Tra Lete ed Eunoè. Matilde di Canossa nella memoria dell'età comunale

Today, Matilda of Tuscany is remembered for her role in the humiliation of Emperor Henry IV. This is largely thanks to her contemporary historiographers, especially her biographer, Donizo, who painted her as a shining example of resistance against imperial dominance. Indeed, in the decades immediately after Matilda’s death, when the city-states began to arise, Matilda fades almost entirely from view, being mentioned only in connection with marginal and politically neutral issues. The effect of this historical sidelining is most apparent in Dante’s Divine Comedy, in which there appears to be a rather ethereal portrayal of Matilda in the guise of Matelda, Dante’s beautiful guide through his ritual bathings in the waters of the Lethe and Eunoë. If indeed Matelda is Matilda, she is uncharacteristically devoid of historical references, so much so that it is impossible to be sure. However, thanks particularly to research by Eugenio Riversi, it is possible to hypothesize how the political context in the era that saw the emergence of the city-states may have influenced the way she was portrayed in the chronicles of the age, and later in Dante’s time, when the citystates were already mature.