Page "Adelaide of Italy" Paragraph 4

From it she was rescued by a priest named Martin, who dug a subterraneous passage, by which she escaped, and remained concealed in the woods, her rescuer supporting her, meantime, by the fish he caught in the lake.

Soon, however, the Duke of Canossa, Alberto Uzzo, who had been advised of the rescue, arrived and carried her off to his castle, where she was besieged by Berengar.

She managed to send an emissary to throw herself on the mercy of Otto the Great.

His brothers were equally willing to save the dowager queen, but Otto got an army into the field: they subsequently met at the old Lombard capital of Pavia and were married in 951 ; he was crowned emperor in Rome, 2 February 962 by Pope John XII, and, most unusually, she was crowned empress at the same ceremony.

Among their children, four lived to maturity: Henry, born in 952 ; Bruno, born 953 ; Matilda, the first Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg, born about 954 ; and Otto II, later Holy Roman Emperor, born 955.