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Matilda of Ringelheim ( 892 – 14 March 968), also known as Saint Matilda, was a Saxon noblewoman. Due to her marriage to
Henry I Henry I may refer to: 876–1366 * Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936) * Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955) * Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018) * Henry I of France (1008–1060) * Henry I the Long, Margrave of the N ...
in 909, she became the first Ottonian
queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
. Her eldest son,
Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of He ...
, restored the
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...
in 962. Matilda founded several spiritual institutions and women's convents. She was considered to be extremely pious, righteous and charitable. Matilda's two hagiographical biographies and '' The Deeds of the Saxons'' serve as authoritative sources about her life and work.


Early life and marriage with Henry I

Matilda, daughter of Reinhild and the Saxon count
Dietrich Dietrich () is an ancient German name meaning "Ruler of the People.” Also "keeper of the keys" or a "lockpick" either the tool or the profession. Given name * Dietrich, Count of Oldenburg (c. 1398 – 1440) * Thierry of Alsace (german: Dietri ...
(himself a descendant of the Saxon duke Widukind who fought against Charlemagne) was born in around 892, and was raised by her grandmother Matilda in Herford Abbey. She had three sisters; Amalrada, Bia and Fridarun, who married
Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person ...
, king of
West Francia In medieval history, West Francia (Medieval Latin: ) or the Kingdom of the West Franks () refers to the western part of the Frankish Empire established by Charlemagne. It represents the earliest stage of the Kingdom of France, lasting from ab ...
; and a brother, Beuve II, the Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne. Due to Fridarun's marriage to count Wichmann the Elder, there was an alliance between the House of
Billung The House of Billung was a dynasty of Saxon noblemen in the 9th through 12th centuries. The first known member of the house was Count Wichmann, mentioned as a Billung in 811. Oda, the wife of Count Liudolf, oldest known member of the Liudol ...
and the Ottonian family, which expanded their possessions to the west. In 909, she married Henry, at the time
Duke of Saxony This article lists dukes, electors, and kings ruling over different territories named Saxony from the beginning of the Saxon Duchy in the 6th century to the end of the German monarchies in 1918. The electors of Saxony from John the Steadfast on ...
and later East Franconian king, after his first marriage to Hatheburg of Merseburg was cancelled. In 929, Matilda received her
dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment ...
, which Henry gave to her in the so-called ''Hausordnung''. It consisted of goods in Quedlinburg, Pöhlde, Nordhausen, Grona (near
Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...
) and
Duderstadt Duderstadt () is a city in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, located in the district of Göttingen. It is the center and capital of the northern part of the Eichsfeld ("Untereichsfeld"). In earlier times it was the private wealth of the Roman Cat ...
. As queen, she took an interest in women's monasteries and is said to have had an influence on her husband's reign by having a strong sense of justice.


Children

Through Henry, Matilda gave birth to five children: * Otto (912–973), who was crowned the
Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
in 962; * Henry (919/22–955), who was appointed Duke of Bavaria in 948; *
Bruno Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters *Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne, ...
(925–965), who was elected Archbishop of Cologne in 953 and Duke of Lorraine in 954; * Hedwig (d. 965/80), who married the
West Frankish In medieval history, West Francia (Medieval Latin: ) or the Kingdom of the West Franks () refers to the western part of the Frankish Empire established by Charlemagne. It represents the earliest stage of the Kingdom of France, lasting from about ...
duke
Hugh the Great Hugh the Great (16 June 956) was the duke of the Franks and count of Paris. Biography Hugh was the son of King Robert I of France and Béatrice of Vermandois.Detlev Schwennicke, '' Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der E ...
* Gerberga (d. 968/69), who first married Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine and later the Carolingian king Louis IV of France.


Life as a widow

After Henry's death 936 in Memleben, he was buried in Quedlinburg, where Queen Matilda founded a convent the same year. She lived there during the following years and took care of the family's memorialization. Thus, Quedlinburg Abbey became the most important center of prayer and commemoration of the dead in the East Franconian empire. Like in other convents, daughters of noble families were raised in Quedlinburg, to later become Abbesses in order to secure the families influence. One of them was her own granddaughter,
Matilda Matilda or Mathilda may refer to: Animals * Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder * Matilda (horse) (1824–1846), British Thoroughbred racehorse * Matilda, a dog of the professional wrestling tag-team The ...
, daughter of Otto I and Adelheid of Burgundy, to whom she passed on the conducting of the convent in 966, after 30 years of leadership. The younger Matilda therefore became the first abbess of the convent in Quedlinburg. With her other goods, Queen Matilda founded further convents, one of them in 947 in Enger. Her last foundation was the convent of Nordhausen in 961. Matilda's handling of her dowry, which she had received from King Henry I previous to his death, was subject to a dispute between her and Otto I during the years 936–946. Otto made a claim on his mother's possessions, which eventually led to her fleeing into exile. Otto's wife, Queen Eadgyth, is said to have brought about the reconciliation in which Matilda left her goods and Otto was forgiven for his actions. The exact circumstances of this feud are still controversial to this day, but in order to protect her goods, Matilda acquired papal privileges for all monasteries in eastern Saxony in the period before her death in early 968. However, these efforts were ignored when Theophanu, the wife of
Otto II Otto II (955 – 7 December 983), called the Red (''der Rote''), was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy ...
, received Matilda's dowry after she died.


Death

After a long illness, Queen Matilda died on 14 March 968, in the convent of Quedlinburg. She was buried in Quedlinburg Abbey, next to her late husband. Throughout her life, Matilda was dedicated to charity and her spiritual foundations – as expressed several times in her two hagiographies. A commemorative plaque dedicated to her can be found in the
Walhalla memorial The Walhalla is a hall of fame that honours laudable and distinguished people in German history – "politicians, sovereigns, scientists and artists of the German tongue";Official Guide booklet, 2002, p. 3 Built decades before the foundation of th ...
near Regensburg, Germany.


Canonization

Matilda is the patron of the St. Mathilde church in
Laatzen Laatzen is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated directly south of Hanover. Division of the town In 1964, the municipalities of Laatzen (nowadays about 22,000 inhabitants) and Grasdorf (3,500 inh.) were merg ...
(Germany), the St. Mathilde church in Quedlinburg (Germany), the Melkite church in
Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...
(Syria), and the Mathilden-Hospital in Herford (Germany). Her
feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context do ...
is 14 March.


See also

* Saint Matilda of Ringelheim, patron saint archive


References


Citations


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* Sean Gilsdorf: ''Queenship and Sanctity The Lives of Mathilda and The Epitaph of Adelheid'', Washington, D.C., 2004.


External links


Biography at heiligenlexikon.de
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Matilda of Ringelheim Frankish queens consort German queens consort Ottonian dynasty German saints Christian royal saints Roman Catholic royal saints 890s births 968 deaths Year of birth uncertain Christian female saints of the Middle Ages 10th-century Christian saints Duchesses of Saxony 10th-century German women House of Immedinger Queen mothers