Riddle about Margravine Ida, autumn 1100, Heraklea

Ida of Austria was a margravine and crusader. The crusading army of the French Duke William IX of Aquitaine had plunged thirstily into a river near Heraclea. The Seljuks lurking on the banks inflicted a crushing defeat on the unprepared Christians. The Archbishop of Salzburg, Thiemo and Ida of Austria, had also "longed for the pious excitement of the crusade" and joined it. The archbishop died in battle, as did Higo of Vermandois, a crusader of the first hour. Only William IX managed to escape. The chroniclers tell nothing of the margravine's end. Legends report that she was taken as a prisoner to a harem. In his chronicle of the year 1101, the contemporary Ekkehard von Aura succinctly reports that the Margravine was slain.

The series is intended to symbolically represent the diversity of the participants forming the troop.

Some explanations of the individual figures

Kr 29,30 Many kings, counts, barons, in short the nobility, also took their wives with them on the crusade, including a small court. Here represented by a noble lady, Ida of Austria, and a minstrel.
Kr 32 The itinerant preacher represents the participation of the clergy in the crusade and at the same time illustrates that the crusades were also called pilgrimages, albeit armed ones.
The role of the itinerant preachers, who had roamed the countryside in the run-up to the first crusade as recruiters for participation, was taken over by the Cistercian monks, just as in all later crusades.
Cr 33, 35, 36 Men, often only lightly armed, who dragged their belongings with them and carried out their occupation in the field camp as craftsmen or simple warehouse workers.
Cr 31, 34 Family with children. Father and son struggle to persuade the stubborn donkey, loaded with household goods and tent poles, to move on, while the wife sheerly despairs. An emaciated dog follows the group, hoping for food scraps later.
In Europe, armies have only been purely male societies since the 19th century. Before that, women and often children were a natural part of the troop, which the soldiers pulled behind them like a tail.
Kr 37, 38, 43 A carter drives a team of oxen. On the cart sits a woman with her infant. This figure symbolises the fact that the team always included camp maidens whose services, as depicted here, were not always without consequences.
Cr 39, 40, 42 Another team, but moved by human power. Two human strength in the front and two human strength in the rear. The cart is fitted with a tarpaulin.
Kr 41 A single cart. It can be fitted with either the ox team (Kr 38, plus Kr 40) or by man power (Kr 39, plus Kr 40).

Further enlivening the cart is the use of figures from the series 'The First Crusade: Peter of Amiens 'God wills it!" and/or "Before the Walls of Jerusalem".


Drawings: Fritz Gorges
Engraving: Bernd Graf