Jadwiga of Lithuania
Encyclopedia
Hedwig Jagiellon (8 April 1408 – 8 December 1431) was a Polish and Lithuanian princess, member of the Jagiellon dynasty
Jagiellon dynasty
The Jagiellonian dynasty was a royal dynasty originating from the Lithuanian House of Gediminas dynasty that reigned in Central European countries between the 14th and 16th century...

.

She was the only daughter of Wladyslaw Jagiello
Jogaila
Jogaila, later 'He is known under a number of names: ; ; . See also: Jogaila : names and titles. was Grand Duke of Lithuania , king consort of Kingdom of Poland , and sole King of Poland . He ruled in Lithuania from 1377, at first with his uncle Kęstutis...

, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania by his second wife Anna
Anna of Celje
Anne of Celje was Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania, 1402–1416 as second wife of Jogaila, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania ....

, daughter of William, Count of Celje and Anna
Anna of Poland, Countess of Celje
Anna of Poland was countess consort of Celje, a medieval Slovenian feudal state, and an influential woman in politics of Poland.She was daughter of King Casimir III of Poland , who was succeeded, not by Anna nor any of Casimir's own descendants, but by Casimir's nephew, King Louis I of Hungary....

, in turn daughter of King Casimir III of Poland
Casimir III of Poland
Casimir III the Great , last King of Poland from the Piast dynasty , was the son of King Władysław I the Elbow-high and Hedwig of Kalisz.-Biography:...

. In consequence, Anna of Celje was a Piast heiress and thanks to his marriage with her in 1402, Jagiello re-legitimized his rule as King of Poland after the death of his first wife Hedwig (Jadwiga)
Jadwiga of Poland
Jadwiga was monarch of Poland from 1384 to her death. Her official title was 'king' rather than 'queen', reflecting that she was a sovereign in her own right and not merely a royal consort. She was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou, the daughter of King Louis I of Hungary and Elizabeth of...

, who reigned as King (not Queen consort) of Poland. Their only daughter, born in 1408, received her name after Queen Hedwig.

Life

After it became apparent that Anna of Celje would not be able to bear any further children, Hedwig was officially proclaimed heiress to the throne during a congress in Jedlnia
Jedlnia
Jedlnia is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Pionki, within Radom County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It lies approximately south-west of Pionki, north-east of Radom, and south of Warsaw....

, in 1413.

Queen Anna died in 1416, leaving Hedwig as her sole surviving child. In 1417 Jogaila married Elisabeth of Pilica
Elisabeth of Pilica
Elisabeth of Pilica was Queen consort of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania as the third wife of Jogaila who was Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, reigning 1387 to 1434....

, and in 1422, Sophia of Halshany
Sophia of Halshany
Sophia of Halshany , was a Lithuanian princess of Halshany, Queen of Poland from , and the last wife of Jogaila.-Biography:...

, who gave birth to two sons. Hedwig was raised by both stepmothers.

In 1419, a marriage to Bogislaw IX, Duke of Pomerania
Bogislaw IX, Duke of Pomerania
Bogislaw IX was a duke of Pomerania in Pomerania-Stolp, whose residence was Stargard.Bogislaw was the son of Bogislaw VIII, Duke of Pomerania, and Sophia of Holstein. On June 24, 1432 he married Maria of Masovia, daughter of Siemowit IV, Duke of Masovia and Alexandra of Lithuania...

 was proposed, but his indecisiveness ended the negotiations. On 12 April 1421, Hedwig was betrothed to Frederick, second son of Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg
Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg
Frederick was Burgrave of Nuremberg as Frederick VI and Elector of Brandenburg as Frederick I. He was a son of Burgrave Frederick V of Nuremberg and Elisabeth of Meissen, and was the first member of the House of Hohenzollern to rule the Margraviate of Brandenburg.- Biography :Frederick entered...

. According to the terms of the agreement, the marriage could took place when Frederick reached a proper age, by 1427, and also the young Brandenburg prince had to live in Poland as soon as was possible, in order to get acquainted with the language and customs of his future country.

A party of Polish nobles wanted Hedwig and her future husband to succeed her father, instead of her father's sons by Sophia of Halshany, who were not descended from the Piast dynasty
Piast dynasty
The Piast dynasty was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. It began with the semi-legendary Piast Kołodziej . The first historical ruler was Duke Mieszko I . The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of king Casimir the Great...

 of Poland. The death of her maternal grandmother in 1425 left Hedwig without any close relatives.

In early 1430 King Janus of Cyprus
Janus of Cyprus
Janus of Cyprus was a King of Cyprus, King of Armenia and a Titular King of Jerusalem from 1398 to 1432.-Biography:He was born in Genoa where his father, King James I of Cyprus was a captive...

asked for her hand in marriage but Hedwig suddenly died.
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