Editing Matilda of Tuscany (section)

== Legacy ==
=== High and Late Middle Ages ===
Between 1111 and 1115 [[Donizo]] wrote the chronicle ''De principibus Canusinis'' in Latin [[hexameter]]s, 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.<ref name="Riversi">{{cite book |author=Eugenio Riversi|year=2013|title=La memoria di Canossa. Saggi di contestualizzazione della Vita Mathildis di Donizone|publisher=ETS|location=Pisa|language=it|isbn= 978-8846736987}}</ref> 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.{{sfn|Goez|2012|p=127}} 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.{{sfn|Goez|2012|p=127}}<ref>Otto Gerhard Oexle, [https://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/fedora/objects/freidok:5677/datastreams/FILE1/content "Bischof Konrad von Konstanz in der Erinnerung der Welfen und der welfischen Hausüberlieferung des 12. Jh"]. (in Italian) In: ''Freiburger Diözesan-Archiv 95'', 1975, p. 11</ref> 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.<ref name="Riversi"/>{{sfn|Golinelli|2016|p=29}}

[[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 didn't 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 dynasty|Merovingian]] Queen [[Fredegund]].<ref>Thomas Förster, ''Bonizo von Sutri als gregorianischer Geschichtsschreiber''. (in German) Hanover 2011, p. 5.</ref>{{sfn|Goez|2015|p=335}} Rangerius of Lucca also distanced himself from Matilda when she didn't position herself against Henry V in 1111. Out of bitterness, he didn't 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 II of Italy|Conrad]] against his father Henry IV.<ref>''Vita Heinrici IV. imperatoris'', Chapter 7.</ref>{{sfn|Goez|2015|p=334}} 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 [[Pataria]]n partisans for the archbishop's chair in [[Milan]].

Matilda's tomb was converted into a mausoleum before the middle of the twelfth century. For Paolo Golinelli, this early design of the grave is the beginning of the Margravine's myth.<ref name="Golinelli"/> In the course of the twelfth century, two opposing developments occurred: Matilda's person was mystified, at the same time historical memory of the House of Canossa declined.{{sfn|Golinelli|2006|p=595}} In the thirteenth century, Matilda's guilty feelings about the murder of her first husband became a popular topic. The [[Deeds of the Bishops of Halberstadt|''Gesta episcoporum Halberstadensium'']] took it up: Matilda confessed to [[Pope Gregory VII]] her participation in the murder of her husband, whereupon the pontiff released her from the crime. Through this act of leniency, Matilda felt obliged to donate her property to the [[Holy See]]. In the fourteenth century there was a lack of clarity about the historical facts about Matilda. Only the name of the Margravine, her reputation as a virtuous woman, her many donations to churches and hospitals, and the transfer of her goods to the Holy See were present.{{sfn|Golinelli|2006|p=596}} Knowledge of the conflicts between Henry IV and Gregory VII was forgotten.{{sfn|Capitani|1999|p=20}} Because of their connection to the Guidi family that gave her little attention in the Florentine chronicles as the Guidi were mortal enemies of Florence.<ref>Anna Benvenuti "Il mito di Matilde nella memoria dei cronisti fiorentini, in Matilde di Canossa nelle culture europee", pp. 53–60 in [[#c1999|Capitani 1999]]</ref> In the ''[[Nuova Cronica]]'' wrote by [[Giovanni Villani]] in 1306, Matilda was a decent and pious person. She is described there as product of a secret marriage between a Byzantine princess with an Italian knight. She also didn't consummate the marriage with Welf V; instead, she decided to live her life chaste and with pious works.{{sfn|Golinelli|2006|p=596}}{{sfn|Goez|2004|p=379}}

=== 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''.<ref>Paolo Golinelli, ''Matilde di Canossa e le sante donne delle genealogie mitiche degli Estensi nella chiesa di Sant'Agostino''. (in Italian) In: Elena Corradini, Elio Garzillo, Graziella Polidori (ed.): ''La chiesa di Sant'Agostino a Modena Pantheon Atestinum''. Modena 2002, pp. 242–249.</ref> He claimed that Matilda was married to [[Albert Azzo II, Margrave of Milan|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 [[Amazons|Amazon queen]].{{sfn|Goez|2012|p=200}} 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.<ref>Odoardo Rombaldi "Giulio Dal Pozzo autore del volume Meraviglie Heroiche di Matilda la Gran Contessa d'Italia, Verona 1678", pp. 103–108 in [[#c1999|Capitani 1999]]</ref>

