ITALY - REGGIO EMILIA - PALAZZO MAGNANI, August 31, 2008 to January 11, 2009

Matilda of Canossa (Italian: Matilde, Latin: Mathilde; 1046 – 24 July 1115), called la Gran Contessa or the Great Countess, was an Italian noblewoman, the principal Italian supporter of Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy. She is one of the few medieval women to be remembered for her military accomplishments. She is called "of Canossa" after the ancestral family castle of Canossa, but she is just as well known as Matilda of Tuscany. She was the daughter of Boniface III, count of many counties, among them: Reggio, Modena, Mantua, Brescia, and Ferrara. As this string of titles implies, he held a great estate on both sides of the Apennines, though the greater part was in Lombardy and Emilia. Matilda's mother was Beatrice, a daughter of Frederick II, Duke of Upper Lorraine, and of Matilda, daughter of Herman II of Swabia. Matilda's place of birth is unknown. Mantua, Modena, Cremona, and Verona have all been suggested, though scholarly opinion favours Lucca or the nearby castle of Porcari.