Mother Agnes of Germany Name Judith Babenberg | Died 1168 Siblings Otto of Freising | |
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Noble family House of Babenberg (by birth)
House of Aleramici (by marriage) Father Leopold III, Margrave of Austria Role Agnes of Germany's daughter Spouse William V, Marquess of Montferrat (m. 1133) Children Boniface I, Marquess of Montferrat, Conrad of Montferrat Parents Agnes of Germany, Leopold III, Margrave of Austria Similar People Boniface I - Marquess of Montfer, Conrad of Montferrat, Otto of Freising, Conrad III of Germany, Frederick II - Duke of Swabia | ||
Judith (or Jutta, sometimes called Julitta or Ita in Latin sources; c. 1115/1120 – after 1168), a member of the House of Babenberg, was Marchioness of Montferrat from 1135 until her death, by her marriage with Marquess William V.
Life
She was a daughter of Margrave Leopold III of Austria (1073–1136), from his second marriage with Agnes (1072–1143), the only daughter of the Salian emperor Henry IV. She thereby was a niece of Emperor Henry V, the chronicler Otto of Freising was one of her older brothers. King Conrad III of Germany was her half-brother from her mother's first marriage with the Hohenstaufen duke Frederick I of Swabia; Emperor Frederick Barbarossa was her nephew.
By his marriage, Judith's father Leopold had climbed into the first row of Imperial princes. In 1125 he even was one of the possible candidates in the election as King of the Romans, he nevertheless forwent in favour of his stepson Duke Frederick II of Swabia.
About 1133, Judith married the Aleramici marquess William V of Montferrat (d. 1191), by whom she bore at least eight children. 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. Of Judith's five sons, four became prominent in the affairs of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and of Byzantium:
The marriage also produced three daughters:
William V was a loyal supporter of Judith's nephew Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, their matrimony aided to Frederick's betrothal with Countess Beatrice I of Burgundy, a relative of William's mother Gisela, in 1156. Judith was still living in 1168, but seems to have died before her husband went to the Kingdom of Jerusalem after their grandson Baldwin's coronation as King of Jerusalem in the 1180s.