from the oath of allegiance to him and providing the perfect reason for rebellion against his rule. These measures had a tremendous effect on contemporaries, as the words of the chronicler Bonizo of Sutri show: "When the news of the banishment of the king reached the ears of the people, our whole world trembled".

Court culture and rulership

The court had developed since the twelfth century to a central institution of royal and princely power. The most important tasks were the visualization of the rule through festivals, art, and literature. The term "court" can be understood as "presence with the ruler". In contrast to the Brunswick court of the Guelphs, Matilda's court offices cannot be verified. Scholars such as Anselm of Lucca, Heribert of Reggio, and Johannes of Mantua were around the Margravine. Matilda encouraged some of them to write their works, for example, Bishop Anselm of Lucca wrote a psalter at her request and Johannes of Mantua a commentary on the Song of Songs and a reflection on the life of Virgin Mary. Works were dedicated or presented to Matilda, such as the Liber de anulo et baculo of Rangerius of Lucca, the Orationes sive meditationes of Anselm of Canterbury, the Vita Mathildis of Donizo, the miracle reports of Ubald of Mantua and the Liber ad amicum of Bonizo of Sutri. Matilda contributed to the distribution of the books intended for her by making copies. More works were dedicated only to Henry IV among their direct contemporaries. As a result, the Margravine court temporarily became the most important non-royal spiritual center of the Salian period. It also served as a contact point for displaced Gregorians in the church political disputes. Historian Paolo Golinelli interpreted the repeated admission of high-ranking refugees and their care as an act of charity. As the last political expellee, she granted asylum for a long time to Archbishop Conrad I of Salzburg, the pioneer of the canon reform. This brought her into close contact with this reform movement.

Matilda regularly sought the advice of learned lawyers when making court decisions. A large number of legal advisors are named in their documents. There are 42 causidici, 29 iudices sacri palatii, 44 iudices, 8 legis doctores, and 42 advocati. According to historian Elke Goez, Matilda's court can be described as "a focal point for the use of learned jurists in the case law by lay princes". Matilda encouraged these scholars and drew them to her court. According to Goez, the administration of justice was not a scholarly end in itself, but served to increase the efficiency of rulership. Goez sees a legitimation deficit as the most important trigger for the Margravine's intensive administration of justice, since Matilda was never formally invested by the king. In Tuscany in particular, an intensive administration of justice can be documented with almost 30 placitum. Matilda's involvement in the founding of the Bolognese School of Law, which has been suspected again and again, is viewed by Elke Goez as unlikely. According to chronicler Burchard of Ursperg, the alleged founder of this school, Irnerius, produced an authentic text of the Roman legal sources on behalf of Margravine Matilda. According to historian Johannes Fried, this can at best affect the referring to the Vulgate version of the Digest, and even that is considered unlikely. The role of this scholar in Matilda's environment is controversial. According to historian Wulf Eckart Voss, Irnerius had been a legal advisor since 1100. In an analysis of the documentary mentions, however, Gundula Grebner came to the conclusion that this scholar should not be classified in the circle of Matilda, but in that of Henry V.

Patronage of churches and hospitals

After the discovery of contemporary diplomas, Elke Goez refuted the widespread notion that the Margravine had given churches and monasteries rich gifts at all times of her life. Very few donations were initially made. Already one year after the death of her mother, Matilda lost influence on the inner-city monasteries in Tuscany and thus an important pillar of her rule.

The issuing of deeds for monasteries concentrated on convents that were located in Matilda's immediate sphere of influence in northern and central Italy or Lorraine. The main exception to this was Montecassino. Among the most important of her numerous donations to monasteries and churches were those to Fonte Avellana, Farfa, Montecassino, Vallombrosa, Nonantola, and Polirone. In this way she secured the financing of the old church buildings. She often stipulated that the proceeds from the donated land should be used to build churches in the center of the episcopal cities. This money was an important contribution to the funds for the expansion and decoration of the churches of San Pietro in Mantua, Santa Maria Assunta e San Geminiano of Modena, Santa Maria Assunta of Parma, San Martino of Lucca, Santa Maria Assunta of Pisa, and Santa Maria Assunta of Volterra.

