HRE Heinrich IV marries Matilda of Tuscany

1055 A.D. Beatrice, widowed countess of Tuscany, is brought to Germany as a prisoner of her cousin, Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich III. Her crime? Marrying a traitor: Godfrey, duke of Lower Lorraine. With her is her young daughter by her first husband, the gallant and extravagant Bonifacio of Tuscany, by name Matilda.

At court, Matilda meets the emperor's son, Heinrich. Even at six years of age, Young Heinrich is an imperious, spoiled, half-wild boy, dedicating himself to teasing Matilda and making her life miserable 1. Her gilded life in her father's palace in Mantua must've seemed as remote as a dream.

The emperor had been in the middle of arranging a betrothal for his son and heir into the house of Savoy, to secure a passage through the Alps not controlled by the Canossans. Perhaps he could break Matilda's betrothal, marry her to his own son, and secure Tuscany for the empire. Far better than seeing her married to her stepbrother, another Godfrey, this one hunchbacked, and the son of a traitor. The children are too young to be properly wed, of course; but Matilda should remain at court, as a sort of hostage for her mother and stepfather's good behavior, and to be brought up to be empress.

1. Matilda of Tuscany did complain in her Vita of Heinrich's antics in their childhood.
 
You know that Henry III and Bonifacio of Canossa married two sisters, don't you? Henry IV and Matilda are first cousins
 
Heinrich IV's mother was Agnes of Aquitaine (making the troubadour duke William IX his first cousin).

Matilda's mother was Beatrice of Bar. Beatrice and Agnes were not sisters. You're probably thinking of Heinrich III's mother Gisela of Swabia and Beatrice's mother Mathilde of Swabia, who were sisters. This would make Heinrich IV and Matilda second cousins.
 
you're right. They are second cousins.
So your idea is to send back Beatrice and Godfrey as Margraves of Tuscany, keep Matilda at court and have a betrothal with young Henry, with Matilda bringing as dowry Reggio, Modena, Brescia, Parma, Ferrara, Mantua, Pisa, Pistoia, Lucca and Florence (no to mention the duchy of Camerino and Spoleto)? If he can make it stick, it would be a major and most significant increase of the imperial demesne and would put the pope under his thumb: it is somehow reminds me of the marriage of Henry VI to Constance of Sicily.

It may look a cynical move, since Matilda's brother Federico had also been removed to the imperial court, and died soon after: there will be accusations that Federico was assassinated on Henry's orders (same as happened on Boniface's death in 1052).

The main problem is that Henry is scheduled to die in 1056, and his son will be just 6 years old. A long regency: can it withstand the opposition of the German dukes as well as the pope to such a potential increase of imperial power?

I'm quite curious to see how you are going to solve this problem
 
If, ideally for this PoD the death of Henry III would have been postponed, then there might be no Canossa ITTL; instead (not unheard of in this period), the Emperor might have been able to 'convince his Holiness to step down and retreat to monastry' and have him replaced.

Still opposition in both the German and Italian halves have some reasons to work together (are at least simultaneously), when an opportunity arises.
 
Postponing the death of Henry III (who did not die in battle nor was offed by assassination or incident) is sorta cheating to me.
I'm hoping to see some good ideas to fulfill the OP
 
Postponing the death of Henry III (who did not die in battle nor was offed by assassination or incident) is sorta cheating to me.
I'm hoping to see some good ideas to fulfill the OP

IMO not necessarily, Henry III died unexpectedly after a short yet severe period of illness. Henry III was 38 at the time, so he could have lived a few years longer.

His father Konrad II lived from 990-1039 (roughly ten years longer) and (it thought to have) died of gout.

The untimely death of Henry traditionally is seen as a 'catastrophe for the Empire' in German sources*, though more recently it also is pointed out that Henry III may have sown (some of the) seeds, which lead to the problems for the Empire and his Salian dynasty.
Anyway at a first glance I couldn't find anything, which refers to this death at being suspicious.

However how random is getting ill and/or recovering or not?

(*= IMHO not that surprising given later history of the HRE)
 
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