Adeliza of Louvain

Adeliza of Louvain was born around 1103. She was the daughter of Godfrey I, Count of Louvain, Landgrave of Brabant, and Duke of Lower Lotharingia, an ally of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor. She became Queen of England and Duchess of Normandy as the second wife of King Henry I.

Little is known of her early life, and she is not referred to in any importance until her marriage to King Henry. She was between 15 and 18 when she married the 53-year-old Henry in 1121; the marriage had been spoken about for some time, even before the death of Henry’s son and heir presumptive, William, in 1120.

Adeliza was reputedly very attractive; this, together with her father's pedigree, made her a good candidate to serve as the prospective mother of a new heir to the English throne. However, no children were born during the almost 15 years of her marriage to Henry.

Unlike some other Anglo-Norman queens, Adeliza played little part in the public life of the realm during her tenure as queen consort. She did, however, leave a mark as a patron of literature. Several works were dedicated to her. She is also said to have commissioned a verse biography of King Henry.

When her husband died on December 1, 1135, Adeliza retired for a time to the monastery of Wilton, near Salisbury. She was present at the dedication of Henry's tomb at Reading Abbey on the first anniversary of his death and endowed the abbey with lands in his honour.

Adeliza came out of mourning some time before 1139 and married William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel, who had been one of Henry's chief advisers. She brought with her a queen's dowry, including the great castle of Arundel. King Stephen created d'Aubigny, Earl of Arundel, and Earl of Lincoln.

Although her husband was a staunch supporter of Stephen during the Anglo-Norman civil war, her personal inclination may have been towards the cause of Empress Matilda, who was her stepdaughter. When the empress sailed for England in 1139, it was to Adeliza that she appealed for shelter. She therefore landed near Arundel and was received as a guest of the former queen. The stone apartments constructed to accommodate the empress and her entourage survive to this day.

Adeliza and William had seven children, all of whom survived to adulthood. All were born at Castle Arundel in Sussex, but their dates are uncertain.

William d'Aubigny, 2nd Earl of Arundel

Olivia

Godfrey

Alice

Agatha

Rayner

and Henry

Adeliza had always been devout, and when her childbearing years were over, she retired, with her husband’s consent, to the Benedictine convent at Afflighem, where she died in 1151.

Picture: Detail of a Shaftesbury manuscript said to depict Adeliza

Sources:

"Adelais". A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography ed. Henry Gardiner Adams

England under the Norman and Angevin Kings: 1075 – 1225, Robert Bartlett

The Normans: The History of a Dynasty, David Crouch

Queens Consort: England's Medieval Queens from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Elizabeth of York, Lisa Hilton