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Birth:          ABT 1100 Leuven, present-day Belgium
Death:          23 Apr 1151 Affligham, Flanders
Burial:         AFT 23 Apr 1151 Reading Abbey, Reading, Berkshire, England

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adeliza_of_Louvain
Adeliza of Louvain,[2] sometimes known in England as Adelicia of Louvain,[3] also 
called Adela and Aleidis; (c. 1103 – 23 April 1151) was Queen of England from 1121 to 
1135, as the second wife of King Henry I.[4] She was the daughter of Godfrey I, Count 
of Louvain.

Henry was some 35 years older than his bride, who was about 18 when they married. 
He already had children, though no surviving son, from his first marriage to Matilda of 
Scotland, as well as several illegitimate ones. As his second marriage produced no 
children he was to leave his throne to his daughter the Empress Matilda. After his 
death Adeliza spent three years based in a convent, then married again and had 
seven children by William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel. But a year before her death 
at the age of 48 she left her husband to move to a monastery in Flanders, where at 
least one of her brothers also lived.

Adeliza's marriage seems to have been successful, apart from the failure to produce a 
new heir. The flow of Henry's illegitimate children seems already to have ceased by 
the time of the marriage, and they spent most of their marriage together, which was by 
no means inevitable in royal marriages of the period. She seems to have been 
influential in the promotion of French poetry and other arts in the court, but to have 
played little part in politics
Early life and family[edit]

Adeliza of Louvain was born in 1105 in Leuven, present-day Belgium.[5] She was 
renowned for her beauty, reflected in the epithet ‘the fair maiden of Brabant'. The 
chronicler Henry of Huntingdon also mentions Adeliza’s beauty in an interlude in his 
Historia Anglorum, stating, “A jewel grows pale on you, a crown does not shine. Put 
adornment aside, for nature provides your adornment...” [6]

Her father was Godfrey I, Count of Louvain (1095–1139), Landgrave of Brabant, and 
Duke of Lower Lotharingia (1106–1128), an ally of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor. 
After the death of Adeliza’s mother, Ida of Chiny, Godfrey married Clementia of 
Burgundy, the mother of Baldwin VII, Count of Flanders who had fought with the 
French against the Normans in 1118.[7] Adeliza's brother, Joscelin of Louvain, married 
the heiress to the Percy fortune. He is often referred to as an “opportunist”.[8]

Queenship[edit]

Plans for Adeliza’s marriage to Henry I of England, may have begun when she was as 
young as sixteen, even before Henry’s only legitimate son, William Adelin, died on 25 
November 1120 in the White Ship disaster. However, Henry’s need for a new male 
heir expedited the marriage plans and the couple wed on 24 January 1121. Apparently 
in addition to her beauty, Henry was also attracted to Adeliza as a wife because she 
was a descendant of Charlemagne.[7] It is thought that Henry’s only surviving 
legitimate child Empress Matilda, from his first wife Matilda of Scotland, may have 
been involved in arranging his second marriage, due to the fact that she was with him 
near the time that it was being negotiated.[7] Henry of Huntingdon mentions the royal 
couple in his Historia Anglorum, stating that the new queen accompanied Henry to 
London at Pentecost. Adeliza appears to have travelled extensively with Henry, 
probably to increase the chances of her conception.[9] Despite their close contact, 
however, Adeliza and Henry never produced a child.

Unlike Henry’s first wife Matilda, Adeliza appears to have played a very passive role in 
the administration of the kingdom. While Matilda issued some thirty-one charters and 
writs during her queenship, during Adeliza's fifteen-year marriage to Henry I she issued 
one, and she only attested 13 of Henry’s many charters, even though they were 
almost always together.[10]
Widowhood and remarriage[edit]

When Henry died on 1 December 1135, Adeliza retired temporarily to the Benedictine 
convent of Wilton Abbey, near Salisbury. She was present at the dedication of Henry's 
tomb at Reading Abbey on the first anniversary of his death. At about that time, she 
founded a leper hospital dedicated to Saint Giles at Fugglestone St Peter, Wiltshire.

