Page:The Queens of England.djvu/36

ADELAIS OF LOUVAINE, THE SECOND WIFE OF KING HENRY THE FIRST. The second choice of Henry Beauclerc was fortunate. For her beauty Adelais of Louvaine was distinguished by the ap- pellation of the "fair maid of Brabant," and she was no less skillful with her pen than in the use of her needle, the great accomplishment of the age. The. famous standard of silk and gold, which was captured by the Bishop of Liege and the Earl of Limbourg, in a battle fought in 1 129, near the Castle of Duras, was the work of Adelais, and was celebrated throughout Europe for the .beauty of its design and the consummate excellence of its workman- ship. The plain where this prize was taken was called the "field of the Standard," and the victors placed their trophy as a lasting memorial in the great church of St. Lambert at Liege, where for centuries after it was carried through the city on great occasions. Adelais of Louvaine was of a truly regal descent, her an- cestors being lineal descendants of Charles, the brother of Lothaire of France; and her father Godfrey, the great Duke of Brabant and Lothin (or Louvaine), a powerful and war- like prince. The English monarch, however, sought not the hand of the fair Adelais, either for her beauty. Or her accomplishments. His heart was deadened by the loss of his beloved Queen Ma- tilda and of his noble son, who perished in the waves. Hav- ing, therefore, no child left but the Empress Matilda of Ger- many, it was in the hope of male descendants that he con- tracted his second marriage. Nevertheless, he appears not to have undervalued the lady; he offered a magnificent dower, and even undertook to escort his bride from Louvaine into England. The day after her arrival, the nuptials are believed to have 24