Ida of Formbach-Ratelnberg

Ida of Formbach-Ratelnberg
Ida depicted on the family tree (Genealogy of the Babenberg Ladies)
Spouse(s)	Leopold II of Austria
Issue Leopold III, Margrave of Austria Ida of Austria
Noble family	House of Babenberg
Father	Rapoto IV of Cham
Mother	Mathilde
Born	c. 1055
Died	September 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.

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.

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).

See also

• Kilij Arslan II - who claimed blood cousinage with Henry the Lion^{[citation needed]}

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.