Ida of Formbach-Ratelnberg

Ida of Formbach-Ratelnberg
Ida depicted on the family tree (Genealogy of the Babenberg Ladies)
Born	Ida c. 1055
Died	September 1101
Other names	Itha
Spouse	Leopold II of Austria
Children	Leopold III, Margrave of Austria Ida of Austria

Ida of Austria (c. 1055 – September 1101) was a wife of Leopold II of Austria.

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, and in September of that year 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.