Judith of Babenberg

Judith of Babenberg
Marchioness of Montferrat
An imaginary portrait of Judith of Babenberg, painted by Hans Part in 1490, as part of the Genealogy of the Babenberg Ladies at Klosterneuburg Abbey, founded by her parents. The inscription misnames her husband as "Renier".
Bornc. late 1110s/1120
DiedAfter 1168
Noble familyHouse of Babenberg
Spouse(s)William V of Montferrat
IssueWilliam, Count of Jaffa and Ascalon
Conrad I, King of Jerusalem
Boniface I, King of Thessalonica
Frederick, Bishop of Alba
Renier, Caesar of the Byzantine Empire
Agnes, Countess of Modigliana
Azalaïs, Marchioness of Saluzzo
FatherLeopold III, Margrave of Austria
MotherAgnes of Germany

Judith (called Julitta in Latin,[1] Giuditta in Italian;[2] c. 1120 – 1191?) was a German noblewoman who was the marchioness of Montferrat by marriage from 1133 until her death. She was a member of the House of Babenberg through her father and related to the House of Hohenstaufen through her mother.

With her husband, Marquis William V, she had five sons and three daughters. Four of her sons played major roles in Mediterranean politics. In the later Middle Ages, she was remembered for her piety and beauty.

Life

Judith was born around 1120.[3] She was a daughter of Margrave Leopold III of Austria (1073–1136) and his second wife, Agnes (1072–1143).[4] Through her mother she was the uterine sister of King Conrad III of Germany and the aunt of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.[5] She was the full sister of the historian Otto of Freising.[6]

Sometime before 28 March 1133, Judith married the Marquis William V of Montferrat.[4][7] The Aleramici were among the leading dynasties in the Crusades; William accompanied his nephew King Louis VII of France on the Second Crusade of 1147.[8]

Judith's usual title was countess. She appears as a witness in donations to the monasteries of Lucedio (1145) and Grassano (1156). On 18 October 1168, she bought some land in Montebello. She was also mentioned the treaties with the communes of Asti (1170×1174) and Alessandria (1178), which stipulated that she or her sons could stand in for William.[9]

In the early 1180s, according to later historians Galeotto del Carretto and Benvenuto Sangiorgio, Judith travelled to the Holy Land to visit her grandson, the future King Baldwin V of Jerusalem, and thence to Constantinople to visit her son, Renier. Renier and his wife, Maria Komnene, gave her many relics, including some wood from the True Cross, which she gave to Lucedio after her return in 1183.[10][11] This story, found only in the later historians, is inconsistent in detail. While Leopoldo Usseglio considers the basic fact of such a journey difficult to doubt,[10] Walter Habserstumpf regards it as a legendary backstory for a relic.[11]

Death and legacy

The necrology of Lucedio puts Judith's death on 14 December without specifying the year.[9] According to Sangiorgio, she died around 1183, not long after returning from Constantinople.[12][13] He also says that she died not long after her husband, who is known to have died in 1191. Olimpio Musso thus places her death on 14 December 1191.[14]

In later legend, Judith was renowned for her virtue and beauty.[15] According to Musso, she was "the most celebrated marchioness of Montferrat".[14] Musso posits her as a partial inspiration for the marchioness of Montferrat in Boccaccio's Decameron, day 1, tale 5.[14][15] She would have been the marchioness when Philip Augustus went on crusade, but by then over 70 years old.[16]

Marriage and issue

Judith and William had:

The marriage also produced three daughters:

References

  1. ^ Settia 2003. Freed 2016, p. 98, gives the forms Ita and Jutta, the former being the form found in Otto & Rahewin 1966, p. 246. Per Piano 2013, p. 6, quoting Musso 1979, the necrology of Lucedio uses Julia.
  2. ^ Haberstumpf 1995, p. 142n: Giuditta, Giulitta, Giulia. Usseglio 1926, pp. 134–142, prefers the spelling Giulita. Per Piano 2013, p. 6, Galeotto del Carretto uses Julita.
  3. ^ Usseglio 1926, p. 147n, on the basis of her still having children in 1162. Haberstumpf 1995, p. 143n, has her at 60–65 years of age in 1180–1185.
  4. ^ a b c Freed 2016, p. xiv.
  5. ^ Usseglio 1926, p. 135.
  6. ^ Otto & Rahewin 1966, p. 246.
  7. ^ Settia 2003.
  8. ^ Riley-Smith 1992, p. 102.
  9. ^ a b Usseglio 1926, p. 138.
  10. ^ a b Usseglio 1926, p. 139.
  11. ^ a b Haberstumpf 1995, pp. 142–143.
  12. ^ Haberstumpf 1995, p. 143n.
  13. ^ Usseglio 1926, pp. 138–139.
  14. ^ a b c Piano 2013, p. 6, citing Musso 1979.
  15. ^ a b Salmons 1980, p. 462, citing Musso 1979.
  16. ^ Della Terza 2004, p. 145.
  17. ^ McDougall 2017, p. xiii.
  18. ^ Theotokis 2019, p. 140.
  19. ^ Kosi 2021, p. 275.
  20. ^ Bicchierai 2004.

Sources

  • Bicchierai, Marco (2003). "Guidi, Tegrimo". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Volume 61: Guglielmo Gonzaga–Jacobini (in Italian). Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. ISBN 978-8-81200032-6.
  • Della Terza, Dante (2004). "The Tale of the Marchioness of Monferrato (I.5)". In Elissa B. Weaver (ed.). The Decameron First Day in Perspective. University of Toronto Press. p. 135–147.
  • Freed, John (2016). Frederick Barbarossa: The Prince and the Myth. Yale University Press.
  • Haberstumpf, Walter (1995). Dinastie europee nel Mediterraneo orientale: I Monferrato ei Savoia nei secoli XII–XV. Scriptorium.
  • Kosi, Miha (2021). "The Babenberg Dukes of Austria - crusaders "par excellence"". In Bronstein, Judith; Fishhof, Gil; Shotten-Hallel, Vardit (eds.). Settlement and Crusade in the Thirteenth Century: Multidisciplinary Studies of the Latin East. Routledge. pp. 270–284.
  • McDougall, Sara (2017). Royal Bastards: The Birth of Illegitimacy, 800-1230. Oxford University Press.
  • Musso, Olimpio (1979). "Una leggenda monferrina nel Boccaccio (Decam. I, 5)". Studi sul Boccaccio Venezia. 11: 243–249.
  • Otto of Freising; Rahewin (1966). Charles Christopher Mierow (ed.). The Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa. New York: W. W. Norton.
  • Piano, Pierluigi (2013). "Giovanni Boccaccio, l'arguzia della marchesa di Monferrato e la novella 5a della 1a Giornata del Decameron" (PDF). Bollettino del Marchesato. 9 (51): 4–8.
  • Riley-Smith, Jonathan (1992). "Family traditions and Participation in the Second Crusade". In Gervers, M. (ed.). The Second Crusade and the Cistercians. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 101–108.
  • Salmons, June (1980). "Italian Studies: Duecento and Trecento II (Excluding Dante)". The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies. 42: 451–468. JSTOR 20867511.
  • Settia, Aldo (2003). "Guglielmo V, detto il Vecchio, marchese di Monferrato". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Volume 60: Grosso–Guglielmo da Forli (in Italian). Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. ISBN 978-8-81200032-6.
  • Theotokis, George (2019). Twenty Battles That Shaped Medieval Europe. Crowood.
  • Usseglio, Leopoldo (1926). I marchesi di Monferrato in Italia ed in oriente durante i secoli XII e XIII. Vol. 1. Casale Monferrato.
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