Beatrice of Lorraine

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Beatrice of Bar
)
A miniature of Beatrice from the early twelfth-century manuscript of Donizo's Vita Mathildis (Codex Vat. Lat. 4922, fol. 30v.). The script at the top reads: Det Deus in claris cameris tibi stare Beatrix (God grant that you rest in celestial chambers, Beatrice).
For a clearer black-and-white image, see here
Godfrey
, may you always be happy).

Beatrice of Bar (also Beatrix; c. 1020 – 18 April 1076) was the

Godfrey of Lotharingia
.

Life

Beatrice was born in what is now northeastern France around 1020.[1] She was also known as Beatrice of Tuscany or Beatrice of Canossa.[2]

After her father Duke Frederick II of Upper Lorraine died in 1026, she and her sister Sophie went to live with their mother's sister, Empress Gisela at the imperial court.[3]

c.1037/8, she became the second wife of

Boniface III of Tuscany in a splendid ceremony.[4] She had the following children:[5]

Regency

With Boniface's death on 6 May 1052, Beatrice assumed the

Emperor Henry III arrested Beatrice for marrying a traitor. She was brought to Germany a prisoner while Frederick was summoned to Henry's court at Florence. He refused to go and died before any action was taken against him. The heir of Boniface was now his youngest daughter Matilda, who was imprisoned with her mother.[6]

On the death of Henry, Godfrey was reconciled with his heir,

Benedict X to flee on January 24. Beatrice and Godfrey were allied with the reformers, including Hildebrand and Pope Alexander II, against the emperor. In 1062, Beatrice tried to stop the Antipope Honorius II from reaching Rome.[9]

In 1069, Godfrey died.[9] Matilda was of age, yet Beatrice continued to exercise government in her name until the day she died.

On 29 August 1071, Beatrice founded the monastery Frassinoro at the Apennine pass of Foce della Radici. In 1074-1076, Beatrice was a key negotiator in the dispute between Pope Gregory VII and her kinsman, King Henry IV of Germany over certain rights in episcopal appointments.[10]

Death

Campo Santo at Pisa
.

Beatrice died at Pisa on 18 April 1076.

Campo Santo
in the cathedral square. The inscription around the sarcophagus, which was added in the eleventh century for Beatrice, reads:

Quamvis peccatrix sum domna vocata Beatrix
In tumulo missa iaceo quæ comitissa
Quilibet ergo pater noster, det pro mea anima ter.[13]

(“Although a sinner, I was called Lady Beatrice. I, who was a countess, lie in this grave . Whoever wishes may say three Our Fathers for my soul.”)

Notes

  1. .
  2. .
  3. ^ Goez, Beatrix, p. 12; Kagay and Villalon, Crusaders, p.358
  4. ^ Goez, Beatrix, pp. 14ff.
  5. ^ Goez, Beatrix, p. 16
  6. ^ a b The Reform of the Church, J.P. Whitney, The Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. V, ed. J.R. Tanner, C.W. Previte-Orton, Z.N. Brooke, (Cambridge University Press, 1968), 31.
  7. ^ Goez, Beatrix, p. 20
  8. ^ Goez, Beatrix, p. 22.
  9. ^ .
  10. ^ Creber, 'Women at Canossa,' pp. 10-12.
  11. ^ Goez, Beatrix, p. 32.
  12. ^ Goez, Beatrix, p. 235; Lazzari, 'Matilda of Tuscany'.
  13. ^ Bertolini, 'Beatrice di Lorena'

Sources

External links