It was by one of the mountain passes that lead from Lucca northward that the first founder of Canossa is said to have travelled early in the tenth century.  Sigifredo, if the tradition may be trusted, was very wealthy; and with his money he bought lands and signorial rights at Reggio, bequeathing to his children, when he died about 945, a patrimony which they developed into a petty kingdom.  Azzo, his second son, fortified Canossa, and made it his principal place of residence.  When Lothair, King of Italy, died in 950, leaving his beautiful widow to the ill-treatment of his successor, Berenger, Adelaide found a protector in this Azzo.  She had been imprisoned on the Lake of Garda; but managing to escape in man’s clothes to Mantua, she thence sent news of her misfortunes to Canossa.  Azzo lost no time in riding with his knights to her relief, and brought her back in safety to his mountain fastness.  It is related that Azzo was afterwards instrumental in calling Otho into Italy and procuring his marriage with Adelaide, in consequence of which events Italy became a fief of the Empire.  Owing to the part he played at this time, the Lord of Canossa was recognised as one of the most powerful vassals of the German Emperor in Lombardy.  Honours were heaped upon him; and he grew so rich and formidable that Berenger, the titular King of Italy, laid siege to his fortress of Canossa.  The memory of this siege, which lasted for three years and a half, is said still to linger in the popular traditions of the place.  When Azzo died at the end of the tenth century, he left to his son Tedaldo the title of Count of Reggio and Modena; and this title was soon after raised to that of Marquis.  The Marches governed as Vicar of the Empire by Tedaldo included Reggio, Modena, Ferrara, Brescia, and probably Mantua.  They stretched, in fact, across the north of Italy, forming a quadrilateral between the Alps and Apennines.  Like his father, Tedaldo adhered consistently to the Imperial party; and when he died and was buried at Canossa, he in his turn bequeathed to his son Bonifazio a power and jurisdiction increased by his own abilities.  Bonifazio held the state of a sovereign at Canossa, adding the duchy of Tuscany to his father’s fiefs, and meeting the allied forces of the Lombard barons in the field of Coviolo like an independent potentate.  His power and splendour were great enough to rouse the jealousy of the Emperor; but Henry III. seems to have thought it more prudent to propitiate this proud vassal, and to secure his kindness, than to attempt his humiliation.  Bonifazio married Beatrice, daughter of Frederick, Duke of Lorraine—­her whose marble sarcophagus in the Campo Santo at Pisa is said to have inspired Niccola Pisano with his new style of sculpture.  Their only child, Matilda, was born, probably at Lucca, in 1046; and six years after her birth, Bonifazio, who had swayed his subjects like an iron-handed tyrant, was murdered.  To the great House of Canossa, the rulers of one-third of