Mathilda, Regina, 1080-1092
In October, 1080 Mathilda made a visit to Ancona, and rewarded the loyal count Werner by making him duke of the Marches.
Mathilda spent the next few years restructuring the infrastructure of her realm, raising and lowering taxes, yet overall increasing her own personal income to 50© by January, 1083.
On January 16th, 1084, Mathilda’s eldest son Frederick Abelino married the Emperor’s niece Laura, heiress of Pietro, count of Savoie and Piemonte. Pietro was one of the most prestigious men in the Empire; he was the brother of Berta, wife of the Emperor Heinrich IV, and Adelaide, wife of Duke Rudolph of Swabia. Mathilda made Frederick duke of Spoleto and give him that city to rule. Mathilda had originally sought to disinherit Frederick, during his illness, but by the early 1080’s he had grown into a healthy young man, although he was never the man his brother Guglielmo was. The evidence suggests that Mathilda was never particularly close to Frederick Abelino, who, although energetic and modest, was also deceitful and reckless, and arbitrary in his judgements. The marriage was a success, and by late August the duchess Laura was with child. The child turned out to be a daughter, who was named Joscella, born around May 2nd 1085.
Later that year, Mathilda was once again in Ancona, for a marriage she herself had arranged. Friedrich, count in Urbino, and heir of Werner, duke of the Marches, married Mathilda of Zähringen, daughter of Hermann, duke of Carinthia; the union having originally been devised to maintain the duchies of Carinthia and Verona within Mathilda’s realm, although Hermann eventually remarried and fathered a son (also Hermann) in 1082. Queen Mathilda was also the godmother of the couple’s first child, Ludwig, born in February 1085.
In May, 1085, Mathilda arranged for the marriage of her second son Guglielmo and Bozena, sister of Bretislav king of Bohemia. However, Guglielmo found Bozena to be repulsive, and duly kidnapped and married Alberade, the young daughter of Ulrich count of Bern (who was more than happy to allow Guglielmo to have his daughter). The ensuing scandal was further heightened when Guglielmo took to cohabiting with both women; on May 21st Bozena announced she was with child, promptly followed by Alberade on the 25th.
Meanwhile, Mathilda had committed herself to acquiring a fief for Guglielmo; yet, in light of such scandalous behaviour, he would have to conquer it himself. Early in May (perhaps before the announcements of his two wives’ pregnancies) Guglielmo departed from Genoa with a large fleet, for Sicily.
With her realm stripped of all men of fighting age, Mathilda was more than eager to form an alliance with Dietrich, duke of Upper Lorraine, despite the fact she resented him, as she felt his lands formed part of her rightful inheritance.
In September, Mathilda was horrified to learn that her father-in-law, Duke Robert of Apulia, had attacked the count of Capua, her vassal. Mathilda, not willing to jeopardise her reputation by not fulfilling her duty as liege, at once jumped to the aid of Capua, and dispatched her son Frederick Abelino with a sizeable army, drawn from Spoleto, and also Siena, Livorno, Piombino, Firenze, and Romagna. Unfortunately, Capua was lost on November 28th, and the count fled, leaving the Normans in possession of his lands. Frederick of Spoleto defeated the Normans at Benevento, and moved into Capua, but on the 1st March 1086 peace was made with Robert Guiscard, so that all of Italy’s resources could be poured into the invasion of Sicily, and protecting the homeland.
The duke Frederick Abelino had greatly enhanced his reputation in this, his first, campaign, although he murmured that he had not been allowed to assist his brother in the conquest of Sicily. On February 19th, the duchess Laura bore him a son, to whom was given the name Abelino, in honour of his father. Mathilda is recorded, in the Annals of the Monks of the Abbey of St Mary of Nogara, to have been greatly displeased with this, as she greatly hated the name of Abelino (it having been conferred upon Frederick by his father), and was angered that the boy was not given some other, more appropriate, name. Nevertheless, the name remained, and the child was raised in Spoleto by his mother.
Meanwhile, Guglielmo had taken Trapani, in early February 1086. He then captured Palermo (April 27th), Siracusa, whose sheik had been at war with the Apulian Normans (May 13th) and Agrigento (July 15th). His fervour in fighting against the Moslems was further accentuated when he heard of the birth of a healthy baby boy, who was given the somewhat dubious name Fabrizio, on February 22nd, to his wife Alberade; the chronicles give us no insight into his reaction to the death, in labour, of his other wife Bodeza, on the 25th.