Matilda supported the construction of Pisa Cathedral with several donations (in 1083, 1100, and 1103). Her name should be permanently associated with the cathedral building project. They released Nonantola from paying tithes to the Bishop of Modena; the funds thus freed up could be used for the monastery buildings. In Modena, with her participation, she secured the continued construction of the cathedral. Matilda acted as mediator in the dispute between cathedral canons and citizens about the remains of Saint Geminianus. The festive consecration could take place in 1106, with the Relatio fundationis cathedralis Mutinae recording these processes. Matilda is presented as a political authority: she is present with an army, gives support, recommends receiving the pope, and reappears for the ordination, during which she dedicates immeasurable gifts to the patron.

Numerous examples show that Matilda made donations to bishops who were loyal to the Gregorian reforms. In May 1109 she gave land in the area of Ferrara to the Gregorian Bishop Landolfo of Ferrara in San Cesario sul Panaro and in June of the same year possessions in the vicinity of Ficarolo. The Bishop Wido of Ferrara, however, was hostile to Pope Gregory VII and had written De scismate Hildebrandi against him. The siege of Ferrara undertaken by Matilda in 1101 led to the expulsion of the schismatic bishop.

Adoption of Guido Guidi around 1099

In the later years of her life, Matilda was increasingly faced with the question of who should take over the House of Canossa's inheritance. She could no longer have children of her own, and apparently for this reason she adopted Guido Guerra, a member of the Guidi family, one of her main supporters in Florence (although in a genealogically strictly way, the Margravine's feudal heirs were the House of Savoy, descendants of Prangarda of Canossa, Matilda's paternal great-aunt). On 12 November 1099, he was referred to in a diploma as Matilda's adopted son (adoptivus filius domine comitisse Matilde). With his consent, Matilda renewed and expanded a donation from her ancestors to the Brescello monastery. However, this is the only time that Guido had the title of adoptive son (adoptivus filius) in a document that was considered to be authentic. At that time, there were an unusually large number of vassals in Matilda's environment. In March 1100, the Margravine and Guido Guerra took part in a meeting of abbots of the Vallombrosians Order, which they both sponsored. On 19 November 1103 they gave the monastery of Vallombrosa possessions on both sides of the Vicano and half of the castle of Magnale with the town of Pagiano. After Matilda had bequeathed her property to the Apostolic See in 1102 (so-called second "Matildine Donation"), Guido withdrew from her. With the donation he lost hope of the inheritance. However, he signed three more documents with Matilda for the Abbey of Polirone.

From these sources, Elke Goez, for example, concludes that Guido Guerra was adopted by Matilda. According to her, the Margravine must have consulted with her loyal followers beforehand and reached a consensus for this far-reaching political decision. Ultimately, pragmatic reasons were decisive: Matilda needed a political and economic administrator for Tuscany. The Guidi family estates in the north and east of Florence were also a useful addition to the House of Canossa possessions. Guido Guerra hoped that Matilda's adoption would not only give him the inheritance, but also an increase in rank. He also hoped for support in the dispute between the Guidi and the Cadolinger families for supremacy in Tuscany. The Cadolinger were named after one of their ancestors, Count Cadalo, who was attested from 952 to 986; they died out in 1113.

Paolo Golinelli doubts this reconstruction of the events. He thinks that Guido Guerra held an important position among the Margravine's vassals, but was not adopted by her. This is supported by the fact that after 1108 he only appeared once as a witness in one of their documents, namely in a document dated 6 May 1115, which Matilda granted in favor of the Abbey of Polirone while she was on her deathbed at Bondeno di Roncore.

