Ida was born in Cham, Nordgau, Bavaria and she was my 29th great grandmother. Not much is known about her life. Her father was Count Rapoto IV of Cham. Her mother was Mathilde von Wels-Lambach, Gräfin von Passau und von Cham, and also from a long line of much higher royalty than her father, one of her mother’s ancestors was an Empress of the Holy Roman Empire.

Ida married well, her husband, Leopold II of Babenberg, was ten years older and left her as a widow in 1095.

Six years later Ida joined the First Crusade in 1101. 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.

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.

I’m trying to wrap my mind around the fact that six years after being a widow she raised an army to go on Crusade. It wasn’t as if she took over her husband’s role at the moment of death, then continued on. This was her decision. She could stayed safely in Bavaria and managed her lands, and married yet another noble to gain prestige and wealth.

The cynic might say that she saw that possibility in joining the Crusade. I doubt that. The primary motive was faith, and for some greed was never an issue.

Ida was definitely a force to contend with.