Beatrice of Bar
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Beatrice of Bar (also Beatrix) (c. 1017 – 18 April 1076) was the marchioness of Tuscany from 1053 to her death. She was the daughter of Frederick II, Duke of Upper Lorraine, who was also count of Bar, and Matilda of Swabia.
In 1037, she became the second wife of Boniface III of Tuscany in a splendid ceremony. She bore him the following children:
- Beatrice (died 17 December 1053)
- Frederick (died July 1055), briefly successor before imprisonment
- Matilda (1046 – 24 July 1115), successor as marchioness of Tuscany
With Boniface' death on 6 May 1052, Beatrice assumed the regency for her son Frederick. In 1054, to give her son the protection she could not militarily provide, she married Godfrey, former duke of Lower Lorraine. However, in 1055, the Emperor Henry III came down and arrested Beatrice for marrying a traitor. She was brought back to Germany a prisoner while Frederick was summoned to Henry's court at Florence. He refused to go and died before any action was taken against him. The heir of Boniface was now his youngest daughter Matilda, who was imprisoned with her mother.
On the death of Henry, Godfrey was reconciled with his heir, Henry IV, and exiled to Italy with his wife and step-daughter. In January 1058, as a partisan of the newly-elected Pope Nicholas II, Leo de Benedicto had the gates of the Leonine City thrown open for Godfrey and Beatrice. Godfrey immediately possessed the Tiber Island and attacked the Lateran, forcing Benedict X to flee on January 24. Beatrice and Godfrey were allied with the reformers, including Hildebrand and Pope Alexander II, against the emperor. In 1062, Beatrice tried to stop the Antipope Honorius II from reaching Rome, but she failed.
In 1069, Godfrey died. Matilda was of age, yet Beatrice continued ot exercise the government in her name until the day she died. She was buried in the Cathedral of Pisa, where her sarcophagus can still be seen. The inscription reads:
- Quamvis peccatrix sum domna vocata Beatrix
- In tumulo missa iaceo quæ comitissa
On 29 August 1071, Beatrice founded the monastery Frassinoro at the Apennine pass of Foce della Radici.
[edit] Sources
- Lexikon des Mittelalters: Beatrix von Ober-Lothringen, Markgräfin von Tuszien.
- Gregorovius, Ferdinand. Rome in the Middle Ages Vol. IV Part 1. 1905.
