Adela The Holy Capet Countess Flanders !!! (Follow to mother for path to Charlemagne)
1003-1079
Born: Nevers, Nievre, Bourgogne, France
Died: Monastaere De Lordre De St Benoist, Messines, France
1003-1079
Born: Nevers, Nievre, Bourgogne, France
Died: Monastaere De Lordre De St Benoist, Messines, France
<strong><font face="MPerpetua-Bold" size="4"><font face="MPerpetua-Bold" size="4"><p align="left">St. Adela,</p><p align="left">Princess of England</p></font></font></strong><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"><p align="left">Adela was born around 1062 and was the youngest daughter of William the Conqueror</p><p align="left">and his wife Mathilde of Flanders. She was very well educated, spoke several</p><p align="left">languages, and was deeply religious. Around 1080/1081, she married Stephen III,</p><p align="left">Count of Blois, who was one of the richest men in Europe and a king in all but name.</p><p align="left">They had eleven children.</p><p align="left">Adela’s formidable political abilities first showed themselves in 1095 when Stephen</p><p align="left">became one of the leaders of the First Crusade and left for the Holy Land. He was</p><p align="left">Count of Blois, Champagne, Brie, and Chartres and controlled hundreds of estates in</p><p align="left">France. He was away four years, and Adela was such an effective ruler of his domains</p><p align="left">in his absence that she became known as “the heroine of the First Crusade.”</p><p align="left">From 1099 when Stephen returned until he departed again on the Crusade of 1101,</p><p align="left">Adela continued to support several scholars and poets that she had invited to her court</p><p align="left">and that significantly contributed to the spiritual and cultural life of her era.</p><p align="left">From 1101, Adela was once again ruling Stephen’s domains. After May 1102 when</p><p align="left">he was killed at the battle of Ramleh, she became regent for their eldest son Thibaud</p><p align="left">and was the most important woman in Europe until he came of age in 1109. She generously</p><p align="left">endowed abbeys and churches. Several letters on ecclesiastical matters written to</p><p align="left">her by Hildebert, bishop of Le Mans, have survived.</p><p align="left">Around 1122, Adela became a nun, entered the Cluniac priory of Marigney-sur-</p><p align="left">Loire, and died there on 8 March 1137. She was buried in Caen in the abbey of the</p><p align="left">Holy Trinity next to her mother and her sister Cecilia.</p><p align="left">Adela’s brothers William and Henry both became kings of England, as William II</p><p align="left">and Henry I. So did her son Stephen.</p><p align="left">Her Line</p></font></font><strong><font face="MPerpetua-Bold" size="2"><font face="MPerpetua-Bold" size="2"><p align="left">Husband Wife</p></font></font><font face="Times-Bold" size="2"><font face="Times-Bold" size="2">William I the Conqueror</font></font></strong><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"><font face="Times-Roman" size="2">, Duke of + </font></font><strong><font face="Times-Bold" size="2"><font face="Times-Bold" size="2">Mathilde of Flanders </font></font></strong><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"><font face="Times-Roman" size="2">(b. 1032 – md.</font></font><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"> <p align="left">Normandy and King of England 1053 – d. 3 Nov 1083)</p><p align="left">(b. 1027/1028 – md. 1053 – d. 9 Sept</p><p align="left">1087)</p><p align="left">Stephen III (Étienne Henri), Count of + <strong><font face="Times-Bold" size="2"><font face="Times-Bold" size="2">St. Adela, Princess of Eng land</font></font></strong></p></font></font><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"><p align="left">Blois, Champagne, Brie, and Chartres, (b. ca. 1062 – md. 1080/ 1081 – d. 8</p><p align="left">a leader of the First Crusade (b. 1046 – March 1137)</p><p align="left">md. 1080/1081 – slain 19 or 27 May 1102</p><p align="left">at the battle of Ramleh in the Holy Land)</p></font></font><strong><font face="Times-Bold" size="2"><font face="Times-Bold" size="2">Stephen of Blois</font></font></strong><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"><font face="Times-Roman" size="2">, King of England + Mathilda of Boulogne (b. ca. 1105 –</font></font><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"> <p align="left">(b. ca. 1095 – md. ca. 1120 – d. 25 md. ca. 1120 – d. 3 July 1151)</p><p align="left">Oct 1154)</p>Sources: </font></font><em><font face="Times-Italic" size="2"><font face="Times-Italic" size="2">Benedictine Monks</font></font></em><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"><font face="Times-Roman" size="2">, p. 10; </font></font><em><font face="Times-Italic" size="2"><font face="Times-Italic" size="2">HBC</font></font></em><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"><font face="Times-Roman" size="2">, p. 35; </font></font><em><font face="Times-Italic" size="2"><font face="Times-Italic" size="2">Parbury</font></font></em><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"><font face="Times-Roman" size="2">, p. 79; </font></font><em><font face="Times-Italic" size="2"><font face="Times-Italic" size="2">Stuart</font></font></em><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"><font face="Times-Roman" size="2">: line 81, nos. 31</font></font><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"> and 30 + line 299, nos. 31 and 30; </font></font><em><font face="Times-Italic" size="2"><font face="Times-Italic" size="2">Weir</font></font></em><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"><font face="Times-Roman" size="2">, pp. 44 and 51; </font></font><em><font face="Times-Italic" size="2"><font face="Times-Italic" size="2">Weis, AR</font></font></em><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"><font face="Times-Roman" size="2">, line 169, nos. 23</font></font><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"> <p>through 25; <em><font face="Times-Italic" size="2"><font face="Times-Italic" size="2">WWH</font></font></em><font face="Times-Roman" size="2"><font face="Times-Roman" size="2">, Vol. 1, pp. 72–73</font></font></p></font></font>