Matilda of Tuscany
Daughter of Margrave Boniface and Countess Beatrice and ruler of wide lands in northern Italy. She stood by Gregory VII and was among those who pleaded with him for Henry IV at Canossa in 1077.
Lampert of Hersfeld introduces her as the daughter of Margrave Boniface and Countess Beatrice and the widow of a duke of Lorraine. A great part of Italy obeyed her, he says, and after her husband’s death she was almost always at the side of Gregory VII and served him as a father or lord. He adds that the king’s supporters spread a slander about the two, and that no sensible person believed it (Lampert of Hersfeld, Annals 1077 (pp. 287–288, 290)).
By Lampert’s account it was at her urging that Gregory withdrew to Canossa, and it was she whom Henry IV (emperor) sent to the pope, with others, to plead for him (Lampert of Hersfeld, Annals 1077 (pp. 287–288, 290)). Gregory names her among those from whom he took guarantees for the king (Gregory VII, Register 4.12). Bernold of Constance, writing of the year 1095, names “the lady Matilda” first among the faithful of St Peter in Lombardy (Bernold of Constance, Chronicle 1095 (p. 461)). Fulcher of Chartres credits her with helping Urban II to gain control of Rome (Fulcher of Chartres, History 1.5).
In the timeline
- 1075 to 1077, firm dateThe Investiture Controversy and Canossa
Pope Gregory VII and King Henry IV of Germany break over the appointment of bishops. Deposed and excommunicated in 1076, Henry comes as a barefoot penitent to the castle of Canossa in January 1077 and is absolved. The conflict goes on.