Hedwig of Bavaria

Hedwig also Heilwig,[1] (c. 778 – c. 835) was a Saxon noblewoman, abbess of Chelles,[1] the wife of Count Welf, and mother-in-law of Emperor Louis the Pious through his marriage to Judith, her daughter.[2]

Hedwig
Bornc. 778
Alamannia
Diedc. 835
Bavaria
Noble family
Spouse(s)Welf
Issue
Details...
FatherIsambart
MotherThiedrada

Life

Hedwig was possibly born at Altdorf in the Frankish lands of Alamannia (present-day Germany). According to Bishop Thegan of Trier, she was a member of the Ecbertiner family, a powerful Franco-Saxon Family.[3] She was the daughter of Count Isambart and Thiedrada.

Upon her daughter's marriage to Louis the Pious, the family began benefiting from royal patronage, with the family possessing the previously royal estate of Schussengau in 819.[4]

In 827, Hedwig's other daughter Hemma married Louis the German, making Hedwig mother-in-law to both Emperor Louis and his Son.

Hedwig was ordained the abbess of Chelles before 825, likely entering upon Welf's death.[1] Under Hedwig, the abbey would become a significant abbey surrounding queenship, hosting the bones of Saint Balthild, a Merovingian queen consort. Hedwig would become an advocate for the cult of Balthild, being responsible for transferring the relics of Saint Balthild to Aachen on behest of Louis the Pious.[4]

Eugène Viollet-le-Duc's reconstruction of the 13th-century dormitory at Chelles, Hedwig's Abbey.

Hedwig died in c. 835 and was buried in the Basilica of Saint Martin, in modern-day Baden-Wurttemberg.

Family

Hedwig's parents were Isambart, Count of Thurgau, and his second wife Thiedrada.

Hedwig had a sister, Adalung des Franken; half-brother, Hunfrid I, Margrave of Istria; and a brother, Guelph, Count of Andechs.

Marriage and issue

Hedwig was married to Count Welf I and together they had the following children:

Through her marriage to Welf, she is the matriarch of the dynastic Welf family[7] and is an ancestor of the Carolingian dynasty, the kings of Italy, Russia, Britain and the Bavarian Welfs.

See also

References
  1. Pierre Riche, The Carolingians, A family who Forged Europe (translated by Michael Idomir Allen; University of Philadelphia Press, 1993), pp. 52, 149.
  2. "Hedwig (Eigilwich) of Saxony, Duchess of Bavaria b. Abt 780 of Bavaria, Germany d. 826 : Cumberland Family Software". 4 March 2016. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  3. Fleckenstein, Josef (1987), "Über die Anfänge der deutschen Geschichte", Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, pp. 5–24, doi:10.1007/978-3-322-89758-9_1, ISBN 978-3-531-11959-5, retrieved 23 November 2022 {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. Ward, Elizabeth (2002). "The career of the Empress Judith, 819-843". King's College London: 2–242.
  5. The Annals of Fulda. (Manchester Medieval series, Ninth-Century Histories, Volume II.) Reuter, Timothy (trans.) (Manchester University Press, 1992).
  6. by Cesare Rivera, I Conti de' Marsi e la loro discendenze fino alla fondazione dell'Aquila, (Teramo, 1915).
  7. Halliday, Sir Andrew (1826). Annals of the house of Hanover. Vol. 1. London, UK: N. Sams. OCLC 674208974. Retrieved 5 September 2014.

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