Exploits of Azzo

released her from prison where she had suffered the greatest hardships and indignities, and delivering her from her persecutors carried her off to the care of his wife in his Castle at Canossa. How the Castle was stormed by the fierce pursuers to whom Azzo refused to give up the weeping Queen. How the young and handsome Emperor, "arriving in hot haste," was unable to release his bride. How he sent messages of love and promises of relief in letters fastened to arrows which, with truthful aim, he shot over the heads of the besiegers into her window in the tower. How, in this same chamber in which Matilda was born and which was her own bedroom now, the Queen waited for an opportunity of escape, trusting to the chivalrous honour of Azzo to defend her during the lengthy absence of the Emperor. How the barred gates of the Castle were afterwards thrown open, and she who had entered its walls "as a desolate fugitive quitted them the bride of one of the greatest and noblest Emperors that ever occupied the throne of Germany."

Habituated to scenes of peril himself, Boniface, by these narratives, instilled into his children's minds that disregard of danger which was characteristic of his race and which in after years served Matilda in such good stead.

The Margrave took personal interest in teaching his little daughter to ride, and she early learned to have an upright seat and to manage her pony with grace and skill. The active child entered with zest into the martial training of her brother, and even took part in the sword exercises, in which, according to the custom of the day, Boniface endeavoured to make his son an adept.

The effect of this physical culture was to render the body of Matilda robust and inured to fatigue, and to develop that intrepidity of spirit for which she became remark

able.

During the greater part of the year the Castle was deserted and the family sought shelter from the fierce rays of the Italian sun in the leafy shades of Lucca. In this beautiful Tuscan city, which was also the seat of a

bishopric,1 Beatrice had her favourite residence, and in her palace was collected such rich and rare treasures of art as were then known.

Matilda's forefathers, though they thought lightly of human life and were somewhat careless in the practice of their religion, were, on the whole, pious men, and the churches and monasteries erected by them in various parts of Tuscany testified to their devotion to the Holy See.

During their sojourn in Lucca the children loved to go into these edifices, of which there were several in the city, and to visit the tombs containing the remains of their ancestors. Not many of these martial chiefs had died in their beds or of the infirmities peculiar to advanced age. Not a few of the trophies with which the buildings were enriched were souvenirs of the battlefields upon which the warriors had fallen. They wished for no other fate than to breathe out their last consoled by the ministrations of the Church and with shouts of victory borne upon the air to their ears as they lay dying.

But there were brighter scenes than these upon which Matilda could gaze. Scenes which were more suited for her childish thoughts to rest upon, for Nature had been very bountiful in her gifts to Tuscany and especially to Lucca.

Before her lay the wonderful panorama of the Apennines in all their beauty, and the Monte Guilano which Dante describes as preventing the two cities of Lucca and Pisa, which formed part of the marquisate, from seeing each other although they are but a few miles apart. "A delicious climate there," remarks Mr Alison in his History of Europe "brings the finest fruits to maturity, the grapes hang in festoons from tree to tree, the song of the nightingale is heard in every grove, all nature seems to rejoice in the paradise." "Where," says another writer, "all harmonises

It is a curious instance of the enterprising nature of the Irish, that as early as the seventh century a basilica was erected in memory of Frediano, son of an Irish king who was chosen Bishop of Lucca in 560, a See which he retained for eighteen years.

Early Characteristics

with the clear blue sky, its orange groves, its forests of chestnuts and palms, of olives and of almonds."

The children wandered with all the fearlessness of youth amidst the beauties of Nature in its grandest forms. They gambolled by the sides of swift-running streams which they gaily endeavoured to outstrip in speed. Or they sang to the music of the gently-falling cascades and mingled their voices with the roar of the mountain torrents. Gathering wild flowers in the woods, the air of which was laden with the delicate perfume of the lovely blossoms, was an intense joy to these fortunate little Tuscans. Their love for nature found vent in songs which joined the melodious warblings of the birds who flitted blithely from tree to tree over the heads of Matilda and her brother. The sounds floated on high far beyond the sunny skies, and were wafted in sweet harmony to the throne of God whose praises they extolled.

What happy days were thus spent in sweet communion with Nature, who opened to their wondering eyes her secrets of plant and insect life. Before them lay scenery diversified and enriched by all the variations peculiar to their native landmountains, plains and valleys, rivers, streams and lakes, all enclosed by the snow-capped Alpine barrier whose lofty peaks reared themselves in stately guardianship of the children playing at their feet. Inspired with the serenity and grandeur of her surroundings, Matilda early acquired that innate love of the beautiful for which her countrymen are distinguished and which survived the troubles and anxieties with which her future was clouded.

The Princess is described at this time as being a child of an extremely happy disposition, whose natural vivacity was tempered with a gentle gravity of demeanour as became her rank. As this purports to be a history and not a romance, it must, alas! be confessed that she had inherited a touch of that imperiousness which so frequently distinguishes those of strong wills and who are born to command.

Beatrice, who was as clever as she was pious and beautiful, drew to her Court the most profound scholars and

theologians of the day, and these visitors took great interest in Matilda and inspired her with that taste for learning which has rendered her name famous.

By these means and under these gentle and ennobling influences were laid the solid foundation of the character of the young Princess. While Europe was a theatre of strife and turmoil, there, in the heart of Italy, was being reared in Christian precepts a patriot who was to be the means of restoring liberty to the Church and of securing the independence of her country.

Influence of Hildebrand

CHAPTER II

"History separated from biography is an inexplicable riddle; for in the individual characters of rulers and princes, in their passions, interests, and good and bad principles, can alone be traced the springs of the outward and visible actions which history records." -TYTLER.

It is necessary to leave for a while the record of Matilda's history, which was afterwards to become so inseparably interwoven with his own, to revert to that of Hildebrand.

The prophecy uttered during his infancy was on the eve of fulfilment, for he was endowed by nature with those gifts which enabled him to become a leader of men.

From his cell in the monastery at Cluny he mainly directed events which intimately concerned the government of the Church, and his was the powerful intellect which influenced the Papal and Imperial Courts. "His talents and virtues, no less than his remarkable erudition, rendered him superior to his contemporaries and gave him absolute power over the minds and hearts of all with whom he came in contact."

His advice was sought on all matters requiring a knowledge of statesmanship, and "he it was," remarks the historian, "who controlled the election of the four consecutive Pontiffs who preceded him on the throne of St Peter."

The first of these was Bruno, Count of Hapsburg, a relative and Chancellor of the Emperor Henry III. He was born in Alsace, and at a very early age retired from the pleasures and distractions of Court life to enter upon the severe rule of St Benedict.

He became Bishop of Toul when only twenty-four years old, and had governed that See little more than twenty-two years when he was chosen by the Emperor at a full Synod