Valdrada of Sicily

Valdrada of Sicily (died c. 1252) was a Sicilian princess and the Dogaressa of Venice by her marriage to Doge Jacopo Tiepolo (r. 1229–1249).

Born at the very latest in 1194, Valdrada was the youngest child of King Tancred of Sicily and Sibylla of Acerra. She married the Doge in 1242, two years after the death of his former dogaressa Maria Storlato. Valdrada has been described as dominant and forceful, and is said to have had a great deal of control over her husband and the affairs of Venice. Following Jacopo's resignation in early 1249, she lived with him at his private residence at Sant' Agostino, in San Polo. He died on 19 July 1249. She is said to have died three years later.

It is stated by Edgcumbe Staley in The Dogaressas of Venice that Valdrada had two young children. The accuracy of this statement is questionable, as at the time of her marriage to the Doge she was already well into her forties, and perhaps beyond the years of child-bearing.

References

• Staley, Edgcumbe: The dogaressas of Venice : The wives of the doges, London : T. W. Laurie, 1910