Matilda (Ringelheim) von Ringelheim (abt. 892 - 968)

Born about 0892 in Enger, Sachsen, East Francia

Ancestors

Wife of Heinrich (Liudolfing) Deutschland — married 0909 in Ringelheim, Goslar, Hannover, Germany

Descendants

Died 14 Mar 0968 at about age 76 in Quedlinburg, Sachsen, Heiliges Römisches Reich

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Biography

Matilda of Ringleheim

Matilda was the daughter of Saxon Count Dietrich, a descendant of Widukind, who fought against Charlemagne, and Reinhild. She was born about 892 in Enger, Sachsen, East Francia.^[1] As a young girl, she had been sent to the monastery of Herford, where she had been given a literary education.

Names

Countess Matilda von Ringleheim

Mechtilde Von Ringelheim

Matilda Countess of Ringelheim

St. Matilda Mechtilde, Queen of the Germans

Alias: Saint Matilda

Alias: Matilda von Sachsen

Alias: Matilda Widukinde

Alias: Mechtilde von Ringelheim

Marriage and Children

She became so renowned for her lovely face and good works that she attracted the attention of Duke Otto of Saxony, who betrothed her to his son, Heinrich I (the Fowler). They were married in 909 and had three sons and two daughters:^[1]

• Otto, 912-973, Holy Roman Emperor in 962
• Henry, c. 919-955, Duke of Bavaria
• Bruno, 925-965, Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lorraine
• Hedwig, who died between 965-980 and married west Frankish Duke Hugh the Great
• Gerberga, who died 968/9, who married first to Gilbert, Duke of Larraine and King Louis IV of France

Death

Matilda died 14 May 968 in Quedlinburg, Sachsen and was buried at Quedlinburg Abbey.^[1]

Life

Matilda founded many religious institutions including the Abbey of Quedlinburg. She was later canonized.

Our knowledge of St. Mathilda's life comes largely from brief mentions in the Res Gestae Saxonicae (Deeds of the Saxons) of the monastic historian Widukind of Corvey, and from two sacred biographies (the vita antiquior and vita posterior) written, respectively, c. 974 and c. 1003.

After Henry the Fowler's death in 936, St. Mathilda remained at the court of her son Otto, until a cabal of royal advisors is reported to have accused her of weakening the royal treasury in order to pay for her charitable activities. After a brief exile at the Westphalian monastery of Enger, St. Mathilda was brought back to court at the urging of Otto I's first wife, the Anglo-Saxon princess Queen Edith.

St. Mathilda was celebrated for her devotion to prayer and almsgiving; her first biographer depicted her (in a passage indebted to the sixth-century vita of the Frankish queen Radegund by Venantius Fortunatus) leaving her husband's side in the middle of the night and sneaking off to church to pray. St. Mathilda founded many religious institutions, including the canonry of Quedlinburg, Saxony-Anhalt, a center of Ottonian ecclesiastical and secular life and the burial place of St. Mathilda and her husband, and the convent of Nordhausen, Thuringia, likely the source of at least one of her vitae. She was later canonized, with her cult largely confined to Saxony and Bavaria.

Events

Her feast day is 14th March.

Research Note

Removed unsourced daughter Gerelese 8 Mar 2022.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matilda_of_Ringelheim

• Ancestral Roots; Fredrick Weis; Seventh Edition, 1992. Page: 141-18
• Roderick W. Stuart, "Royalty for Commoners."
• Wikidata: Item Q234246