[[Dante Alighieri|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 [[Purgatorio#The Earthly Paradise|earthly paradise]] in Dante's ''[[Purgatorio]]'';<ref>{{cite book |author =Lawrence Binyon|title=The portable Dante |year=1978 |publisher=Penguin |location=Harmondsworth |isbn=978-0140150322 |edition=Rev. |author-link=Laurence Binyon |article="Argument", Canto XXVIII |editor-first=Paolo |editor-last=Milano |url=https://archive.org/details/portabledante00dant}}</ref> whether Dante is referring to the Margravine, [[Mechthild of Magdeburg]] or [[Mechthild of Hackeborn]] is still a matter of dispute.<ref>Dante Bianchi, ''Matilde di Canossa e la Matelda dantesca''. (in Italian) In: ''Studi matildici. Atti e memorie del convegno di studi Matildici, Modena/Reggio Emilia, 19–21 ottobre 1963''. Modena 1964, pp. 156–169.</ref><ref>Fiorenzo Forti, ''Matelda''. (in Italian) In: ''Enciclopedia Dantesca 3'', Rome 1971, pp. 854–860.</ref>{{sfn|Capitani|1999|pp=19–28}} 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 (writer)|Johann Stumpf]].{{sfn|Golinelli|2015b|p=32}}{{sfn|Golinelli|2006|p=598}}<ref>Mareike Menne, ''Zur Canossa-Rezeption im konfessionellen Zeitalter''. (in German) In: Christoph Stiegemann, Matthias Wemhoff (ed.): ''Canossa 1077. Erschütterung der Welt''. Munich 2006, p. 610.</ref>

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.

In addition to the upscale literature, numerous regional legends and miracle stories in particular contributed to Matilda's subsequent stylization. She was transfigured relatively early from the benefactress of numerous churches and monasteries to the sole monastery and church donor of the entire Apennine landscape. Around 100 churches are attributed to Matilda, this developed from the twelfth century.{{sfn|Golinelli|1998|pp=29–52}}<ref>Paolo Golinelli, ''Matilde nella storia di città, chiese e monasteri''. In: Paolo Golinelli (ed.): ''I mille volti di Matilde. Immagini di un mito nei secoli''. Milan 2003, pp. 119–131. {{ISBN|8871794206}}</ref> Numerous miracles are also associated with the Margravine. She is said to have asked the pope to bless the Branciana fountain; according to a legend, women can get pregnant after a single drink from the well. According to another legend, Matilda should prefer to stay at the Savignano Castle; there one should see the princess galloping in the sky on full moon nights on a white horse. According to a legend from Montebaranzone, she brought justice to a poor widow and her twelve-year-old son. Numerous legends also surround about Matilda's marriages: she is said to have had up to seven husbands and, as a young girl, fell in love with Henry IV.{{sfn|Goez|2012|p=204}}

=== 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"),{{sfn|Golinelli|2015b|p=33}} 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".<ref>Stefan Weinfurter, ''Canossa. Die Entzauberung der Welt'' (in German), Munich 2006, p. 25. {{ISBN|3406535909}}</ref>

In the era of the [[Italian unification|''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 (writer)|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.{{sfn|Golinelli|2015b|p=32}}{{sfn|Golinelli|2006|p=600}}

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.<ref>Nardina Guarrasi "Le "Matildine" : un'associazione femminile cattolica reggiana (1918)", pp. 243–254 in [[#c1999|Capitani 1999]]</ref> 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".<ref>Alcide Spaggiari "Canossa nell'ultimo secolo, storia, arte, folclore", pp. 213–228 in [[#c1999|Capitani 1999]]</ref> Emilian circles applied for Matilda's [[beatification]] in 1988 without success.{{sfn|Ghirardini|1989|pp=379–383}} The place Quattro Castella had its name changed to Canossa out of reverence for Matilda.{{sfn|Goez|2012|p=213}} 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.geschichtsverein-weilburg.de/2015/11/18/mathilde-von-tuszien-canossa-1046-1115-zum-900-todestag|title=Mathilde von Tuszien-Canossa (1046–1115) – zum 900. Todestag|website=geschichtsverein-weilburg.de|date=18 November 2015 |language=de |access-date=24 November 2020}}</ref> The ruins on the hills of Quattro Castella have been the subject of a petition for [[UNESCO World Heritage]].{{sfn|Spike|2014|p=12}}

=== 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.<ref>Ovidio Capitani, ''Canossa: Una lezione da meditare''. (in Italian) In: ''Studi Matildici III. Atti e memorie del III convegno di studi matildici (Reggio Emilia, 7–8–9 ottobre 1977)''. Modena 1978, p. 22.</ref> 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.<ref name="Fumagalli"/> In 1998, a year after his death, Fumagalli's biography of Matilda was published.

