English Queen Consort. She was the second wife of King Henry I. Adeliza was a daughter of Godfrey I, Duke of Lower Lorraine, Landgrave of Brabant, Margrave of Antwerp, and Count of Brussels and Leuven (Louvain). She was married to King Henry I of England on January 24, 1121. The marriage occurred in no small part due to the fact that the King's only legitimate son and heir had died on November 25, 1120 in the sinking of the White Ship in the English Channel during a trip from France to England, near the Norman coast, off Barfleur. The groom, approximately thirty-five years older than the bride, who was probably in her late teens, was hopeful of producing another legitimate male heir. Ironically, Henry had fathered over two dozen illegitimate children, but only one of his legitimate children, a daughter, survived from his first marriage. His daughter, Matilda, was first married to the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry V, and was widely referred to as the Empress Matilda, even after her second marriage to Geoffrey, Count of Anjou. The young Adeliza traveled extensively with her husband, but she never bore the king a child. As queen, she played a very limited role politically, but was active as a patron of the arts. The king bestowed extensive estates upon her and she is known to have gifted land to the church in addition to founding a leper hospital at Fugglestone St. Peter, Wiltshire. Three years following the death of the king, she was married in 1138 to William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel, with whom she had children. The period following the reign of King Henry I is known as the Anarchy. Although Henry I had declared his daughter, Matilda, his heir in the event he died without a legitimate male heir and the Anglo-Norman barons had sworn to recognize her as such at Westminster in 1126, he was instead succeeded by his nephew, Stephen of Blois. This resulted in a civil war to determine the succession of the English throne between Matilda and King Stephen. It resulted in lawlessness throughout England and the erosion of royal authority. During this period, Adeliza is known to have housed her former step-daughter, the Empress Matilda, at her home, Arundel Castle, following Matilda's return to England on August 31, 1139. This act placed Adeliza in a difficult situation as her second husband was a supporter of King Stephen. It resulted in the castle being besieged by King Stephen and posed the threat that Adeliza might lose her lands in being seen as supporting her former step-daughter. Upon the personal appeal of Adeliza and her disavowal of any disloyalty, King Stephen halted the siege and permitted Matilda and her retinue to safely depart. The former queen retired to Affligem Abbey in modern-day Belgium in 1150 where she died in 1151.