Baldwin II (1056–1098?) was count of Hainaut from 1071 to his death. He was an unsuccessful claimant to the

County of Flanders The County of Flanders was a historic territory in the Low Countries. From 862 onwards, the counts of Flanders were among the original twelve peers of the Kingdom of France. For centuries, their estates around the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Y ...

. He disappeared in Anatolia during the First Crusade.

Minority

Baldwin was the younger son of Count

Baldwin VI of Flanders Baldwin VI ( 1030 – 17 July 1070), also known as Baldwin the Good, was Count of Hainaut from 1051 to 1070 (as Baldwin I) and Count of Flanders from 1067 to 1070. Baldwin was the eldest son of Baldwin V of Flanders and Adela, a daughter of Ki ...

and Countess Richilde of Hainaut. He became count of Hainaut after the death of his older brother,

Arnulf III of Flanders Arnulf III (died 22 February 1071) was Count of Flanders from 1070 until his death at the Battle of Cassel in 1071. Born , Arnulf was the eldest son of Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders, and Richilde, Countess of Mons and Hainaut.Detlev Schwennicke, ...

, at the battle of Cassel. The

was then claimed by their victorious uncle

Robert the Frisian Robert I ( – 13 October 1093), known as ''Robert the Frisian'', was count of Flanders from 1071 to his death in 1093. He was a son of Baldwin V, Count of Flanders and the younger brother of Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders. He usurped the countshi ...

. During Baldwin's

minority reign The terms minority reign and royal minority refer to the period of a sovereign's rule when he or she is legally a minor. Minority reigns are of their nature times when politicians and advisors can be especially competitive. Some scholars claim that ...

, 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

enfeoffed In the Middle Ages, especially under the European feudal system, feoffment or enfeoffment was the deed by which a person was given land in exchange for a pledge of service. This mechanism was later used to avoid restrictions on the passage of t ...

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 Duchy of Bouillon (french: Duché de Bouillon) was a duchy comprising Bouillon and adjacent towns and villages in present-day Belgium. The state originated in the 10th century as property of the Lords of Bouillon, owners of Bouillon Cast ...

, the counts of Namur,

Louvain Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic c ...

, Montaigu,

Chiny Chiny (; wa, Tchini) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium. On 1 January 2018 the municipality, which covers , had 5,175 inhabitants, giving a population density of 46 inhabitants per km2. The ...

, Hautmont (Clermont, according to Reiffenberg

Frédéric Auguste Ferdinand Thomas de Reiffenberg Frédéric and Frédérick are the French versions of the common male given name Frederick. They may refer to: In artistry: * Frédéric Back, Canadian award-winning animator * Frédéric Bartholdi, French sculptor * Frédéric Bazille, Impress ...

, "Histoire du comté de Hainaut") and others, all to no avail: Robert defeated the coalition decisively at Broqueroie. By Gislebertus (of Mons), Laura Napran, Chronicle of Hainaut, 2005

Family

Baldwin married Ida, a daughter of Count

Henry II of Leuven Henry II (Dutch: ''Hendrik'', French: ''Henri'') was the Count of Louvain (Leuven) from 1054 through 1071 (?). Henry II was the son of Lambert II, Count of Louvain and Oda of Verdun. His maternal uncles included Pope Stephen IX and Duke Godfrey ...

and sister of Count

Godfrey I of Leuven Godfrey I ( nl, Godfried, 1060 – 25 January 1139), called the Bearded, the Courageous, or the Great, was the Landgrave of Brabant, Count of Brussels and Leuven (Louvain) from 1095 to his death and Duke of Lower Lorraine from 1106 to 1129. He w ...

, in 1084. Their children were: #

Baldwin III, Count of Hainaut Baldwin III (1088–1120) was count of Hainaut from 1098 to his death. History Baldwin was son of Count Baldwin II of Hainaut and Ida of Louvain. He succeeded to the County of Hainaut in 1102. Baldwin married Yolande of Guelders at a young age. ...

# Louis, living 1096 # Simon, a canon in Liège # Henry, living 1096 # William, died after 1117 # Arnold; m.

Beatrix von Ath Beatrix is a Latin feminine given name, most likely derived from ''Viatrix'', a feminine form of the Late Latin name ''Viator'' which meant "voyager, traveller" and later influenced in spelling by association with the Latin word ''beatus'' or "ble ...

(b. c. 1075 – before 1136), daughter of

Walter von Ath Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...

and

Ade de Roucy Ade, Adé, or ADE may refer to: Aeronautics *Ada Air's ICAO code *Aden International Airport's IATA code *Aeronautical Development Establishment, a laboratory of the DRDO in India Medical * Adverse Drug Event * Antibody-dependent enhancement * A ...

. Father of Eustace the Elder of Roeulx. # Ida, (c. 1085 – after 1101); 1m:

Guy de Chievres Guy or GUY may refer to: Personal names * Guy (given name) * Guy (surname) * That Guy (...), the New Zealand street performer Leigh Hart Places * Guy, Alberta, a Canadian hamlet * Guy, Arkansas, US, a city * Guy, Indiana, US, an uninco ...

; 2m: c. 1100

Thomas, Lord of Coucy Thomas of Marle, Lord of Coucy and Boves, was a medieval French nobleman. He was born in 1073 to Enguerrand I of Boves, the Lord of Coucy, and his wife Adele of Marle. After the death of his father, Thomas became the Lord of Coucy and of his fa ...

(also called Thomas of Marle) # Richilde, (c. 1095 – after 1118); m. c. 1115 (div. 1118)

Amaury III de Montfort Amaury III de Montfort ( † April 18 or 19, 1137) was a French nobleman, the seigneur de Montfort-l'Amaury, Épernon, and Houdan in the Île-de-France (1101–) and Count of Évreux in Normandy (1118–). Life Amaury was the son of Simon I, se ...

. Became a nun at Maubeuge after the death of her husband. # Aelidis, (before 1098 – 1153); m. Nicolas II de Rumigny

Crusade

Baldwin joined the First Crusade in the 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 of Vermandois after the

siege of Antioch The siege of Antioch took place during the First Crusade in 1097 and 1098, on the crusaders' way to Jerusalem through Syria. Two sieges took place in succession. The first siege, by the crusaders against the city held by the Seljuk Empire, ...

, to seek assistance from

Byzantine emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...

Alexius I Alexios I Komnenos ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός, 1057 – 15 August 1118; Latinized Alexius I Comnenus) was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during ...

. However, Baldwin disappeared during a raid by the

Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes by the Turk ...

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.Jonathan Riley-Smith, ''The First Crusaders 1095-1131'' (Cambridge, third print 2004), 147.

References

*Alan V. Murray, ''The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A Dynastic History, 1099-1125''. Prosopographica et Genealogica, 2000. {{DEFAULTSORT:Baldwin 02, Count of Hainaut 1056 births 1090s deaths Year of death uncertain House of Flanders Baldwin II Christians of the First Crusade

Minority

Family

Crusade

See also

References