Adelaide II, Abbess of Quedlinburg

Adelaide II
Tombstone of Princess Adelaide II
Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg
Reign	1063 – 11 January 1096
Predecessor	Beatrix I
Successor	Eilica
Born	1045 Goslar (?), Saxony
Died	11 January 1096 Quedlinburg, Saxony
Burial	Quedlinburg Abbey
House	Salian dynasty
Father	Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor
Mother	Agnes of Poitou
Religion	Roman Catholic

Adelaide II (German: Adelheid; 1045 – 11 January 1096), a member of the Salian dynasty, was Abbess of Gandersheim from 1061 and Abbess of Quedlinburg from 1063 until her death.

Adelaide was born about September/October 1045, presumably at the Imperial Palace of Goslar, as the first child of King Henry III of Germany (1016–1056) from his second marriage with the French princess Agnes of Poitou (c.1025–1077), a daughter of Duke William V of Aquitaine. Henry had vainly hoped for a male heir to the throne; unsettled, the royal couple headed for their coronation by Pope Clement II in Rome the following year. Not until 1050, a son, Henry IV, was born, to the great relief of his parents. Adelaide's father died in 1056, leaving their minor son and his siblings under the regency of the dowager empress.

From Henry's first marriage with Princess Gunhilda of Denmark, Adelaide had an elder half-sister, Beatrice (1037–1061), whom she subsequently succeeded in her offices: in 1061, she was elected successor to Beatrice as Imperial Abbess of Gandersheim. Two years later, Adelaide succeeded her half-sister as Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg; she was possibly ordained in Goslar Cathedral at Pentecost 1063, witnessing the violent Precedence Dispute. She ruled both abbeys as Adelaide II.