Baldwin II, Count of Hainaut

Baldwin II of Mons (1056–1098?) was count of Hainaut from 1071 to his death. He was the younger son of Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders and Richilde, Countess of Mons and Hainaut.

History
Baldwin became Count after the death of his older brother, Arnulf III, Count of Flanders. The family claim to the title Count of Flanders was lost by his brother's death, passing instead to their uncle Robert the Frisian.

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 Bishopric of Liège. In 1098 he was sent back to Constantinople with 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.

Family
He married Ida of Leuven (a daughter of Henry II, Count of Leuven and sister of Godfrey I of Leuven, Duke of Lower Lotharingia) in 1084. Their children were:


 * 1) Baldwin III, Count of Hainaut
 * 2) Louis, living 1096
 * 3) Simon, a canon in Liege
 * 4) Henry, living 1096
 * 5) Willem, died after 1117
 * 6) Arnould; m. Beatrix von Ath (b. c. 1075 – before 1136), daughter of Walter von Ath and Ade de Roucy. Father of Eustace the Elder of Roeulx.
 * 7) Ida, (c. 1085 – after 1101); 1m: Guy de Chievres; 2m: c. 1100 Thomas, Lord of Coucy (also called Thomas of Marle)
 * 8) Richilde, (c. 1095 – after 1118); m. c. 1115 (div. 1118) Amaury III de Montfort. Became a nun at Mauberge after the death of her husband.
 * 9) Aelidis, (before 1098 – 1153); m. Nicolas II de Rumigny