Adèle of Normandy

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 14 Oct 962
• Alternate death: Aft 969

Notes:

Supposedly also called Geirlaug, Gerloc of Normandy. Widely said to have been a daughter of Rollo "of Normandy", by his supposed wife "Poppa", but various aspects of this are doubted by many. See the Henry Project for much measured discussion; also see Peter Stewart's comments on SGM in 2010, quoted in our entry for her (possible) (maybe) daughter Adélaïde, wife of Hugh Capet.

Adèle married Guillaume "Tête-d'Étoupe" in 935. Guillaume (son of Ebalus Manzer and Aremburge) was born in 900 in of Poitiers, Vienne, Poitou-Charentes, France; died on 3 Apr 963. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 15 Jun 1004
• Alternate death: 15 Jun 1005
• Alternate death: 15 Jun 1006

Notes:

Also called Alix.

Her origins are contested. At the Henry Project, Stewart Baldwin considers her a "probable" daughter of William/Guillaume III "Tête-d'Étoupe" ("Towhead"), Duke of Aquitaine, who was also William I of Poitou, "possibly" by Adèle/Gerloc, daughter of Rollo of Normandy. Regarding William III as her father, Baldwin writes "No definitive solution is possible on the known evidence, but this parentage is more likely than the alternatives." He presents a long summary of the competing arguments for and against this model. We follow the Henry project, but in this case we note some strong arguments against this ancestry for the wife of Hugh Capet.

From Peter Stewart, 22 Jun 2010, on soc.genealogy.medieval:

The evidence that Hugo Capet's wife was a daughter of Guilhem III, duke of Aquitaine (Guilhem I as count of Poitou) is late and unsatisfactory but nonetheless straightforward enough.

The evidence that she was related to the ducal family of Normandy is more satisfactory and also straightforward.

However, that this relationship came about through Adela/Gerloc is somewhat less satisfactory, and muddied to a degree by contradictions in the sources for this mysterious personage.

Dudo says that Guilhem III proposed his own marriage to a sister of William Longsword of Normandy in the course of a gathering to hunt mating deer near Rouen, attended amongst others by Hugo Capet's father Hugo Magnus described as duke and leading man of the kingdom—the title and position were accorded to him ca 936. William reportedly called his sister a 'girl' at the time, suggesting that she was perhaps ca. 14 and born well after the conversion of her father Rollo to Christianity. Yet William of Jumièges later gave her the pagan name Gerloc, which appears rather anomalous considering that even William (who must have been ca. 20 years older than her) never occurs with any Norse name.

I would not accept the unsupported word of Dudo for anything at all, including his own existence. He was an outstanding nincompoop, and relied for this period on the memories of people who clearly did not have the story of Rollo's life and family straight in the first place.

Dudo's contemporary Ademar of Chabannes, who certainly knew more about the ducal family in Aquitaine though not that in Normandy, says that Rollo's daughter married Ebles Manzer and was mother of Guilhem III/I ("filius Rannulfi, Eblus manzer, Arvernis et Pictavis simul comes promotus est...Acceptaque in conjugium Adala, filia Rosi [sic] Rotomagensis comitis., genuit ex ea Willelmum Caput Stupe.") The monks of Saint-Maixent, where Guilhem's younger brother Ebles was abbot from 936 (NB around the time that Dudo placed the marriage to Guilhem III/I), followed Ademar and made him also a son of Ebles Manzer and the daughter of Rollo ("Eblus filius Ramnulfi...acceptaque in conjugio Adela, filia Rolli Rothomagensis, genuit ex ea Willelmum Caput Stupæ et episcopum Ebulum".)

We don't know much about the marriages of Ebles Manzer—in the 890s he appears to have had a wife named Aremburgis and by February 911 he was married to a lady named Emillana, probably the same as the Countess Alaina who later became a nun. Guilhem III/I occurs with a wife named Adeleidis in the early 950s. There is no evidence apart from Dudo, Ademar and William of Jumièges that any of these women (or perhaps another who does not occur in charters) was a daughter of Rollo and also had the name Gerloc.

There are such wide gaps in our knowledge of these genealogies that trying to fill in a "Norman ancestry alleged for Adelaide" from the fact that her grandson was somehow related to Edward the Confessor is a stretch too far.

From Peter Stewart, 22 Dec 2020, on soc.genealogy.medieval:

The question of the family origin of Hugo Capet's wife has been raised here before, and I have given reasons for doubting her connection to the dukes of Aquitaine.

A further point has just occurred to me that as far as I know has not been brought into the discussion here or in print before:

In 1025 after Robert II (the only son of Hugo and Adelais) had declined to become king of Italy, Guilhem V of Aquitaine decided to support the candidacy of his own eldest son. To further this he asked for support from the king to prevent opposition from Germany, offering inducements to Robert (1,000 pounds and 100 mantles) and to the queen (500 pounds).

But he put forward the request indirectly, through the queen's first cousin Fulco Nerra of Anjou. A letter to the king, written by St Fulbert of Chartres for Fulco on behalf of Guilhem, sets out the terms of the proposal asking the king to reply to Fulco so that he could relay the answer to Guilhem.

This round-about procedure through a proxy related to the king's wife would seem somewhat odd if Guilhem had been a nephew of Adelais, and his alternative candidate for the Lombard crown therefore the king's first cousin once removed.

Adélaïde married Hugues Capet, King of France in 968. Hugues (son of Hugues "Le Grand" and Hedwig of Saxony) was born about 940; died on 24 Oct 996 in "Les Juifs" near Prasville, Eure-de-Loire, France; was buried in Abbey of Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Called "Fierebras," "Iron-Arm." Count of Poitou.

