St. Matilda was born in 895, the daughter of Count Dietrick of Westphalia and Reinhild of Denmark. Her grandmother, the Abbess of Eufurt convent, raised her. In 909, Matilda married the son of the Duke of Saxony, who became Duke shortly after, and then King of the German throne.
After her husband died in 936, Matilda supported her son Henry’s claim to his father’s throne. But the throne went to her son Otto the Great, and Matilda persuaded Otto to name Henry the Duke of Bavaria after his unsuccessful revolt.
Matilda was known for her extreme charity and almsgiving, although her sons criticized her for giving too much to the poor. She resigned her inheritance to her sons and retired to her family home, but was later welcomed back at court by Otto’s wife Edith. Her sons then asked for her forgiveness, and she resumed her almsgiving.
Matilda devoted herself to building projects for many churches, convents, and monasteries, and spent many of her last years at one of her convents at Nordhausen. St. Matilda died at the monastery at Quedlinburg and was buried with her husband Henry.
