MATHILDA, Countess of Tuscany, well known in history through her close political connection with pope Gregory VII., was a daughter of Boniface, count of Tuscany, and was born in 1046. She is said to have married Godfrey (surnamed It Gobbo, or the " Hunchback"), duke of Lorraine, in 1069, by procuration; but if so, her husband did not make his appearance in Italy- until 4 years after the wedding-ceremony, and the two, if they were ever united, soon afterwards separated. Godfrey went back to his duchy-, and became a supporter of the emperor Henry IV., while Mathilda made herself conspicuous by the zeal with which she espoused the cause of Gregory VII. She became his inseparable associate, was ever ready to assist him in all he undertook, and to share every danger from which she could not protect him. ln 1077 or 1079 she made a gift of all her goods and possessions to the church. In 1081 she alone stood by the pope, when Henry poured his troops into Italy, burning to avenge his humiliation at Canossa; she supported him with money- when he was besieged in Rome; and after his death at Salerno, boldly carried on the war a,,oainst the emperor. She died at the Benedictine
monastery of Polirone in 1115. Mathilda's death gave rise to new feuds between the emperor and pope Paschal III., on account of her gift to the church, which finally resulted in the former wresting from the latter a portion of Mathilda's possessions, but even what remained constituted nearly the whole of the subsequent " Patrimony of Peter." Artanthe elongata, a slirub of the natural order piperacae, a native of Peru, remarkable for the styptic property of its leaves, which are used for stanching wounds, sad are also useful as an aromatic stimulant in mucous discharges.