Adelaide II, Abbess of Quedlinburg

Who was Adelaide II, Abbess of Quedlinburg?

Adelaide II was Abbess of Gandersheim and Quedlinburg.

Adelaide was born in the autumn of 1045 as the first child of Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor, and Agnes of Poitou, his second wife. In 1061, she was elected successor to her older half-sister, Beatrice, as Imperial Abbess of Gandersheim. Two years later, Adelaide succeeded her half-sister as Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg. She ruled both abbeys as Adelaide II.

Like her half-sister and predecessor, Adelaide II supported the Holy Roman Emperor throughout the long struggle with the Pope. During her reign, a great fire broke out and destroyed the abbey, so she had the foundations reconstructed. In 1088, Adelaide's brother, Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, used the abbey for trial of Egbert of Meissen, who had unsuccessfully laid siege to the convent.

Adelheid died on 11 January 1096 in Quedlinburg Abbey.