3) 'Candida veluti lilia': the Biographies of St. Matilda of Saxony and their Relationship with the latin Auctores

The aim of this article is to analyse the two biographies of Matilda of Saxony (aka Matilda of Ringelheim) (895-968) 1 , both saint and queen, the wife of King Henry the Fowler (†936) and mother of Holy Roman Emperor Otto I (†973). The two texts can be seen as a focal point for the development of female hagiographies. These two Vitae do not only open the way to female dynastic sainthood, but also extol, for the first time, the figure of a saintly queen, the foundress of royal monasteries. After outlining Mathilde’s biography, and briefly commenting on the hagiographical-biographical tradition, the relationship between the two hagiographic texts on the one hand, and the classical and late antique Latin auctores on the other will be examined.