It’s really amazing to see who your ancestors were, assuming that you are lucky enough to find that one recent ancestor that has links back as far as the 6th or 7th century. Before then, much of the history is suspect and there is also a lot of myth and speculation involved. Many of the saints are pretty well documented though and St. Adelaide is one.
Saint Adelaide de Bourgogne’s relation to you: Direct ancestor (32 generations)
Here’s how:
1. Nicholas Victor Sorrentino is your father
2. Maria Luigia Piromallo is the mother of Nicholas Victor Sorrentino
3. Maria Emilia Caracciolo is the mother of Maria Luigia Piromallo
4. Filippo Caracciolo is the father of Maria Emilia Caracciolo
5. Prince Luigi Caracciolo is the father of Filippo Caracciolo
6. Prince Ambrogio II Caracciolo is the father of Prince Luigi Caracciolo
7. Prince Luigi Caracciolo is the father of Prince Ambrogio II Caracciolo
8. Ambrogio Caracciolo is the father of Prince Luigi Caracciolo
9. Prince Marino III Caracciolo is the father of Ambrogio Caracciolo
10. Prince Francesco Marino Caracciolo is the father of Prince Marino III Caracciolo
11. Francesca D’AVOLOS is the mother of Prince Francesco Marino Caracciolo
12. Innico III D’Avalos is the father of Francesca D’AVOLOS
13. Cesare D’Avalos is the father of Innico III D’Avalos
14. Maria Aragon is the mother of Cesare D’Avalos
15. Fernando Aragon is the father of Maria Aragon
16. Ferdinand I Naples is the father of Fernando Aragon
17. Alfonso V Aragon is the father of Ferdinand I Naples
18. Ferdinand I De Antequera Aragon is the father of Alfonso V Aragon
19. Juan Castile is the father of Ferdinand I De Antequera Aragon
20. Juana Manuel De Villena Escalona Penafiel is the mother of Juan Castile
21. Juan Manuel of Penafiel is the father of Juana Manuel De Villena Escalona Penafiel
22. Manuel Fernandez of Castile is the father of Juan Manuel of Penafiel
23. Elisabeth Von Hohenstaufen is the mother of Manuel Fernandez of Castile
24. Philip Von Hohenstaufen is the father of Elisabeth Von Hohenstaufen
25. Frederick Von Hohenstaufen is the father of Philip Von Hohenstaufen
26. Friedrich II Swabia is the father of Frederick Von Hohenstaufen
27. Frederick Von Hohenstaufen is the father of Friedrich II Swabia
28. Hildegarde Vonhohenlohe is the mother of Frederick Von Hohenstaufen
29. Otto Ii Herzog Palatine Swabia is the father of Hildegarde Vonhohenlohe
30. Matilda Von Sachsen is the mother of Otto Ii Herzog Palatine Swabia
31. Otto Von Sachsen is the father of Matilda Von Sachsen
32. Saint Adelaide de Bourgogne von Hevell of Italy ‘Burgandy’ is the mother of Otto Von Sachsen
St. Adelaide, also called St. Adelaide of Burgundy, German Adelheid die Heilige, French Sainte Adélaïde, Italian Santa Adelaide, (born c.931—died December 16, 999, Seltz, Alsace [now in France]; feast day December 16), consort of the Western emperor Otto Iand, later, regent for her grandson Otto III. One of the most influential women of 10th-century Europe, she helped strengthen the German church while subordinating it to imperial power.
The daughter of Rudolf II(died 937), king of Burgundy, and Bertha of Swabia, Adelaide was married (947) to Lothar, who succeeded his father, Hugh of Arles, as king of Italy in the same year. After Lothar died in 950, Berengar II of Ivrea, his old rival, seized the Italian throne and imprisoned Adelaide in 951 at Garda. After her escape four months later, she asked the German king Otto I the Great to help her regain the throne. Otto marched into Lombardyin September 951, declared himself king, and married her in October or November of that year. They were crowned emperor and empress by Pope John XIIin Rome in 962. She promoted Cluniac monasticism and strengthened the allegiance of the German church to the emperor, playing an important role in Otto I’s distribution of ecclesiastical privileges and participating in his Italian expeditions.
After Otto’s death on May 7, 973, Adelaide exercised influence over her son Otto IIuntil their estrangement in 978, when she left the court and lived in Burgundywith her brother King Conrad. At Conrad’s urging, she became reconciled with her son, and, before his death in 983, Otto appointed her his regent in Italy. With her daughter-in-law, Empress Theophano, she upheld the right of her three-year-old grandson, Otto III, to the German throne. She lived in Lombardyfrom 985 to 991, when she returned to Germany to serve as sole regent after Theophano’s death (991). She governed until Otto III came of age in 994, and, when he became Holy Roman emperorin 996, she retired from court life, devoting herself to founding churches, monasteries, and convents. She was canonizedby Pope Urban IIin 1097.
This article was most recently revised and updated by Melissa Petruzzello, Assistant Editor.