(A.D. 968.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--The Life drawn up by order of the
emperor Henry, her grandson.]
The father of the empress Mathilda was Dietrich, count of Ringelheim,
a descendant of the famous Witikind, prince of the Saxons, who had
maintained so long and stubborn a resistance against Charlemagne.
Her mother, Reinhild, was of royal Danish and Frisian blood. In her
childhood Mathilda was entrusted to the tender care of her grandmother
Hedwig, who had quitted the world, and had become abbess of Erfurt.
Henry the Fowler, son of duke Otho of Saxony, fell in love with
Mathilda, and married her. The "Life of S. Mathilda," written by
order of Henry the Pious, her grandson, says that Otho, hearing of
the virtues of Mathilda, entered into negotiations with the count of
Ringelheim to have her married to his son Henry. This is, no doubt,
true, but it is only half the truth. The other part was suppressed by
the pious historian. In fact, Henry was already married to Hathburg,
daughter of Erwin of Altstadt, whom he had taken from the cloister,
where she was being educated, and by whom he became father of Thankmar,
who afterwards waged war with Otho the Great, son of Henry and
Mathilda, claiming the duchy of Saxony as his own by right of seniority
of birth. Henry saw and fell in love with Mathilda, and the young
simple girl was probably hardly consulted in the matter, when Henry
divorced his wife Hathburg, sent her back to her convent, and demanded
the hand of Mathilda of her parents. The wrong done to Hathburg was
bitterly atoned for in after years, for Mathilda was sorely tried by
the ingratitude of her own sons, and saw Otho engaged in a bloody war
with Thankmar, whom he had supplanted.
Henry was one to captivate hearts. He is described as lofty and
majestic in stature, although slight and youthful in form, powerful
and active in person, with a commanding and penetrating glance, his
very appearance attracting popular favour, and securing the heart of
his wife. "He excelled in prudence and wisdom, and his stature became
his kingly dignity. Too much addicted to hunting, he was joyous in
festivities, but without diminishing his regal dignity. In war he was
alike loved and feared."[49]
[49] Witikind, lib. i., p. 641.
Henry had been elected emperor of Germany. In his new position,
his life was one of warfare. He subjugated the Hevelli[50] and the
Bohemians, and in 933, routed the Hungarians. The ambassadors of
the Hungarians demanded of him the payment of an ancient tribute.
According to the legendary account, Henry caused a mangy dog to be
thrown before them, and declared a deadly war with their nation. The
Hungarians instantly crossed the frontier in two enormous hordes, the
lesser of which was routed by the arrière-ban of Saxony and Thuringia,
near Sondershausen. The other body advanced along the Saal, in the
vicinity of Merseburg, against the emperor. Henry entrenched himself
on a mountain, since known as the Keuschberg, or Mountain of Chastity,
owing to the circumstance of no woman being permitted to enter the camp
of the Christians, who strengthened themselves for the coming conflict
by devotional exercises. The news of the defeat of their countrymen
at Sondershausen soon reached the Hungarians, who instantly kindled
enormous fires along the banks of the river as signals of recall to
all those of their number who were engaged in plundering the country,
and the battle commenced with the coming morn. Henry addressed his
troops. The picture of S. Michael was borne in the van, as the banner
of the empire. A murderous struggle commenced, the Hungarians shouting,
"Hui! hui!" and the Germans, "Kyrie-eleison!" Victory long wavered,
but was at length decided by the discipline and enthusiastic valour of
the Germans. An immense number of Christian slaves were restored to
liberty. After the victory, Henry knelt, at the head of his troops, and
returned thanks to Heaven. The terror of the Hungarians now equalled
that with which they had formerly inspired the Germans. In the belief
that the archangel Michael, whose gigantic picture they ever beheld
borne in the van of the German army, was the god of victory, they made
golden wings, similar to those with which he was represented, for their
own idols. The hand of the emperor, and, underneath, a horse shoe,
are still to be seen cut in the rock at Keuschberg, as a token of the
victory. Germany remained undisturbed in this quarter during the rest
of the reign of Henry the Fowler. Henry afterwards planned a visit to
Rome, but died without accomplishing that project, in 936, when at the
height of his splendour and renown. He was buried at Quedlinburg, his
favourite residence.
[50] A Sorbian tribe on the Havel.
The union of Mathilda with her husband had been a very happy one. Both
endeavoured to advance the kingdom of God by every means in their
power, and together they concerted laws full of justice, to increase
the prosperity of their dominions. Henry left behind him three sons by
Mathilda, Otho, who was elected to the imperial throne on the decease
of his father, Henry the Quarrelsome, duke of Bavaria, and Bruno,
archbishop of Cologne. Mathilda spent her time in devotion, and gave
abundant alms to the needy. She was very sober in her repasts, gentle
in conversation, and ready to do with promptitude and cheerfulness
whatever she deemed consistent with her position.
