Adeliza, the forgotten queen

 

Nine hundred years ago, a young woman was preparing to leave her homeland and travel to another country to marry a man several decades older than her. In the chilly days of early January, she made her way to a new world. Many hopes were pinned on her although the greatest of these would come to nothing. It's perhaps why history allowed her to fade into obscurity. This is the story of Adeliza, the forgotten Queen of England.

Queen Adeliza actually ruled as consort for fourteen years but her name has all but disappeared from the history books. She was the second wife of King Henry I and married him less than two months after the loss of his only legitimate son in the White Ship Disaster. Adeliza was about eighteen when they wed, her husband was around 53 years old and the plan was that they would create a new nursery of princes to inherit Henry's throne. Instead, despite her constant companionship, the old king remained without a male heir.

While it's easy to dismiss her as a put upon princess, Adeliza was far more interesting than the blank summation of her life - young bride who failed to get pregnant - would indicate. Born around 1103, she was the daughter of Godfrey, Count of Louvain and Ida of Chiny. Her father was powerful and important and, intriguingly for Henry I, claimed descent from Charlemagne whose influence still held sway over the European continent. Although Henry had established his power, he was still aware that he was the son of the conquering king, William of Normandy, a man who had been born illegitimate. Marriage to a descendant of the great Charlemagne might bring a new glory to Norman England for a child of Henry and Adeliza would also carry the blood of the Emperor.

Adeliza wed Henry on January 24th 1121 and was crowned on January 30th the same year. Renowned for her beauty, she made a big impression on the still grieving king. Henry was hopeful of an heir - he had fathered dozens of children although his only surviving legitimate child was a daughter. Yet despite going everywhere together, the couple never had children.

Adeliza's story is easy to dismiss. After spending over a decade not producing an heir, she was left a very wealthy widow when Henry died. She then remarried and produced seven children with her second husband before retreating to the convent at Affligem where she died in 1151. But amidst that rather standard telling of a medieval life, is a woman who witnesses Henry create his daughter his heir in the hope of making Europe's first queen regnant and a widow who later got involved in the civil war that followed the death of her first husband.

Adeliza, for those reasons, is going to be the first focus of my newly relaunched blog. Every month, I'll take a queen of England to focus on. There will be lots of other bits and pieces on the blog, too, but every month will have one star in particular and we start with Adeliza, in this month marking 900 years since her marriage. It also feels right to restart this blog with her story. When I began this adventure, back in 2013, it was going to be a website, all about Queens of England and the first page I wrote was about Adeliza. Instead, I got the blogging bug and she has been somewhat overlooked. But as I start again, she gets to raise the curtain. A forgotten queen no more.