Matildine Donation

On 17 November 1102 Matilda donated her property to the Apostolic See at Canossa Castle in the presence of the Cardinal Legate Bernardo of San Crisogono. This is a renewal of the donation, as the first diploma was allegedly lost. Matilda had initially transferred all of her property to the Apostolic See in the Holy Cross Chapel of the Lateran before Pope Gregory VII. Most research has dated this first donation to the years between 1077 and 1080. Paolo Golinelli spoke out for the period between 1077 and 1081. Werner Goez placed the first donation in the years 1074 and 1075, when Matilda's presence in Rome can be proven. At the second donation, despite the importance of the event, very few witnesses were present. With Atto from Montebaranzone and Bonusvicinus from Canossa, the diploma was attested by two people of no recognizable rank who are not mentioned in any other certificate.

The Matildine Donation caused a sensation in the twelfth century and has also received a lot of attention in research. The entire tradition of the document comes from the curia. According to Paolo Golinelli, the donation of 1102 is a forgery from the 1130s; in reality, Matilda made Henry V her only heir in 1110/11. Even Johannes Laudage in his study of the contemporary sources, thought that the Matildine Donation was spurious. Elke and Werner Goez, on the other hand, viewed the second donation diploma from November 1102 as authentic in their document edition. Bernd Schneidmüller and Elke Goez believe that a diploma was issued about the renewed transfer of the Terre Matildiche out of curial fear of the Welfs. Welf IV died in November 1101. His eldest son and successor Welf V had rulership rights over the House of Canossa domains through his marriage to Matilda. Therefore, reference was made to an earlier award of the inheritance before Matilda's second marriage. Otherwise, given the spouse's considerable influence, their consent should have been obtained.

Werner Goez explains with different ideas about the legal implications of the process that Matilda often had her own property even after 1102 without recognizing any consideration for Rome's rights. Goez observed that the donation is only mentioned in Matildine documents that were created under the influence of papal legates. Matilda didn't want a complete waiver of all other real estates and usable rights and perhaps did not notice how far the consequences of the formulation of the second Matildine Donation went.

Last years and death

In the last phase of her life, Matilda pursued the plan to strengthen the Abbey of Polirone. The Church of Gonzaga was freed in 1101 from the malos sacerdotes fornicarios et adulteros ("wicked, unchaste, and adulterous priests"), and it was given to the monks of Polirone. The Gonzaga clergy were charged with violating the duty of celibacy, one of the main evils that the church reformers acted against. In the same year, she gave the Abbey of Polirone a poor house that she had built in Mantua; she thus withdrew it from the monks of the monastery of Sant'Andrea in Mantua who had been accused of simony. The Abbey of Polirone received a total of twelve donations in the last five years of Matilda's life. She transferred her property in Villola (16 kilometers southeast of Mantua) and the Insula Sancti Benedicti (an island in the Po, today on the south bank in the area of San Benedetto Po) to this monastery. The Abbey thus rose to become the official monastery of the House of Canossa, with Matilda choosing it as her burial place. The monks used Matilda's generous donations to rebuild the entire Abbey and the main church. Matilda wanted to secure her memory not only through gifts, but also through written memories. Polirone was given a very valuable Gospel manuscript. The book, preserved today in New York, contains a ‘’liber vitae’’, a memorial book, in which all important donors and benefactors of the monastery are listed. This document also deals with Matilda's memorial. The Gospel manuscript was commissioned by the Margravine. It is not clear whether the codex originated in Polirone or was sent there as a gift from Matilda. It is the only larger surviving memorial from a Cluniac monastery in northern Italy. Paolo Golinelli emphasized that, through Matilda's favor, Polirone also became a base where reform forces gathered.

Henry V had been in diplomatic contact with Matilda since 1109. He emphasized his blood relationship with the Margravine and demonstratively cultivated the connection. At his coronation as emperor in 1111, disputes over the investiture question broke out again. Henry V captured Pope Paschal II and some of the cardinals in St. Peter's Basilica and forced his imperial coronation. When Matilda found out about this, she asked for the release of two cardinals, Bernard of Parma and Bonsignore of Reggio, who were close to her. Henry V complied with her request and released both cardinals. Matilda did nothing to get the pope and the other cardinals free. On the way back from the Rome train, Henry V visited the Margravine during 6–11 May 1111 at the Castle of Bianello in Quattro Castella, Reggio Emilia.

