Adela of Normandy
Adela of Normandy, of Blois, or of England (c. 1067 – 8 March 1137), also known as Saint Adela in the Catholic Church, was a daughter of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders. She later became the countess of Blois, Chartres, and Meaux by marriage to Stephen II of Blois.
Quotes
[edit]- Stephen also, count of Blois, was despised and shamed by almost everyone, because in 1098 he had disgracefully fled from the siege of Antioch and deserted his glorious comrades who were suffering in Christ's martyrdom. He was so often reproached, by so many people, that he was forced to rejoin Christ's army, as much from embarrassment as from fear. His wife Adela also frequently urged him to go, and between caresses of her loving husband she would say: "Far be it from you, my lord, to deign to suffer the reproaches of such men for long. Recapture the famous vigour of your youth, and take up the weapons of the glorious army for the salvation of many thousands, so that there may be a great rejoicing arising from Christians all over the world, and terror for the heathen, and the public overthrow of their wicked law."
- In Orderic Vitalis, Historia Ecclesiastica. Elizabeth Hallam (ed.) Chronicles of the Crusades (New York: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1989) p. 97. Compare: Ephesians 6:17
