MATHY

mathy, karl (1807-1868), badenese statesman, was born at mannheim on the 17th of march 1807. he studied law and politics at heidelberg, and entered the baden government department of finance in 1829. his sympathy with the revolutionary ideas of 1830, expressed in his paper the _zeitgeist_, cost him his appointment in 1834, and he made his way to switzerland, where he contributed to the _jeune suisse_ directed by mazzini. on his return to baden in 1840 he edited the _landtagszeitung_ at carlsruhe, and in 1842 he entered the estates for the town of constance. he became one of the opposition leaders and in 1847 helped to found the _deutsche zeitung_, a paper which eventually did much to further the cause of german unity. he took part in the preliminary parliament and in the assembly of frankfort in 1848-1849, where he supported the policy of h. w. a. von gagern, and after the refusal of frederick william iv. to accept the imperial crown he still worked for the cause of unity. he was made finance minister in baden in may 1849, but was dismissed after a few days of office. he then applied his financial knowledge to banking business in cologne, berlin, gotha and leipzig. he was recalled to baden in 1862, and in 1864 became president of the new ministry of commerce. he sought to bring baden institutions into line with those of northern germany with a view to ultimate union, and when in 1866 baden took sides with austria against prussia he sent in his resignation. after the war he became president of a new cabinet, but he did not live to see the realization of the policy for which he had striven. he died at carlsruhe on the 3rd of february 1868. his letters during the years 1846-1848 were edited by ludwig mathy (leipzig, 1899), and his life was written by g. freytag (leipzig, 2nd ed., 1872). matilda (1102-1164), queen of england and empress, daughter of henry i. of england, by matilda, his first wife, was born in 1102. in 1109 she was betrothed to the emperor-elect, henry v., and was sent to germany, but the marriage was delayed till 1114. her husband died after eleven years of wedlock, leaving her childless; and, since both her brothers were now dead, she was recalled to her father's court in order that she might be recognized as his successor in england and normandy. the great council of england did homage to her under considerable pressure. their reluctance to acknowledge a female sovereign was increased when henry gave her in marriage to geoffrey plantagenet, the heir of anjou and maine (1129); nor was it removed by the birth of the future henry ii. in 1133. on the old king's death both england and normandy accepted his nephew, stephen, of mortain and boulogne. matilda and her husband were in anjou at the time. they wasted the next few years in the attempt to win normandy; but earl robert of gloucester, the half-brother of the empress, at length induced her to visit england and raise her standard in the western shires, where his influence was supreme. though on her first landing matilda only escaped capture through the misplaced chivalry of her opponent, she soon turned the tables upon him with the help of the church and the barons of the west. stephen was defeated and captured at lincoln (1141); the empress was acclaimed lady or queen of england (she used both titles indifferently) and crowned at london. but the arrogance which she displayed in her prosperity alienated the londoners and the papal legate, bishop henry of winchester. routed at the siege of winchester, she was compelled to release stephen in exchange for earl robert, and thenceforward her cause steadily declined in england. in 1148, having lost by the earl's death her principal supporter, she retired to normandy, of which her husband had in the meantime gained possession. henceforward she remained in the background, leaving her eldest son henry to pursue the struggle with stephen. she outlived henry's coronation by ten years; her husband had died in 1151. as queen-mother she played the part of a mediator between her sons and political parties. age mellowed her temper, and she turned more and more from secular ambitions to charity and religious works. she died on the 30th of january 1164. see o. rossler, _kaiserin mathilde_ (berlin, 1897); j. h. round, _geoffrey de mandeville_ (london, 1892). (h. w. c. d.) matilda (1046-1115), countess or margravine of tuscany, popularly known as the great countess, was descended from a noble lombard family. her great-grandfather, athone of canossa, had been made count of modena and reggio by the emperor otto i., and her grandfather had, in addition, acquired mantua, ferrara and brescia. her own father, boniface ii., the pious, secured tuscany, the duchy of spoleto, the county of parma, and probably that of cremona; and was loyal to the emperor until henry plotted against him. through the murder of count boniface in 1052 and the death of her older brother and sister three years later, matilda was left, at the age of nine, sole heiress to the richest estate in italy. she received an excellent education under the care of her mother, beatrice of bar, the daughter of frederick of lorraine and aunt of henry