Matilda then achieved the solution from the imperial ban imposed to her. According to the unique testimony of her biographer Donizo, Henry V transferred to Matilda the rule of Liguria and crowned her Imperial Vicar and Vice-Queen of Italy. At this meeting he also concluded a firm agreement (firmum foedus) with her, which was mentioned only by Donizo and whose details are unknown. This agreement has been undisputedly interpreted in German historical studies since Wilhelm von Giesebrecht as an inheritance treaty, while Italian historians such as Luigi Simeoni and Werner Goez repeatedly questioned this. Elke Goez, on the other hand, assumed a mutual agreement with benefits from both sides: Matilda, whose health was weakened, probably waived her further support for Pope Paschal II with a view to a good understanding with the emperor. Paolo Golinelli thinks that Matilda recognized Henry V as the heir to her domains and only after this, the imperial ban against Matilda was lifted and she recovered the possessions in the northern Italian parts of the formerly powerful House of Canossa with the exception of Tuscany. Donizo imaginatively embellished this process with the title of Vice-Queen. Some researchers see in the agreement with Henry V a turning away from the ideals of the so-called Gregorian reform, but Enrico Spagnesi emphasizes that Matilda had by no means given up her church reform-minded policy.

Legacy

High and Late Middle Ages

Between 1111 and 1115, Donizo wrote the chronicle De principibus Canusinis in Latin hexameters, in which he tells the story of the House of Canossa, especially Matilda. Since the first edition by Sebastian Tengnagel, it has been called Vita Mathildis. This work is the main source to the Margravine's life. The Vita Mathildis consists of two parts. The first part is dedicated to the early members of the House of Canossa, the second deals exclusively with Matilda. Donizo was a monk in the monastery of Sant'Apollonio; with the Vita Mathildis he wanted to secure eternal memory of the Margravine. Donizo has most likely coordinated his Vita with Matilda in terms of content, including the book illumination, down to the smallest detail. Shortly before the work was handed over, Matilda died. Text and images on the family history of the House of Canossa served to glorify Matilda, were important for the public staging of the family and were intended to guarantee eternal memory. Positive events were highlighted, negative events were skipped. The Vita Mathildis stands at the beginning of a new literary genre. With the early Guelph tradition, it establishes medieval family history. The house and reform monasteries, sponsored by Guelph and Canossa women, attempted to organize the memories of the community of relatives and thereby "to express awareness of the present and an orientation towards the present" in the memory of one's own past. Eugenio Riversi considers the memory of the family epoch, especially the commemoration of the anniversaries of the dead, to be one of the characteristic elements in Donizo's work.

Bonizo of Sutri gave Matilda his Liber ad amicum. In it, he compared her to her glorification with biblical women. After an assassination attempt on him in 1090, however, his attitude changed, as he did not feel sufficiently supported by the Margravine. In his Liber de vita christiana, he took the view that domination by women was harmful; as examples he named Cleopatra and the Merovingian Queen Fredegund. Rangerius of Lucca also distanced himself from Matilda when she did not position herself against Henry V in 1111. Out of bitterness, he did not dedicate his Liber de anulo et baculo to Matilda, but to John of Gaeta, later Pope Gelasius II.

Violent criticism of Matilda is related to the Investiture Controversy and relates to specific events. Thus the Vita Heinrici IV. imperatoris blames her for the rebellion of Conrad against his father Henry IV. The Milanese chronicler Landulfus Senior made a polemical statement in the eleventh century: he accused Matilda of having ordered the murder of her first husband. She is also said to have incited Pope Gregory VII to excommunicate the king. Landulf's polemics were directed against Matilda's Patarian partisans for the archbishop's chair in Milan.

