There is no doubt that the Tuscan countess Matilda of Canossa (1046-1115) played a role in some of the key events of her age, including the Investiture Controversy that pitted the great reforming pope Gregory VII against the German king Henry IV. But what if you are an author trying to reconstruct a life on the basis of sparse and unreliable records? You write about yourself, looking for traces of Matilda in present-day Italy. You go into detail about convoluted medieval and papal politics. And you engage in speculation. Spike's thesis is that Gregory and Matilda carried on a love affair that shaped the modern church, and to support this view she sometimes veers close to the stuff of romantic novels. Gregory is referred to time and again as the man Matilda loved; his piercing eyes looked into the deep blue sea of her loneliness ; his vision of an imperial papacy is a dream they shared. Perhaps. Whatever the truth, this is a serious study, the personal travelogue and the occasional romantic embellishment notwithstanding. --Mary Ellen Quinn Copyright 2004 Booklist

The dramatic life of Matilda of Canossa (1046-1115) could easily be the plot of a Pirandello play: there are papal intrigues, warring medieval factions and even an ill-fated marriage to a hunchback that ends in murder. Spike?s marvelous biography of the countess takes on all of these events, and also explains how Matilda became an ardent defender of the lands in the Po Valley, which she considered her birthright. Spike deftly conjures the world of pre-Renaissance Italy, where a woman ?passed through her life from father to brother, to husband, to son, as each in his turn acted for her welfare.? Many of the men in Matilda?s life, however, failed to act in her best interests, and under such conditions, the remarkable young woman flouted the traditions of her male-dominated world and managed to defend her small portion of Italy from Henry IV. Using a staggering amount of new research, Spike peels back layer upon layer of previous myth to render a startling new portrait of the countess. (The author also displays a novelist?s talent for detail, exploring the unusual alliance between Matilda and Pope Gregory VII, her ally and lover.) Spike?s first-person account of her exhaustive research is one of the book?s unexpected pleasures; the modern-day characters she encountered during her hunt provide this engrossing historical chronicle with a richly personal subtext. While the occasionally academic tone may put off some readers, Spike?s absorbing work should appeal to highbrow Italo-philes and those interested in papal history. 40 b/w illus. (Sept.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.