Guglielmo was welcomed back in Bologna by his mother with open arms, and was given the rich prize of Sicily, with the exception of Messina (which belonged to the Apulian Normans). Strong, tall, and handsome, he was renowned for his energetic and zealous personality, and would come to be known for his justice and modesty, and as a more than capable diplomat, weaving webs between the new Christian nobles of Sicily and the ruling Moorish and Greek aristocratic families, in his deep, gruff Tuscan accent.
The conquest of Sicily had not been merely to provide Guglielmo with a fief. Sicily was rich, and strategically centred in the middle of the Med, allowing its ruler to control almost entirely the Mediterranean trade. Mathilda had greatly encouraged the mercantile tendencies of her vassals, and jealously guarded the growing might of the merchant republics of Pisa and Genoa, her vassals, whose scutage went a long way towards increasing her income. The chief competitor of the Genoese and Pisans were the Venetians, whose small, yet excessively wealthy republic had so far resisted all of Mathilda’s friendly overtures. In late 1086 the Venetians attacked the Apulian Normans, but Mathilda was temporarily unable to take advantage of the situation.
In November 15th, 1086, Mathilda’s daughter Gisella was married, in Ferrara (which served as her mother’s capital) to the 66 year old Petar Kresimir, King of Croatia. The marriage was intended to secure the friendship of the Croats, whose kingdom lay on the eastern bank of the Adriatic Sea, and who were accustomed to assist the Venetians. Gisella was energetic and merciful, and her trusting ways soon won over her new husband. In time she came to rule over Croatia on his behalf, and became famed for her just rule, in the mold of her mother.
On January 16th, 1087, Mathilda was presented with another grandson, who was named Lazzaro (Lazarus); the child of Frederick Abelino of Spoleto and Laura of Savoie. Unfortunately the child died soon afterward, before the year was out.
In February 20th, 1087, at Verona, Mathilda’s second daughter Ermengarda was married to the Emperor Heinrich IV, 20 years her senior. Ermengarda, generous, merciful, yet ill (none could fully comprehend the meaning of her symptoms) was at once enamoured with Heinrich, a just and merciful ruler. Her love enhanced his selfishness, and the two found a common cause against the Pope in their scepticism of holy matters. Heinrich was a second cousin of Mathilda, and thus related to Ermengarda within the forbidden degrees, yet neither applied to the Pope for dispensation (Mathilda eventually stepped in and secured the necessary Papal dispensation).
On April 1st, 1088, Mathilda’s son Rodolfo was married to Adelheid d’Ardennes. Adelheid was the only surviving child of Duke Godfried of Lower Lorraine, Mathilda’s stepbrother, who had been deprived of her rightful inheritance at a young age. The Emperor, not wishing to allow the then infant child inherit such vast and unruly lands, had granted the duchy to Godfried’s nephew, Eustace of Boulogne. The girl Adelheid was sent to a monastery, but her aunt took pity upon her and took her back, raising her at court, without the Emperor’s knowledge. Furthermore, she had once been a close companion of the duchess Beatrice, and so Mathilda had little trouble securing possession of the girl Adelheid.
Mathilda did not like the girl Adelheid, who was selfish and cruel, but her dynastic worth outweighed any difference her personality could make. By marrying one of her sons to Adelheid, she united the claims of her own mother Beatrice and Adelheid’s father and grandfather (both Godfried), which by all accounts were much superior to those of the House of Boulogne.
In 1087 Eustache, count of Boulogne and duke of Lower Lorraine, had died and been succeeded by his son Guillaume, who was yet a child. The boy’s lands were ruled by his mother, who was renowned for her hate of the Emperor, and by 1088 she was called Disloyalty Incarnate, and there were rumours of rebellion. Therefore, on April 8th 1088, when Mathilda formally proclaimed war on the young duke Guillaume, she expected to have the support of the Emperor; instead, the Emperor, together with her former ally Dietrich of Upper Lorraine and the bishop of Mainz hurried to Guillaume of Boulogne’s aid.
