Mathilde
MathildeMathilde appears on 22 April 922 in a charter of Heinrich I ["Heinricus divina favente clementia rex. ... rogatu coniugis nostrae domnae reginae Mahthildis ..." MGH DD H I, 41 (#3)], and she appears thereafter on numerous occasions in acts of her husband Heinrich I and son Otto I "the Great". Her last appearance while living was in a charter of Otto I on 17 July 966 [MGH DD O I, 442 (#328)].
Date of birth: say 895.
Estimates for
Mathilde's birthdate have ranged from ca. 890 to ca. 894×7 [see
Hlawitschka (2006), 69]. The principal basis for estimating her
birthdate is that she is said to have been of tender years (aetate
tenera) in a passage of Vita Mahthildis reginae
shortly before her marriage to Heinrich, which occurred about
909.
Place of birth: Unknown.
Date of death: 14 March 968.
["2. Id. Mart. obiit Mahthildis regina"
Annales Corbeienses, s.a. 967, MGH SS 3: 4 (recté 968:
see Dümmler (1876), 438, n. 2); "2. Id. Mar. ob.
Mahthild regina" Annales necrologici Fuldenses,
s.a. 968, MGH SS 13: 201; "Eodem anno Mathildis regina,
mater imperatoris, obiit." Annales Lobienses,
s.a. 968, MGH SS 13: 234; "... secundo
Idus Martias animam Christo reddidit." Widukind, iii,
74 (p. 125); see Dümmler (1876), 440, n. 1 for a more
detailed list]
Place of
death and burial:
Quedlinburg.
["Mactildis regina Deo et
angelis spiritum reddidit, migravitque ad Dominum 2. Idus Marcii
in Quidilingaburg civitate, ibique in basilica sancti Servacii
episcopi et confessoris honorifice tradita sepulturae, iuxta
sepulcrum domini sui Heinrici requiescit." Vita
Mahthildis reginae antiquior, c. 15, MGH SS 10: 581]
Father: Dietrich,
living 929, count.
Mother: Reinhild.
["Ab huius quoque posteris,
postquam christianae se submiserunt religioni, praedictae pater
puellae proddit nomine Tiedericus, cui nobilissima iuncta erat
uxor Reinhilda, Fresonum Danorumque genere progrediens."
Vita Mahthildis Reginae Antiquior, c. 2, MGH SS 10: 576;
"A posteris ergo eiusdem Witikini, egregii ducis,
processit stirps beatissimae Mahthildis. Cuius pater, nomine
Thietricus, in occidentali regione comes fuerat gloriosus, et
venerabilem Reinhildam, Danorum Fresonumque germine procreatum,
moribus probabilem, sibimet adiunxerat coniugum." Vita
Mahthildis Reginae, c. 2, MGH SS 4: 285]
Spouse: ca. 909, Heinrich I,
d. 2 July 936, king of Germany.
["Genuit quoque ei et alios filios clara et
nobilissima ac singularis prudentiae regina, nomine Mahthilda,
..." Widukind, i, 31 (p. 37); "Ubi et
venerabilis eius coniux regnique consors ex eadem gente, nomine
Machtild, ..." Liudprand, Antapodosis, iv, 15,
Dümmler (1877), 86; Vita Mahthildis Reginae
Antiquior, c. 3, MGH SS 10: 576; Vita Mahthildis Reginae,
c. 2, MGH SS 4: 285-6] The date of ca. 909 for the
marriage is based on the statement of Vita
Mahthildis Reginae Antiquior that Heinrich's father Otto
died three years later ["Praefatus vero dux Otto, pater
Heinrici, tres post haec vivens annos, mortem subiit." Vita
Mahthildis Reginae Antiquior, c. 4, MGH SS 10: 576].
Children:
See the page of Heinrich I
for details.
Otto I "the Great", b. 23 November 912, d. 7 May 973, king of Germany,
936-973; king of Italy, 961-973; emperor, 962-973;
m. (1) 930, Eadgyth, d. 26 January 946, daughter of Eadweard
"the Elder", king of
England;
m. (2) 951, Adélaïde, d.
17 December 999, daughter of Rudolf
II, king of Burgundy, widow of Lothair,
king of Italy.
Gerberga, b.
say 913×4, d. 5 May, 969 or later;
m. (1) 929, Giselbert, d. 2 October 939, duke of Lorraine;
m. (2) 939, Louis IV, d. 10 September 954, king
of France.
Hedwig, b.
say 917×922, living 958:
m. 937, Hugues
"le Grand", d. 956,
duke of France.
Heinrich I, b. 919×922, d. 1 November
955, duke of Bavaria 947-956;
m. Judith, daughter of Arnulf,
duke of Bavaria.
Bruno, b. ca. 925, d. 10×11 October
965, archbishop of Cologne (Köln), 953-965, de facto
duke of Lorraine.
Falsely attributed
father: Ludwig "das
Kind", d. 20 August 911, king of Germany.
This claim appears in the Chronicle of
Saint-Martin de Tours, a later French chronicle ["Ludovicus
genuit duas filias Placidiam et Mathildam, quarum primogenitam
dedit Corrardo, filio Corrardi comitis, qui post eum imperavit;
et aliam dedit Henrico, filio Othonis ducis Saxonie; qui, mortuo
Corrardo imperatore et Placidia, uxore eius, sine herede,
imperavit cum Mathilda uxore sua, ..." Chron.
Sancti Martini Turonensi, MGH SS 26: 460; see also Waitz
(1885), 207]. It is a transparent attempt to give a Carolingian
connection to the families of Konrad I ("Corrardus")
and Heinrich I, and has no value.
Dümmler (1876) = Rudolf Köpke & Ernst Dümmler, Kaiser Otto der Große (Leipzig, 1876).
Dümmler (1877) = Ernst Dümmler, ed., Liudprandi episcopi Cremonensis opera omnia (MGH SRG, Hannover, 1877).
Hlawitschka (2006) = Eduard Hlawitschka, Die Ahnen de hochmittelalterlichen deutschen Könige, Kaiser und ihrer Gemahlinnen. Ein kommentiertes Tafelwerk. Band I: 911-1137, 2 vols. (MGH Hilfsmittel, 25, Hannover, 2006).
MGH DD = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Diplomata series.
MGH SS = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores series.
Waitz (1885) = Georg Waitz, Jahrbücher des Deutschen Reichs under König Heinrich I. (3rd, ed., Leipzig, 1885).
Widukind = Georg Waitz & Karl Andreas Kehr, eds., Widukindi monachi Corbeiensis Rerum Gestarum Saxonicarum libri tres (4th ed., MGH SRG 55, Hannover & Leipzig, 1904).
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 3 April 2011.