Editing Matilda of Tuscany (section)

==== Second marriage: Welf V of Bavaria ====
[[File:MatildaTuscie villani.jpg|left|thumb|Matilda weds Welf V (l), (r) she and her new husband ride to view her property. Illumination from the fourteenth century in a manuscript of the ''Nuova Chronica'' by [[Giovanni Villani]]. [[Vatican Library]], Chigi LVIII 296, fol. 56r]]
In 1088 Matilda was facing a new attempt at invasion by Henry IV, and decided to pre-empt it by means of a political marriage. In 1089 Matilda (in her early forties) married [[Welf II, Duke of Bavaria|Welf V]], heir to the [[Duchy of Bavaria]] and who was probably fifteen to seventeen years old,{{sfn|Hay|2008|p=124–129}} but none of the contemporary sources goes into the great age difference.{{sfn|Goez|2004|p=369}} The marriage was probably concluded at the instigation of [[Pope Urban II]] in order to politically isolate Henry IV. According to historian Elke Goez, the union of northern and southern Alpine opponents of the Salian dynasty initially had no military significance, because Welf V didn't appear in northern Italy with troops. In Matilda's documents, no Swabian names are listed in the subsequent period, so that Welf V could have moved to Italy alone or with a small entourage.{{sfn|Goez|2012|p=139}} According to the Rosenberg Annals, he even came across the Alps disguised as a pilgrim.{{sfn|Goez|2004|p=363}} Matilda's motive for this marriage, despite the large age difference and the political alliance—her new husband was a member of the [[House of Welf|Welf dynasty]], who were important supporters of the papacy from the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries in their conflict with the German emperors (see [[Guelphs and Ghibellines]])—, may also have been the hope for offspring:{{sfn|Goez|2004|p=368}} late pregnancy was quite possible, as the example of [[Constance I of Sicily|Constance of Sicily]] shows.{{sfn|Goez|2012|p=139}}

[[Cosmas of Prague]] (writing in the early twelfth century), included a letter in his ''Chronica Boemorum'' and claimed that Matilda had sent it to her future husband, but now the letter is thought to be spurious:{{sfn|Goez|Goez|1998|loc=n° 140}}<ref>{{cite journal|author=J. Chodor|title=Queens in Early Medieval Chronicles of East Central Europe|journal=East Central Europe|volume= 1|year=1991|pages=9–50 [32]}}</ref>

::''Not for feminine lightness or recklessness, but for the good of all my kingdom, I send you this letter: agreeing to it, you take with it myself and the rule over the whole of Lombardy. I'll give you so many cities, so many castles and noble palaces, so much gold and silver, that you will have a famous name, if you endear yourself to me; do not reproof me for boldness because I first address you with the proposal. It's reason for both male and female to desire a legitimate union, and it makes no difference whether the man or the woman broaches the first line of love, sofar as an indissoluble marriage is sought. Goodbye''.<ref>Cosmas of Prague, ''Chronica Boemorum'', II, ch. 32, MGH SS 9 p.88, accessible online in Latin and with an English translation at: [http://epistolae.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/letter/217.html Epistolae: Medieval Women's Latin Letters] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150625112836/http://epistolae.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/letter/217.html |date=2015-06-25 }}.</ref>

Matilda sent an army of thousands to the border of Lombardy to escort her bridegroom, welcomed him with honors, and after the marriage (mid-1089), she organized 120 days of wedding festivities, with such splendor that those of any other medieval rulers pale in comparison. Cosmas also reports that for two nights after the wedding, Welf V, fearing witchcraft, refused to share the marital bed. The third day, Matilda appeared naked on a table especially prepared on sawhorses, and told him that ''everything is in front of you and there is no hidden malice''. But the Duke was dumbfounded; Matilda, furious, slapped him and spat in his face, taunting him: ''Get out of here, monster, you don't deserve our kingdom, you vile thing, viler than a worm or a rotten seaweed, don't let me see you again, or you'll die a miserable death''....<ref>Cosmas of Prague, ''Chronica Boemorum'', II, ch.32, in B. Bretholz and W. Weinberger, ed., ''Die Chronik der Böhmen des Cosmas von Prag'', MGH SS rer Germ NS 2 (Berlin, 1923), pp. 128f., accessible online at: [http://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/goToPage/bsb00000683.html?pageNo=128&sortIndex=010%3A060%3A0002%3A010%3A00%3A00 Monumenta Germaniae Historica] (in Latin).</ref>

Despite the reportedly bad beginning of their marriage, Welf V is documented at least three times as Matilda's consort.{{sfn|Goez|Goez|1998|loc=n° 42, 43, 45}} By the spring of 1095 the couple were separated: in April 1095 Welf V had signed Matilda's donation charter for [[Piadena]], but a next diploma dated 21 May 1095 was already issued by Matilda alone.<ref>Johannes Laudage, "Welf lV. und die Kirchenreform des 11. Jahrhunderts". (in German) In: Dieter R. Bauer, Matthias Becher (ed.): ''Welf IV. Schlüsselfigur einer Wendezeit. Regionale und europäische Perspektiven''. Munich 2004, p. 308.</ref>{{sfn|Goez|Goez|1998|loc=n° 46}} Welf V's name no longer appears in any of the Mathildic documents.{{sfn|Goez|2004|p=363}} As a father-in-law, [[Welf I, Duke of Bavaria|Welf IV]] tried to reconcile the couple; he was primarily concerned with the possible inheritance of the childless Matilda.{{sfn|Althoff|2006|p=220}} The couple was never divorced, nor was the marriage declared invalid.{{sfn|Goez|2004|p=374}}