, Adelaide Of Maurienne

Adelaide of Savoy (or Adelaide of Maurienne) (Italian: Adelaide di Savoiaor Adelasia di Moriana, French: Adélaïde or Adèle de Maurienne) (1092 –18 November 1154) was the second spouse but first Queen consort of LouisVI of France.

Adelaide was the daughter of Humbert II of Savoy and Gisela of Burgundy,and niece of Pope Callixtus II, who once visited her court in France.
She became the second wife of Louis VI of France, whom she married on 3August 1115 in Paris, France. They had eight children, the second of whombecame Louis VII of France. Adelaide was one of the most politicallyactive of all France''s medieval queens. Her name appears on 45 royalcharters from the reign of Louis VI. During her tenure as queen, royalcharters were dated with both her regnal year and that of the king. Amongmany other religious benefactions, she and Louis founded the monastery ofSt Peter''s (Ste Pierre) at Montmartre, in the northern suburbs of Paris.

Louis and Adelaide had seven sons and one daughter:
Philip of France (1116–1131)
Louis VII (1120–18 November 1180), King of France
Henry (1121–1175), Archbishop of Reims
Hugues (b. c. 1122)
Robert (c. 1123–11 October 1188), Count of Dreux
Constance (c. 1124–16 August 1176), married first Eustace IV, Count ofBoulogne and then Raymond V of Toulouse.
Philip (1125–1161), Bishop of Paris. not to be confused with his elderbrother.
Peter (c. 1125–1183), married Elizabeth, Lady of Courtenay

Afer Louis VI''s death, Adélaide did not immediately retire to conventuallife, as did most widowed queens of the time. Instead she marriedMatthieu I of Montmorency, with whom she had one child. She remainedactive in the French court and in religious activities.

Adélaide is one of two queens in a legend related by William Dugdale. Asthe story goes, Queen Adélaide of France became enamoured of a youngknight, William d''Albini, at a joust. But he was already engaged toAdeliza of Louvain and refused to become her lover. The jealous Adélaidelured him into the clutches of a hungry lion, but William ripped out thebeast''s tongue with his bare hands and thus killed it. This story isalmost without a doubt apocryphal.

In 1153 she retired to the abbey of Montmartre, which she had foundedwith Louis VII. She died there on 18 November 1154. She was buried in thecemetery of the Church of St. Pierre at Montmarte, but her tomb wasdestroyed during the Revolution.