BEATRICE DI TOSCANA

BEATRICE of TUSCANY. — Marchioness, born in Lorraine around 1015, died in Pisa on 28 April 1076. Daughter of Frederick, Duke of Upper Lorraine, and orphaned at an early age by the death of both parents, she was taken in, along with her sister Sophia, by her aunt, Empress Gisela, wife of Conrad II the Salian. At the imperial court she was able to acquire great political experience, which she later wielded against her cousin Henry III. In 1036 she married Boniface of Tuscany and induced her husband to ally himself with other powerful lords and, with their support, to openly rebel against the emperor in 1047. After her husband’s death in 1052, she boldly married her cousin Godfrey the Bearded, a known enemy of Henry III, who, enraged, imprisoned the fiery marchioness and took her with him to Germany. Upon the emperor’s death, Beatrice was sent back to Italy in freedom by the regent Agnes (1056). After losing her husband again in 1069, she and her daughter Matilda devoted themselves entirely to the service of the Pope; the letters of Gregory VII show that he counted them among his most faithful allies.