Matilda is named only once, viz. by Beatrice, who refers D. to her for the answer to an inquiry he had addressed to herself, [Purg. xxxiii. 119]; D. speaks of her as una donna soletta, [Purg. xxviii. 40]; bella donna, [Purg. xxviii. 43], [Purg. xxviii. 148], [Purg. xxxi. 100], [Purg. xxxii. 28], [Purg. xxxiii. 121], [Purg. xxxiii. 134]; la donna, [Purg. xxix. 14], [Purg. xxix. 61], [Purg. xxxiii. 15]; la donna ch'io avea trovata sola, [Purg. xxxi. 92]; (quella pia . . . che conductrice / fu de' miei passi lungo 'l fiume pria, [Purg. xxxii. 82-84]; D. addresses her as bella donna, [Purg. xxviii. 43]; she is otherwise referred to as lei, [Purg. xxviii. 47]; ella, [Purg. xxviii. 67], [Purg. xxviii. 77], [Purg. xxviii. 88]; lei, [Purg. xxix. 8]; ella, [Purg. xxxii. 86]; essa, [Purg. xxxiii. 133].

After they have reached the summit of the mountain of Purgatory, D., in company with Virgil and Statius, passes through a forest full of birds singing joyously and carpeted with bright flowers ([Purg. xxviii. 1-21]); presently they are stopped by a small stream of wonderful clearness, on the other side of which D. sees a solitary lady (Matilda) singing and gathering flowers ([Purg. xxviii. 22-42]); he begs her to approach, that he may hear what she sings ([Purg. xxviii. 43-51]); she complies and, as she nears the bank of the stream, raises her eyes and smiles upon him ([Purg. xxviii. 52-75]); she then explains to D. and his companions that her smile betokens the delight in the works of God's hands to which the Psalmist gives expression in the words, 'delectasti me, Domine, in factura tua' ({Ps. xci. 5}), and, addressing D. individually, offers to satisfy any inquiry he may wish to make ([Purg. xxviii. 76-84]); in response to this invitation D. asks how it is that, in a place which (as he had been assured by Statius, [Purg. xxi. 43-54]) is free from all atmospheric changes, there can be wind ([Purg. xxi. 18]) and a rain-fed stream ([Purg. xxi. 85-87]); M. in reply explains to him the physical conditions of the Terrestrial Paradise, how the wind has its origin in the movement of the universe, and how by the breeze the seeds are shaken from the trees and plants and scattered upon the earth below, where they germinate and appear to spring up spontaneously ([Purg. xxi. 88-120]); and how the water springs from a perennial fountain and divides into two streams, the one being called Lethe and the other Eunoe ([Purg. xxi. 121-133]) [Eunoè: Letè]; in conclusion, she tells D. that the poetical conceptions of the Golden Age find their realization in the Terrestrial Paradise ([Purg. xxi. 134-144]); when she has ceased speaking, they all move on along the banks of the stream, D., with V. and S., on one side, and M., singing 'Beati . . . quorum tecta sunt peccata' ({Ps. xxxii.}) D., on the other ([Purg. xxix. 1-9]); they have not proceeded a hundred paces when M. draws D.'s attention to a wondrous flash of light accompanied by sweet melody ([Purg. xxix. 10-23]); presently he sees a mystical Procession unfold itself ([Purg. xxix. 24-154]), in the midst of which Beatrice appears standing on a car amid flowers strewn by angels ([Purg. xxx. 133]); after she has upbraided him for his backslidings, and D. has made confession of his faults ([Purg. xxx. 34] to [Purg. xxxi. 90]), M. draws him through the stream of Lethe, and he is led to the place where B. is standing ([Purg. xxxi. 91-145]); the mystical Procession now returns through the forest, and D. has a wondrous vision concerning the Church and the Empire ([Purg. xxxii. 1-160]), which is explained to him by B. ([Purg. xxxiii. 1-102]); he is then led by M., who bids Statius accompany them, to drink of the waters of Eunoe, whereby he is made 'pure and fit to mount up to the stars' ([Purg. xxxiii. 103-145] [Processione mistica].

