Adela Of ENGLAND

Other Events and Attributes:

• Also Known As: Alice Princess of England
• Birth: Abt 1062

Notes:

Name:
Adela was born around 1062 and was the youngest daughter of William the Conqueror and his wife Mathilde of Flanders. She was very well educated, spoke several languages, and was deeply religious. Around 1080/81, she married Stephen III, Count of Blos who was one of the richest men in Europe and a king in all but name. They had eleven children.

Adela's formidable political abilities first showed themselves in 1095 when Stephen became one of the leaders of the First Crusade and left for the Holy Land. He was County of Blois, Champagne, Brie, and Chartres and controlled hundreds of estates in France. he was away four years, and Adela was such an effective ruler of his domains in his absence that she became known as "the heroine of the Fist Crusade."

From 1099 when Stephen returned until he departed again on the Crusade of 1101, Adela continued to support several scholars and poets that she had invited to her court and that significantly contributed to the spiritual and cultural life of her era.

From 1101, Adela was once again ruling Stephen's domains. After May 1102 when he was killed at the battle of Ramleh, she became regent for their eldest son Thibaud and was the most important woman in Europe until he came of age in 1109. She generously endowed abbeys and churches. Several letters on ecclesiastical matters written to her by Hildebert, bishop of Le Mans, have survived.

Around 1122, Adela became a nun, entered the Cluniac priory of Marigney-sur-Loiure, and died there on 8 march 1137. She was buried in Caen in the abbey of the Holy Trinity next to her mother and her sister Cecilia.

Adela's brothers William and Henry both became kings of England, as William II and Henry I. So did her son Stephen.

Adela married Stephen III Of BLOIS between 1080 and 1085 in Breteuil and Chartres. Stephen (son of Thibaut III and Alix DE CREPI) was born in 1046 in Blois, France; died on 19 May 1102 in Battle of Ramlah in the Holy Land. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Thibaut IV was born about 1085 in Blois, France; died on 08 Jan 1152.
2. William Of CHAMPAGNE was born about 1086 in Blois, France; died in 1150.
3. Philippe Of CHAMPAGNE was born about 1092.
4. Humbert DE CHAMPAGNE was born about 1094; died in young.
5. Matilda/Lucia died on 25 Nov 1120 in Drowned in the wreck of the "White Ship".
6. Stephen of BLOIS was born about 1095 in Blois, England; died on 25 Oct 1154 in St Martins Prior, Dover, England; was buried in Faversham Abbey, Faversham, England.
7. Adela Of CHAMPAGNE was born about 1098 in Blois, France; died in 1118.
8. Henry Of BLOIS was born in 1099 in Blois, France; died on 06 Aug 1171 in Winchester, Hampshire, England; was buried in Winchester Cathedral.
9. Agnes Of CHAMPAGNE
10. Alice Of CHAMPAGNE was born about 1100 in Blois, France; died about 1145.
11. Eleanor Of CHAMPAGNE was born about 1104 in Blois, France; died between 14 Oct 1141 and 1142.
12. Eudo Of CHAMPAGNE

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Duke of Normandy
• Name: Guillaume De Normandie I
• Fact: Between 1066 and 1087, King of England
• Crowned: 25 Dec 1066, Westminster Abbey

Notes:

Guillaume, also known as William the Conqueror was crowned December 25, 1066. Sometimes he was called William the Bastard. William's heart was left to Rouen Cathedral,( which he had founded) and his entrails were interred at the church in Chalus. HIs burial place has been often disturbed: in 1522, Rome instructed an examination of the grave contents; in 1562, Calvinists caused "complete devastation" of the tomb, in which the only bit of remains of the Conqueror was a thigh bone ( it was reburied under a new monument); the grave was again demolished in the riots of the revolution of 1793. What was the grave of William the Conqueror is today marked with a stone slab. It is believed that William the Conqueror had no illegitimate issue. His reputation was one of faithfulness to his wife.

Excerpt from "Directory of Royal Genealogical Data":
Reigned 1066-1087. Duke of Normandy 1035-1087. Invaded England defeated and killed his rival Harold at the Battle of Hastings and became King. The Norman conquest of England was completed by 1072 aided by the etablishment of feaudalism under which his followers were granted land in return for pledges of service and loyalty. As King William was noted for his efficient if harsh rule. His administration relied upon Norman and other foreign personnel especially Lanfranc Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1085 started Domesday Book.

In the middle of the 11th century, the Normans conquered both Southern Italy and England. William, who had a claim on the English throne, defeated the English King Harold at the Battle of Hastings, and was crowned King on Christmas Day in 1066. A new alien aristocracy was imposed upon more than two million English people, and England was given firm, but arrogant, government. The Normans dispossessed many of the Anglo-Saxon landowners, pressed the peasantry into service on their new feudal territories, and treated their Anglo-Saxon subjects with contempt, but they also taught better farming, developed the economy, put an end to Viking raids, and built many fine stone cathedrals and churches.

William married Matilda Of FLANDERS in 1053. Matilda (daughter of Count of Flanders Baldwin V "the Pious" and Adela Of FRANCE) was born in 1031/2 in Flandres; died between 02 and 03 Nov 1083 in Caen, Normandy; was buried in Abbey Of Holy Trinity, Caen. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Crowned: 11 May 1068, (Whit Sunday), Winchester Cathedral

Notes:

Matilda was crowned May 11, 1068 (Whit Sunday), Winchester Cathedral. She is burried at Abbey of Holy Trinity, Caen, which she had founded.