
Adelaide of Italy (930-16 December 999) was the wife of Lothair II of Italy and the second wife of Otto the Great of Germany, making her Queen consort of Italy and Empress consort of the Holy Roman Empire.
Biography[]
Adelaide was born in 930, the daughter of Rudolf II of Burgundy (from the House of Welf) and Bertha of Swabia. She married her father's rival Lothair II of Italy at the age of fifteen, and their daughter Emma of Italy was born in 948. Her husband was poisoned in 750 by the House of Ivrea, and Berengar II of Italy usurped the throne. Adelaide refused to marry Berengar's son Adalbert II of Italy, leading to her being imprisoned in Como; Adelaide appealed to Otto the Great of Germany for help, leading to Otto invading Italy. She married him in 951, and was crowned Holy Roman Empress with him in 962 by Pope John XII. Her son would be Otto II of Germany, and she outlived him. She died in Selz Abbey in 999 at the age of 69.