Adela of Flanders


Adela of Flanders , was Queen consort of Denmark by marriage to King Canute IV and duchess of Apulia by marriage to Duke Roger Borsa, and then regent of Apulia from 1111 to 1115 as mother and guardian of Duke William II.

Life

Adela was born the daughter of Robert I, Count of Flanders, and Gertrude of Saxony.
In 1080 she married King Canute IV of Denmark. The marriage was arranged as a part of an alliance between Flanders and Denmark against William the Conqueror. During this marriage, she had three children: a son, later Count Charles the Good, and twin daughters, Cecilia and Ingegerd. When Canute was assassinated in 1086, she fled with her son to Flanders, leaving her daughters behind in Denmark.
She stayed in the court of her father and brother Robert II until 1092, when she left for Italy to marry Roger Borsa, Duke of Apulia. She bore her second husband three sons: Louis, the future Duke William II and Guiscard. She acted as a regent for her son William II at the death of Roger Borsa from 1111 until he came of age in 1114.