Queen Adelaide Louvain ENGLAND ¹

   Other names for Adelaide were Adelaide, Adelicia, BRABANT Princess, ENGLAND Queen, LORRAINE and LOUVAIN.

   Ancestral File Number: 9FTJ-61. User ID: 315890345.

   General Notes:

Princess of BRABANT, Queeen of ENGLAND 1120/1121-1135.

Seven children with William de Albini.

BOOKS
The Political History of England, Vol II, George Burton Adams Longmans Green and Co, 1905 Ch VIII p169:
[1120] "But if Henry could no longer look forward to the permanence in the second generation of the empirewhich he had created, he was not the man to surrender even to the blows of fate. The succession to his dominions of Robert's son William, who had been so recently used by his enemies against him, but who was now the sole male heir of William the Conqueror, was an intolerable idea. In barely more than a month after the death of his son, the king took counsel with the magnates of the realm, at a great council in London, in regard to his marriage. In less than another month the marriage was celebrated. Henry's second wife was Adelaide daughter of Geoffrey, Duke of Lower Lorraine, a vassal of his son-in-law, the emperor, and his devoted supporter, as well as a prince whose alliance might be of great use in any future troubleswith France or Flanders. This marriage was made chiefly in hope of a legitimate heir, but it was a childless marriage, and Henry's hope was disappointed."
p226: [1139] "...Matilda and Robert landed at Arundel on the last day of Septemberwith only one hundred and forty men. Stephen had abandoned the siege of Corfe castle on the news that they were about to cross, and had teken measures to prevent their landing; but he had again turned away to something else, and their landingwas unopposed. Arundel castle was in possession of Adelaide, the widowed queen of Henry I, now the wife of William of Albini. It is not possible to suppose that this place was selected for the invasion without a previous understanding; and there, in the keeping of her stepmother, Robert left his sister and set out immediately on his landing for Bristol, taking with him only twelve men. On hearing of this Stephen pursued, but failed to overtake him, and turned back to besiege Arundelcastle. Then occurred one of the most astonishing events of Stephen's career- astonishing alike to his contemporaries and to us, but typical in a peculiar degree of the man.
"Queen Adelaide became alarmed on the approach of Stephen, and begen to take thought of what she had to lose of the king should prove successful, as there was every reason to suppose he would; and she proposed to abandon Matilda's cause and to hand her over at once to Stephen. Here was an opportunity to gaina most decided advantage- perhaps to end the whole strife. With Matilda in his hands, Stephen would have been master of the situation. He could have sent her back to Normandy and so have ended the attempt at invasion. He could have kept her inroyal captivity, or have demanded the surrender of her claims as the price of her release. Instead of seizing the occasion, as a Henry or a William would certainly have done, he was filled with chivalrous pity for his cousin's strait, and senther with an escort under Henry of Winchester and Waleran of Meulan to join her brother at Bristol...
"This was the turning-point in Stephen's history. Within the brief space of two months, by two acts surprisingly illjudged and even of folly, he had turned a position of great strength, which might easily have been made permanently secure, into one of great weakness; and so long as the struggle lasted he was never able to recover what he had lost..."

A History of the Plantagenets, Vol I, The Conquering Family, Thomas B Costain, Doubleday & Co, Garden City, 1949, p4:
"Henry I of England, the youngest son of William the Conqueror, became a saddened man when his only son was drowned in the wreck of `La Blance Nef'off the Norman coast. He had no appetite, he sat alone and stared at nothing, his temper was so fitful that the people of the court tried to keep out of his way, he did not pay any attention even to affairs of state, which was the surest indication of the mental condition into which this most painstaking of rulers had fallen...A concerted effort was made to bring the sorrowing man back to an interest in life, and he was finally persuaded, much against his will, to marry again in thehope of having a male heir to take the place of his lost William.
"The wife selected for him was Adelicia, daughter of the Count of Louvain, and eighteen-year-old girl of such beauty that she was called the Fair Maid of Brabant. Rhyming Robert of Gloucester said of her, `no woman so fair as she was seen on middle earth.' Adelicia was gentle and understanding and she strove to be a good wife to the melancholy Henry, but she failed in the most important respect: she did not bear him children..."
p11: "The Dowager Queen Adelicia had remarried in the meantime, her second husband being William d'Aubigny, son of William the Conqueror's cupbearer. This new husband was a handsom, brave, and honorable knight, and it had been in every sense a love match. They were living at Arundel Castle, which Henry had bestowed on his wife, and so the saying,
`Since William rose and Harold fell,
There have been earls of Arundel,' did not apply to this particular juncture, Adelicia's husband not being awarded the title until the next reign. The great castle stood close to the coast of Sussex, and the Enpress and her party stopped there, asking shelter of the ex-Queen. The dowager very wisely hadtaken no part in national affairs and had held aloof from support of, or opposition to, the incumbent. Now, however, she threw open the gates of the castle and received her weary stepdaughter with warmth and affection..."
p12: "Stephen acted in this crisis with dispatch. He appeared before Arundel Castle and demanded that the Empress be delivered into his hands. This put Adelicia and her husband in a most difficult position. The castle was strong, but at this juncture they hadonly the peacetime complement of men there, a few squires and a handful of men-at-arms, and a drove of servants who would not be of much use. Stephen, on the other hand, had with him a sufficient force to carry the castle by storm.
"The situation which had arisen in England was of a nature to bring out in the main participants their real characteristics...Adelicia, more than the rest, was to come out in a new light. This gentle lady, who had sat so unobtrusively and so decoratively by Henry's side, sent out word to Stephen that she would protect her stepdaughter and friend to the last extremity!"

The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England, Antonia Fraser, 1975, Alfred Knopf, p24: "Adelaide of Louvain, (2) mar HenryI, died 1151..."

Encyclopaedia Britannica 1981 Micropaedia Vol IV p1022 Henry I of England: "...He was married first to Matilda, a Scottish princess, and then to Adelaide of Louvain."

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File Ver 4.10 9FTJ-61 Born Abt 1094 vs 1102-1103, Died Alost Flanders Belgium vs Abbey Reading Berkshire England.

FAMILY SEARCH ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File v4.19 9FTJ-61: Chr (Abt 48-1151).

   Marriage Information:

Adelaide married King Henry ENGLAND, I, son of King William Normandy ENGLAND, I and Queen Matilda Flanders ENGLAND, on 24 Jan 1120-1121 in Windsor, Berkshire, England. (King Henry ENGLAND, I was born about 1068-1070 in Selby, Yorkshire, England, christened on 5 Aug 1100 in , Selby, Yorkshire, England, died on 1 Dec 1135 in Lyons-La-Foret, Seine-St Denis, Normandy, France and was buried on 4 Jan 1136 in Abbey, Reading, Berkshire, England.)

   Marriage Information:

Adelaide also married Earl William D' Aubigny Arundel SUSSEX, III, son of William D' AUBIGNY, Jr and Queen Adelaide Louvain ENGLAND, after 1135. (Earl William D' Aubigny Arundel SUSSEX, III was born about 1140 in Buckenham, Norfolk, England, died on 24 Dec 1193 and was buried in Priory, Wymondham, Norfolk, England.)

   Marriage Information:

Adelaide also married William D' AUBIGNY, Jr, son of William D' AUBIGNY, Sr and Maud BIGOD, in 1138 in , , England. (William D' AUBIGNY, Jr was born about 1090 in St Sauveur, Manche, Normandy, France, died on 12 Oct 1176 in Abbey, Waverley, Surrey, England and was buried on 19 Oct 1176 in Priory, Wymondham, Norfolk, England.)