Selma Sevenhuijsen a researcher and author from Amsterdam, Holland was in Barga today following in the footsteps of Matilda di Canossa.
Selma in her latest book on the subject, Regina del Vaticano, has put forward the theory that there is a good possibility that the faces sculpted near to the pulpit in The Duomo are in fact the faces of Matilda, her mother Beatrice and her father Boniface.
Short interview with Selma recorded in Barga this morning (in English)
Matilda, countess of Tuscany as the heir of her father Boniface, margrave of Tuscany, was the major imperial feudatory in Italy and the major secular supporter of the reform papacy through a long life, 1046-1115.
After Boniface’s death, Matilda’s mother Beatrice married her cousin, Godfrey, duke of Upper Lorraine, and Matilda married his son, Godfrey. When the elder Godfrey died in 1069, Matilda and her mother assumed the rule of Tuscany together; after the deaths of both her mother and her husband in 1076, Matilda ruled both Tuscany and Lorraine alone. Matilda held the counties of Reggio, Modena, Mantua, Brescia, Verona, and Ferrara, as well as Tuscany and Upper and Lower Lorraine.
Because of her vast holdings and her support of the papacy, Matilda was a subject of attention to contemporary chroniclers and poets. Those who were sympathetic to her positions were lavish in their praise: Ekkehard called her the wealthiest, most famous woman of our times and most distinguished in virtues; Hugh of Flavigny said “at this time only countess Matilda was found among women who scorned the power of the king, who opposed his cunning and power even with military conflict, so was deservedly called ‘virago,’ who surpassed even men by the virtue of her spirit.” Bardone in his life of Anselm of Lucca speaks of “the single and only one who remains in the faith, with zeal for God and obedient to pope Gregory, the duke and countess Matilda”
Regina del Vaticano: Viaggio sulle orme di Matilde di Canossa (Italian Edition)
‘Nulla avviene per caso’. Nel magico anno 2012 Selma Sevenhuijsen scoprì, all’interno della basilica di San Pietro, l’immagine di una sirena bicaudata, da sempre il simbolo del divino femminino. È raffigurata in alto sulla tomba della contessa Matilde di Canossa. Il monumento funebre fu realizzato dal famosissimo scultore Lorenzo Bernini. Selma voleva saperne di più e si mise in viaggio. In questo libro l’autrice accompagna i lettori attraverso l’Italia alla scoperta dei luoghi dove Matilde ha lasciato le sue tracce. La vita di Matilde ci rivela un messaggio sorprendentemente attuale, in particolare per chi ha a cuore la posizione della donna all’interno della Chiesa. I costruttori della tomba lasciarono il loro segno, per chi ha occhi per vedere: ‘Il tempo ritorna’ … Selma Sevenhuijsen (1948) ha studiato scienze politiche e sociali all’Università di Amsterdam. Nel 1989 diventa professoressa di Studi Femminili ed Etica della Cura all’Università di Utrecht. Dal 2005 svolge attività autonoma come ricercatrice, scrittrice e operatrice spirituale. Lavora con il labirinto come via di sviluppo spirituale e accompagna gruppi in viaggi culturali e spirituali in Italia. Nel 2014 ha pubblicato, presso la casa editrice Effigi (Arcidosso), il libro Il sorriso della Sirena. Alla ricerca della dea nel labirinto etrusco.