Early modern times

In the fifteenth century, Matilda's marriage to Welf V disappeared from chronicles and narrative literature. Numerous families in Italy tried rather to claim Matilda as their ancestor and to derive their power from her. Giovanni Battista Panetti wanted to prove the Margravine's belonging to the House of Este in his Historia comitissae Mathildis. He claimed that Matilda was married to Albert Azzo II d'Este, the grandfather of Welf V. In his epic Orlando Furioso, poet Ludovico Ariosto also mentioned Matilda's alleged relationship with the House of Este; Giovanni Battista Giraldi also assumed a marriage between Matilda and Albert Azzo II and mentioned Ariosto as reference. Many more generations followed this tradition, and only the Este archivist Ludovico Antonio Muratori was the one able to dismiss the alleged relationship of Matilda and the House of Este in the eighteenth century. Nevertheless, he did not draw a more realistic picture of the Margravine; for him she was an Amazon queen. In Mantua, Matilda was also linked by marriage with the House of Gonzaga. Giulio Dal Pozzo underpinned the claims of the Malaspina family of descent from Matilda in his work Meraviglie Heroiche del Sesso Donnesco Memorabili nella Duchessa Matilda Marchesana Malaspina, Contessa di Canossa, written in 1678.

Dante's Divine Comedy made a significant contribution to Matilda's myth: she has been posited by some critics as the origin of the mysterious "Matelda" who appears to Dante gathering flowers in the earthly paradise in Dante's Purgatorio. Whether Dante is referring to the Margravine, Mechthild of Magdeburg or Mechthild of Hackeborn is still a matter of dispute. In the fifteenth century, Matilda was stylized by Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti and Jacopo Filippo Foresti as a warrior for God and the Church.

Matilda reached the climax of the positive assessment in the time of the Counter-Reformation and in the Baroque; she should serve as a symbol of the triumph of the church over all adversaries for everyone to see. In the dispute between Catholics and Protestants in the sixteenth century, two opposing judgments were received. From a Catholic perspective, Matilda was glorified for supporting the pope; for the Protestants, she was responsible for the humiliation of Henry IV in Canossa and was denigrated as a "pope whore", as in the biography of Henry IV by Johann Stumpf.

In the historiography of the eighteenth century (Ludovico Antonio Muratori, Girolamo Tiraboschi), Matilda was the symbol of the new Italian nobility, who wanted to create a pan-Italian identity. Contemporary representations (Saverio Dalla Rosa) presented her as the Pope's protector.

Modern times

In the nineteenth century, which was enthusiastic about the Middle Ages, the Margravine's myth was renewed. The remains of Canossa Castle were rediscovered and Matilda's whereabouts became popular travel destinations. In addition, Dante's praise for Matelda came back into the spotlight. One of the first German pilgrims to Canossa was the poet August von Platen-Hallermünde. In 1839, Heinrich Heine published the poem Auf dem Schloßhof zu Canossa steht der deutsche Kaiser Heinrich ("The German Emperor Henry stands in the courtyard of Canossa"), in which it says: "Peep out of the window above / Two figures, and the moonlight / Gregory's bald head flickers / And the breasts of Mathildis".

In the era of the Risorgimento, the struggle for national unification was in the foreground in Italy. Matilda was instrumentalized for daily political events. Silvio Pellico stood up for the political unity of Italy, and he designed a play called Mathilde. Antonio Bresciani Borsa wrote a historical novel La contessa Matilde di Canossa e Isabella di Groniga (1858). The work was very successful in its time and saw Italian editions in 1858, 1867, 1876, and 1891. French (1850 and 1862), German (1868), and English (1875) translations were also published.

