Boniface III of Tuscany
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Boniface III (also numbered IV) (c. 985 – 6 May 1052), the father of Matilda of Canossa, was the most powerful north Italian prince of his age. By inheritance he was count of Reggio, Modena, Mantua, Brescia, and Ferrara and margrave of Canossa from 1012 or 1015 and, by appointment, margrave of Tuscany from 1027 until his assassination in 1052. He was the son of the Margrave Tedald and Willa of Bologna. The Lombard family's ancestral castle was Canossa and they had held Modena for several generations. They possessed a great many allodial titles and their power lay chiefly in Emilia.
In 1014, Boniface aided the Emperor Henry II in putting down Arduin, margrave of Ivrea, styled king of Italy, a royal title that the Emperor did not recognise.
His father nominated him as heir over his brothers and, in 1016, he was again fighting alongside the emperor, this time against the margrave of Turin, Manfred II. In 1020, he defeated a rebellion of his brother Conrad. In 1027, he supported the candidacy of Conrad II of Germany for the Iron Crown of Lombardy (against William V of Aquitaine) and the imperial crown and, in return, received the march of Tuscany. In 1032, he was at war with Odo II, count of Blois, Chartres, Meaux, and Troyes (later Champagne). In 1037, he helped put down a revolt against Conrad and, in 1043, he received the duchy of Spoleto and Camerino, titling himself dux et marchio. He was an ally of the Tusculan popes and, after the Emperor Henry III abandoned him in 1047, Guaimar IV of Salerno. In 1048, he supported the abdicated Pope Benedict IX when he tried to retake his throne and he extended his domains at the expense of ecclesiastic lands. He also acquired more land in Parma and Piacenza and his chief residence was at Mantua. Thus, despite quashing revolts on Henry's behalf, Henry came to resent, as with Guaimar, his power. However, he eventually joined the reform party of Leo IX and was present at the Synod of Pavia (1049). He kept the abbey of Pomposa well-endowed for the sake of his soul. He tried to restrict the rights of his valvassores, despite Conrad's imperial edict of 1037. It was this action against his undertenants which got him killed in 1052. His son Frederick succeeded him, but died soon after. His widow remarried in 1054 to Godfrey III, Duke of Lower Lorraine, who ruled until his death in 1069, when Boniface' youngest daughter succeeded.
His first marriage (before 1015) was to Richilda, daughter of Giselbert II, count palatine of Bergamo. In 1037, he married Beatrice (d. 1076), daughter of Frederick II, Duke of Upper Lorraine and Count of Bar, and niece of the Empress Gisela, wife of Conrad II. They had the following issue:
