Adelaide of Weimar-Orlamünde
Adelaide of Weimar-Orlamünde | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1055 |
| Died | 28 March 1100 |
| Buried | Adela of Louvain |
Adelaide of Weimar-Orlamünde (c. 1055 - 28 March 1100) was the daughter of
Life
Adelaide was the daughter and heiress of
First Marriage
Adelaide’s first husband was Adalbert II of Ballenstedt, a member of the House of Ascania.[1] Around 1079, Adalbert was murdered by Egeno II of Konradsburg in 1079.[2] With Adalbert, Adelaide had two sons:
- Otto the Rich (c. 1070 – 1123), Count of Ballenstedt[3]
- Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1095/97.[3]
Second marriage
After Adalbert’s death, Adelaide married for a second time, around 1080, to
Third marriage
After Hermann’s death in 1085, Adelaide married again. Her third husband was Henry of Laach from the House of Luxembourg.[5] From at least 1097 onwards, Henry was the successor to some of the lands and titles of Adelaide’s previous husband, Hermann II, calling himself ‘count palatine of the Rhine’. Adelaide and Henry’s marriage was childless. Henry adopted Siegfried, Adelaide’s younger son from her marriage to Adalbert, as his heir. After Henry’s death in 1099, Siegfried succeeded him as count palatine of the Rhine.[6]
Foundation of Maria Laach Abbey
In 1093 Adelaide and her third husband, Henry, founded the abbey of Maria Laach, with property which Adelaide had inherited from her father, Otto.[7] The abbey was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and to Saint Nicholas. Construction work on the abbey was interrupted by Adelaide’s death in 1100. It was not until 1112 that Adelaide’s son, Siegfried, renewed and completed the building work.
Seal
One of the earliest surviving women’s seals is attached to a charter issued by Adelaide in 1097.[8] The seal legend (writing around the edge of the seal) refers to Adelaide as ‘Adelaide, countess palatine’ (Adelheit palatina comitizsa). The image on the seal depicts the profile bust of a veiled female figure, holding an open book and a fleur-de-lis sceptre ending in a quatrefoil.[9]
Death
Adelaide died in 1100, a year after Henry, while on a pilgrimage to Rome.
Notes
- ^ a b Jackman 2012, p. 33.
- ^ Reuter 2010, p. 364.
- ^ a b Loud & Schenk 2017, p. xxvi.
- ^ Thiele, Erzählende genealogische Stammtafeln, table 167.
- ^ Bixton 2001, p. 653.
- ^ Arnold 1991, p. 139.
- ^ Beyer, Elester, and Goerz, Urkundenbuch zur Geschichte, no. 388, p. 444.
- ^ Heino Struck, Quellen zur Geschichte, no. 9, p. 9.
- ^ Vogelsang, Herrscherin, p. 51; Stieldorf, Frauensiegel, pp. 75-6.
References
- Wolf Heino Struck, Quellen zur Geschichte der Klöster und Stifte im Gebeit der mittleren Lahn bis zum Ausgang des Mittelalters 1 (1956).
- H Beyer, L Elester, A Goerz, Urkundenbuch zur Geschichte der jetzt die preußischen Regierungsbezirke Coblenz und Trier bildenden mittelrheinischen Territorien 1 (1860).
- T. Vogelsang, Die Frau als Herrscherin im hohen Mittelalter (1950).
- A. Stieldorf, Rheinische Frauensiegel. Studien zur rechtlichen und sozialen Stellung weltlicher Frauen im 13. und 14. Jahrhundert (Cologne, 1999).
- A. Thiele, Erzählende genealogische Stammtafeln zur europäischen Geschichte" Band I, Teilband 1 Deutsche Kaiser-, Königs-, Herzogs- und Grafenhäuser I
- Loud, Graham A.; Schenk, Jochen, eds. (2017). The Origins of the German Principalities, 1100-1350: Essays by German Historians. Routledge.
- Reuter, Timothy (2010). Nelson, Janet L. (ed.). Medieval Polities and Modern Mentalities. Cambridge University Press.
- Arnold, Benjamin (1991). Princes and Territories in Medieval Germany. Cambridge University Press.
- Jackman, Donald C. (2012). The Kleeberg Fragment of the Gleiberg County. Editions Enlaplage.
- Bixton, Paul B. (2001). "Rhenish Palatinate". In Jeep, John M. (ed.). Medieval Germany: An Encyclopedia. Routledge.