Order of Medieval Women
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PictureFamily tree with his mother Adela  at the top and l - r William, Theobald
and Stephen, Bibliothèque municipale de Toulouse
De Origine prima Francorum, Ms 450—folio 190r.
​St. Adela of Normandy and England, 1062-1138
Ancestral Roots Line 169:24

​
Youngest daughter of William I, the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders, wife to Stephen III of Blois.  Adela was born with royal blood on both sides giving her particular prestige.  Shortly before her fifteenth birthday she married Stephen who was at least eighteen years her senior with a dowry consisting of moveable wealth, castles, estates, and a forest across her husband’s domains. 

Adela inherited her father's strong will and interest in politics taking an active role in the administration of her husband’s lands becoming a noted power broker renown for wealth and generosity which she prudently distributed.  When her husband became Count of Blois, Chartres, and Meaux in his own right, she participated in all nonmilitary aspects of lordship, serving as a virtual co-ruler alongside him.  Adela developed a cordial relationship with Bishop Ivo of Chartres promoting peace between the laity and clergy.  

In 1095, Stephen joined the First Crusade which Adela underwrote with her personal wealth.  The letters Stephen sent to Adela indicate a great level of affection and trust.  Adela was in charge of the family’s finances and perfectly suited to serve as regent during his three year absence.  Returning without fulfilling his vow, an action considered by Adela a cowardly retreat having been raised in the tradition of her father William the Conqueror, Adela urged Stephen to redeem his honor and return to the Holy Land which he reluctantly did and was killed in an ill-advised charge at Ramla in 1102. ​
Picture
Detail, De Origine prima Francorum, Bibliothèque municipale de Toulouse Ms 450—folio 190r.
​Existing Public Record Office records and a letter from Baudri, abbot of Bourgeuil ca 1107 provide a unique description of her personal chamber.  “The walls are covered with tapestries, woven according to her design, and all seem alive: on one wall, creation, the fall and fratricide, the flood with fish on mountain tops and lions in the sea; sacred history from Noah through Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, the glory of Moses, and David to Solomon on a second wall; the Greek gods and myths, ...and Roman kings on a third; around her bed the conquest of England, William’s claims to the throne as Edward’s chosen successor, the comet, the Norman council and preparations, the fleet, the battle of Hastings with the feigned flight of the Normans and the real one of the English, and the death of Harold. On the ceiling, the sky with its constellations, the signs of the zodiac, the stars and planets described in detail. On the floor, a map of the world with its seas, rivers, and mountains, named along with their creatures, and the cities on the land masses of Asia, Europe, and Africa. The bed is decorated with three groups of statues, of Philosophy and the liberal arts, the quadrivium (music, arithmetic, astronomy, geometry) at the head of the bed, the trivium (rhetoric, dialectic, and grammar) at the foot. The third group represents medicine, with Galen and Hippocrates, the humors and physical characteristics, herbs and unguents”. 

Adela was particularly close to her younger brother Henry who later become King Henry I of England, even supporting him against their oldest brother, Robert.  As regent she earned  a reputation for diplomacy, skilled negotiator and promoting economic growth supporting a range of religious communities, leper hospitals and worked to reform monasteries.  Many of her pious bequests had important  economic, political and spiritual benefits. An avid  patroness of the arts, Adela corresponded with such dignitaries as Hildebert, bishop of Le Mans and Abbot Baudri of Bourgeuil, both of whom wrote poems dedicated to her.  She ruled  Blois for five years until she formally conferred authority to son Stephen yet continued to maintain power and influence until her death.  Her letters include those to  Bishop Ivo and their shared jurisdiction, Anselm of Canterbury in gratitude for hosting him in exile and negotiation a truce for him with her brother king Henry in addition from her husband and his experiences on the crusade.
Map of England and France 1152-1327
Picture
Read her letters:   https://epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu/woman/21.html  


​References and Further Reading
  • “Adela de Normandie” Foundation for Medieval Genealogy.  ENGLAND KINGS 1066-1603, Chapter 1.  KINGS OF ENGLAND 1066-1135 (NORMANDY), GUILLAUME de Normandie, 9. ADELA de Normandie.  Web 08 October 2016.  //fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ ENGLAND,​ %20Kings%201066-1603.htm#Stephendied1154B.
  • Crouch, Martha Carlin and David Crouch.  Lost Letters of Medieval Life English Society 1200-1250.  University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013.
  • Jackson-Laufer, Guida M.  Women Who Ruled: A Biographical Encyclopedia.  Barnes & Noble Books, 1998.
  • Labarge, Margaret Wade. A Small Sound of the Trumpet, Women in Medieval Life.  Beacon Press, 1986.
  • Medieval Women’s Latin Letters.  https://epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu/women.
  • Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. 1 pp 8.2; pp 389.2.  2013.
  • Woolgar, C.M.  The Great Household in Late Medieval England.  Yale University Press, 1999.

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  • Home
  • About
    • Mission
    • Membership >
      • Genealogical Sources
  • Women of Consequence
    • Early Middle Ages (500-1000) >
      • St. Adelaide of Burgundy
      • St. Bathilde
      • St. Bertha of Kent
      • St. Clothilde
      • St. Olga of Kiev
      • St. Theophana
    • High Middle Ages (1000-1300) >
      • Adelaide of Turin and Susa
      • St. Adela of Normandy & England
      • Anne of Kiev
      • Berengaria of Castile
      • Blanche of Castile
      • Ela, Countess of Salisbury
      • Eleanor of Aquitaine
      • Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd
      • Margaret de Quincy
      • Matilda, the Empress
      • Matilda (Eadgyth) of Scotland
      • Nicholaa de la Haye
      • Sikelgaita, heiress of Salerno
    • Late Middle Ages (1300-1500) >
      • Caterina Sforza
      • Dorothea of Brandenburg
      • Elizabeth de Clare, 11th Lady of Clare
      • Isabella d’Este
      • Isabella I of Castile
      • Isabella of France
      • Jeanne de Belleville
      • Joanna of Flanders
      • Lucrezia Tornabuoni
      • Margaret Beaufort
      • Philippa of Hainault
  • Roll of Honor
    • Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians
    • Anna Comnena, Princess of Byzantium
    • Beatriz Gallindo, La Latina
    • Christine de Pizan
    • Emma of Normandy
    • St. Hildegard von Bingen
    • Hrotsvit von Gandersheim
    • Jacqueline Felice de Almania
    • St. Joan of Arc
    • Matilda of Tuscany
    • St. Rodegunda (Radegund)
    • St. Theodora, Byzantine Empress
    • Trota of Salerno
  • Connections
  • Genealogical Charts
    • House of Sforza
    • Welsh Ancestry of English Royalty
    • Descendants of Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd
    • Houses of della Rovere and Gonzaga
    • House of Este
    • House of Trastamara
    • Lords of Clisson
    • Descendants of Jeanne la Flamme
    • House of Medici
    • Genealogy of Nicholaa de la Haye
    • Welsh Kings
  • Maps
    • Early Middle Ages >
      • Kingdom of Burgundy
      • Merovingian Kingdoms
      • Kent England
      • Principality of Kiev, Drevlyans
      • Thuringi & Franci, 6th century Europe
      • Quedlinburg, Germany, circa 962 AD
    • High Middle Ages >
      • Turin & Susa, Italy circa 1050 AD
      • Europe circa 1000 AD
      • Spanish Kingdoms 1210 AD
      • France & Burgundy circa 1032 AD
      • England & France 1152-1327 AD
      • Salisbury, England
      • England & France in the Reign of Henry I
      • Wales
      • Lincoln, England
      • Norman Lands in Italy & Sicily
    • Late Middle Ages >
      • Forli, Italy
      • Sweden circa 1658
      • Usk, Wales and Cambridge, England
      • Ferrera & Mantuga, Italy
      • Iberian Peninsula 1257-1492
      • England & France 1152-1327
      • Clisson, Anjou, France
      • Brittany, France
      • Florence, Italy
      • England & Wales circa 1399
      • Hainault
    • Roll of Honor >
      • Kingdom of Mercia and Surrounding Kingdoms
      • Byzantine Empire 1000-1100
      • Iberian Peninsula 1257-1492
      • Paris, France
      • Dominions of Cnut
      • Bingen, Germany circa 962 AD
      • Gandersheim, Germany circa 962 AD
      • Military Campaign of Joan of Arc
      • Canossa & Tuscany, Italy
      • Eastern Roman Empire circa 565 AD
      • Duchy of Salerno
  • Members Only
    • The Board
    • Bylaws
    • Meetings
    • Newsletter
    • Pictures
  • Contact