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Adelicia * Princess Of Lorraine Brabante

1104-1151
Born: Louvain, Brabant, Belgium
Died: Affligham, Flanders, France

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  • Story: Adeliza Adelicia De Louvain 1103 - 1151

    <font size="5" color="#000000">Adeliza of Louvain</font><div><!-- start content --><font size="3" color="#000000">Adeliza of Louvain</font><em><font size="3" color="#000000">Queen consort of the English</font></em><font size="3" color="#000000">Tenure</font><font size="3" color="#000000">2 February 1121 &ndash; 1 December 1135</font><font size="3" color="#000000">Spouse</font><font size="3" color="#000000">Henry I of England</font><br><font size="3" color="#000000">William d&#39;Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel</font><font size="3" color="#000000">Issue</font><font size="3" color="#000000">Reynor d&#39;Aubigny<br>Henry d&#39;Aubigny<br>Alice, </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Countess of Eu</font><br><font size="3" color="#000000">Olivia d&#39;Aubigny<br>Agatha d&#39;Aubigny<br>William d&#39;Aubigny, 2nd Earl of Arundel<br>Geoffrey d&#39;Aubigny</font><font size="3" color="#000000">House</font><font size="3" color="#000000">Norman dynasty</font><br><font size="3" color="#000000">House of Louvain</font><font size="3" color="#000000">Father</font><font size="3" color="#000000">Godfrey I, Count of Louvain</font><font size="3" color="#000000">Mother</font><font size="3"><font color="#000000">Ida of Namur<sup><span>[</span>1<span>]</span></sup></font></font><font size="3" color="#000000">Born</font><font size="3" color="#000000">c.</font><font size="3" color="#000000"> 1103<br></font><font size="3" color="#000000">Died</font><font size="3" color="#000000">23 April 1151 (aged&nbsp;48)<br></font><font size="3" color="#000000">Affligem Abbey</font><font size="3" color="#000000">, </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Brabant</font><font size="3" color="#000000">Burial</font><span><font size="3" color="#000000">Affligem Abbey, Brabant</font></span><p><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><strong>Adeliza of Louvain</strong>,<sup><span>[</span>2<span>]</span></sup> sometimes known in England as <strong>Adelicia of Louvain</strong>,<sup><span>[</span>3<span>]</span></sup> also called <strong>Adela</strong> and <strong>Aleidis</strong>; (1103 &ndash; 23 April 1151) was </font></font><font size="3" color="#000000">queen consort</font><font size="3" color="#000000"> of the </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Kingdom of England</font><font size="3" color="#000000"> from 1121 to 1135, the second wife of </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Henry I</font><font size="3" color="#000000">.<sup><span>[</span>4<span>]</span></sup> She was the daughter of </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Godfrey I, Count of Louvain</font><font size="3" color="#000000">, Duke of Lower Lotharingia, </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Landgrave</font><font size="3" color="#000000"> of </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Brabant</font><font size="3" color="#000000"> and Count of Louvain and Brussels.</font></p><span><font size="3" color="#000000">Marriages</font></span><p><font size="3" color="#000000">Adeliza married </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Henry I of England</font><font size="3" color="#000000"> on 2 February 1121, when she is thought to have been in her late teens and Henry was fifty-three. It is believed that Henry only married again because he wanted a male heir. Despite holding the record for the most illegitimate children of a British monarch, Henry had only one legitimate son, </font><font size="3" color="#000000">William Adelin</font><font size="3" color="#000000">, who predeceased his father on 25 November 1120 in the </font><font size="3" color="#000000">White Ship</font><font size="3" color="#000000"> disaster.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#000000">Adeliza was reputedly quite pretty and her father was Duke of Lower Lotharingia. These were the likely reasons she was chosen. However, no children were born during the marriage.</font></p><span><font size="3" color="#000000">Queen</font></span><p><font size="3" color="#000000">Adeliza, unlike the other Anglo-Norman queens, played little part in the public life of the realm during her tenure as queen consort. Whether this was personal inclination or because Henry preferred to keep her nearby in the hope she&#39;d conceive, is unknown. She did, however, leave a mark as a patron of literature and several works, including a </font><font size="3" color="#000000">bestiary</font><font size="3" color="#000000"> by </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Philip de Thaon</font><font size="3" color="#000000">, were dedicated to her. She is said to have commissioned a verse biography of King Henry; if she did, it is no longer extant.