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.

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 Bavarian dukes Welf IV and William IX, joined the Crusade of 1101, 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, but this is impossible on chronological grounds. However, Ekkehard of Aura's 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 (2011) by Christopher Hawthorne.

Issue

• Leopold III (1073–1136), who succeeded his father as Austrian margrave
• Adelaide (d. after 1120), married Count Theoderic II of Formbach
• Elizabeth (d. 1107), married Margrave Ottokar II of Styria
• Gerberga (d. 1142), married Duke Bořivoj II of Bohemia
• Ida, married the Přemyslid prince Luitpold of Znojmo
• Euphemia, married Count Conrad I of Peilstein
• Sophia (d. 1154), married Henry of Eppenstein, Duke of Carinthia from 1090 to 1122, and, secondly, Count Sieghard X of Burghausen

See also

• Kilij Arslan II – who claimed blood cousinage with Henry the Lion.

Family tree

References

Sources

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

1. Leopold III, Margrave of Austria
2. Leopold II, Margrave of Austria
3. Ottokar II of Styria
4. Elizabeth of Luxembourg
5. Crusades
6. Empress Elisabeth of Austria
7. Maria Anna of Savoy
8. Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick
9. List of rulers of Austria
10. 1101
11. Anne of Brittany
12. Margaret Theresa of Spain
13. Maria Anna of Spain
14. Eleanor of Scotland
15. Leopold V, Duke of Austria
16. Isabella of Portugal
17. Zita of Bourbon-Parma
18. Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress
19. Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg
20. Agnes of Waiblingen