Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index
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Title:
Countess Matilda, Emperor Henry IV, and Abbot Hugh of Cluny
Creator:
Description:
Matilda, Countess of Tuscany, sits on a throne framed by an archway. Her cousin, Emperor Henry IV, kneels before her in supplication. Behind him Abbot Hugh of Cluny sits on an elaborate seat holding a crosier. Contrary to the traditional story of Henry's penitence at Canossa in the snow, he is not barefoot or bareheaded here. Both Matilda and Hugh gesture in speech which underlines the abbot's role as a mediator on the emperor's behalf for absolution from Pope Gregory VII . Christine Verzar suggests that the figures of Matilda and Henry recall the iconography of the Adoration of the Magi with the emperor appearing as a lesser king doing homage to a more powerful queen.
Source:
Wikimedia Commons
Rights:
Public Domain
Subject
(See Also)
:
Countesses
Heinrich IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Matilda, Countess of Tuscany
Noble Women
Politics
Geographic Area:
Italy
Century:
12
Date:
1115
Related Work:
Vita Mathildis, written by Donizo, Matilda's chaplain. See additional illumination from the manuscript in Feminae:
http://inpress.lib.uiowa.edu/feminae/DetailsPage.aspx?Feminae_ID=31036
Current Location:
Rome, Biblioteca apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Vat. Lat. 4922, fol. 49r
Original Location:
Artistic Type (Category):
Digital Images; Manuscript Illuminations
Artistic Type (Material/Technique):
Vellum (parchment); Paint
Donor:
Laywoman; Matilda, Countess of Tuscany
Height/Width/Length(cm):
//
Inscription:
Rex rogat abbatem / Mathildim supplicat atque
(The king asks the abbot and begs Matilda)
Related Resources:
Christine B. Verzar, "Picturing Matilda of Canossa: Medieval Strategies of Representation." Representing History, 900-1300: Art, Music, History. Edited by Robert A. Maxwell. Pennsylvania State University Press, 2010. Pages 78-80.