Adeliza of Louvain

Adeliza of Louvain
Adeliza of Louvain
	Detail of a Shaftesbury manuscript, most likely depicting Adeliza
Queen consort of England
Tenure	24 January 1121 – 1 December 1135
Coronation	30 January 1121
Born	c. 1103
Died	March/April 1151 (aged c. 48); Affligem Abbey, Brabant
Burial	Reading Abbey or Affligem Abbey, Brabant
Spouses	; Henry I of England (m. 1121; died 1135) ; William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel (m. 1138)
Issue; more...	William d'Aubigny, 2nd Earl of Arundel
House	Reginar
Father	Godfrey I, Count of Louvain
Mother	Ida of Chiny

Adeliza of Louvain^[1] (also Adelicia,^[2] Adela, Adelais, and Aleidis; c. 1103 – March/April 1151)^[3] was Queen of England from 1121 to 1135 as the second wife of King Henry I.

Adeliza was the eldest child of Godfrey I, Count of Louvain, and Ida of Chiny. In 1121, aged about 18, Adeliza was married to Henry, who was around 54 years of age and some 35 years older than her. Henry's only legitimate son, William Adelin, had died in 1120, which had prompted Henry to marry again. He hoped to have another son with Adeliza and spent a lot of time with her. She seems to have been influential in the promotion of French poetry and other arts at court, but played little part in politics. Though otherwise successful, their marriage produced no children, and Henry decided to leave the throne to his daughter Empress Matilda. Adeliza was among those who swore to support her stepdaughter and did so during her struggle against Henry's nephew Stephen of Blois, who took the throne after Henry's death in 1135.

As queen dowager, Adeliza spent three years living in a convent. In 1138, she married again to William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel, by whom she had seven children. In 1150, she left her husband to move to the Affligem Abbey in Brabant, where she died the following year.

^ Huneycutt, Lois L. "Adeliza [Adeliza of Louvain]". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/165. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ Agnes Strickland, 'Adelicia of Louvaine' in The Lives of the Queens of England Archived 13 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine online at 1066.co.nz: "Mr Howard of Corby castle... calls her Adelicia, for the best of reasons – her name is so written in an original charter of the 31st of Henry I..."
^ Panton, James (24 February 2011). Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy. Scarecrow Press. pp. 17–18. ISBN 9780810874978.

[ODNB-1] Huneycutt, Lois L. "Adeliza [Adeliza of Louvain]". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/165. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

[2] Agnes Strickland, 'Adelicia of Louvaine' in The Lives of the Queens of England Archived 13 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine online at 1066.co.nz: "Mr Howard of Corby castle... calls her Adelicia, for the best of reasons – her name is so written in an original charter of the 31st of Henry I..."

[3] Panton, James (24 February 2011). Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy. Scarecrow Press. pp. 17–18. ISBN 9780810874978.

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