Judith of Babenberg

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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".
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".

Judith of Babenberg (c. late 1110s/1120 – after 1168), (Jutta, sometimes called Julitta or Ita in Latin sources), was a daughter of Agnes of Germany and her second husband Leopold III of Austria. The chronicler Otto of Freising was one of her older brothers; Conrad III of Germany her half-brother. Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor was her nephew.

She married c. 1133 William V, Marquess of Montferrat, by whom she bore at least eight children. Of their five sons, four became prominent in the affairs of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and of Byzantium:

and three daughters:

  • Agnes, who married Count Guido Guerra III Guidi of Ventimiglia. The marriage was annulled on grounds of childlessness before 1180, when Guido remarried, and Agnes entered the convent of Santa Maria di Rocca delle Donne.
  • Adelasia or Azalaïs (d. 1232), who married Manfred II, marquess of Saluzzo, c. 1182, and was regent for her grandson Manfred III.
  • An unidentified daughter, who married Albert, marquess of Malaspina.

She 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.