Research Notes:

There is uncertainty about the origin of Adelais, wife of Hugues Capet. The 11th century Translatio S. Maglorii et aliorum names "Adelaide…filia Pictavorum comitis, de progenie Caroli Magni" as the wife of "Hugone, Francorum duce", clarifying that the latter refers to Hugues "Capet" King of France when it names "Roberto…rege, memorati ducis filio". This Poitevin origin is also suggested by Richer who records that King Robert "ob nepotem suum Wilelmum" besieged "in Aquitania…Hildebertum". It is assumed that such a relationship between King Robert and Duke Guillaume would be through the king's mother as no family connection through his father has been established. The Chronicle of Ademar de Chabannes, on the other hand, recounts the dispute between "Dux Aquitanorum Willelmus" and King Hugues, as well as the subsequent peace agreed between the parties in 990, without mentioning that the duke was the king's brother-in-law, all the more surprising if the Poitevin origin is correct as Ademar concentrates on Poitevin affairs and also includes genealogical details in his narrative. Another possible ancestry is suggested by Helgaud's Vita Roberti Regis which names "Rex Francorum Rotbertus…patre Hugone, matre Adhelaide", specifying that "ab Ausonis partibus descenderat". Settipani equates "Ausonia" with Rome or Italy, although no other reference to an Italian origin for Adelais has yet been identified. The Chronicle of Alberic de Trois-Fontaines refers to the mother of "rex Francorum Robertus" as "superiorem regum Anglie soror" but it is difficult to see to whom this could refer or how it could be correct. The paucity of references in contemporary sources to the wife of Hugues Capet and her origin contrasts sharply with the frequent references to his mother and to the wives of his son King Robert I. This suggests that the background of Queen Adelais may have been obscure and that her family had little political influence at the time, although this would be surprising as her husband was already enjoying a position of some power at the Carolingian court at the time of his marriage. Maybe her family was prominent when the couple married but suffered a subsequent decline by the time her husband was elected king. Nevertheless, an Aquitainian marriage would have fitted the political circumstances of the time. After several decades of dispute between the Capet and Poitou families, a permanent peace appears to have been established from about the time the marriage took place.

The necrology of the abbey of Saint-Denis records the death "XVII Kal Jul" of "Adelaidis regina". ²