Jadwiga, Female King of Poland

Queens of Europe Yod viga the female king of Poland yacht viga of Poland was crowned at the age of 10 she grew wise beyond her years and was forced to make a difficult decision about who to marry though she reigned for only 15 years she did a great deal of good and is considered one of the greatest monarchs in Polish history Yad viga or Hedwig as she is known in German was born in 1373 or 74 she was the youngest of three children all daughters of King Louis the 1st of Hungary and Poland and Elizabeth of Bosnia Yod viga was named for her distant ancestor Saint Hedwig of Silesia who was greatly exalted at the time as King Louie had no sons he championed the rights of his daughters to succeed him and made his noble swear oaths of loyalty to them therefore the three Eris's of great expectation became particularly attractive Brides the plan was for the eldest Catherine to inherit Hungary the second marry Poland and since there was nothing left for the youngest Yod viga would be part of a powerful marriage alliance with the Austrian Habsburg family who ruled the Holy Roman Empire when she was a mere toddler Yad Vega was betrothed to William of Habsburg eldest son of Leopold the third Duke of Austria when the princess was five her sponse Lea de fer Toro or provisional marriage to the eight-year-old William was celebrated and it was promised that the children would consummate their marriage as soon as they reach maturity later that year Yod vigas eldest sister Catherine died at the age of seven this made second sister Mary the heir to all she was betrothed to Prince Sigismund of Luxembourg and her father forced the Polish Lords to swear loyalty to him as their future king five years later King Louie died at the age of 56 and 11 year old Mary was crowned king of Hungary as there was no provision for a queen to be ruler her betrothed ziggy's monde was away in Poland on military campaign to quash a rebellion and was not present at the coronation but as soon as he heard the news he began to make his way back to the Hungarian capital of Buda demanding oaths of loyalty along the way Mary's quick-witted mother Elizabeth was made regent for her daughter she understood that the Hungarian people had no desire to be ruled by her daughter's foreign fiancee and she knew that when he arrived he would take power out of her hands so she released the nobles from the vows they had been forced into by her husband and instead demanded that they vow loyalty to her daughters which they did but the Polish nobles were a different matter they were weary of the personal union between Poland and Hungary and didn't believe a ruler living in Buda could give priority to the needs of the kingdom of Poland they demanded that their new king Mary moved to Poland or they would elect their own ruler to replace her conveniently Elizabeth did have two daughters so she decided that her elder daughter Mary would remain in Hungary as monarch and her younger daughter yacht Riga would travel to Poland to rule there however she was hesitant to send eight-year-old yadwiga across the Carpathian Mountains without her so she made excuses to delay her arrival the Polish Lords began to squabble and fight over other possible candidates for the throne one powerful Lord tried to enter the Polish capital of crackles in order to seize the throne but the people of the city barred the gates to him another demanded to be crowned King but the archbishop refused to place the crown on his head and everyone could agree that they did not want Prince Sigismund of Luxembourg as their King as he and his army were still marching around southern Poland raiding and pillaging small villages after nearly two years of waiting and infighting the General Assembly of Poland since the Dowager Queen and ultimatum either deliver their new monarch in two months or they would elect one themselves Elizabeth could no longer delay and had to send her ten-year-old daughter across the mountains to take the throne on October 16th 1384 yadwiga arrived in krakow and was crowned before a massive cheering crowd of both high and low born people who greeted her with great affection she was proclaimed king of poland though historians debate if this was to distinguish her as a regent rather than a queen consort or to block any future husband she might take from claiming the title of king himself either way aside from the legend of Queen Wanda of the eighth century yaagh Vega was the first female ever to rule over Poland Yod Vega had a handful of trusted advisors picked for her by her mother to help her rule her new kingdom but the bright precocious an exceptionally tall girl king quickly matured into her new role she had an abundance of charm and kindness which further endeared her to the court and her people but as much as they adored their new ruler they weren't keen to have her fiance William of Habsburg come in and take over they felt that the 14 year olds Austrian kinsmen could not or would not protect Poland's interests against its powerful neighbors so they instead recommended that yacht Vega marry Duke ugalla of Lithuania yadwiga was not fond of this proposal she liked William and was keen to marry him he was also only a few years older than her while you Gaga was 35 Eulalie was also a pagan who