After years of conflict that had already cost her territory and alliances, Matilda of Tuscany found herself facing her most direct challenge yet. In early 1080, Pope Gregory VII excommunicated Emperor Henry IV for a second time, threatening to dethrone him unless he submitted to papal authority. Rather than backing down, Henry raised a formidable army and marched against Matilda, who was the pope’s most powerful ally in Italy. .
Matilda, who had already made clear her allegiance to Gregory by donating lands to the Church, refused to abandon her cause and raised her own force in response. Much of her army was made up of peasants armed with farming tools, yet her leadership held them together in the face of Henry’s battle-hardened veterans. The engagement did not go her way. Her lines broke under the imperial assault, forcing Matilda to retreat to Florence.
After enduring a siege that lasted several weeks, she agreed to let the city’s citizens surrender while she slipped away under cover of darkness. . Matilda was then pushed from town to town until she fell back to her ancestral stronghold, Canossa Castle. Henry cut off all supplies leading in and out of the fortress, determined to starve her into submission.
Her men began to hunger, but Matilda spotted a chance one foggy October morning and ordered a surprise attack that forced Henry to retreat briefly, restoring her access to provisions. The stalemate dragged on for two years. During that time, Henry forced Gregory into exile and chipped away at Matilda’s influence. By 1082, her financial reserves were exhausted.
To keep her retainers and to fund the papal cause, Matilda made the controversial decision to melt down church treasures for cash. Henry seized on this, accusing her of plundering churches and monasteries. The accusation cost her dear: two of her most important cities, Pisa and Lucca, switched their allegiance to Henry. .
Henry’s position strengthened further when the antipope Clement III crowned him emperor, formally ending Gregory’s authority over him. Henry then returned to Germany, leaving Matilda to regroup after a bruising period of defeat and loss. . Matilda was not finished.
With the dead of Gregory VII in 1085, she backed the new Pope, Victor III, but his papacy was brief. When she invaded Rome in 1087 to install him, she was forced to back down when imperial forces resisted. Victor died before the year was out, leaving Matilda without a powerful papal ally entitlement periods her own. Henry prepared to invade her lands again, but fortune began to turn in her favor.
Many cities Henry had taken from her began to rebel, not only against the emperor but against the very idea of being ruled. They offered Matilda their support in exchange for rights and freedoms, which she conceded. With this new backing, plus assistance from French forces heading toward the First Crusade, Matilda finally managed to reinstatea legitimate pope to the papal throne in 1097. But the cost was immense: with many cities now governing their own affairs, her own power was greatly diminished.
Matilda of Tuscany died of a heart attack on July 24th, 1115, having spent her final years with much of her former influence gone. Her lands passed to Emperor Henry V without significant resistance, and many of her former subjects quickly accepted imperial rule. Her legacy, however, did not fade. In 1633, her remains were reburied in St.
Peter’s Basilica, an honor granted to only five other women in history, cementing her reputation as one of the most formidable defenders of the papacy whom ever lived.
