Ida of Formbach-Ratelnberg

Ida of Austria (c. 1055 – September 1101) was a Margravine of Austria by marriage to Leopold II of Austria. She was a crusader, participating in the Crusade of 1101 with her own army.[1]

Ida of Formbach-Ratelnberg
Ida depicted on the family tree (Genealogy of the Babenberg Ladies)
BornIda
c. 1055
DiedSeptember 1101
Heraclea Cybistra
Noble familyHouse of Babenberg
Spouse(s)Leopold II of Austria
Issue
FatherRapoto IV of Cham
MotherMathilde

Wife

Ida was the daughter of Rapoto IV of Cham and Mathilde. She is also known as Itha. She married Leopold II of Austria and had a son, Leopold III. She was known as one of the great beauties of her day.

In 1101, Ida, alongside Thiemo of Salzburg and the dukes Welf IV of Bavaria and William IX of Bavaria, joined the Crusade of 1101,[1] and raised and led her own army toward Jerusalem.

In September of that year, Ida and her army were among those ambushed at Heraclea Cybistra by the sultan Kilij Arslan I. Ekkehard of Aura reports that Ida was killed in the fighting, but rumors persisted that she survived, and was carried off to a harem, according to Albert von Aachen. Later legends claimed that she was the mother of the Muslim hero Zengi, as in Historia Welforum (de), but this is impossible on chronological grounds. However, Ekkehard of Aura is probably the most likely version, as he is the only one who can rely on eyewitnesses who were survivors of the Battle of Heraclea Cybistra, whom Ekkehard met a few weeks later in Jaffa, while Albert von Aachen and the author of the Historia Welforum reported only after hearsay.

In fiction

Ida's fate is depicted in Beloved Pilgrim by Christopher Hawthorne (2011).

Issue

See also

Family tree

References

  1. Steven Runciman: Geschichte der Kreuzzüge. München 1978 (Sonderausgabe), p. 341.

Sources

  • Historia Welforum Weingartensis
  • Runciman, Steven. History of the Crusades, Vol. II
  • Lechner Karl. Die Babenberger. Markgrafen und Herzoge von Österreich 976–1246, Böhlau Verlag Wien-Köln-Weimar 1992.
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