Adela of Flanders

Adela of Flanders, in the southern Italian sources Ala or Alana (* 1064, † April 1115 in Apulia) was by marriage Queen of Denmark, later Duchess of Apulia and Calabria.

Life

Adela was the eldest daughter of Count Robert I the Frisian of Flanders (1035-1093) and the Saxon nobles Gertrud († 1089 ), daughter of Duke Bernhard II of Saxony from the House Bill Unger.

In his first marriage Adela married in 1080 in Odense, the Danish King Canute IV the Holy ( 1040-1086 ), second son of King Sven Estridsson. From their marriage three children were born:

  • Charles I the Great (1085-1127), Count of Flanders ∞ 1117 Margaret of Clermont
  • Ingrid (1086-1130) ∞ Folke, Swedish Jarl
  • Cecilia (1087-1131) ∞ Erich von Gotland

After her husband and his brother Benedict were killed on July 10, 1086 in Odense he built the church of St. Alban, she fled with her children back to Flanders. Beginning in 1092, she married second husband, the Duke of Apulia and Calabria, Roger Borsa ( 1061-1111 ), second son of Duke Robert Guiscard from the house of Hauteville and Sikelgaitas of Salerno. From this union three sons were born:

  • Ludwig ( † 1094 )
  • Guiscard († 8/1108 )
  • Wilhelm II (1095-1127)

Alana initially led the regency for William, however, the sources for this period are very scanty.

Duke of Calabria Robert I, Count of Flanders Bernard II, Duke of Saxony Billung Hauteville family William II, Duke of Apulia Romuald Guarna Ferdinand Chalandon Hubert Houben (historian) Italy
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