Otho had been unanimously elected emperor, and was crowned at
Aix-la-Chapelle with more than ordinary solemnity. He was invested with
the gigantic crown of Charlemagne, the sceptre, the sword, the cross,
the sacred lance of Longinus, and the golden mantle. And he looked
an emperor. Witikind says of him in later years, "His demeanour was
replete with majesty. His white hair waved over his shoulders. His eyes
were bright and sparkling; his beard of an extraordinary length; his
breast like that of a lion, and covered with hair."
Proud of his position and power, the young emperor was impatient of
his mother's advice and authority. Listening to those who viewed her
virtues with impatience, as a restraint on the licence of a court,
they persuaded Otho that she had lavished the money of the empire
in charities. He at once ordered his mother to retire from court to
Engern, in Ravensberg. It was grief to Mathilda to be thus treated
by her eldest son, but it was greater grief to her to find that her
favourite son, Henry of Bavaria, had been the prime instigator of her
banishment.
But it was not long before Henry fell dangerously ill, and Edith,
the wife of Otho, deeming this a punishment for the wrong done to
the saintly dowager empress, and dreading the same for her husband,
persuaded Otho to recall his mother. He wrote to her, asking her
pardon, and expressing his deep contrition for his past ingratitude.
Mathilda was not one to bear resentment, and she returned to court.
Mathilda now reaped with sorrow the harvest of her early involuntary
fault in marrying a divorced man. Thankmar was in rebellion, for Otho
had not been content with depriving him of the imperial throne, but had
also seized his large maternal inheritance in Saxony, and had bestowed
it on an adherent and friend. Thankmar took arms, and was upheld by the
Saxons. The emperor marched against his half-brother, besieged him in
Everburg, and Thankmar was slain at the foot of the altar, whither he
had fled for safety. Thankmar had been joined by Eberhardt, duke of
Franconia, who, now that all was lost, fell at the feet of Henry of
Bavaria, and besought him to intercede in his behalf with the emperor.
To his surprise, Henry replied, that he was willing to join with him
in his designs against Otho, in order to deprive him of the crown,
which he coveted for himself. For the present the two confederates
dissembled their projects, and Eberhardt made his submission to Otho
with expressions of the deepest contrition for his guilt. Henry
gained confederates to his conspiracy, and suddenly attacked Otho
as he was crossing the Rhine at Zante, but was defeated with great
slaughter. Otho pardoned his brother, who remained afterwards true to
his allegiance, finding that it was his best interest to cling to his
powerful brother. He was a man of treacherous and cruel heart, and when
his Bavarian subjects rose against him, and called the Hungarians to
their assistance, having defeated them with the aid of Otho (955), he
buried alive, or burnt in beds of quicklime, the leaders of the adverse
party, put out the eyes of the bishop of Salzburg, and the patriarch
Lupus of Aquileia met with a still more wretched fate at his hands.
In the midst of all these civil wars the dowager empress laboured to
relieve the sorrows of the peasants upon whom the state of hostilities
weighed most heavily. Her time was devoted to nursing the sick,
releasing debtors from prison, and feeding the starving.
But at length, saddened beyond endurance by the conduct of her sons,
and despairing of the world, she retired into the monastery of
Nordhausen, which she had built, and gathering about her three thousand
sisters, spent the rest of her days in tears and prayer. She lived to
receive her grand-daughter, Mathilda, the child of the emperor Otho,
into her house, and to commit into her hands the government of the
community.
She died on March 14th, 968, and was buried in the church of S.
Servetus, at Quedlinburg, by the side of her husband, Henry.
[Illustration: SLOTHFULNESS AND GLUTTONY. Symbolic carving at the Abbey
of S. Denis.]
March 15.
S. ARISTOBULUS, _M., 1st cent._ S. LONGINUS, _M., 1st cent._
S. NICANDER, _M. in Egypt, circ._ A.D. 302.
S. MATRONA, _M. at Thessalonica_.
S. MATRONA, _V. in Portugal_.
S. MATRONA, _V.M. at Barcelona, in Spain_.
S. MAGORIAN, _C. at Trent, 5th cent._
S. TRANQUILLIUS, _Ab. at Dijon, 6th cent._
S. ZACHARIAS, _Pope of Rome_, A.D. 752.
S. LEOCRITIA, _V.M. at Cordova. (See p. 220.)_