Matilda of Canossa's Material Patronage in Relation to the Eleventh-Century Papal Reform

Started in the year of the 900th anniversary of Matilda of Canossa’s death, the author noticed the absence of current scholarship regarding female patronage and agency with reference to Matilda. Matilda’s material patronage has generally been ascribed to pious devotion, a relic of outdated concepts of how women expressed agency via patronage in the middle ages. This thesis aims to evaluate objects and structures of Matilda’s material patronage using updated notions of material patronage and agency for women in the Middle Ages. This thesis repositions Matilda in relation to the socio-political shifts of the Investiture Controversy and examines how objects of her material patronage were used to perpetuate pro-papal sentiments for reasons beyond piety. This thesis addresses how Matilda conceived of her authority as an oppositional force to the king, and how this related to her support for papal supremacy. Additionally, this thesis aims to fill a gap in the study of Matilda’s afterlife, particularly the seventeenth-century reburial of her into Saint Peter’s by Pope Urban VIII. This thesis examines how Matilda was framed by the pope and how this revival had an impact on future patronage studies.