Jadwiga I of Poland

Jadwiga ( Polish: [jadˈviɡa] ; 1373/1374 – 17 July 1399), also known as Hedwig (from German, Hungarian: Hedvig), was the first female monarch of the Kingdom of Poland, as well as its last hereditary ruler. She reigned from 16 October 1384 until her death. Born in Buda, she was the youngest daughter of Louis I of Hungary and his wife, Elizabeth of Bosnia. Jadwiga was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou and had forebears among the Polish Piasts.

In 1375, Louis I of Hungary planned for Jadwiga to marry William, Duke of Austria, to whom she was symbolically wed in 1378; she subsequently lived in Vienna from 1378 to 1380. Louis is sometimes thought to have regarded her and William as his favoured successors in Hungary after the 1378 death of her eldest sister, Catherine of Hungary, since the following year the Polish nobility had pledged their homage to Louis I' second daughter, Mary, and Mary's fiancé, Sigismund of Luxembourg. However, in 1382, Louis I died and his widow, Elizabeth of Bosnia, had Mary crowned "King of Hungary". Sigismund of Luxembourg tried to take control of Poland, but the Polish nobility countered that they would be obedient to a daughter of Louis I only if she settled in Poland. Elizabeth then chose Jadwiga to reign in Poland, but did not send her to Kraków to be crowned. During the interregnum, Siemowit IV, Duke of Masovia, became a candidate for the Polish throne. The nobility of Greater Poland favoured him and proposed that he marry Jadwiga. However, Lesser Poland's nobility opposed him, and they persuaded Elizabeth to send Jadwiga to Poland.