During the last few years the Emperor had strengthened and centralized his rule within the Empire, regaining Franconia and defeating the Swabian revolt. He proceeded to add Geneve, Lyon, Nordgau, Besancon, Brandenburg, the Steiermark and Arborea (the northern part of Sardinia) to his lands, and crushed all rebellions against his rule. Despite his marriage to her daughter Ermengarda, Heinrich could not pass up the chance of defeating Mathilda in battle, thus clearing up the way for the reincorporation of Italy to the Empire.
Mathilda, together with her sons Guglielmo and Rodolfo, at once marched north at the head of a large army, defeating a smaller force lead by the duke Dietrich, who soon afterward delivered 82© up to Mathilda in return for peace, and for a promise that her soldiers would not ravage his lands whilst marching through them. Meanwhile, Mathilda’s other son Frederick Abelino had subdued the Steiermark (August 30th), and this was followed by the conquest of Besancon (September 14th) by the loyal Hermann of Zaringen.
News soon came of the capture of Brescia by the Emperor (October 30th), followed by the reconquest of Besancon by the Emperor’s armies. Mathilda did not turn back her army, and pressed into Lower Lorraine, taking the chief ducal seats of Andernach (January 1089), and Breda (March 5th). The young duke fled, and Mathilda at once presented herself as the new duchess of Lower Lorraine and Brabant. However, she was not finished. Moving east, she swept through the Emperor’s lands, taking Nassau (June 8th), Franken (September 7th), Wurttemberg (November 5th), Ulm (December 13th) and Fürstenberg (February 2nd 1090), and defeating several imperial armies.
Finally on March 22nd, 1090, Mathilda and her three eldest sons met with the Emperor, and their daughter and sister Ermengarda, who had grown cold and distant (according to the chronicler Eustace of Brescia). Mathilda demanded, and received, the duchies of Styria (the Steiermark) and Swabia (the counties of Ulm and Fürstenberg, and the fealty of many of the Emperor’s former vassals), together with Lyon, Besancon, Nordgau, and Nassau (Brescia had been taken back some time before).
Triumphant, she went to Besancon, where she was met by her husband Roger Borsa, and her fourth son Adalberto Catone, together with a host of her nobles. She then went to Lyon, where on April 3rd 1090 Adalberto Catone married Mathilda, the only daughter of King Philippe I of France. The next day, Mathilda bestowed upon Adalberto the duchy of Swabia, and formally acknowledged Rodolfo as duke of Lower Lorraine. Furthermore the loyal Wilhelm Hohenstaufen, whose service during the last war had been indispensable to Mathilda, was confirmed in his county of St Gallen and made duke of the Tirol.
Mathilda then went back to Italy, and entertained Barnard de Forez, count of Cagliari (the southern part of Sardinia) who pledged allegiance to her. With her was her daughter Sofia Mathilde, for whom marriage negotiations with King Philippe I of France had recently came to nothing. On April 29th, Mathilda made her most beloved and talented daughter, Sofia Mathilde, the duchy of Styria, and betrothed her to her nephew Abelino, the son of her brother Frederick Abelino of Spoleto, so that Sofia might one day rule as Queen (Consort) of Italy.
On March 1st, 1091, at Ferrara, Mathilda’s fifth son Hermann Salinguerra married Adelheid von Zähringen, the second daughter of Berthold, count of Breisgau, brother of Hermann duke of Carinthia and Verona. Mathilda made Hermann duke of Brabant and of the Frisians, of the Friesland, although it seems he ruled somewhat subordinately to his brother Rodolfo. Hermann, forgiving, generous, just, and a flamboyant schemer, was the apple of his mother’s eye, and as such she supported him against the territorial greed of his brother Rodolfo (who sought to add Frisia and Brabant to Lower Lorraine).
Also in March 1091 Mathilda granted Besancon and the Nordgau to Gerhard, count of the Sundgau, a powerful and loyal vassal.
Almost a year later, on March 17th, 1092, either at Ferrara or Nogara, Mathilda’s youngest son Otto Severo married Agathe de Lorraine, the eldest daughter and heiress of Dietrich, duke of Upper Lorraine. Mathilda hoped to one day secure Agathe’s inheritance, and bestow it to her son Rodolfo, and compensate Otto Severo with further lands in Italy; for now he was given Livorno and the duchy of Toscana.