[Adelaide of Susa, Oddone's wife, 18th century, Unknown artist, source: Wikimedia Commons]
Adelaide was the eldest of three daughters of Ulric Manfred of Turin and Bertha of Milan. Since she had no brothers, Adelaide inherited her father’s title and most of his property. Officially though, since the title came with military duties,* she could not rule entirely on her own. So in 1036 she contracted the first of her three marriages, to Herman, Duke of Swabia. He died two years later. Adelaide remained single for about three years before marrying Henry of Monferrat. This union would also be short-lived and childless, with Henry dying in 1044. Adelaide remained at least partially in control of her holdings, ruling jointly with her husbands and by herself when widowed.
In 1045, she married Odo, Count of Savoy.** The couple had five children together and it was through three of these, her sons Peter and Amadeus and her daughter Bertha that Adelaide reached the height of her power. Odo died sometime between 1057 and 1060, leaving Adelaide first as regent for her sons, then ruling with them once they came of age. In 1070, she burned the town of Asti for trying to remove itself from her rule.
She sent her daughter Bertha to marry Henry IV, which meant that she had some reason to support him in the Investiture Controversy, but generally took a more neutral path. She accompanied both him and Bertha to Canossa and acted as witness for him, but she demanded land from him in return. She supported his invasion of Italy and may have accompanied him on campaign, but she also tried to mediate between him and Matilda of Tuscany. She seems to have supported Gregorian Reform only as it suited her, resulting in praise from several leading churchmen for her enforcing of clerical celibacy and protection of monasteries and condemnation from the same for her approval of simoniac bishops.***
Eventually, Adelaide retired to spend her last years in the village of Canischio, dying in 1091.
*Not to mention the anxiety about young, unmarried, noblewomen with power.
**It was through this marriage that the House of Savoy would get its holdings in Italy.
***That is, those who had bought their offices.
Adelaide of Susa - Epistolae
Previté-Orton. C.W. The Early History of the House of Savoy (1000-1233). Cambridge, 1912. - Archive.org
Adelaide of Susa - Wikipedia