Medieval (10th century)
Feast: March 14
Her own sons accused her of wasting the kingdom's money on the poor. She gave up her inheritance to keep the peace. They came begging her to take it back.
Matilda married Henry I, Duke of Saxony, around 909, and when he became King of Germany in 919, she became queen of a realm that stretched from the North Sea to the Alps. She bore five children, including the future Emperor Otto I. By every account, she used her position to funnel money to the poor, found monasteries, and care for widows and orphans. After Henry died in 936, her sons turned on her. Otto and his brother Henry both accused Matilda of draining the royal treasury with her charitable giving. They stripped her of her dower lands and her property. Matilda didn't fight back. She surrendered everything, withdrew from public life, and went to live quietly. Within a few years, both sons came crawling back. Otto's wife Edith convinced him that treating his mother this way was shameful. Henry, after his own political ambitions collapsed, came to Matilda seeking forgiveness. She forgave them both — completely, without conditions. The rest of her life was spent founding and supporting monasteries, including the great abbey at Quedlinburg, where Henry I was buried and where she chose to be buried beside him. She oversaw the education of her grandchildren, including the future Otto II. She outlived most of her children. She died in 968, still giving things away, still forgiving people who didn't deserve it.