Beatrice of Lorraine - Stateswoman and military commanderBeatrice (c.1020-1076) was the daughter of

Beatrice of Lorraine - Stateswoman and military commanderBeatrice (c.1020-1076) was the daughter of Frederick II, duke of Upper Lorraine. After his death in 1033, she and her sister Sofia went to the imperial court to live with their aunt, empress Gisella of the Holy Roman Empire. She married marquis Boniface of Tuscany somewhere between mid-1036 and mid-1039. The ceremony was said to have been sumptuous. Little is known of her life before her husband’s murder in 1052.Beatrice had then to rule and protect her lands. She thus married with her cousin, Geoffrey the bearded, duke of Lorraine. This union was criticized for its political consequences as well as for the fact that Beatrice and Geoffrey were kin to a degree prohibited by Canon Law. The couple therefore publicly announced that they were going to stay chaste. Beatrice had only one surviving child from her first marriage: her daughter Matilda.It’s sometimes difficult to distinguish between Geoffrey’s and Beatrice’s actions, since much of his authority in Italy derived from his marriage to Beatrice. It nonetheless appears that he fully trusted her abilities, since he was absent during most of her military career. Beatrice undertook a number of military actions. In 1059, she escorted pope Nicholas II to Rome. From 1061 to 1065, she prevented Antipope Honorius II  from reaching Rome through ambushes and tricks. In 1064, she ensured the security of Pope Alexander II at the Council of Mantua. News came that the antipope’s troops were approaching the city and the Archbishop of Cologne fainted. Among the general panic, Beatrice devised a solution and undertook a successful attack on the enemy camp. Beatrice and her daughter were also with the army when Geoffrey was fighting against the Normans in Southern Italy though their exact role in the campaign is unclear.Geoffrey died in 1069 and Beatrice became regent. She and Matilda brought a large continent to Pope Gregory VII, but the planned campaign didn’t take place. Between 1074 and 1076, she was a key negotiator in the dispute between the Pope and king Henry IV of Germany over rights in episcopal appointments. It appeared that Beatrice’s and Matilda’s relationships had deteriorated during the last years of her life. A union had been arranged between Matilda and her stepfather’s son from a previous marriage. This marriage was still problematic according to Canon Law and Matilda gave birth to a daughter who died shortly after her birth. She afterwards separated from her husband and refused to take communion. The pope had to persuade her from accepting it again and urged her to reconcile with her mother. Even though their relationship seemed to improve for a brief time, they became estranged as the time passed. They later seldom saw each other and Beatrice died in Pisa alone in 1076. It could be that Matilda resented her mother from contracting a sinful marriage and leaving her to bear the consequences. Indeed, Beatrice’s epitaph, on the tomb that her daughter commissioned for her reads: “Though I am a sinner I was called Lady Beatrice. I, who was a Countess, now lie in this tomb”.Matilda would later become a talented military commander in her own right.Bibliography:Bertolini Marguerita Juliana, “BEATRICE di Lorena, marchesa e duchessa di Toscana”Eads Valerie, “Beatrice of Lorraine”, in: Higham Robin, Pennington Reina (ed.), Amazons to fighter pilots, biographical dictionary of military women, vol.1Eads Valerie, “Means, Motive, Opportunity: Medieval Women and the Recourse to Arms”Lazzari Tiziana, “Matilda of Tuscany: New Perspectives about Her Family Ties” -- source link

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