Adela of Flanders

Not to be confused with Adela of France, Countess of Flanders.

Adela of Flanders (c. 1064 – April 1115), also known as Ailanda,[1] was Queen consort of Denmark by marriage to King Canute IV and Duchess consort of Apulia by marriage to Duke Roger Borsa, and then minor regent of Apulia from 1111 to 1115 as mother and guardian of Duke William II.

Life

Adela was born the daughter of Robert I, Count of Flanders, and Gertrude of Saxony. In 1080 she married King Canute IV of Denmark. The marriage was arranged as a part of an alliance between Flanders and Denmark toward William the Conqueror. [2] During this marriage, she had three children: a son, later Count Charles the Good (born in 1084), and twin daughters, Cecilia and Ingegerd (born ca. 1085/86). When Canute was assassinated in 1086, she fled with her son to Flanders, leaving her daughters behind in Denmark.[3]

She stayed in the court of her father and brother Robert II until 1092, when she left for Italy to marry Roger Borsa, Duke of Apulia. She bore her second husband three sons: Louis (who died in infancy in 1094), the future Duke William II (born ca. 1096/97) and Guiscard (who died in boyhood in 1108).[4] She acted as a regent for her son William II at the death of Roger Borsa from 1111 until he came of age in 1114.

Ancestry

References

  1. ↑ Women in Power 1100–1150
  2. ↑ Dansk Biografisk Leksikon
  3. ↑ Cawley, Charles, DENMARK, Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy,
  4. ↑ Cawley, Charles, SICILY, Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy,
Adela of Flanders
Born: circa 1064 Died: April 1115
Preceded by
Margareta Hasbjörnsdatter		 Queen Consort of Denmark
1080–1086 		Succeeded by
Ingegerd of Norway
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