[3] Adela managed to gain influence in the policy of Flanders, through her family connections, and was described as very proud of her rank, a pride she passed on to her children.
[4] She had been given a higher education than normal for a woman by monks from the St Peter's convent in Ghent and could speak and read Latin, which she taught to her children.
Directly or indirectly, she was responsible for establishing the Colleges of Aire (1049), Lille (1050) and Harelbeke (1064) as well as the abbeys of Messines (1057) and Ename (1063).
After Baldwin's death in 1067, she went to Rome, took the nun's veil from the hands of Pope Alexander II and retired to the Benedictine convent of Messines, near Ypres.
Philip sent soldiers to support Arnulf including a contingent of ten Norman knights led by William FitzOsborn.