Adelolf, Count of Boulogne

Adelolf, Count of Boulogne, was a younger sibling of Arnulf I, Count of Flanders. His father, Baldwin II, Count of Flanders, granted him the County of Boulogne. Adelolf was a son of Ælfthryth, daughter of Alfred the Great, and likely named after his maternal great-grandfather, King Æthelwulf of Wessex. Upon Baldwin II’s death in 918, his holdings were divided, with Adelolf inheriting the countships of Saint-Pol, Boulogne, and Thérouanne, as well as the lay abbacy of Saint Bertin at Saint-Omer.

In 926, Adelolf served as an ambassador to King Æthelstan of England, his maternal first cousin, to negotiate a marriage between Hugh the Great and Æthelstan’s sister, which concluded successfully. In 933, he respectfully received the body of his drowned kinsman, Æthelstan’s half-brother Edwin, and arranged for its burial at the Abbey of Saint Bertin. Adelolf fathered Arnulf II, Count of Boulogne, and an illegitimate son named Baldwin, who later became the guardian of Arnulf II, Count of Flanders. Adelolf passed away on November 13, 933, and was laid to rest at Saint-Bertin.