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Hadwig von Sachsen was born circa 917 to Heinrich von Sachsen (876-936) and Matilda von Ringelheim (c895-968) and died 10 May 959 of unspecified causes. She married Hugh the Great (898-956) 14 September 938 JL .

Hedwige of Saxony, a member of the Ottonian dynasty, was Duchess consort of the Franks by her marriage to the Robertian duke Hugh the Great. Upon her husband's death in 956, she acted as a regent during the minority of their son Hugh Capet, the founder of the Elder House of Capet (Capetian dynasty).

Life

Hedwig was a younger daughter of the Saxon duke Henry the Fowler (c. 876 – 936), elected King of East Francia from 919, and his second wife Matilda of Ringelheim (c. 895 – 968).[1] Her siblings were Otto I, who succeeded his father as king and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 962; Duke Henry I of Bavaria; Gerberga of Saxony, who married King Louis IV of France in 939; and Archbishop Bruno of Cologne.

After her brother Otto I came to power in 936, an alliance and marriage was arranged with the West Frankish duke Hugh the Great, who sought support in his struggles with King Louis IV. Hedwig was Hugh's third wife. They married probably in May 937.[1]

When Hedwig's husband died in 956, her son Hugh Capet was still underage. Although Hugh inherited his father's estates, he did not rule independently from the beginning.[2] Along with her brother, Archbishop Bruno, Hedwig acted as Hugh's regent and administrator of the Robertian estates until he came of age. Bruno also held guardianship over his nephew King Lothair of France, son of his sister Gerberga, and temporarily raised to one of the most powerful nobles in West Francia. Hedwig backed her brother in his conflict with Count Reginar III of Hainaut and arbitrated in the rivalry between her son Hugh Capet and King Lothair.

Hedwig is last mentioned in 958 by the West Frankish chronicler Flodoard of Reims and may have died soon afterward; a 965 entry by Sigebert of Gembloux seems doubtful.



Children


Offspring of Hugh the Great (898-956) and Hedwig von Sachsen
Name Birth Death Joined with
Beatrice de France (c938-aft987) 938 978 Frederick of Bar (?-978)
Hugh Capet, King of France (c940-996) 940 Paris, France 24 October 996 Paris, France Adelaide of Aquitaine (c945-1004)
Emma de France (?-968) 943 19 March 968 Richard I, Duke of Normandy (933-996)
Otton de Bourgogne (c945-965) 945 22 February 965 Liegearde de Chalon (-aft958)
Henri I de Bourgogne (c948-1002) 948 15 October 1002 Gerberga de Macon (?-c988)
Garsende de Gascogne (c977-)
Mahaut de Chalon (?-1019)



Siblings


Offspring of Heinrich von Sachsen (876-936) and Witwe Hatheburg (?-?)
Name Birth Death Joined with
Thankmar von Sachsen (c903-938) 903 28 August 938


Offspring of Heinrich von Sachsen (876-936) and Matilda von Ringelheim (c895-968)
Name Birth Death Joined with
Otto I von Sachsen (912-973) 23 November 912 Wallhausen, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany 7 May 973 Memleben, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany Eadgyth of Wessex (910-946)
Adelaide de Bourgogne (c931-999)
Gerberga von Sachsen (913-969) 913 5 May 969 Giselbert de Lorraine (c885-939)
Louis IV (c920-954)
Hadwig von Sachsen (c917-959) 917 10 May 959 Hugh the Great (898-956)
Heinrich I von Bayern (c920-955) 920 955 Judith von Bayern (925-985)
Brun von Sachsen (925-965) 925 11 October 965


See Also



Footnotes (including sources)

  1. ^ a b Bernhardt 1993, p. Table 1.
  2. ^ Riché 1993, p. 264.
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