A FEMALE KING OF POLAND?

Friday, Oct. 16, marks the anniversary of the start of the 15-year reign of the famous king, Jadwiga of Poland, who ruled from 1384 to 1399. What makes this monarch particularly unusual is that she was a woman.

While her life was short, dying at age 25, Jadwiga gained massive popularity for her kindness, intelligence and diplomatic ability, with a few historians calling her one of Poland’s greatest rulers.

While not the first woman in history to lead a nation, as had the likes of Gorgo of Sparta or Cleopatra of Egypt, she was one of first to be crowned with the patriarchal title of king.

Born to Louis I, King of Hungary and Poland, Jadwiga was the youngest child of three girls. She was planned to be engaged to, and live with, William, a member of the powerful Hapsburg family and future Duke of Austria Willam (later known as William of Austria).

Her two siblings, Catherine and Mary, were expected to inherit their father’s Hungarian and Polish lands, respectively, as monarchs. However, Catherine died while young, and Mary was moved to inherit Hungary, and Jadwiga, to inherit Poland, instead. Louis I died in 1383 when Jadwiga was only 8 years old. The dowager queen (his widow) originally wanted Jadwiga to reach the age of maturity and stay in Hungary before she inherited the Polish throne. However, Polish nobles declared an ultimatum: Bring Jadwiga over to Poland for a coronation, or the nobles would declare a king among themselves.

And thus, Jadwiga was crowned king of Poland in the year 1884 at age 10, for reasons of legitimacy and to prevent her future husband from calling himself king of Poland.

During the first years of her reign, her biggest dispute was caused by her original assigned match, William of Austria. The Polish people did not want him to be a ruling force in Poland, and she was pressured into considering marriage to Grand Duke Jogaila of Lithuania.

By now, Jadwiga was 11 and a devout Catholic and preferred William, age 14 and Catholic over the “aging” 34-year-old, pagan Jogaila. William argued that in the eyes of God, he and Jadwiga were already married and only needed to consummate their marriage to be fully recognized. And so the teenager rode off to the capital of Poland to sleep with the young “king.”

Among competing romantic legends, one has William thwarted after Polish nobles barred the royal gates to prevent his entrance. An emotional Jadwiga, forced from her true love, grabbed an axe to chop down the inner castle door to get to him, but failed.

Another holds that William succeeded in breaching Jadwiga’s bedchambers, but was dragged naked from her bed by nobles who tried to murder him in the process – again, unable to consummate the marriage.

Whatever the actual case, William was repelled by Polish nobility. In an attempt to convince Jadwiga of matrimony, Jogaila declared that he would convert to Catholicism and support his countrymen should they desire to, and that he would send monetary restitution to William. And after being persuaded by a bishop that spreading Christian faith was a priceless opportunity, agreed to the plan.

Jogaila married 12-year-old Jadwiga at age 35, and adopted a Christian name, Władysław, and the two ruled as co-monarchs.

Ultimately, Jadwiga was known for her charity, piety, and intellect as Poland’s king. She famously managed to negotiate many important diplomatic agreements after her remaining sister, Mary, died falling off a horse leaving her husband Sigismund as the sole monarch of Hungary. Jadwiga also donated most of her personal wealth into aiding the poor, demonstrated with a story when she gave a solid gold buckle from her shoe to a poor stonemason, to help feed his family. Interestingly, the stonemason noticed that she left her footprint in the plaster floor, despite it already having been hardened before her visit, and the plaster floor still remains today in a Polish church.

At 25, Jadwiga would give birth to a daughter, who sadly lived only for three weeks, while suffering a mortal injury, herself. She advised Władysław to marry her cousin as a second wife, then died four days after her daughter’s death.

Jadwiga of Poland was venerated in the fond memory of Polish nobles and the people for her great but unfortunately short rule. She later would be recognized for spreading Christianity to Lithuania and was declared a saint in 1997 by Pope John Paul II.

While often referred as Poland’s first queen, despite being crowned as king, Jadwiga and her reign marks a milestone of sorts, of how women, once merely considered property, have made strides throughout history when it comes to making the world a better place