Editing Matilda of Tuscany (section)

=== Last years and death ===
[[File:AbbaziaDelPolirone SanBenedettoPo.jpg|thumbnail|right|[[Polirone Abbey|Abbey of San Benedetto in Polirone]]]]
[[File:Evangeliar der Mathilde von Tuszien.jpg|thumbnail|right|''Gospels of Matilda of Tuscany'', San Benedetto Po (al Polirone), before 1099. [[New York City|New York]], [[Morgan Library & Museum]], MS M.492, fol. 84r]]
In the last phase of her life, Matilda pursued the plan to strengthen the Abbey of Polirone. The Church of Gonzaga freed them in 1101 from the ''malos sacerdotes fornicarios et adulteros'' ("wicked, unchaste, and adulterous priests") and gave them 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.{{sfn|Piva|2006|p=129}}{{sfn|Goez|Goez|1998|loc=n° 68}} 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]].{{sfn|Piva|2006|p=129}}{{sfn|Goez|Goez|1998|loc=n° 67}} The Abbey of Polirone received a total of twelve donations in the last five years of Matilda's life. So she transferred her property in Villola (16 kilometers southeast of Mantua) and the Insula Sancti Benedicti (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.{{sfn|Goez|2012|p=87}} 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.{{sfn|Goez|2015|p=332}}<ref>Thomas Labusiak, ''Als die Bilder sprechen lernten: Das Evangeliar der Mathilde von Tuszien in New York''. (in German) In: Patrizia Carmassi, Christoph Winterer (ed.): ''Text, Bild und Ritual in der mittelalterlichen Gesellschaft (8.–11. Jh.)''. Florence 2014, pp. 217–232.</ref> Paolo Golinelli emphasized that, through Matilda's favor, Polirone also became a base where reform forces gathered.<ref>Paolo Golinelli, ''Matilde di Canossa e l'abbazia di Polirone''. (in Italian) In: Paolo Golinelli (ed.): ''Storia di San Benedetto Polirone, Le origini 961–1125''. Bologna 1998, pp. 91–100.</ref>

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 Castle of Bianello in [[Quattro Castella]], [[Reggio Emilia]].{{sfn|Overmann|1895|p=184, Regest 125c}}<ref>Lino Lionello Ghirardini, ''Famoso incontro di Bianello fra ia contessa Matilde e Fimperatore Enrico V''. (in Italian) In: ''Quattro Castella nella storia di Canossa''. Rome 1977, pp. 213–236.</ref> 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.<ref>Donizo, ''Vita Mathildis'', ch. II, v. 1250–1256.</ref> At this meeting he also concluded a firm agreement (''firmum foedus'') with her, which was mentioned only by Donizo and whose details are unknown.<ref>Donizo, ''Vita Mathildis'', ch. II, v. 1257.</ref> 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.<ref name=pg1994/>{{sfn|Goez|1997|p=194}}<ref>Donizo, ''Vita Mathildis'', edited by Luigi Simeoni. Bologna 1931–1940, v. 1255–1257, p. 98.</ref> 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.{{sfn|Goez|2012|p=180}} 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.<ref name=pg1994/>{{sfn|Golinelli|2001|p=60}} 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.<ref>Enrico Spagnesi, ''Libros legum renovavit: Irnerio lucerna e propagatore del diritto''. (in Italian). Pisa 2013, p. 54.</ref>

A short time after her meeting with Henry V, Matilda retired to Montebaranzone near [[Prignano sulla Secchia]]. In Mantua in the summer of 1114 the rumor that she had died sparked jubilation.{{sfn|Goez|2012|p=174}}<ref>Michèle K. Spike, ''Tuscan Countess. The Life and Extraordinary Times of Matilda of Canossa''. New York 2004, p. 258.</ref> The Mantuans strived for autonomy and demanded admission to the margravial Rivalta Castle located five kilometers west of Mantua. When the citizens found out that Matilda was still alive, they burned the castle down.<ref>Thomas Gross, ''Lothar III. und die Mathildischen Güter''. (in German). Frankfurt am Main 1990, p. 244.</ref> Rivalta Castle symbolized the hated power of the Margravine. Donizo, in turn, used this incident as an instrument to illustrate the chaotic conditions that the sheer rumor of Matilda's death could trigger. The Margravine guaranteed peace and security for the population,<ref>Florian Hartmann, ''Das Gerücht vom Tod des Herrschers im frühen und hohen Mittelalter''. (in German) In: ''Historische Zeitschrift 302'', 2016, p. 348.</ref> and was able to recapture Mantua. In April 1115, the aging Margravine gave the Church of San Michele in Mantua the rights and income of the Pacengo court. This documented legal transaction proves their intention to win over an important spiritual community in Mantua.{{sfn|Goez|2012|p=175}}{{sfn|Goez|Goez|1998|loc=n° 136}}

Matilda often visited the town of Bondeno di Roncore (today Bondanazzo), in the district of [[Reggiolo]], [[Province of Reggio Emilia|Reggio Emilia]], just in the middle of the Po valley, where she owned a small castle, which she often visited between 1106 and 1115. During a stay there, she fell seriously ill, so that she could finally no longer leave the castle. In the last months of her life, the sick Margravine was no longer able to travel strenuously. According to Vito Fumagalli, she stayed in the Polirone area not only because of her illness: the House of Canossa had largely been ousted from its previous position of power at the beginning of the twelfth century.<ref>Vito Fumagalli, ''Canossa tra realtä regionale e ambizioni europee''. (in Italian) In: ''Studi Matildici III'', Modena 1978, p. 31.</ref> In her final hours the Bishop of Reggio, Cardinal Bonsignore, stayed at her deathbed and gave her the sacraments of death. On the night of 24 July 1115, Matilda died of sudden [[cardiac arrest]] at the age of 69.{{sfn|Overmann|1895|p=150, Regest 147}} After her death in 1116 Henry V succeeded in taking possession of the ''[[Terre Matildiche]]'' without any apparent resistance from the curia. The once loyal subjects of the Margravine accepted the emperor as their new master without resistance; for example, powerful vassals such as Arduin de Palude, Sasso of Bibianello, Count Albert of Sabbioneta, Ariald of Melegnano, Opizo of Gonzaga and many others came to the emperor and accepted him as their overlord.{{sfn|Goez|1997|p=195}}

[[File:Tomb of Countess Matilda of Tuscany by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.JPG|thumbnail|right|Matilda's tombstone at St. Peter's Basilica, by Bernini]]
Matilda was at first buried in the [[Polirone Abbey|Abbey of San Benedetto in Polirone]], located in the town of [[San Benedetto Po]]; then, in 1633, at the behest of [[Pope Urban VIII]], her body was moved to [[Rome]] and placed in [[Castel Sant'Angelo]]. Finally, in 1645 her remains were definitely deposited in the [[Vatican Hill|Vatican]], where they now lie in [[St. Peter's Basilica]]. She is one of only six women who have the honor of being buried in the Basilica, the others being Queen [[Christina, Queen of Sweden|Christina of Sweden]], [[Maria Clementina Sobieska]] (wife of [[James Francis Edward Stuart]]), [[St. Petronilla]], [[Queen Charlotte of Cyprus]], and Agnesina Colonna Caetani. A [[Tomb of Countess Matilda of Tuscany|memorial tomb for Matilda]], commissioned by [[Pope Urban VIII]] and designed by [[Gianlorenzo Bernini]] with the statues being created by sculptor [[Andrea Bolgi]], marks her burial place in St. Peter's and is often called the ''Honor and Glory of Italy''.