rejected by modern writers as incredible; but Le Glay thinks it not at all inconsistent with what is known of the times and the people, and says it is related in some very old chronicles. The account is as follows:—
William, duke of Normandy, sent a message to Baldwin, count of Flanders, to ask the hand of his daughter Matilda. Baldwin was pleased with the offer, but when he told Matilda of it, she answered that she would never marry a bastard. Baldwin made the most polite excuses he could for his refusal. A considerable time passed before William heard what the young lady had said. He was extremely sensitive on the subject of his birth, and bitterly resented any slight or insult grounded on that misfortune. When Matilda's answer was told to him, he went to Lille; rushed, unannounced, into Adela's apartment, where her daughters were sitting with her; seized Matilda by her long plaits, dragged her through the room, threw her down, and kicked her; then, disappearing as suddenly as he had entered, mounted his horse and rode away to his own dominions. Very soon after this strange incident, the young people were reconciled and betrothed. As Pope Leo IX. raised objections to the marriage, on the ground of consanguinity, there was some delay; they were married, nevertheless, at Eu, in 1050, and afterwards obtained a dispensation, on condition that each should build a church. William built the abbey of St. Etienne, at Caen, and Matilda that of the Holy Trinity, in the same town. Matilda had a great deal of influence over her husband, which she always used for good.
Miræus (Le Mire), Annales Belgici and Notitia Ecclesiarum Belgii, Biografia Ecclesiastica (Madrid, 1848). Pétin, Dic. Hag. L'Art de Vérifier lea dates. Le Glay, Hist. des Comtes de Flandre. Sismondi, Hist. des Francois. Freeman, Norman Conquest, iii. 657. Palgrave, History of Normandy and England, iii. 137, 264. Biographie Universelle. Lappenberg, Saxon Kings of England, ii.
St. Adela (4), of Bohemia, Abdela.
St. Adelaide (1), June 9, 27, of Bergamo. Wife of St. Lupo, prince of that city, a virtuous ruler though a heathen. They had a daughter, St. Grata, who was the first of the three to become a Christian. He built a church, and was baptized there, with many of his subjects; he lived fifteen years more, and was buried in his church. Adelaide and Grata were widows for many years, and built several churches. Legend places the lives of these three saints in the time of Diocletian, but Henschenius, AA.SS., thinks it more likely that they lived in the 7th, 8th, or 9th century. The mother and daughter are commemorated together June 9; and separately, Adelaide, June 27; and Grata, Aug. 25.
St. Adelaide (2), Feb. 2. Abbess of Kitzingen, Hadeloga.
St. Adelaide (3), Dec 16, 12, and 17. 992. Empress. Queen of Italy. Queen of Germany. Called "the Happy" and "the Mother of the Kings." The richest woman in Europe. For variants of her name, see Ada (name). Adelaide, daughter of Rudolph or Ralph II., king of Burgundy, and his wife Bertha of Suabia, was born about 931. At sixteen she was married at Milan, to Lothaire, who soon afterwards succeeded her father as king of Italy. Pavia was given to Adelaide as a dowry. In 950 Lothaire died. His death was attributed to poisoned wine, given to him during a feast at Turin, by Berengarius, who immediately proclaimed himself king, as Berengarius II. He sought to strengthen his position by marrying his son Adelbert to Lothaire's widow. But Adelaide indignantly answered that if she ever married again it should be a man who could avenge her husband's death. She was besieged in Pavia, and in spite of the devotion of her people, and the heroism and generosity with which, when provisions failed, she shared everything with them, a traitor was found to open the gates, and before the queen knew that the town was taken, the enemy stood before her. At first Berengarius and Villa, his wife, treated her well; but as she persisted in her refusal to marry Adelbert, she was imprisoned at Como, where she was subjected to all kinds of insults from Villa, who is described by Liutprand as the very worst
