, Adèle Of France, Countess Of Flanders

Adèle of France[a] known also as Adela the Holy or Adela of Messines;(1009 – 8 January 1079, Messines), she was the Countess of Normandy(January 1027–August 1027), Countess of Flanders (1035–1067)

Adèle was the second daughter of Robert II (the Pious), and Constance ofArles.[1] In January 1027 she married Richard III, Duke of Normandy.[2]The marriage was short-lived for on 6 August of that same year RichardIII suddenly died.[2] Adela then married Baldwin V, Count of Flanders in1028.[3]

Adèle''s influence lay mainly through her family connections. On the deathof her brother, Henry I of France, the guardianship of his seven-year-oldson Philip I fell jointly on his widow, Ann of Kiev, and on hisbrother-in-law, Adela''s husband, so that from 1060 to 1067, they wereRegents of France.[4]

In 1071, Adela''s third son, Robert the Frisian, planned to invadeFlanders even though at that time the Count of Flanders was Adela''sgrandson, Arnulf III. When she heard about Robert''s plans, she askedPhilip I to stop him. Philip sent soldiers to support Arnulf including acontingent of ten Norman knights led by William FitzOsborn. Robert''sforces attacked Arnulf''s numerically superior army at Cassel before itcould organize, and Arnulf was killed along with William FitzOsborn.Robert''s overwhelming victory led to Philip making peace with Robert andinvesting him as Count of Flanders. A year later, Philip married Robert''sstepdaughter, Bertha of Holland, and in 1074, Philip restored theseigneurie of Corbie to the crown.

Adèle had a strong interest in Baldwin V’s church reforms and was behindher husband’s founding of several collegiate churches. Directly orindirectly, she was responsible for establishing the Colleges of Aire(1049), Lille (1050) and Harelbeke (1064) as well as the abbeys ofMessines (1057) and Ename (1063). After Baldwin’s death in 1067, she wentto Rome, took the nun’s veil from the hands of Pope Alexander II andretired to the Benedictine convent of Messines, near Ypres. There shelater died and was buried at the convent. Honoured as a saint in theRoman Catholic Church, her commemoration day is 8 September.

Her first marriage was in 1027 to Richard III, Duke of Normandy (died1027). They had no children.

Her second marriage was in 1028 to Baldwin V, Count of Flanders (died1067).[3] Their children were:
Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders (c.?1030–1070).[3]
Matilda of Flanders (c.?1032–1083). In c.?1053 she married William, Dukeof Normandy, the future King of England and had issue.[3]
Robert I, Count of Flanders (c.?1035–1093).[3]