Born: 1015-1020 (circa), Italy
Died: 19 December 1091
Country most active: Italy
Also known as: Adelaide of Turin, Adelheid, Adelais, Adeline
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Daughter of the Marquis Olderic of Turin and Susa, she passed a great part of her youth among the wars and slaughters of this barbaric era. Fame runs that she even wore a suit of arms and led an army in defense of the States she was to inherit from her father. At any rate, she gained a widespread renown by her indomitable strength and energy. She married Otto of Savoy, son of Humbert Brancamano (the Whitehanded), and her husband gave her great authority over the State, which she governed even more freely after Otto’s death. She had a great sense of justice and demonstrated it by often severely punishing the bishops and great squires of her lands, and by rewarding even her humblest subjects — a rare thing in times when the difference of classes was heavily felt and imposed. She also was an enlightened protector of poets and troubadours. A contemporary of Countess Mathilde of Canossa, she helped her in the moral reform of the Church, but while she favoured the Pope, she was not contrary to the Emperor, who obtained permission from her to pass the Alps unassailed, and so to arrive quite safe within the walls of Canossa.