Saint Adelaide, queen of Italy and empress of Germany, born in France in 933, died at Seltz, Alsace, Dec. 1G, 999. She was a daughter of Rudolph II., king of Burgundy, whose contest with King Hugo of Italy was peaceably ended by her marrying in 047 the latter's son, Lothaire II., after whose violent death in 050 she was imprisoned by his successor Berenger II. for declining to marry his deformed son Adalbert. She escaped to the castle of a relative and solicited the protection of Otho I., the Great, who, captivated by her beauty and character, married her in 051. She was crowned empress of the West in 002, and exerted much influence in Germany during a part of the reign of her son Otho II. and as regent during the minority of her grandson Otho III. She was called the "mother of kingdoms." The latter part of her life was consecrated to works of piety and charity at Seltz, where she founded a Benedictine monastery; and she is honored as a saint on Dec. 10. Her biography has been written by St. Odilon and others in Latin, French, and German, and by G. B. Semeria in Italian (Vita politieo-religiosei di Santa Adelaide, regina d'Italia ed imperatrice del seicro Romano imperio, Turin, 1842).