ple were amazed at her
ability--they called her God-given and Heaven-sent, and they felt a
touch of mystery in this woman's life. Surely she was not as the others
of her time, for she could hold her head high in the councils of the
most learned, and she the only woman of the number! Nor was she
one-sided in her activity and indifferent to all interests save those of
the papal party, as her many public benefactions show her to have been a
woman filled with that larger zeal for humanity which far transcends the
narrow zeal for sect or creed. For, in addition to the many temples,
convents, and sepulchres, which she caused to be scattered over the
northern part of Italy, she built the beautiful public baths at
Casciano, and the great hospital of Altapascio.

Never strong physically, Matilda was possessed of remarkable vitality
and an iron will, and she showed great powers of execution and
administration, never shirking the gravest responsibilities. A part of
her life was spent in the rough camps of her devoted feudal soldiery,
and--weak woman though she was--she led them on to battle more than
once, when they seemed to need the inspiration of her presence. Women
warriors there have been in every day and generation in some part of the
world perhaps, but never one like this. Clad in her suit of mail, and
urging on her battle horse at the head of her followers, her pale face
filled with the light of a holy zeal, it is small wonder that her arms
triumphed, and that before her death she came to be acknowledged openly
as by far the most important person in all Italy.

It happened at one time that the emperor--Henry IV.--deserted by his
friends in Germany, and excommunicated by the pope, found that his only
hope for restoration to popular favor lay in a pardon from his enemy and
the lifting of the ban of excommunication. He set out, therefore, alone
and without an army, to meet the pope and sue for peace. Gregory,
uninformed as to Henry's intended visit (for news did not travel quickly
in those early days), was at the time on his way to Germany, where an
important diet was to be held, and with him was his faithful ally
Matilda. When they learned of the emperor's approach, however, the papal
train turned aside to the nearby fortress of Canossa, one of Matilda's
possessions, there to await the royal suppliant. In the immense hall of
that great castle, all hung with armor, shining shields and
breastplates, and all the varied accoutr