Adeliza of Louvain
(c. 1103-1151)
BIRTH
c. 1103
PLACE
Leuven, Belgium
DEATH
1151
PLACE
Affligem, Belgium
FAMILY
HUSBAND
Henry I
(c. 1068-1135)
HOMES
NICKNAMES
the Fair Maid of Brabant
RELIGIOUS VIEWS
NOT YET RESEARCHED
NOT YET RESEARCHED
MEMBERSHIPS
ST GILES HOSPITAL FUGGLESTONE FOUNDER
AWARDS
Adeliza of Louvain (c.1103–1151) married Henry I of England in 1121, becoming queen after the death of his first wife. Their marriage produced no children. Widowed in 1135, she supported Reading Abbey’s commemoration of Henry and later married William d’Aubigny. Her literary and religious patronage accompanied estate management. She sheltered Henry’s daughter Matilda at Arundel during the succession conflict, then retired to a religious community in the Low Countries.
EARLY LIFE
Adeliza was born in about 1103, the daughter of Godfrey I, Count of Louvain and Duke of Lower Lorraine, and Ida of Chiny. She grew up at her father's court in the Low Countries and was known for her beauty. After the death of Henry I's only legitimate son in the White Ship disaster of 1120, the king sought a new wife in the hope of fathering another heir, and Adeliza was chosen.
Adeliza married Henry I in January 1121 and was crowned queen. She accompanied him on his travels and was a patron of literature, but the marriage produced no children.
After Henry's death in 1135, she married William d'Aubigny, who was made Earl of Arundel, and they had several children. In 1139 she received Empress Matilda at Arundel Castle when Matilda landed in England to claim the throne.
In about 1150 Adeliza retired to the abbey of Affligem, in present-day Belgium, where she died in 1151.
CAREER
DEATH
Their marriage produced no children. Adeliza of Louvain sheltered Henry’s daughter Matilda at Arundel during the succession conflict, then retired to a religious community in the Low Countries. Adeliza married Henry I in January 1121 and was crowned queen. She accompanied him on his travels and was a patron of literature, but the marriage produced no children. After Henry's death in 1135, she married William d'Aubigny, who was made Earl of Arundel, and they had several children. In 1139 she received Empress Matilda at Arundel Castle when Matilda landed in England to claim the throne. In about 1150 Adeliza retired to the abbey of Affligem, in present-day Belgium, where she died in 1151. The available biographical account does not describe a continuous final medical course. It gives no dependable sequence of treatment and last symptoms from which to reconstruct a more detailed bedside narrative.
POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
Adeliza of Louvain, Henry I’s second wife, distinct from his first wife Matilda of Scotland. These are collective queenship studies, royal biography and reference. Five dedicated biographies were not identified. These editorial selections include biographies where available, with personal writings, collective biography, reference works and related studies clearly labelled.
1. Queens of the Conquest — Alison Weir. [Collective biography] Find on Amazon
2. Queens Consort: England’s Medieval Queens — Lisa Hilton. [Collective biography] Find on Amazon
3. Norman to Early Plantagenet Consorts: Power, Influence, and Dynasty — Aidan Norrie; Carolyn Harris; J. L. Laynesmith; Danna R. Messer; Elena Woodacre (editors). [Collective royal biography and queenship studies] Find on Amazon
4. Henry I — C. Warren Hollister. [Related biography of her husband] Find on Amazon
5. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography — H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison (editors). [Biographical reference] Find on Amazon
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