William married Emma of Blois in 968. Emma (daughter of Thibaut I of Blois and Luitgarde de Vermandois) was born in 950; died about 1003. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 1013

Notes:

Also called Avoise, Edith, Hadvisa.

Hedwig married Reginar IV in 996. Reginar (son of Reginar III "Longneck" and Adela) was born about 950; died in 1013. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 27 Mar 971, Orléans, Loiret, France
• Alternate birth: 27 Mar 972, Orléans, Loiret, France

Notes:

Called "The Pious."

Robert married Rozala of Italy, Queen Consort of France between 989 and 990, and was divorced between 991 and 993. Rozala (daughter of Berengario II, King of Italy and Willa of Arles) was born between 945 and 955; died on 13 Dec 1003; was buried in Abbey of Saint-Pierre, Ghent, Flanders. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Robert married Bertha of Burgundy between 25 Oct 996 and Feb 997, and was divorced before May 1004. Bertha (daughter of Conrad I, King of Burgundy and Matilda of the West Franks) was born about 965; died after 1010. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Robert married Constance of Provence, Queen Consort of France about May 1004. Constance (daughter of Guillaume I "le Liberateur" and Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou) was born between 985-990; died on 22 Jul 1034 in Melun, Seine-et-Marne, Île-de-France, France; was buried in Abbey of Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Count of Poitou. Duke of Aquitaine.

Family/Spouse: Agnes of Burgundy. Agnes (daughter of Otto-William of Burgundy and Ermentrude de Roucy) was born about 995; died on 10 Nov 1068; was buried in Abbey of St. Nicolas de Poitiers, Vienne, Poitou-Charentes, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Count of Hainaut.

Family/Spouse: Mathilde de Verdun. Mathilde (daughter of Herman von Enham and Mathilde) died about 1039. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Ebles I de Roucy. Ebles (son of Giselbert) was born about 980; died on 11 May 1033. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Count of Hainaut.

Family/Spouse: Matilde de Lorraine. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Advisa; Adele of France.

Hedwig married Renaud I de Nevers on 25 Jan 1016. Renaud (son of Landry de Maers and Matilda of Burgundy) was born about 990; died on 24 May 1040 in Sainte-Vertu, Burgundy, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Henri married Anne of Kiev, Queen Consort of France on 19 May 1051 in Rheims, Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France. Anne (daughter of Yaroslav I "The Wise", Grand Prince of Kiev and Ingegerd (St. Anna) of Sweden) was born in 1036 in Kiev, Ukraine; died after 1075. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1003
• Alternate birth: Abt 1009, Ypres, Flanders
• Alternate death: Abt 1063

Notes:

Also called Adela; Aelis; Alais; Adelaide; Adelheid; Alix; Adela the Holy; Adela of Messines. Countess of Auxerre; Countess of Cotentin.

Adele married Richard III on 10 Jan 1027. Richard (son of Richard II and Judith of Brittany) was born in 1001; died on 5 Aug 1027. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Adele married Baldwin V in 1028 in Paris, France. Baldwin (son of Baldwin IV "The Bearded" and Otgiva of Luxembourg) was born about 1010; died on 1 Sep 1067; was buried in Lille, Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 21 May 1076

Notes:

"The Old." Duke of Burgundy.

"In 1025, with the death of his eldest brother Hugh Magnus, he and Henry rebelled against their father and defeated him, forcing him back to Paris. In 1031, after the death of his father the king, Robert participated in a rebellion against his brother, in which he was supported by his mother, Constance of Arles. Peace was only achieved when Robert was given Burgundy (1032). Throughout his reign, he was little more than a robber baron who had no control over his own vassals, whose estates he often plundered, especially those of the Church. He seized the income of the diocese of Autun and the wine of the canons of Dijon. He burgled the abbey of St-Germain at Auxerre. In 1055, he repudiated his wife, Helie of Semur, and assassinated her brother Joceran and murdered her father, his father-in-law, Lord Dalmace I of Semur, with his own hands. In that same year, the bishop of Langres, Harduoin, refused to dedicate the church of Sennecy so as not "to be exposed to the violence of the duke." [Wikipedia]

Robert married Helie of Semur about 1033. Helie (daughter of Dalmas I of Semur and Aremburge de Vergy) was born about 1015; died after 1055 in Priory of the Holy Trinity of Marcigny-lès-Nonnains, Burgundy, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Robert married Ermengarde of Anjou about 1048. Ermengarde (daughter of Foulques III "Nerra" and Hildegarde de Lorraine) was born about 1018; died on 18 Mar 1076. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Peter-William (Pierre-Guillaume). Count of Poitiers; Duke of Aquitaine.

Family/Spouse: Ermensinde de Longwy. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

As Count of Poitou, he was called William VI; as Duke of Aquitaine, William VIII. Also Duke of Gascony.

Guy-Geoffrey married Hildegarde of Burgundy in 1069. Hildegarde (daughter of Robert I and Ermengarde of Anjou) was born about 1050; died after 1104. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Agnes of Aquitaine.

Agnes married Heinrich III, Holy Roman Emperor on 21 Nov 1043. Heinrich (son of Conrad II "The Salic", Holy Roman Emperor and Gisele of Swabia) was born on 28 Oct 1016; died on 5 Oct 1056 in Bodfeld, Harz, Germany; was buried in Speyer Cathedral, Speyer, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Béatrice married Raymond I of Melgueil before 1055. Raymond (son of Bernard III de Melgueil and Adèle de Substantion) died before 1079. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]