Adela of France

Adela of France,[lower-alpha 1] known also as Adela the Holy or Adela of Messines; (1009 – 8 January 1079, Messines), was, by marriage, the Duchess of Normandy (January 1027 – August 1027), Countess of Flanders (1035–1067).

Not to be confused with Adela of Flanders.
Adela of France
Countess of Flanders
Born1009
Died(1079-01-08)8 January 1079
Messines
Burial
Benedictine Convent of Messines
SpouseRichard III, Duke of Normandy
Baldwin V, Count of Flanders
IssueBaldwin VI
Matilda, Queen of England
Robert I, Count of Flanders
HouseCapet
FatherRobert II of France
MotherConstance of Arles

Life

Adela was the second daughter of Robert II (the Pious), and Constance of Arles.[1] She is usually identified with the noble Adèle who in January 1027 married Richard III, Duke of Normandy.[2] The marriage was short-lived for on 6 August of that same year Richard III suddenly died.[2] This identification, however, is incorrect, as Adèle of France was sent in infancy to be raised in the Flanders court.[3] Adèle of France married Baldwin V, Count of Flanders in 1028.[4]

Adela's influence lay mainly through her family connections. On the death of her brother, Henry I of France, the guardianship of his seven-year-old son Philip I fell jointly on his widow, Anne of Kiev, and on his brother-in-law, Adela's husband, so that from 1060 to 1067, they were regents of France.[5]

In 1071, Adela's third son, Robert the Frisian, planned to invade Flanders even though at that time the Count of Flanders was Adela's grandson, Arnulf III. When she heard about Robert's plans, she asked Philip I to stop him. Philip sent soldiers to support Arnulf including a contingent of ten Norman knights led by William FitzOsborn. Robert's forces attacked Arnulf's numerically superior army at Cassel before it could organize, and Arnulf was killed along with William FitzOsborn. Robert's overwhelming victory led to Philip making peace with Robert and investing him as Count of Flanders. A year later, Philip married Robert's stepdaughter, Bertha of Holland, and in 1074, Philip restored the seigneurie of Corbie to the crown.

Adela had a strong interest in Baldwin V’s church reforms and was behind her husband’s founding of several collegiate churches. Directly or indirectly, she was responsible for establishing the Colleges of Aire (1049), Lille (1050) and Harelbeke (1064) as well as the abbeys of Messines (1057) and Ename (1063). After Baldwin’s death in 1067, she went to Rome, took the nun’s veil from the hands of Pope Alexander II and retired to the Benedictine convent of Messines, near Ypres. There she later died and was buried at the convent. Honoured as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, her commemoration day is 8 September.[6]

Family

Her possible first marriage was in 1027 to Richard III, Duke of Normandy (died 1027). They had no children.

Her marriage in 1028 was to Baldwin V, Count of Flanders (died 1067).[4] Their children were:

Ancestry

Notes
  1. Other forms of her name are Adèle, Adélaïde, Adelheid, Aelis and Alix.

References
  1. Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany: Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 11
  2. Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany: Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 79
  3. Stewart, Peter. "Adèle of France". The Henry Project. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  4. Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany: Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 5
  5. Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany: Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafeln 5, 11
  6. http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1125
  7. Anselme de Sainte-Marie, Père (1726). Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de France [Genealogical and chronological history of the royal house of France] (in French). 1 (3rd ed.). Paris: La compagnie des libraires.
  8.  Ott, Michael T. (1913). "St. Matilda". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  9. Ravan, Hilaire (1864). Essai historique sur l'abbaye de Saint-Maixent et sur ses abbés, depuis l'année 459 jusqu'en 1791 (in French). L. Clouzot. p. 26.
  10. "Adelaide of Poitou (c. 950–c. 1004)". Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Gale Research Inc. 2002 – via Encyclopedia.com.
  11. William of Jumièges (1992). van Houts, Elizabeth (ed.). The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni. 1. pp. 68–69.
  12. Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany: Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 187
  13. Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band III Teilband 1 (Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, Marburg, Germany, 1984), Tafel 116


Adela of France
Born: 1009 Died: 8 January 1079
Preceded by
Papia of Envermeu		 Duchess consort of Normandy
1027		 Succeeded by
Matilda of Flanders
Preceded by
Eleanor of Normandy		 Countess consort of Flanders
1036–1067		 Succeeded by
Richilde of Hainaut
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