Page:The Queens of England.djvu/38

 26 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. and he tells us that he "has written an elementary book of animals, for the praise and instruction of a good and beauteous woman, who is crowned Queen of England, and named Alix."* The example of the queen stimulated many ladies of the court to patronize literary merit ; among these were the fair Alice de Conde and the Lady Constance la Gentil, who courted the Muses. The poem entitled the "Voyage of St. Brandon" was composed at the queen's request ; and Adelais, anxious to perpetuate the fame of her learned husband, also occupied herself in assisting one of the trouveres of her court, named David, to write his life. While these pleasing pursuits engaged the attention of Henry and his consort, six years passed away, yet Adelais had no children, and great was the disappointment of the king, who, on his return from the Continent, in 1126, brought with him his widowed daughter, the Empress Matilda, whom he caused to be acknowledged as his successor. For twelve months Matilda was the constant companion of Queen Adelais, when after much domestic discomfort, in which, however, the character of Adelais appears in a very favorable light, she was, much against her own will, bestowed by her father in marriage on Geoffrey Plantagenet, Earl of Anjou. Once more the king obliged his nobility to renew their oaths of allegiance to his daughter; but her marriage was far from a happy one, nor was it until six years afterwards that she, to the great joy of her father, gave birth to a son, who was des- tined to be his successor. The name of Henry was bestowed on the infant prince, and the last parliament of Henry I.'s reign was expressly held in 1133, to secure the crown to his grandson, who was included with his mother, the empress, in the oath of fealty. Shortly afterward the king embarked for Normandy, where he died in the year 1135, in the castle of Lyons, near Rouen ; whence, after his remains were embalmed, they were conveyed to England and interred in Reading Abbey. Queen Adelais bestowed the manor of Eton, in Hertfordshire, on this abbey, for prayers to be said for the soul of the king, her husband ; also the manor of Stanton Harcourt, in Oxford- shire, and several churches, for the expenses of an anniversary service for the same purpose. She also placed a pall on the altar readings of it ; as Aliz, Alice, Alicia, Adeliza.
 * Alix, in Hebrew, signifies "the praise of God." There are many