Editing Matilda of Tuscany (section)

=== 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}}