The question as to the identity of Matilda has been discussed at great length by modern commentators. The early commentators, from Pietro di Dante, are almost unanimous in identifying her with the great Countess Matilda of Tuscany, the friend and ally of Pope Gregory VII in his warfare with the Empire, and the benefactor of the papal see by the bequest of her territories to the church. Thus Benvenuto says:

. . . volo primo te notare quod autor nunc ostendit se videre de facto illam dominam, quam superius finxerat se vidisse in somno in eodem habitu et actu [sc. Liam]. Haec est ergo comitissa Mathildis, quae devota filia Petri pro matre ecclesia semper de hostibus triumphavit. Ista ergo propter excellentiam suae virtutis inducitur hic, ut doceat et ostendat animas purgatas ascensuras ad coelum, oportere transire per ecclesiam Dei militantem mediante balneatione duarum aquarum quae hic inveniuntur, sic Cato ponitur in introitu purgatorii ad praeparandum animas ad ascensum montis per lotionem faciei.

To this identification it is objected that D. would not have assigned to such an ardent partisan of the papacy and opponent of the Empire as was the Countess Matilda the important part played by the Matilda of the D.C. -- to say nothing of her bequests to the Church, whereby she repeated the fatal error of Constantine, which D. has so strongly condemned.

On these and other grounds Witte, Scartazzini, and others reject the theory that the countess of Tuscany is the person intended and seek to identify Matilda with some contemporary of D., the person most in favour being the gentile donna of the Vita Nuova, the lady whom D. speaks of as the 'screen' for his love for Beatrice (V.N. v, V.N. vi, V.N. vii, V.N. ix, etc.). Plumptre prefers the donna giovane e . . . graziosa, whom D. mentions as a companion of Beatrice, and whose death he records (V.N. viii. 1).

Besides the Countess Matilda, several other historical personages have been suggested (a list is given by Plumptre), but there are more or less serious objections to each.

Matilda, the 'Great Countess' of Tuscany, was born in 1046. Her father, Boniface III, duke and marquis of Tuscany, having died in 1052, when she was 6 years old, she was left, under the guardianship of her mother Beatrice of Lorraine, heiress to a vast territory including Tuscany, Liguria, part of Lombardy, Modena, and Ferrara. In 1063 she married Godfrey ('le Bossu'), eldest son of her mother's second husband, Godfrey of Lorraine ('le Barbu'). In 1076 she was left a widow, and in the same year, on the death of her mother, she entered into possession of her inheritance. In 1089 she married Welf of Bavaria, from whom she was divorced in 1095. She had no children by either marriage. Matilda maintained the cause of the holy see against the Empire for many years, often single-handed, and was the champion of several successive popes. She is best known as the ally of Gregory VII, to whom at her castle of Canossa in 1077 the Emperor Henry IV made his humiliating submission. On the same occasion Matilda made the donation of all her possessions to the holy see, in virtue of which the Church claimed the greater part of its temporal dominions. She died at the age of 69 (July 24, 1115), at Bondeno near Ferrara, and was buried in the Vatican.

Villani, who devotes a chapter to 'la valente contessa Mattelda', and calls her 'divota figliuola di san Piero', says of her (after her divorce from Welf):

. . . la sua vita infino alla morte in castità trasportò, e attendendo ad opere di pietà, molte chiese e monisteri e spedali edificò e dotò, e due volte con grande oste in servigio della Chiesa e in suo soccorso potentemente venne. . .E questa fece testamento, et tutto il suo patrimonio sopra l'altare di san Piero offerse, e la Chiesa di Roma ne fece erede; e non molto appresso morì in Dio, . . nell'anno della Natività 1115. ({Villani. iv. 21}.)

[For a detailed discussion of the historical identity of Matilda, with relevant bibliography, see E. G. Parodi, PsDC, pp. 315-363; BSDI, x (1902), 270-283; E. G. Gardner, Dante and the Mystics (London, 1913), pp. 265-297; B. Nardi NMD, pp. 273-284; and H. Hauvette, 'Mateida et Mechtilde de Magdebourg', GSLI lxxxix (1927), 376-378.]