Mathilda

Mathilda, Countess of Tuscany, well known in history through her constant support of Pope Gregory VII. in his long struggle with the Empire, was a daughter of Boniface, Count of Tuscany, and of Beatrice of Lorraine, and was born in 1046. She married first Godfrey (surnamed the Hunchback), Duke of Lorraine, from whom she lived separate in Italy, and afterwards, when over forty years of age, the boy Guelph of Bavaria. Both were mere alliances of policy. In 1077 she made a gift of all her vast possessions to the church, a bequest that caused a long contest. It was at her castle of Canossa that Henry IV. did his humiliating penance to Pope Gregory. Four years later she alone stood by the pope when Henry poured his troops into Italy, she supported him with money when he was besieged in Rome, and after his death at Salerno boldly carried on the war against the emperor. 'The great Countess' died in 1115.