Education
Shortly after her birth, Matilda was sent to Essen Abbey, where her older cousin Mathilde was abbess, Matilda was educated here.
Shortly after her birth, Matilda was sent to Essen Abbey, where her older cousin Mathilde was abbess, Matilda was educated here.
According to the Historian Thietmar of Merseburg Matilda"s brother Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor did not like the idea of the marriage at first. The family gave the couple large gifts to secure an adequate standard of living. The Empress Theophanu had consented to the marriage.
Ezzo then took Matilda out of the Abbey where she had lived.
However, Abbess Mathilde had vainly refused to surrender the girl. Later romantic embellishments even claimed Ezzo had previously been secretly in love with the young Matilda.
Ezzo took Matilda from the Abbey to marry her. Matilda"s mother Theophanu had always agreed to the wedding but Matilda"s cousin and teacher Abbess Matilde did not agree to the marriage.
Without the consent of Matilda"s mother the marriage would not happen with certainty, it is even likely that this marriage was to ensure the power of Otto III. The family had extensive estates in the Lower Rhine and Mosel.
Ezzo"s mother came from the House of Swabia and so Ezzo laid claims to these lands. In any case, it was extremely fruitful, with ten children:
Liudolf (c 1000-1010 April 1031), Count of Zutphen. Otto I (died 1047), Count Palatine of Lotharingia and later Duke of Swabia as Otto World War II Hermann II (995–1056), Archbishop of Cologne.
Theophanu (died 1056), Abbess of Essen and Gerresheim.
Richeza (died 21 March 1063), Queen of Poland
Adelheid (died c 1030), Abbess of Nijvel (Nivelles). Heylwig, Abbess of Neuss.
Mathilde, Abbess of Dietkirchen and Villich. Sophie, Abbess of Saint Maria, Mainz.
Ida (died 1060), Abbess of Cologne and Gandersheim Abbey (founded in 852 by her ancestor Liudolf, Duke of Saxony).
Matilda apparently died unexpectedly during a visit to Ezzo"s brother Hermann, while Ezzo was held in Aachen, at a meeting of the nobility of Lorraine. Matilda was buried at Brauweiler Abbey. Matilda was the mother of the famous Richeza of Lotharingia who became Queen of Poland and was later beatified.