When other girls were playing with dolls, Matilda was playing with swords. At age six, her father was undoubtedly assassinated by Germany’s Henry III. Her mother Beatrice realized that Matilda, as the only surviving heir, would need to learn warfare to protect her vast holdings, which included all of Tuscany, parts of Liguria, Umbria, and Verona, Pisa, and Florence as well as other cities. Matilda controlled land the size of Indiana that lay between Germany and central Italy.

In 1061, when Matilda was fifteen, her mother and step-father, Godfrey, the Duke of Upper Lorraine, took her to meet Pope Nicholas II. Matilda became a life-long supporter of the papacy and hated the German royalty who weren’t enamored by His Excellency. Matilda realized that with her holdings in northern Italy, she and her army literally stood between Germany and the Holy Roman Church.

The next Emperor from Germany was a young Henry IV. In the winter of 1076-1077, his mother pressured Henry to counter Pope Gregory VII with an antipope. Henry chose Caldalous, Bishop of Parma. This was an insult to Matilda, who controlled Parma. Henry planned to squeeze Matilda from the south with the help of the antipope (once he was in place in the Vatican) and from the north with his German army until he had Matilda’s lands. Unfortunately for Henry, no other support appeared for his antipope, Caldalous. Pope Gregory VII responded with a notice of excommunication for the German emperor, giving Henry’s enemies an excuse to dethrone him. Henry, desperate to save his kingdom, changed his tactics and apologized to Pope Gregory.

Matilda feared a trick by her nemesis, Henry IV, so she had the meeting between Pope Gregory and the German ruler at Canossa Castle. Canossa Castle was perched 1,500 feet atop a massive rock outcropping with a 360 degree view of the countryside below the Tuscan Apennines.

Henry had to do more than apologize to the Pope; he had to beg for forgiveness and permit himself to be humiliated. For three days in the bitter cold and snow, Henry waited barefoot and in a wool shirt for permission to see the Pope. When he was allowed into Matilda’s castle, he had to prostrate himself before Pope Gregory.

But Henry was not done fighting against the Pope and Matilda. She retaliated and captured the Bishops of Parma and Reggio, six commanders, 100 knights, and 500 horses. Henry fought Matilda with a siege engine, but she merely sent out raiders who burned it. Another time Matilda slipped out of Canossa Castle through a secret tunnel and in the morning fog, sneaked up on Henry and his men. She slaughtered them, but failed to capture Henry. It was the end of Henry’s attacks in Italy, but his troubles in Germany had just begun.

Matilda’s mother’s insistence that her daughter be independent and educated in warfare paid off.

This is Part I of a two-part series.

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