MATILDA OF CANOSSA


Meaning of MATILDA OF CANOSSA in English

Italian Matilde known as Matilda the Great Countess

born 1046, Lucca, Tuscany

died July 24, 1115, Bondeno, Romagna

Countess of Tuscany.

A close friend of Pope Henry IV (see Investiture Controversy ), and it was at her castle at Canossa that the king performed his barefoot penance before Gregory (1077). After Henry's second excommunication, she was intermittently at war with him until his death (1106), sometimes donning armour to lead her own troops, and she helped finance the pope's military operations and encouraged Henry's son Conrad to rebel against his father (1093). Her unwavering support for the popes of Rome was honoured by her reburial in St. Peter's Basilica in 1634.

Britannica English dictionary.      Английский словарь Британика.