worshiped the old gods of the Baltic region Yad Vega was a faithful Christian and was anguished at the thought of marrying a heathen you get a cent invoice to Yad Riga to ask for her hand in marriage but she delayed saying that she must wait for the advice of her mother meanwhile William's father King Leopold reminded everyone that the marriage between his son and yadwiga had already been sealed in the eyes of God and that they need only consummate their union for it to be legally binding 14 year old William set out for Krakov so that he could sleep with his 11 year old wife and cement their accounts vary as to whether or not the young couple actually got together the romantic legend is that Polish Nobles barred the castle gates to William and yadwiga took an axe and tried to break down the door in order to get to her husband some accounts state that William did enter Yahoo IGAs bedchamber one night but was later dragged out by Polish Nobles who then tried to murder him yet another chronicler records that everyone knew yad riga and william had shared a bed for a fortnight but whether or not the very young lovers actually consummated their marriage in the end william was forced out of the country by the Polish nobility Dooku kyla of Lithuania smooth things over with his potential bride by offering that he and his kinsmen would convert to Catholicism if she would agree to marry him he would also support any of his countrymen who wish to do the same at the time most Lithuanians were pagan so this was a big opportunity to spread Christianity ugalla also offered 200 thousand florins in compensation to the jilted William of Habsburg who refused the gift and instead recruited the Teutonic Knights to invade Lithuania the Teutonic Knights were a Germanic religious and Military Order which aided pilgrims to the Holy Land and established hospitals they weren't particularly happy about a pagan potentially marrying the monarch of Poland a distraught Yad we got went to the bishop of Krakov to ask his advice about whether or not she should accept you guy this proposal the bishop advised her that marrying the lithuanian and therefore bringing Christianity to his people would be a priceless offering for the Christianization of europe according to legend yadwiga prayed before a black crucifix and the figure of christ on the cross spoke to her and said that she should indeed marry you gala and so she accepted her suitor who came to Krakov where he was baptized and given the Christian name wada soif after a previous king of poland he requested that yah tweekaz mother Elizabeth adopt him as her own son so that he would have a direct claim on the Polish throne just in case Yacht we got should die three days later thirty-five-year-old whatta Slav you Galya married twelve year old yacht viga and he was declared king and lord of poland from then on the couple ruled as Co monarchs in a personal union between the kingdoms of Poland and Lithuania the two nations would be united under one crown for the next 400 years but Yad weeka didn't simply hand over power to her husband she remains the primary monarch of Poland and you Gaia the primary in Lithuania despite their age difference and the fact that they did not speak a common language at first the newlyweds got along fairly well and over time it developed a deep attachment and respect for one another they traveled around Poland together to appease the local Lords who were still hostile to you Gaia on their journey yadwiga gave generously to the poor Pope Urban the sixth sent a representative to investigate the unusual marriage and he proclaimed the union legal in the eyes of the church but the Teutonic Knights weren't satisfied they still wanted William of Habsburg as king and began a propaganda campaign slandering yo kyla William besieged the Pope that he was yad we gus' rightful husband and the rightful king as their marriage had indeed been consummated the Pope rejected William's petition as he had already recognized the validity of the marriage and of course his holiness could not admit to having been wrong but this was not enough to stop the protests of William and the Teutonic Knights yadwiga was finally forced to make a public before all the lords of Poland that she had come to yokai 'la a virgin and had only ever slept with him they accepted her oath and swore loyalty to yokai 'la soundly rejecting william meanwhile in hungary things were not going well for you at vigas mother Elizabeth and sister Mary King Charles the 3rd of Naples had invaded and forced Mary off Elizabeth made an offer of peace and support to Charles and invited him to meet her in her apartments when Charles arrived she had him stabbed to death by her servants with her daughter back on the throne Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief but she recognized the dangerous position they were in so invited Mary's betrothed Sigismund of Luxembourg to come to Hungary Mary Mary and become her co-ruler while the mother and daughter were on their way to meet Sigismund they were ambushed by King Charles's Widow Margaret of Durazo mother and daughter were imprisoned and Elizabeth pleaded with Margaret that Charles's murder had been all her own doing she begged Margaret to spare her daughter's life the vengeful widow showed mercy to