View source for Baldwin II, Count of Hainaut

{{Short description|11th-century count of Hainaut}}{{infobox nobility
| name = Baldwin II
| image = Balduin2 hen.jpg
| caption = A 15th century depiction of Baldwin II
| CoA = 
| tenure = 
| noble family = [[House of Flanders]]
| father = [[Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders|Baldwin VI & I, Count of Flanders and Hainaut]]
| mother = [[Richilde, Countess of Mons and Hainaut]]
| spouse = [[Ida, Countess of Hainaut|Ida of Louvain]]
| issue = [[Baldwin III, Count of Hainaut]]
| predecessor = 
| successor = 
| birth_date = 1056
| birth_place = 
| death_date = presumably 1098
| death_place = [[Anatolia]]<br />(modern-day [[Turkey]])
}}
'''Baldwin II''' (1056&ndash;1098?) was [[count of Hainaut]] from 1071 to his death. He was an unsuccessful claimant to the [[County of Flanders]]. He disappeared in [[Anatolia]] during the [[First Crusade]].

==Minority==

Baldwin was the younger son of Count [[Baldwin VI of Flanders]] and Countess [[Richilde, Countess of Mons and Hainaut|Richilde of Hainaut]]. He became [[count of Hainaut]] after the death of his older brother, [[Arnulf III of Flanders]], at the [[Battle of Cassel (1071)|battle of Cassel]]. The [[County of Flanders]] was then claimed by their victorious uncle [[Robert the Frisian]]. During Baldwin's [[minority reign]], which lasted until 1083, Richilde constantly fought against Robert to recover Flanders for her son, but she was unsuccessful. In order to obtain funds, she [[feoffment|enfeoffed]] the county to the [[Prince-Bishopric of Liège]]. With the funds obtained in the transaction, around 1072, she assembled a coalition that included the [[duke of Bouillon]], the counts of [[Albert III, Count of Namur|Namur]], [[Counts of Louvain|Louvain]], [[Conon, Count of Montaigu|Montaigu]], [[Arnold I, Count of Chiny|Chiny]], Hautmont (Clermont, according to Reiffenberg<ref name="Histoire">[[Frédéric Auguste Ferdinand Thomas de Reiffenberg]], "Histoire du comté de Hainaut"</ref>) and others, all to no avail: Robert defeated the coalition decisively at Broqueroie.<ref name="Histoire"/><ref name="Chronicle">By Gislebertus (of Mons), Laura Napran, Chronicle of Hainaut, 2005</ref>

==Family==
Baldwin married [[Ida of Leuven|Ida]], a daughter of Count [[Henry II of Leuven]] and sister of Count [[Godfrey I of Leuven]], in 1084. Their children were:

# [[Baldwin III, Count of Hainaut]]
# Louis, living 1096
# Simon, a canon in [[Liège]]
# Henry, living 1096
# William, died after 1117
# Arnold; m. [[Beatrix von Ath]] (b. c. 1075 &ndash; before 1136), daughter of [[Walter von Ath]] and [[Ade de Roucy]]. Father of Eustace the Elder of Roeulx.<ref name="Chronicle"/>
# Ida, (c. 1085 &ndash; after 1101); 1m: [[Guy de Chievres]]; 2m: c. 1100 [[Thomas, Lord of Coucy]] (also called Thomas of Marle)<ref name="Chronicle"/>
# Richilde, (c. 1095 &ndash; after 1118); m. c. 1115 (div. 1118) [[Amaury III de Montfort]]. Became a nun at [[Maubeuge Abbey|Maubeuge]] after the death of her husband.<ref name="Chronicle"/>
# Aelidis, (before 1098 &ndash; 1153); m. [[Nicolas II de Rumigny]]

==Crusade==
Baldwin joined the [[First Crusade]] in the [[The Crusader Army of Godfrey of Bouillon|army of Godfrey of Bouillon]] (rather than with his nearer relative [[Robert II of Flanders]], whose family was still at odds with his own), after selling some of his property to the Prince-Bishopric of Liège. In 1098 he was sent back to [[Constantinople]] with Count [[Hugh I, Count of Vermandois|Hugh of Vermandois]] after the [[siege of Antioch]], to seek assistance from [[Byzantine emperor]] [[Alexius I]]. However, Baldwin disappeared during a raid by the [[Seljuk Turks]] in [[Anatolia]], and was presumably killed. Baldwin's fate remained uncertain for a long time. While on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1106, Baldwin's wife Ida organized a search for her lost husband in Anatolia, which was inconclusive.<ref>Jonathan Riley-Smith, ''The First Crusaders 1095-1131'' (Cambridge, third print 2004), 147.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Counts of Hainaut family tree]]

{{portal|Belgium}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
*Alan V. Murray, ''The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A Dynastic History, 1099-1125''. Prosopographica et Genealogica, 2000.

{{S-start}}
{{S-hou|[[House of Flanders]]||1056||presumably 1098}}
{{succession box | before=[[Arnulf III, Count of Flanders|Arnulf I]] | title=[[Count of Hainaut]]| years=1071&ndash;1098? | after=[[Baldwin III, Count of Hainaut|Baldwin III]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldwin 02, Count of Hainaut}}
[[Category:1056 births]]
[[Category:1090s deaths]]
[[Category:11th-century counts of Hainaut]]
[[Category:Year of death uncertain]]
[[Category:House of Flanders]]
[[Category:Counts of the Holy Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Christians of the First Crusade]]