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

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

from 1175 to 1205.

Life

Ada was the daughter of Count Floris III of Holland and his wife Ada of Huntingdon. She was the sister of Counts Dirk VII and William I of Holland. Around 1175, while still young, Ada married Otto I of Brandenburg, 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 t ...

'', vol I, 2, p. 183 This was Otto's second marriage. He had been married to Judith of Poland. 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 fr ...

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

Tangermünde Tangermünde (; ) is a historic town on the Elbe River in the district of Stendal (district), Stendal, in the northeastern part of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The town has land area of around 89.87 sq.km (34.70 sq.mi) and a population of 10,283 people ...

and

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

) in 1150. Ada and Otto had a son named Albert 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 (lake), Arendsee, located north of the town. Geography The municipality is located in the Altmark region and on the southern bank o ...

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 (), 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. Otto II was ...

, 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 (; born Lotario dei Conti di Segni; 22 February 1161 – 16 July 1216) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 until his death on 16 July 1216. Pope Innocent was one of the most power ...

, 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.
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. It lies on the Oude Rijn (Utrecht and South Holland), Oude Rijn, from which it takes its name. History Rij ...

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

William I William I may refer to: Kings * William the Conqueror (–1087), also known as William I, King of England * William I of Sicily (died 1166) * William I of Scotland (died 1214), known as William the Lion * William I of the Netherlands and Luxembour ...

and

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

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 Catholic Church, the title was restored by Pope ...

, and her niece

Ada, Countess of Holland Ada ( – 1234/37) was Count of Holland, Countess regnant of County of Holland, 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, Count of Holland, ...

.''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 Mothers of German monarchs