Mary but not to Elizabeth who was strangled in front of her daughter Ziggy's monde finally arrived five months later and defeated Margaret's forces he set his fiance free and had Elizabeth's body exhumed from the secret grave she'd been laid in and given the funeral of a queen sita's month officially took Mary as his bride and took all of her political power as well though they were technically Co rulers they were nowhere near equals as yad riga and yogaha work Ziggy's wound wasn't much of a fan of his new ex pagan brother-in-law and began negotiations with the still salty Teutonic Knights to invade Poland and divide it between them the two royal sisters yot viga and Mary now in their late teens met for the first time in nearly a decade in an attempt to smooth things over between their two countries Ziggy's moaned spoiling for a fight turned his attentions to Moldavia and then while a Kia he invaded both and forced their rulers to swear loyalty to him but as soon as he left they both turned around and promised to support yadwiga and Jo gala against Ziggy's monk in 1395 Mary was thrown from her horse and died even more tragically she was pregnant at the time and since Yad figa was her sister's legal heir this meant that she was now at the rightful ruler of Hungary yadwiga gathered support for her claim to the throne from some of the Hungarian Nobles this new leverage put her in a strong position to negotiate with zigge easement and eventually an agreement was reached yad viga took the title heir to hungary but otherwise backs down from her claim and allowed cities monde to retain control of hungary and he backed down from his plans to take over Poland what's more the two Kings agreed to join forces against the threat of the Teutonic Knights and together they were able to get them to agree to a peace treaty Yad Vica was passionate about aiding the poor and spent much of her personal wealth on founding hospitals she was deeply religious and also founded dozens of churches and promoted the use of the Polish language in church services and hymns and the translation of the Bible so that her people could hear and read the Word of God in their own tongue she patronized many writers and artists and sponsored the restoration of Krakoff University which was partly funded by the sale of her jewelry at the age of 25 yad vita became pregnant for the first time and she and yoke ila were overjoyed lavish gifts including a silver cradle were sent for the new baby from monarchs around europe yeah vita gave birth to a daughter possibly prematurely whom she named elizabeth bone aphasia after her mother and the new pope boniface the ninth but the baby only lived for three weeks yad viga ii was in ill health after the delivery most likely suffering from child bed fever the high and low throughout Poland prayed for the recovery of their monarch who is the spiritual mother of the poor weak and ill but the death of her daughter weakened yadwiga spirit four days after the baby passed yadwiga embraced her beloved husband for the final time she advised him to marry an of sealy granddaughter of kazimir at the great a former king of Poland as this marriage would strengthen his claim to remain on the Polish throne and prevent the nobles from fighting over it then yah guiga Poland's first female King died on July 17th $13.99 yacht riga and her infant daughter were buried together in Vevey Cathedral heartbroken yo guy de left Poland and returned to Lithuania but the Polish Lords followed him there and asked him to return as their king he agreed to marry an of sealy and ruled over Poland for a further 35 years during a golden age in the nation's history yad riga has long been venerated in poland as one of their greatest rulers and the most christian queen in 1997 pope john paul ii himself a pole canonized yadwiga as a saint her feast day is February 28 she is credited with three miracles in her lifetime seeing a vision of Christ speaking to her when he advised her to marry a gala and bring a Christianity to Lithuania bringing a drowned boy back to life by covering him with a cloak and leaving a footprint in already set plaster after giving a poor stonemason a gold buckle from her shoe to feed his hungry family the venerated footprint is still visible and lovingly preserved in the church of the visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in crackles if you enjoyed this video please like subscribe comment your thoughts and check out my other royal history videos if you really want to help please consider supporting me on patreon a link is in the description thank you for watching

Channel: History Tea Time with Lindsay Holiday

Views: 496,950

Keywords: history, documentary, royalty, sex, bbc, the crown, scandal, royal wedding, pregnancy, feminist, women, europe, historic costumes, medieval, paris, strong female character, pope, queen, poland, lithuania, christian, catholic, pagan, Jadwiga of Poland, krakow, polish history, middle ages, 14th century, Teutonic Knights, war, battle, castle, game of thrones, murder, romantic, tragic, fairy tale, childbirth death, Jogaila, saint jadwiga, hedwig, Civilization VI, Korona królów, Dagmara Bryzek, hungary, convert

Id: 1O4lHhfIbK8

Length: 17min 3sec (1023 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 07 2020