Adelaide del Vasto (
Adelasia,
Azalaïs) (c. 1075 – April 16, 1118) was the third wife of
Roger I of SicilyRoger I , called Bosso and the Great Count, was the Norman Count of Sicily from 1071 to 1101. He was the last great leader of the Norman conquest of southern Italy.-Conquest of Calabria and Sicily:...
and mother of
Roger II of SicilyRoger II was King of Sicily, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, later became Duke of Apulia and Calabria , then King of Sicily...
, as well as
Queen consortA queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles...
of
JerusalemThe Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. It lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks....
due to her later marriage to
Baldwin I of JerusalemBaldwin I of Jerusalem, formerly Baldwin I of Edessa, born Baldwin of Boulogne , 1058? - 2 April 1118, was one of the leaders of the First Crusade, who became the first Count of Edessa and then the second ruler and first titled King of Jerusalem...
, as his third wife.
Family
She was the daughter of Manfred del Vasto (brother of Boniface del Vasto, marquess of Western Liguria, and Anselm del Vasto). Her father's family was a branch of the Aleramici, sharing a common descent from
Aleramo of MontferratAleram was the marquess of Montferrat and Liguria in Northern Italy until his death. He was son of William I of Montferrat....
with the Marquesses of Montferrat. Her brothers founded the lines of the
Marquesses of Saluzzo, of
BuscaBusca is a comune in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 60 km southwest of Turin and about 15 km northwest of Cuneo...
, of
LanciaLancia Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian automobile manufacturer founded in 1906 by Vincenzo Lancia and which became part of the Fiat Group in 1969. The company has a long history of producing distinctive cars and also has a strong rally heritage. Modern Lancias are seen as presenting a more...
, of
CevaCeva, the ancient Ceba, is a small Italian town in the province of Cuneo, region of Piedmont, 49 km east of Cuneo. It lies on the right bank of the Tanaro on a wedge of land between that river and the Cevetta stream.-History:...
, and of
SavonaSavona is a seaport and comune in the northern Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea....
.
Her parental grandparents were Teto II. del Vasto, and his wife Berta, daughter of margrave Odalrico of Turin.
Countess consort of Sicily
She married Roger I in 1089, as his third wife, while her sister married Roger's illegitimate son
JordanJordan of Hauteville was the eldest son and bastard of Roger I of Sicily. A fighter, he took part, from an early age, in the conquests of his father in Sicily....
. Roger I died in 1101, and Adelaide ruled as
regentA regent, from the Latin regens "reigning", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Thus, the common use is for an acting deputy governor....
of
SicilySicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous region of Italy. Several much smaller islands surrounding it are considered to be part of Sicily....
for her young sons Simon and Roger II. During her tenure, the emir
ChristodulusChristodulus , probably either a Moslem convert or a Greek Orthodox, was the first emir of Palermo...
rose to preeminence at the court and
PalermoPalermo is a historic city in Southern Italy, the capital of the autonomous region Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its rich history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
was settled as the capital of the realm.
Either through her influence or under her regency, her brother
Henry del VastoHenry del Vasto was a son of Manfred del Vasto, margrave of Western Liguria, and brother of Adelaide, countess of Sicily and Jerusalem ....
was granted
PaternòPaternò is a town in the Province of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy.-History:The site of Paternò was settled before 3500 BCE. Its inhabitants were probably the Sicani, although it was located in mainly Sicel territory; its initial name was Inessa. The modern name derives form the Greek Paeter...
and
ButeraButera is an Italian town and comune in the province of Caltanissetta, in the southwestern part of the island of Sicily. It is bounded by the comuni of Gela, Licata, Mazzarino, Ravanusa and Riesi...
. Henry (Enrico) was married to Flandina daughter of Count Roger I. of Calabria and Sicily.
Queen consort of Jerusalem
Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, after the death of Baldwin's first wife Godehilde during the
First CrusadeThe First Crusade was a military expedition by European Christians to regain the Holy Lands taken by the Muslim conquest of the Levant, which resulted in the capture of Jerusalem in 1099. It was launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II with the primary goal of responding to the appeal from Byzantine...
, Baldwin married an
ArmeniaArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
n noblewoman traditionally known as
ArdaArda was the wife of King Baldwin I of Jerusalem. She was the first Queen consort of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, as Baldwin's brother and predecessor Godfrey of Bouillon was unmarried....
. Arda was useful in an alliance with the Armenians while Baldwin was
Count of EdessaThe County of Edessa was one of the Crusader states in the 12th century, based around Edessa, a city with an ancient history and an early tradition of Christianity....
, but when he became
King of JerusalemThe Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. It lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks....
in 1100 he seemed to have little use for an Armenian wife, and Arda was forced into a convent around 1105.
In 1112 a new marriage was sought for the king.
Arnulf of ChocquesArnulf Malecorne of Chocques was a leader among the clergy during the First Crusade, and was Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1099 and from 1112 to 1118....
,
Latin Patriarch of JerusalemThe Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem is the title possessed by the Latin Rite Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem. The Archdiocese of Jerusalem has jurisdiction for all Latin Rite Catholics in Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus. In Jerusalem, the Catholic community is the largest Christian community,...
, suggested that Baldwin marry Adelaide, as Roger II was now old enough to rule Sicily alone. Baldwin sent ambassadors to Sicily, and somewhat hastily agreed to any terms which Adelaide might have; Adelaide demanded that their son, should they have one, inherit Jerusalem, and if they had no children, the kingdom would pass to her own son Roger II. Adelaide brought with her an enormous amount of badly-needed money, as well as some
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
archers and a thousand other Sicilian soldiers.
Adelaide was already well into middle age and no new heir was immediately forthcoming. The king was blamed for a bigamous marriage (as Arda was still alive) and the Patriarch Arnulf was deposed.
Pope Paschal IIPaschal II, born Ranierius, was Pope from August 13, 1099, until his death. A monk of the Cluniac order, he was created cardinal priest of the Titulus S...
agreed to reinstate him in 1116, provided that he annul the marriage between Baldwin and Adelaide. Baldwin agreed, after falling ill and assuming that renouncing his sin of bigamy would cure him. In 1117 the annulment was performed at Acre, and Adelaide sailed back to Sicily.
Adelaide died on April 16, 1118 and was buried in
PattiPatti is a town in North-Eastern Sicily, southern Italy, administratively part of the province of Messina, on the western shore of the gulf of the same name...
. Roger II was outraged at the treatment of his mother and never forgave the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Almost thirty years later, Roger still refused to give assistance to the Crusader states during the
Second CrusadeThe Second Crusade was the second major crusade launched from Europe. It was called in 1145, in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusade by Baldwin of Boulogne in 1098...
.
Sources
- Geoffrey Malaterra, "The Deeds of Count Roger of Calabria and Sicily and of his Brother Duke Robert Guiscard", (Goffredo Malaterra, fl. 1097, "De rebus gestis Rogerii ...." English translation by Kenneth Baxter Wolf, University of Michigan Press, 2005, ISBN 0-472-11459-X, Chapter 4.14. p. 189 - 190
- Bernard Hamilton, "Women in the Crusader States: The Queens of Jerusalem", in Medieval Women, edited by Derek Baker. Ecclesiastical History Society, 1978.
- Pasquale Hamel, Adelaide del Vasto, Regina di Gerusalemme. Palermo: Sellerio Editore, 1997.
- Alan V. Murray, The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A Dynastic History, 1099-1125. Prosopographica and Genealogica, 2000.