Of the Italian [[Medieval studies|medievalists]], Paolo Golinelli has dealt most intensively with Matilda in the past three decades.<ref>The most important contributions were published in a bundle in Paolo Golinelli's collection of essays ''L'ancella di san Pietro. Matilde di Canossa e la Chiesa''. (in Italian), Milan 2015.</ref> In 1991 he published a biography of Matilda,<ref name=g1991/> which appeared in 1998 in a German translation.<ref>See the critical reviews by Rudolf Schieffer, [https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/buecher/rezension-sachbuch-das-weibliche-rittertum-in-voller-bluete-11313831.html "Das weibliche Rittertum in voller Blüte Markgräfin Mathilde wollte kein Mauerblümchen mehr sein"]. (in German) In: ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 24. März 1998''; Johannes Laudage, ''Historische Zeitschrift 268'', 1999], pp. 747–749.</ref> 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.<ref>Paolo Golinelli (ed.), ''I poteri dei Canossa da Reggio Emilia all'Europa. Atti del convegno internazionale di studi (Reggio Emilia – Carpineti, 29 – 31 ottobre 1992). Il mondo medievale. Studi di Storia e Storiografia''. (in Italian), Bologna 1994.</ref> 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.<ref name="Golinelli">Paolo Golinelli "Le origini del mito di Matilde e la fortuna di donizone", pp. 10–52 in [[#c1999|Capitani 1999]]</ref> 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.<ref name="Golinelli"/> 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.{{sfn|Golinelli|2001|p=56}}

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.{{sfn|Overmann|1895}} 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.<ref>See in detail on this document edition in Werner Goez "La nuova edizione dei documenti Matildici" pp. 21–27 in [[#g1994|Golinelli 1994]]; Paolo Golinelli: ''A proposito di nuove edizioni di documenti matildici e canossani''. (in Italian) In: ''[[Nuova Rivista Storica]]'' 84, 2000, pp. 661–672.</ref> 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.

The 900th year of Henry IV's death in 2006 brought Matilda into the spotlight in the exhibitions in Paderborn (2006) and Mantua (2008).<ref>Christoph Stiegmann, ''Canossa come luogo commemorativo: Le mostre di Paderborn (2006) e di Mantova (2008)''. (in Italian) In: Renata Salvarani, Liana Castelfranchi (ed.): ''Matilde di Canossa, il papato, l'impero. Storia, arte, cultura alle origini del romanico''. Cinisello Balsamo 2008, pp. 42–51.</ref> The 900th anniversary of her death in 2015 was the occasion for various initiatives in Italy and sessions at the International Medieval Congress at Leeds. The 21st ''Congresso Internazionale di Studi Langobardi'' took place in October of the same year. This resulted in two conference volumes.<ref>''Matilde di Canossa e il suo tempo. Atti del XXI Congresso internazionale di studio sull'alto medioevo in occasione del IX centenario della morte (1115–2015), San Benedetto Po, Revere, Mantova, Quattro Castella, 20–24 ottobre 2015''. (in Italian), 2 volumes. Spoleto 2016.</ref> In [[Williamsburg, Virginia]] from February to April 2015, an exhibition took place at the Muscarelle Museum of Art, the first in the United States on Matilda.{{sfn|Spike|2015b}}

=== Popular culture ===
{{unreferenced section|date=May 2023}}{{trivia section|date=May 2023}}
In the arts, the story of Matilda and Henry IV is the main plot device in [[Luigi Pirandello]]'s play ''[[Enrico IV]]'', and the Margravine is the main historical character in [[Kathleen McGowan]]'s novel ''The Book of Love'' (Simon & Schuster, 2009).

Matilda is a featured figure on [[Judy Chicago]]'s installation piece [[The Dinner Party]], being represented as one of the 999 names on the [[List of women in the Heritage Floor|Heritage Floor]], along some other contemporaries like her second cousin [[Adelaide of Susa]].

In the grand strategy role-playing video game ''[[Crusader Kings III]]'', Matilda is a playable character and is featured in the Rags to Riches start in 1066.