Page:The Queens of England.djvu/43

MATILDA "THE EMPRESS." .31 crowned, in 1 1 1 1, at St. Peter's, his betrothed bride shared in that solemnity; but it does not seem likely that she should have been withdrawn from her studies for that purpose, especially as she was not married to him until three years later. Henry's character was but little calculated to win the love of a young girl like Matilda ; nor could his example have been very beneficial. He had been engaged in an unnatural contest with his own father, whom he compelled to abdicate, and then cast into prison ; and when this unhappy monarch died of grief at Liege, his remains were exposed to indignity by his unfeel- ing son. After such conduct towards his father, it could hardly be expected that Henry would prove a good husband, yet it does not appear that the youthful bride had any cause of com- plaint against him ; he treated her with the utmost indulgence, and her youth and beauty won for her the hearts of the German people. Brief traces of Matilda's career in Germany have been handed down to us. Her marriage was solemnized a second time in the year 11 15, and a second time she and the emperor were crowned with great pomp in the cathedral of Mayence. A third time also were they crowned, and that by the Pontiff himself in St. Peter's at Rome, whither the young empress had accom- panied her husband. Whilst here she had the satisfaction of meeting Ralph, Archbishop of Canterbury, who, by the em- peror's desire, paid her a visit of more than a week. During her husband's absence from Germany, Matilda main- tained a sort of power over the affairs of the Church, of which one instance may be cited in the appeal of Witto, a monk, when she called a Council of the clergy and nobles, November 4, 11 18, and in their presence forbade any person, under severe penalties, to disturb Witto again in his monastery, deputing Earl Boniface to reconcile the contending parties. The excommunication of Henry caused many of his nobles to absent themselves from his court when, in 11 19, he returned to spend his Christmas at Worms ; but, in a grand Council afterwards held in that city, the sentence was repealed, to the great joy of the nation. During the interval of peace which succeeded, Matilda founded and endowed two Benedictine monasteries ; in which pious work she was assisted by Gonbold, Bishop of Utrecht, and two knights of her household. Remorse for his parricidal crime, the horrors of civil war, and