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#000000">When Henry died on 1 December 1135, Adeliza retired temporarily to the </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Benedictine</font><font size="3" color="#000000"> </font><font size="3" color="#000000">convent</font><font size="3" color="#000000"> of </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Wilton Abbey</font><font size="3" color="#000000">, near </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Salisbury</font><font size="3" color="#000000">. She was present at the dedication of Henry&#39;s tomb at </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Reading Abbey</font><font size="3" color="#000000"> on the first anniversary of his death. At about that time, she founded a leper hospital dedicated to </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Saint Giles</font><font size="3" color="#000000"> at </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Fugglestone St Peter</font><font size="3" color="#000000">, </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Wiltshire</font><font size="3"><font color="#000000">.<sup><span>[</span>5<span>]</span></sup></font></font></p><span><font size="3" color="#000000">Second marriage</font></span><p><font size="3" color="#000000">As she was still young, she came out of mourning before 1139 and married </font><font size="3" color="#000000">William d&#39;Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel</font><font size="3" color="#000000">, who had been one of Henry&#39;s chief advisors. She brought with her a Queen&#39;s dowry, including the castle of </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Arundel</font><font size="3" color="#000000">. King </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Stephen of England</font><font size="3" color="#000000"> created d&#39;Aubigny Earl of Arundel and </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Earl of Lincoln</font><font size="3" color="#000000">.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#000000">Although her husband was a staunch supporter of Stephen during the Anglo-Norman civil war, her own personal inclination may have been toward her stepdaughter&#39;s cause, the </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Empress Matilda</font><font size="3" color="#000000">. When Matilda sailed to England in 1139, she appealed to her stepmother for shelter, landing near Arundel and was received as a guest of the former Queen.</font></p><span><font size="3" color="#000000">Later life</font></span><p><font size="3" color="#000000">Adeliza spent her final years in the </font><font size="3" color="#000000">abbey of Affligem</font><font size="3" color="#000000"> (</font><font size="3" color="#000000">landgraviat of Brabant</font><font size="3" color="#000000">), which she richly rewarded with landed estates (three English villages called <em>Ideswordam, Westmerendonam and Aldeswurda</em>, probably near to </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Arundel</font><font size="3" color="#000000">).</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#000000">She died in the </font><font size="3" color="#000000">abbey</font><font size="3" color="#000000"> and was buried in the abbey church next to her father, </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Godfrey I, Count of Louvain</font><font size="3" color="#000000">, (d.1139). The abbey necrology situates her tombstone next to the clockwork. An 18th century floor plan of the church shows her tombstone located halfway up the left </font><font size="3" color="#000000">nave</font><font size="3" color="#000000">. Her grave was demolished however during the </font><font size="3" color="#000000">French Revolution</font><font size="3" color="#000000"> (abt. 1798). Her bones had been found and she was reburied in the cloister of the re-erected Affligem abbey.</font></p><span><font size="3" color="#000000">Family</font></span><p><font size="3" color="#000000">One of Adeliza&#39;s brothers, </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Joscelin of Louvain</font><font size="3" color="#000000">, came to England and married </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Agnes de Percy</font><font size="3" color="#000000">, heiress of the </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Percy family</font><font size="3" color="#000000">.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#000000">Although it is clear that the former queen and Joscelin were very close, he may actually have been an illegitimate son of Adeliza&#39;s father and thus her half-brother. His children took their name from their mother&#39;s lineage, and their descendants include the medieval </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Earls of Northumberland</font><font size="3" color="#000000">.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#000000">Adeliza also gave a dowry to one of her cousins when she married in England.</font></p><span><font size="3" color="#000000">Descendants</font></span><p><font size="3" color="#000000">Seven of Adeliza and William&#39;s children were to survive to adulthood. Among them </font><font size="3" color="#000000">William d&#39;Aubigny, 2nd Earl of Arundel</font><font size="3" color="#000000">, father to </font><font size="3" color="#000000">William d&#39;Aubigny, 3rd Earl of Arundel</font><font size="3" color="#000000"> who was one of the twenty-five guarantors of the </font><font size="3" color="#000000">Magna Carta</font><font size="3" color="#000000">.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#000000">Adeliza also became an active patron of the church during her second marriage, giving property to Reading Abbey in honour of her late husband and to several other smaller foundations.</font></p></div>

 
 
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