The mother of Countess Matilda is said to have been the daughter of one who reigned as emperor in Constantinople, in whose court was an Italian of distinguished manners and of great race and well nurtured, skilled in arms, expert and endowed with every gift, such as they are in whom noble blood is wont to declare itself illustriously. Now all these things made him to be loved of all men and gave grace to his ways. And he began to turn his eyes upon the emperor's daughter, and was secretly united to her in marriage, and they took such jewels and moneys as they might, and she fled with him into Italy. And they came first to the bishopric of Reggio, in Lombardy. From this lady, then, and from her husband, was born the doughty Countess Matilda. But the father of the lady aforesaid, that is to say the emperor of Constantinople, who had no other daughter, caused great searching to be made, if by any means he might find her; and found she was, by them that were seeking, in the said place; and when they begged of her that she would return to her father, who would marry her again to any prince she might choose, she gave answer that she had chosen to have him she now had above all other, and it were a thing impossible to abandon him and ever be united to another man. And when all this was told again to the emperor, straightway he sent letters and confirmed the marriage, and money without end, with orders to buy fortresses and villages at any price and erect new castles. And they bought in the said place three fortresses, very nigh together, and because of this close neighbourhood, they are commonly called the Tre Castella at Reggio. And not far from the said three fortresses the lady had such a castle built upon a mountain as might never be taken, the which castle was called Canossa, and there the countess afterward founded and endowed a noble convent of nuns. This was in the mountains; but on the plain she built Guastalla and Sulzariani, and she bought land along the Po and built divers monasteries, and divers noble bridges did she make across the rivers of Lombardy. And moreover Garfagnana and the greater part of the Erignano, and parts of the see of Modena, are said to have been her possessions, and in the Bolognese district the great and spacious towns of Arzellata and Medicina were of her patrimony; and she had many others in Lombardy. And in Tuscany she established fortresses and the turret at Polugiana, within her jurisdiction, and she liberally endowed many noblemen, under fee, and made them her vassals. In divers places she built many monasteries, and endowed many cathedral churches and others. And in the end, when the Countess Matilda's father and mother were dead, and she was their heir, she thought to marry, and having heard of the fame and the person and the other qualities of a native of Suabia, whose name was Guelf, she sent formal messages to him and authorised agents who should establish a