ABSTRACT
The image of the rule of Matilda of Canossa that predominated in the historical studies of the first part of the last eleventh century, and indeed does to some extent, is one of power over territories stretching from the river Po to the Apennines and into at least part of Tuscany, but not over the cities. A programme connected with the Gregorian Reform is certainly present in the codices produced in this period, as well as in the body of designs of Wiligelmo and his assistants who worked on the various buildings. The programmed image of the fight against the heresy of the antipopes and their bishops was conceived as a weapon of war not only in religious retreats but also within the opulent cities. In Cremona the existence of a power vacuum – like the absence of an orthodox bishop in Modena – enabled Matilda to intervene in connection with the rebuilding of the cathedral.
