[2] Her claim on the inheritance of her father caused a conflict with her sister Liutgard of Elten, which lasted from 973 until 996.
Adela was the younger sister of Liutgard (d. 995), who became the abbess of Elten Abbey, which was founded by their father.
Upon the death of Liutgard in 995, Adela married her sister's former vassal Balderik, and he ruled as Count of Hamaland by marriage.
Contemporaries reviled her as a “treacherous wife” (perfida coniunx);[9] a “second Salome” (secunda Herodiadis);[10] and as acting like Jezebel (et sicut Hiezabel).
[11] The medieval historian Karl Leyser called Adela "the Lady Macbeth of the Lower Rhine".