Ada of Holland ( – after 1205) was the margravine of

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

from 1175 to 1205.

Life

Ada was the daughter of Count

Floris III of Holland Floris III (1141 – August 1, 1190) was the count of Holland from 1157 to 1190. He was a son of Dirk VI, Count of Holland, Dirk VI and Sophia of Rheineck, heiress of County of Bentheim (district), Bentheim. Career Floris III was a loyal vassal ...

and his wife

Ada of Huntingdon Ada of Scotland (died after 1206), also known as Ada of Huntingdon, was a member of the Scottish royal house who became Countess of Holland by marriage to Floris III, Count of Holland. Life Ada was born in Scotland, the daughter of Henry of Hunt ...

. She was the sister of Counts

Dirk VII Dirk VII (died 4 November 1203, in Dordrecht) was the count of Holland from 1190 to 1203. He was the elder son of Floris III and Ada of Huntingdon. Life Due to a civil war in the Holy Roman Empire, Emperor Henry VI had to find ways to make fri ...

and

William I of Holland William I (c. 1167 – 4 February 1222) was count of Holland from 1203 to 1222. He was the younger son of Floris III and Ada of Huntingdon. Early life William was born in The Hague, but raised in Scotland. He participated in the Third Cru ...

. Around 1175, while still young, Ada married

Otto I of Brandenburg Otto I (c. 1128 – July 8, 1184) was the second Margrave of Brandenburg, from 1170 until his death. Life Otto I was born into the House of Ascania as the eldest son of Albert I ("Albert the Bear"), who founded the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1 ...

, becoming Margravine of

.''

Europäische Stammtafeln ''Europäische Stammtafeln'' - German for ''European Family Trees'' - is a series of twenty-nine books which contain sets of genealogical tables of the most influential families of Medieval European history. It is a standard reference work for thos ...

'', vol I, 2, p. 183#ES Foundation for Medieval Genealogy: conti d'Olanda - ADA
/ref> This was Otto's second marriage. He had been married to

Judith of Poland Judith of Poland ( pl, Judyta Bolesławówna, hu, Judit; b. 1130/35 – died 8 July 1171/75) was a member of the House of Piast and by marriage margravine of Brandenburg. Early years Judith was the daughter of Duke Bolesław III Wrymouth of Polan ...

. Otto already had two sons from his marriage to Judith,

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fro ...

(who later succeeded his father as Margrave of Brandenburg) in 1149, and Henry (who inherited the Counties of

Tangermünde Tangermünde (; nds, Tangermünn) is a historic town on the Elbe River in the district of Stendal, in the northeastern part of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography Tangermünde is situated in the historic Altmark region of the North German Plain, ...

and

Gardelegen Gardelegen (; nds, Garlä) is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Milde, 20 m. W. from Stendal, on the main line of railway Berlin-Hanover. History Gardelegen has a Roman Catholic and three Evangelical chur ...

) in 1150. Ada and Otto had a son named

Albert Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia * Albert Productions, a record label * Alber ...

who would succeed his half-brother Otto II as Margrave of Brandenburg in 1205. In 1184, Otto I founded a nunnery at

Arendsee Arendsee () is a town in the Altmarkkreis Salzwedel, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is named after the lake Arendsee, located north of the town. Geography The municipality is located in the Altmark region and on the southern bank of the Arendsee ...

and in the founding charter, Ada appears along with Otto's three sons, giving assent to the foundation.ES Codex Brandenburgensis, Erster Haupttheil - Vol. 17, Jungfraukloster Arendsee, I, pag. 1
/ref> Otto I died in the same year and was succeeded by

Otto II Otto II (955 – 7 December 983), called the Red (''der Rote''), was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy. ...

, his eldest son by his first marriage.ES Codex Brandenburgensis, Vierter Haupttheil - Band 1, Pulcawa's Böhmischer Chronik, pag. 6
/ref> After Otto I's death, she married his son, Otto II, from his first marriage. In a letter, Pope

Innocent III Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 J ...

, in his third year of pontificate, admonished Otto to treat his wife with conjugal affection. A knight tried to murder Ada in Schönwalde and was sentenced to death by Otto II.''Chronica principum Saxoniae ampliata'', ed. Oswald Holder-Egger (''Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores'' 30), Hannover 1896, S. 32
Digitalisat
); Johannes Schultze: ''Die Mark Brandenburg.'' Band 1. Berlin 1961, S. 111 legt sich, anders als Heinrich Krabbo (Bearb.): ''Regesten der Markgrafen von Brandenburg aus askanischem Hause.'' Zweite Lieferung. Leipzig 1911, S. 109, Nr. 526, nicht auf ein bestimmtes Schönwalde fest. In 1205, Otto II died and Ada's son Albert succeeded his half-brother Otto II as Margrave of Brandenburg.
'', tomus XXV, ''

Cronica Principum Saxonie The ''Nuova Cronica'' (also: ''Nova Cronica'') or ''New Chronicles'' is a 14th-century history of Florence created in a year-by-year linear format and written by the Italian banker and official Giovanni Villani (c. 1276 or 1280–1348). Th ...

'', par. 3d and 5d, p. 477] After this, she seems to have returned to Holland, since she appears in a charter of 1205, making a donation to the abbey of

Rijnsburg Rijnsburg () is a village in the eastern part of the municipality of Katwijk, in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The name means Rhine's Burg in Dutch. History The history starts way before the 2th century when there wa ...

, with the consent of her mother, Ada of Huntingdon, her brothers

William I William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087 ...

and

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

Bishop of Glasgow The Archbishop of Glasgow is an archiepiscopal title that takes its name after the city of Glasgow in Scotland. The position and title were abolished by the Church of Scotland in 1689; and, in the Scottish Episcopal Church, it is now part of the ...

, and her niece

Ada, Countess of Holland Ada ( – 1234/37) was Countess of Holland between 1203 and 1207, ruling jointly with her husband, Louis II of Loon. She was deposed and exiled by her paternal uncle, William I.Marion van Bussel,Ada van Hollandin Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van N ...

.''Oorkondenboek Holland'', doc. 273, p. 451-452
/ref> After 1205, there are no further references to Ada in chronicles and she does not appear in any further documents. Her date of death is not recorded.

References

{{Reflist 1160s births 1205 deaths