Noble family Liudolfing Children Hugh Capet Name Hedwig Saxony | Mother Matilda Father Henry I the Fowler | |
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Died May 10, 965 AD, Aachen, Germany Parents Henry the Fowler, Matilda of Ringelheim Grandchildren Robert II of France, Hedwig of France, Countess of Mons, Gisela of France, Countess of Ponthieu Similar People | ||
Hedwige of Saxony (also Hedwig, German: Hadwig von Sachsen; c. 910 – May 10, 965), 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.
Contents
Life
According to the medieval chronicler Widukind of Corvey, 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). 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.
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. 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 soonafter; a 965 entry by Sigebert of Gembloux seems doubtful.