The Matilda's myth lives on in Italy to the present day. The Matildines were a Catholic women's association founded in Reggio Emilia in 1918, similar to the Azzione Cattolica. The organization wanted to bring together young people from the province who wanted to work with the church hierarchy to spread the Christian faith. The Matildines revered the Margravine as a pious, strong, and steadfast daughter of St. Peter. After the World War II, numerous biographies and novels were written in Italy on Matilda and Canossa. Maria Bellonci published the story Trafitto a Canossa ("Tormented in Canossa"), Laura Mancinelli the novel Il principe scalzo. Local historical publications honor her as the founder of churches and castles in the regions of Reggio Emilia, Mantua, Modena, Parma, Lucca and Casentino.

Quattro Castella is named after the four Canusinian castles on the four hills at the foot of the Apennines. Bianello is the only castle that is still in use. A large number of communities on the northern and southern Apennines traces their origins and their heyday back to Matilda's epoch. Numerous citizen initiatives in Italy organize removals under the motto "Matilda and her time". Emilian circles applied for Matilda's beatification in 1988 without success. The place Quattro Castella had its name changed to Canossa out of reverence for Matilda. Since 1955 the Corteo Storico Matildico in Bianello Castle has been a reminiscent display of Matilda's meeting with Henry V and reported coronation as vicar and vice-queen; the event has taken place every year since then, usually on the last Sunday of May. The organizer is the municipality of Quattro Castella, which has owned the castle since 2000. The ruins on the hills of Quattro Castella have been the subject of a petition for UNESCO World Heritage.

Research history

Matilda receives much attention in Italian history. Matildine Congresses were held in 1963, 1970, and 1977. On the occasion of the 900th anniversary of the Walk of Canossa, the Istituto Superiore di Studi Matildici was founded in Italy in 1977 and inaugurated in May 1979. The institute is dedicated to the research of all notable citizens of Canossa and publishes a magazine entitled Annali Canossani.

In Italy, Ovidio Capitani was one of the best experts on Canossa history in the twentieth century. According to his judgment in 1978, Matilda's policy was "tutto legato al passato", completely tied to the past, i.e. outdated and inflexible in the face of a changing time. Vito Fumagalli presented several national historical studies on the Margraves of Canossa; he saw the causes of the Canossa's power in rich and centralized allodial goods, in a strategic network of fortifications, and in the support of the Salian rulers. In 1998, a year after his death, Fumagalli's biography of Matilda was published.

Of the Italian medievalists, Paolo Golinelli has dealt most intensively with Matilda in the past three decades. In 1991 he published a biography of Matilda, which appeared in 1998 in a German translation. On the occasion of the 900th return of Matilda's meeting with her allies in Carpineti, a financially supported congress was held in October 1992 by the province of Reggio Emilia. The rule of the House of Canossa and the various problems of rule in northern Italy of the tenth and eleventh centuries were dealt with. The contributions to this conference were edited by Paolo Golinelli. An international congress in Reggio Emilia in September 1997 was devoted to her afterlife in cultural and literary terms. The aim of the conference was to find out why Matilda attracted such interest in posterity. Thematically, arts and crafts, tourism, and folklore have been dealt with until recently. Most of the contributions were devoted to the genealogical attempts of the northern Italian nobility to link Matilda in the early modern period. Golinelli published the anthology in 1999. As an important result of this conference it turned out that goods and family relationships have been ascribed to her that have not been historically proven.

In German history, Alfred Overmann's dissertation formed the starting point for studying the history of the margravine. Since 1893 Overmann placed his investigation about Matilda in several Regest publications. The work was reprinted in 1965 and published in 1980 in an Italian translation. In the last few decades Werner and Elke Goez in particular have dealt with Matilda. From 1986 the couple worked together on the scientific edition of their documents. More than 90 archives and libraries in six countries were visited. The edition was created in 1998 in the series Diplomata, which the Monumenta Germaniae Historica published. In addition to numerous individual studies on Matilda, Elke Goez published a biography of Matilda's mother Beatrice (1995) and emerged as the author of a history of Italy in the Middle Ages (2010). In 2012 she presented a biography of Matilda.