Battle of Volta Mantovana (1080)

The exact dynamic of the battle is unknown, as is the number of forces in the field. A very short account of the engagement is available in the Chronicon of the aforementioned Bernold of Constance (who mentions the battle as taking place "apud Vultam propre Mantuam"), while Bonizo provides no geographical location for the battle, and no description of the clash.^[4] Volta was the site of a castle and estate ("Curtis") of note once belonging to the house of Canossa, as shown by donations of property and rights over servile labor in Volta made to churches in the diocese of Mantua in 1053 and 1073 by Beatrice of Lorraine, Matilda's mother, and by Matilda herself to the bishop of Mantua in 1079. It is thus possible that the castle was thus garrisoned by forces loyal to Matilda.^[5] Bishop Hubald of Mantua was a strong ally of Matilda, and shared in her political fortunes in later years.^[6] The battle ended when the pro-Imperial forces put "the knights of the most wise duchess Matilda to flight".^[7]

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The victory of the pro-Imperial forces allowed Henry IV (whose rival Rudolf had been killed at Hohenmölsen) to enter the March of Verona and the Lombard plains unopposed in the spring of the following year. Henry IV was in Verona in early April 1081, and soon after entered Milan in triumph. Later that year, with Lombardy securely pro-Imperial, Henry began a siege of Rome.^[8]