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Biography

Adeliza of Normandy was born circa 1055 in Normandy to William I of England (1027-1087) and Matilda of Flanders (c1031-1083) and died 1065 of unspecified causes.

Adeliza of Normandy or Adelida of Normandy was a daughter of the English king William the Conqueror and his wife, Matilda of Flanders. There is considerable uncertainty about her life, including her dates of birth and death. In a mortuary roll prepared at her sister's religious house, she was listed first among the daughters of William the Conqueror. She was usually the first daughter in lists of William's children, and thus probably the eldest. Her inclusion in the mortuary roll indicates that her death preceded the date of its 1113 compilation.

In the additions Orderic Vitalis made to the Gesta Normannorum Ducum (Deeds of the Norman Dukes), he states that prior to his death at the Battle of Hastings, Harold Godwinson was betrothed to ‘Adelidis', a daughter of William, and that she remained single after his death. Calling her "Adelida", Robert of Torigni follows Orderic in showing her as the affianced of Harold.

However, in the later books of his Historia Ecclesiastica, Orderic instead states that she 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. Orderic makes a previously unknown sister Agatha the fiancée of Harold, and also of Alfonso VI of León and Castile.

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



Siblings


Offspring of William I of England (1027-1087) and Matilda of Flanders (c1031-1083)
Name Birth Death Joined with
Robert III, Duke of Normandy (c1051-1134) 1051 (Normandy) 10 February 1134 (Cardiff Castle+ Glamorganshire+ Wales) Sybilla of Conversano (-1103)
Richard of Normandy (c1054) 1054 Normandy 1081 New Forest, Hampshire
Adeliza of Normandy (c1055) 1055 Normandy 1065
Cecilia of Normandy (c1055) 1055 Normandy, France 30 July 1126 Caen, Calvados, France
William II of England (c1056-1100) 1056 Normandy, France 2 August 1100 New Forest, England, United Kingdom
Matilda of Normandy (c1061-1086) 1061 Normandy, France 1086 France
Adela of Normandy (c1062) 1062 Normandy, France 8 March 1138 Marcigny, Saône-et-Loire, France Stephen II, Count of Blois (c1045-1102)
Agatha of Normandy (c1064) 1064 1079
Constance of Normandy (c1066-1090) 1066 1090 Alain Fergent de Bretagne (c1060-1119)
Henry I of England (1068-1135) 13 June 1068 Selby, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom 1 December 1135 St. Denis-le-Fermont near Gisors, Picardy, Lyons-la-Forêt, Eure, France Ansfrid (1070-)
Matilda of Scotland (c1080-1118)
Sybil Corbet (1077-)
Edith (bef1135-)
Gieva de Tracy (bef1135-)
Nest ferch Rhys (c1073-aft1136)
Isabel de Beaumont (bef1135-)
Adeliza of Leuven (1103-1151)





References



Footnotes (including sources)

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