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Adeliza of Louvain
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2023) |
| 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 | |
| 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.
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