The Calendar of Saints (a notoriously unreliable source) states that her first husband was poisoned by his successor; nevertheless Adelaide was kidnapped by Berengar of Ivrea, who attempted to force her to marry his son; however Adelaide escaped to Canossa, where she threw herself on the mercy of King Otto I the Great; they subsequently married in 951 . They had four children: Henry, born in 952; Bruno, born 953; Matilda, Abbess of Quedlinburg, born about 954; and Otto II, later Holy Roman Emperor, born 955. She became famous as a founder of monasteries and churches.
When her husband Otto I died, her daughter-in-law forced Adelaide to abdicate. She died on December 16, 999 at Seltz in the Alsace. A hundred years later she was canonized. Her feast day is December 16.