It was in the midst of this age of ignorance that Matilda, the great
Countess of Tuscany, by means of her wisdom and intelligence and her
many graces of mind and body, made such a great and lasting reputation
for herself that her name has come down in history as the worthy
companion of William the Conqueror and the great monk Hildebrand, later
Pope Gregory VII., her most distinguished contemporaries. Matilda's
father, Boniface, was the richest and most powerful nobleman of his time
in all Italy, and as Margrave and Duke of Tuscany, Duke of Lucca,
Marquis of Modena, and Count of Reggio, Mantua, and Ferrara, he exerted
a very powerful feudal influence. Though at first unfriendly to the
interests of the papal party in Italy, he was just about ready to
espouse its cause when he fell under the hand of an assassin; and then
it was that Matilda, by special dispensation of the emperor, was allowed
to inherit directly her father's vast estate, which she shared at first
with her brother Frederick and her sister Beatrice. Generally, fiefs
reverted to the emperor and remained within his custody for five
years--were held in probate, as it were--before the lawful heirs were
allowed to enter into possession of their property. Frederick and
Beatrice were short-lived, however, and it was not many years before
Matilda was left as sole heir to this great domain; she was not entirely
alone, as she had the watchful care and guidance of her mother, who
assisted her in every emergency.

As the result of this condition of affairs, both mother and daughter
were soon sought in marriage by many ardent and ambitious suitors, each
presenting his claims for preferment and doing all in his power to bring
about an alliance which meant so much for the future. Godfrey of
Lorraine, who was not friendly to the party of the Emperor Henry III.,
while on a raid in Italy, pressed his suit with such insistency that the