Adelaide Queen of Sicily

Roger I was the son of Tancred de Hauteville, a Norman involved in the First Crusade. He eventually became head of the de Hauteville's and ruled Sicily until 1101. His first two marriages produced twelve daughers! His third wife produced two sons and a daughter. The elder of the two died in 1105, having ruled only four years under the regency of his mother, Adelaide del Vaso of Savona, who was only 26 years old when her husband died.

Adelaide acted as regent for the younger son, Roger II,  until he was of age to rule. During her regency, rebellions broke out in Calabria and Sicily which Adelaide reportedly put to an end with great force. She was described in the history of Roger I by Abbot Alexander of Telese as a most prudent woman ruler. A Greek and Arab charter from 1109 described her as "the great female ruler, the malikah of Sicily and Calabria, the protector of the Christian faith." She, and Roger II after her, chose to rule with help of local officials, rather than importing advisors unfamiliar with the island, its people and cultures. She also donated generously to local Greek monasteris to curry favor and support her authority. This was consistent with her husband's policies of religious and cultural tolerance.

Roger II arranged another marriage for Adelaide to Baldwin I, King of Jerusalm at the suggestion of Arnulf of Chocquest, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. Baldwin had been married to an Armenian noblewoman but when he became King, he forced his wife into a convent. Already middle-aged, one of Adelaide's demands was that if the marriage resulted in no children, the kingdom would pass to her own son, Roger. She brought to the marriage an enormous and much needed amount of money, as well as Muslim archers and a thousand Sicilian soldiers. (This girl is not going to any convent).

In time, because the King's Armenian wife was still living, the church determined the marriage between Adelaide and Baldwin was bigamous. The Patriarch Arnulf was deposed. Pope Paschal II agreed to reinstate Baldwin as King if he renounced the marriage which was annuled in 1117. Adelaide sailed back to Sicily. She died in 1118 but her son's anger at her treatment lasted his entire reign. He would not give aid to the Second Crusade. This refusal to participate in world affairs and his focus on Sicily may have been factors in his reign being called the "Golden Age of Sicily.