In 1138, three years after Henry I's death, Adeliza married William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl 
of Arundel, one of Henry I's advisors, and son of Guillaume d’Aubigny and Maud le 
Bigod.[1] Together, they lived at her castle of Arundel on the Sussex coast and had 
seven children.[14] Their names were (by order of birth), Alice, William, Olivia, Reynor, 
Geoffrey, Henry, and Agatha.[1][15]

Relationship with Matilda[edit]

Although not a great deal is known about Adeliza’s relationship with her stepdaughter, 
it is known she was present at the ceremony when Henry officially named Matilda as 
his heir presumptive, since the chronicler John of Worcester states that the Queen 
"swore [an oath] for the king's daughter." [16] After her second marriage, Adeliza 
received Matilda at her home in Arundel, along with Matilda’s half-brother Robert, 1st 
Earl of Gloucester, in defiance of the wishes of her second husband who was a 
staunch supporter of King Stephen.[14] She later betrayed them and handed them 
over when King Stephen besieged the castle.[17] Trying to explain Adeliza's actions, 
John of Worcester suggests that "she feared the king’s majesty and worried that she 
might lose the great estate she held throughout England". He also mentions Adeliza's 
excuse to King Stephen: "She swore on oath that his enemies had not come to 
England on her account but that she had simply given them hospitality as persons of 
high dignity once close to her." [17]
Landholdings[edit]


 


 Arundel Castle
Because of Henry I’s generosity, Adeliza was given the revenues of Rutland, 
Shropshire and a large district of London, with possession of the city of Chichester.
[18] Henry also gave the manor of Aston to Adeliza "as his queen and wife". 
Landholdings that were part of Adeliza of Louvain’s dower include Waltham Abbey in 
Essex, an estate in south-east England, with areas in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, 
Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, and Middlesex. She had property in Devon. As a gift from 
Henry I, she was given a property in Ashleworth, a component of the royal estate of 
Berkeley. In 1126 the whole county of Shropshire was given to her, even though it is 
not listed in the Pipe Roll.

Adeliza gave her brother Joscelin a large estate in Sussex called Petworth that was 
dependent on her castle of Arundel.[19] Henry also gave Adeliza lands that had 
previously been Matilda’s including Waltham and Queenhithe. She had estates in 
Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Middlesex, Gloucestershire, and Devon. Her 
husband then granted her exemption from tax for those lands. In additions to those 
gifts, she was given a portion of the royal estate at Berkeley, and the county of 
Shropshire.[20] After Matilda died, Adeliza continued to exercise jurisdiction over her 
lands, retaining some of her property until 1150. In 1136, she endowed Reading Abbey 
with one hundred shillings a year from the revenues of Queenhithe.[21] On the first 
anniversary of Henry I’s death, Adeliza gave the manor of Aston to the Abbey of 
Reading, and endowed them with lands “to provide for the convent and other religious 
pweaona [sic] coming to the abbey on the occasion of the anniversary of my lord King 
Henry.” She added the gift of a church a few years later.[22]

Later years[edit]

In the last years of her life, Adeliza appears to have faded into obscurity. In 1150, 
Adeliza left William to enter the monastery of Afflighem in Flanders. At least one of her 
brothers was also living at this monastery. The annals at the monastery are the only 
source to mention her death in 1151, and her burial site is unknown. Some traditions 
imply she was buried at the monastery, but a donation made by her brother Joscelin to 
Reading Abbey seems to suggest she was buried there with Henry I.[21]

Parents
____ Godfrey I "A La Barbe" ("the Bearded") (ABT 1060 - 25 Jan 1139)
OF NAMUR AND CHINY Ida (ABT 1083 - AFT 1125)

Siblings
OF LOUVAIN Adeliza (ABT 1100 - 23 Apr 1151)
____ Godfrey II (ABT 1108 - 13 Jun 1142)
DE LOUVAIN BARBATUS Joscelin (ABT 1117 - BEF 1180)

Marriage To D'AUBIGNY William "Strong Hand" (ABT 1109 - 12 Oct 1176)
    m.  

Notes

Parents
D'AUBIGNY (ALBINI) William (ABT 1070 - 1139)
BIGOD Maud (Mary) (ABT 1085 - )

Children by D'AUBIGNY William "Strong Hand" ABT 1109 - 12 Oct 1176
AUBIGNY Alice (ABT 1133 - 11 Sep 1188)
D'AUBIGNY William (ABT 1135 - 24 Dec 1193)

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