Individual

Go to List of Family Names Go to List of People    < Previous Next >

Birth:          ABT 1015 of Geneva
Death:          19 Dec 1091 

Notes
heiress of Turin and Susa
this ancestry up is from Stuart (and wikipedia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelaide_of_Susa
Adelaide of Susa or Adelaide of Turin (also Adelheid, Adelais, or Adeline; c.?
1014/1020 – 19 December 1091)[1] was the Marchioness of Turin from 1034 to her 
death. She was the last of the Arduinici.
Biography[edit]

Early life[edit]

Born in Turin to Ulric Manfred II and Bertha around 1014/1020, Adelaide's early life is 
not well known.[2] Adelaide had two younger sisters, Immilla and Bertha. She may also 
have had a brother, whose name is not known, who predeceased her father.[3] Thus, 
on Ulric Manfred's death (in December 1033 or 1034), Adelaide inherited the bulk of 
her father's property.[4] She received property in the counties of Turin (especially in 
the Susa Valley), Auriate, and Asti. Adelaide also inherited property, but probably not 
comital authority, in the counties of Albenga, Alba, Bredulo and Ventimiglia.[5] It is 
likely that Adelaide's mother, Bertha, briefly acted as regent for Adelaide after Ulric 
Manfred's death.

Marriages[edit]

Since the margravial title primarily had a military purpose at the time, it was thus was 
not considered suitable for a woman. Emperor Conrad II therefore arranged a marriage 
between Adelaide and his stepson, Herman IV, in 1036 or 1037. Herman was then 
invested as margrave of Turin.[6] Herman died of the plague while fighting for Conrad 
II at Naples in July 1038.

Adelaide remarried in order to secure her vast possessions. Probably in 1041, and 
certainly before 19th January 1042, Adelaide married Henry, Marquess of Montferrat.
[7] Henry died c.1045 and left Adelaide a widow for the second time. Immediately, a 
third marriage was undertaken, this time to Otto of Savoy (1046).[2] With Otto she had 
three sons, Peter I, Amadeus II, and Otto. The couple also had two daughters, Bertha, 
who married Henry IV of Germany, and Adelaide, who married Rudolf of Rheinfelden 
(who later opposed Henry as King of Germany).

Widowhood and rule[edit]

After the death of her husband Otto, c.1057/60, Adelaide ruled the march of Turin and 
the county of Savoy alongside her sons, Peter and Amadeus.

It is sometimes said that Adelaide abandoned Turin as a capital and began to reside 
permanently at Susa. This is incorrect. Adelaide is documented far more frequently at 
the margravial palace in Turin than anywhere else.[8]

In 1070 Adelaide captured and burned the city of Asti, which had rebelled against 
her.[9]

Relationship with empire[edit]

In 1069 Henry IV tried to repudiate Adelaide's daughter, Bertha,[10] which caused 
Adelaide's relationship with the imperial family to cool. However, through the 
intervention of Bertha, Henry received Adelaide's support when he came to Italy to 
submit to Pope Gregory VII and Matilda of Tuscany at Canossa. In return for allowing 
him to travel through her lands, Henry gave Bugey to Adelaide.[11] Adelaide and her 
son Amadeus then accompanied Henry IV and Bertha to Canossa, where Adelaide 
acted as a mediator, alongside Matilda and Albert Azzo II, Margrave of Milan, among 
others.[12] Bishop Benzo of Alba sent several letters to Adelaide between 1080 and 
1082, encouraging her to support Henry IV in the Italian wars which formed part of the 
Investiture Controversy.[13] Adelaide's dealings with Henry IV became closer after 
this. She offered to mediate between him and Matilda of Tuscany, and may even have 
joined him on campaign in southern Italy in 1084.[14]

Relationship with the Church[edit]

Adelaide made many donations to monasteries in the march of Turin. In 1064 she 
founded the monastery of Santa Maria at Pinerolo.[15]

Adelaide received letters from many of the leading churchmen of the day, including 
Pope Alexander II, Peter Damian, and Pope Gregory VII.[13] These letters indicate 
that Adelaide sometimes supported Gregorian reform, but that at other times she did 
not. Peter Damian (writing in 1064) and Gregory VII (writing in 1073), relied upon 
Adelaide to enforce clerical celibacy and protect the monasteries of Fruttuaria and 
San Michele della Chiusa. By contrast, Alexander II (writing c.1066/7) reproached 
Adelaide for her dealings with Guido da Velate the simoniac Archbishop of Milan.

Death[edit]

Adelaide died in December 1091.[16] According to a later legend, she was buried in 
the parochial church of Canischio (Canisculum), a small village on the Cuorgnè in the 
Valle dell'Orco, where she had supposedly been living incognito for twenty-two years 
before her death.[17] The medieval historian Charles William Previté-Orton called this 
story "absurd".[18] In the cathedral of Susa, in a niche in the wall, there is a statue of 
walnut wood, beneath a bronze veneer, representing Adelaide, genuflecting in prayer. 
Above it can be read the inscription: Questa è Adelaide, cui l'istessa Roma Cole, e 
primo d'Ausonia onor la noma.[citation needed]

Family and children[edit]

Because of a late Austrian source, Adelaide and Herman IV, Duke of Swabia are 
sometimes mistakenly said to have had children together.[19] This was not the case. 
Herman was on campaign for much of his short marriage to Adelaide and he died 
without heirs.[20] Nor did Adelaide have children with her second husband, Henry.

Adelaide and Otto of Savoy had five children:
Peter I of Savoy, married Agnes, daughter of William VII, Duke of Aquitaine.[21]
Amadeus II of Savoy
Otto[22]
Bertha of Savoy, married Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, June 1066.[21]
Adelaide of Savoy, married Rudolf von Rheinfelden[21]

Legacy[edit]

Adelaide is a featured figure on Judy Chicago's installation piece The Dinner Party, 
being represented as one of the 999 names on the Heritage Floor.[23][24]

Parents
____ Odalrico Manfrido II (Ulric) (ABT  985 - 23 Dec 1035)
OF ESTE Bertha (ABT  997 - 29 Dec 1037)

Siblings
VON SUSA Adelaide (ABT 1015 - 19 Dec 1091)
OF TURIN Immilla (ABT 1020 - 21 Jan 1078)
OF TURIN Berta (ABT 1023 - AFT 1064)

Marriage To OF SAVOY Otto (Odo) (Eudes) I (ABT 1020 - 19 Jan 1058)
    m. 1046 her third

Notes

Parents
____ Humbert (Umberto) I "Bianca Mano" (ABT  970 - ABT 1045)
____ Auxilia (ABT  975 - )

Children by OF SAVOY Otto (Odo) (Eudes) I ABT 1020 - 19 Jan 1058
____ Amadeus (Amadeo) II (ABT 1046 - 26 Jan 1080)
OF MAURIENNE Adelaide (ABT 1047 - 1079)
OF MAURIENNE (OF LORRAINE) Bertha (21 Sep 1051 - 27 Dec 1087)

Produced by Fzip 1.7 6/20/2017