Adeliza

Adeliza or Adelida (died before 1113)^[1] was a daughter of William I of England. She was probably the eldest as she was generally listed first in lists of the Conqueror's daughters, including one in the mortuary roll of Ste Trinité at Caen, which was compiled in 1113 under the guidance of her sister, Cecily. There is considerable uncertainty about her life, including dates of birth and death, but she must have been dead by 1113 when the mortuary roll was drawn up.

Biography

Orderic Vitalis, who extended William of Jumièges' Gesta Normannorum Ducum (Deeds of the Norman Dukes), states that ‘Adelidis', a daughter of William I, was betrothed to Harold Godwinson - the Harold II who was killed at the Battle of Hastings - and remained single after his death.^[2]

However Orderic, in the later books of his Historia Ecclesiastica, also states that she took the veil, but makes her sister Agatha the betrothed of Harold.^[2] According to Orderic Adeliza was "a virgin under the protection of Roger de Beaumont" which, in the view of historian Elisabeth van Houts probably means that she was a nun of St Léger at Préaux.^[1]

She was almost certainly the Adeliza addressed by Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury in prayers and meditations as a "venerable lady of royal nobility".^[1]

Ancestry

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Notes

References

• van Houts, Elisabeth (2004). "Adelida (d. before 1113)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/164. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/164. Retrieved 9 November 2009. 
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Round, John Horace (1885). "Adeliza (d.1066?)". In Leslie Stephen. Dictionary of National Biography. 1. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 137.  this entry cites:
  • Freeman, Edward Augustus (1869). The History of the Norman Conquest of England. 3 (1st ed.). pp. 112, 659. http://www.archive.org/stream/historynormanco07unkngoog#page/n7/mode/1up. 
  • Freeman, Edward Augustus. The History of the Norman Conquest of England. 3 (2nd ed.). pp. 112, 667–70. 
  • Planché, James Robinson (1874). Conqueror and his Companions. 1. p. 82. http://www.archive.org/stream/conquerorhiscomp01planuoft#page/n8/mode/1up.