Matilda of Tuscany

Matilda of Tuscany (Italian: Matilde di Toscana; Latin: Matilda or Mathilda; c. 1046 – 24 July 1115), or Matilda of Canossa (Italian: Matilde di Canossa [maˈtilde di kaˈnɔssa]), also referred to as la Gran Contessa ("the Great Countess"), was a member of the House of Canossa (also known as the Attonids) in the second half of the eleventh century. Matilda was one of the most important governing figures of the Italian Middle Ages. She reigned in a time of constant battles, political intrigues, and excommunications by the Church.

She ruled as a feudal margravine and, as a relative of the imperial Salian dynasty, she brokered a settlement in the so-called Investiture Controversy. In this extensive conflict with the emerging reform Papacy over the relationship between spiritual (sacerdotium) and secular (regnum) power, Pope Gregory VII dismissed and excommunicated the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV (then King of the Romans) in 1076. At the same time, Matilda came into possession of a substantial territory that included present-day Lombardy, Emilia, Romagna, and Tuscany. She made the Canossa Castle, in the Apennines south west of Reggio Emilia, the centre of her domains.