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On
the left:
Matilde of Canossa
Equestrian portrayal;
Copy of Antonio Villa of a lost painting by the Parmigianino;
Fresque of the end of the XIXth century portraying Matilde di Canossa in the Parish
of Guastalla or in the Church of St. Peter's. |
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| The history of
the Canossa family is documented starting from Sigifredo, of
Longobard lineage, from Lucca. His descendant Atto Adalberto
(died in 988) was the responsible of the construction of the
fortification net all around the hills of the region. Tebaldo
and the cunning Bonifacio, Matilde's father, continued his work.
After Bonifacio's assassination in 1052 and the premature death
of her brother and her elder sister, Matilde became, in 1055,
at nine, the heir of an immense territory, from Tuscany to Mantua.
Married, for political reasons, with a nobleman from Lorrain,
Goffredo the hunchbacked, she remained some years abroad with
her husband. After her returning in Italy with her mother, she
devoted herself to the governement of her feud right in the
moment when the contrast between the Pope and the Emperor was
exploding. The main characters of the quarrel were a monk called
Ildebrand, acclaimed as a Pope in 1073 with the name of Gregorio
VII, and the young emperor Henry IV. During the diet of Worms,
Ildebrand was obliged to resign his charge and got defamed:
the quarrel became more and more intense. The husband of Matilde
reached a remarkable reputation between the followers of the
Emperor, but died, victim of an assassination. To control the
power of the Emperor the german princes abandoned their support
to the secular leader and decided, at the meeting of Tribur,
to have him contested and excommunicated. To have a contact
whith such a changing situation and understand it more clearly,
the Pope undertook a journey to Germany but got surprised by
the announcement of a sudden arrival of the Emperor and was
therefore induced to look for shelter in the castle of his faithful
Matilde. In this same castle, after a long and difficult negotiation,
the 26 January of 1077, the Emperor, obtained, as a pilgrim,
the Pope's forgiveness, under the Pope's walls. This humiliation
was nevertheless extremely temporary and caused by some peculiar
political reasons as it is witnessed by the reopening of the
conflict just after the episode of Canossa. In 1086 the Pope
dies. In 1088 Matilde marries the young Guelfo di Baviera, beginning
a very unhappy marriage lasting seven years. In 1092 Matilde's
armies put to flight, near Reggio, between Bianello and Canossa,
the Emperor's army, arrived there to revenge the humiliation
of 1077. After escaping the menace, Matilde tried to reinforce
and enlarge her feud. She supported the building of some churches
and cathedrals, she built charitable institutions and helped
significantly the raising of the University of Bologna. In 1111
she met, in Bianello, the new emperor, Henry V, son of her ancient
ennemy, who appointed her as vice queen of Italy. She dies in
Bondeno of Roncore on the 24 July 1115 and is buried in the
monastery of San Benedetto in Polirone. Since 1632 she rests
in Rome, in St Peter's , in a monumental sarcophagus realized
by Bernini. |
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