Adelaide of Cleves

Adelaide of Cleves (died 1238), also known as Aleid and Adelheid was, by her marriage to Dirk VII, Countess of Holland. She played an important role in the administration during the reign of her husband, during which she served as regent in 1195, and facilitated the marriage and accession of their daughter Ada amid dynastic disputes in 1203. Life Origins Adelaide was the daughter of Dietrich II, Count of Cleves (died 1172) and Adelaide (Adelheid) of Sulzbach (died 1189). Nothing is known about her childhood and upbringing. She had two brothers: Dietrich III/IV (died before 1202) and Arnold (died 1200), and a sister, Margaret (Margaretha) (died about 1184). Adelaide's father is called a wealthy man in the Egmond Annals. The counts of Cleves were on good terms with the counts of Holland, who, like them, had an interest in limiting the power of the counts of Guelders, although intermarriages regularly took place between all these regions. The good relationship between Holland and Cleves was sealed with two marriages between the two houses: in 1182, Dietrich III of Cleves married Margaret (Margaretha), daughter of Floris III of Holland, and in 1186 the union between Adelaide and Dirk VII of Holland, then heir to the county, took place. The couple would have three daughters: Aleydis and Petronilla (both died before 1203) and Ada (–after 1234). In 1190, Dirk succeeded his father as Count Dirk VII of Holland.