A Brief History
On October 16, 1384, Jadwiga, a woman, was crowned KING of Poland.
Digging Deeper
Jadwiga was the daughter of Louis I the Great, who reigned simultaneously as king of Hungary and Poland. When Louis died, his eldest daughter, Mary, inherited the Hungarian throne. The Polish nobility, however, instead chose the younger daughter Jadwiga as their ruler. To make it clear that she was not a mere queen consort, but a ruler in her own right, Jadwiga was crowned as king rather than “queen”. She is one of maybe only five or so such women in all of human history to take a masculine, rather than feminine royal title. Moreover, she received this lofty title while still a girl (Jadwiga was born in 1373 or 1374 and became “king” in 1384).
Despite being a child ruler, Jadwiga was something of a Renaissance woman. She could speak German, Hungarian, Latin, Polish, and Serbian, among other talents. She personally funded the building of hospitals and even scholarships for academics. Her charitable nature combined with various legends eventually resulted in her canonization as a patron saint of queens. Among the miracles attributed to her was the claim that she revived a boy who had drowned in a river.
Her reign opened, however, with some familial tragedies. The situation in nearby Hungary became downright horrific for Jadwiga’s mother and sister. Their opposition within Hungary ambushed Queen Mary and her mother, kidnapped them, and imprisoned them. Mary and Jadwiga’s mother ended up strangled before Mary’s eyes. Although Mary was eventually rescued, she died a few years later in an apparent horse riding accident, while pregnant.
Jadwiga died in 1399 after giving birth to a daughter who died within days of her mother, one of Poland’s most celebrated Kings! Question for students (and subscribers): Who is your favorite woman ruler in history? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more on the saintly king, unfortunately, just about all the books on her incorrectly refer to her as “queen”, but for a fairly concise read, you might check out Saint Jadwiga, Queen of Poland, 1374-1399 and yes, you can also like her on Facebook! Finally, you can read her entry on the website for Encyclopedia Britannica.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="358 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=358">40 Comments
My name is Yadwiga and my family claims to have been a part of Queen Yadwigas court thus my name and that of my mother. My grandmothers name was Olga Von Michaelson Sielski. My mothers Yadwiga and mine the same. I was told we have a castle in Latvia.
Neat!
When I lived in Europe I did not travel to Latvia but I attempted to find out information, as did so many others who had success in finding their castles, I did not get anywhere.
Hopefully somebody on this site can give me some clues as to where to look. Thanks for the comment.
Dear Yadja,
Have you tried posting on forums on Ancestry.com?
Sincerely,
Dr. Zarzeczny
Dear Dr. Zarzeczny, no I have not. I know so very little about my mother’s side of the family and I don’t care to spend money to find out the rest of the story.
Thank you for answering me you are such a gentleman.
You’re welcome! 🙂
Jadwiga proved that women were fully capable of running the show in the same capacity as men during this time. While her situation in getting to the throne and her desire to actually be in that position are difficult to know, what she accomplished as king obviously propelled the kingdom forward. To me, this means that she was a successful king, and deserves to be among one of the few women to hold the position of king and match or exceed many male kings of the past.
Interesting Article, pretty rough situations for Jadwiga, being that she is one of Poland’s most celebrated kings.
Interesting that someone in her position wasn’t murdered in an attempt to gain power. Or even married? I don’t recall seeing her even being married but obviously still had a child.
She was married to Władysław II Jagiełło. I believe it was around age 12 (which was the age you had to be from what I’ve seen).
Wow a little girl becomes a king and can speak multiple languages and run a country? At that age I was watching Hannah Montana and could say the colors in Spanish.
I still don’t really understand why she couldn’t be considered a queen but she sounds like she was an awesome ruler and person in general
One of the things that will never cease to amaze me is how much people in earlier time periods seem to have been able to learn in such a short span of time. Her choice in reform projects is also admirable.
How interesting that a girl so young would take a masculine title of royalty as well as be so well educated and talented.
It is amazing to see people educated during this time period ! It is upsetting that childbirth killed her and that her daughter later died!
What a powerful woman. Way to go Yadwiga!!!
Jadwiga is admirable. To become king as a woman and a child must have been no simple task at that time. Additionally, her learning as a Renaissance woman is really cool, especially considering the time and place.
While women are still in the pursuit of total equality, it is interesting to consider how women such as Jadwiga, albeit in unique circumstances, broke through the social mold and gained notoriety.
Wow, at the time this was probably a large step in the realm of women’s rights. I still do not quite understand why she wasn’t named queen.
She sounded effective as a King! Being able to speak multiple languages and providing scholarships is very good for your country.
Wow! Jadwiga certainly accomplished a great deal in her time as king. She is a shining example of female power.
She sounds like a good king that did alot of good things. Also it’s werid to me saying she the king instead of Queen
She sounded like she did a pretty good job
So this girl was canonized because she performed miracles like reviving a boy from drowning in a river? Are we sure that people didn’t know what CPR was back then…or that some of this was made up?
So cool that a WOMAN was a KING! Girl Power! Sad that her and her daughter died from childbirth.
That’s awesome that she had the title of King over Queen, even more so that she was apparently an effective yet benevolent ruler unlike so many others of Medieval times.
I love articles like this one that shows how powerful women really can be. It is so cool to see that even back in history women were changing roles.
I love when women are empowered! It shows me that women can do anything they set their minds to and work for! So awesome!!!
Women have showed their power over time in many ways.
Amazing that a female child can take throne and rule and be loved by her people while there are countless examples of young men taking the throne only to cause chaos.
People back then just assumed women to be inferior for the most part but they have had every bit of power men believed was almost exclusive to them. Just takes the right time to show that women are equally as capable of ruling as men.
She was clearly intelligent and powerful why not take the throne as king!
That would make her the queen you ignorant fools
Because polish people were ignorant an didnt know the difference between feminine and masculine…That does not make her a King LOOOL dont be foolish.
Lol. She was a king because she was a ruler. In Poland “queen” was only a king’s wife, not a ruler.
This would have been an interesting point to make in regards to my essay “where ancient women powerless or powerful.”
Could have used this story in my essay!
why wouldnt the woman king just be crowned queen?
if she was king what was her husband called? ha. i like how a woman was able to take the thrown as a king and not given a lesser name. to be charitable and an ok ruler at the age of 10 is surprising too
No only. Poland has two women-king. King Jadwiga I Andegaweńska and king Anna I Jagiellonka.