Ida of Formbach-Ratelnberg

25
Ida of Formbach-Ratelnberg bigraphy, stories - Austrian royal

Ida of Formbach-Ratelnberg : biography

– 1101

Ida of Austria (c. 1055 – September 1101) was a consort of Leopold II of Austria. She was a crusader, participating in the Crusade of 1101 with her own army.

Life

Ida joined the Crusade of 1101: alongside Thiemo of Salzburg and the dukes Welf IV of Bavaria and William IX of Bavaria, she raised and led her own army toward Jerusalem. In September of that year, she and her army was 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. Later legends claimed that she was the mother of the Muslim hero Zengi, but this is impossible on chronological grounds.

In fiction

Ida’s fate is depicted in Beloved Pilgrim by Nan Hawthorne (2011).

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.

Category:11th-century Austrian people Category:11th-century German people Category:1050s births Category:1101 deaths Category:Austrian royal consorts Category:Christians of the Crusade of 1101 Category:Austrian people of German descent Category:People from Cham, Germany Category:Women in Medieval warfare

Family tree

Family

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