Hedwig Jagiellon, Electress of Brandenburg

Hedwig Jagiellon (, , ; 15 March 1513 – 7 February 1573) was a princess of the Kingdom of Poland and of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and a member of the Jagiellonian dynasty as a daughter of Sigismund I the Old. She was Electress of Brandenburg by marriage to Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg.

Early life

Hedwig was born on March 15, 1513, in Poznań. She was the eldest daughter of King Sigismund I the Old of Poland and his first wife, Hungarian Countess Barbara Zápolya, sister of the later King John I of Hungary. Her only full sibling, Anna, died at age 5. Her father remarried and had six children with his second wife. Although she grew up with her half brothers and sisters, she had personal tutors, and in the court she received the nickname of "reginula".

Hedwig was described by Olaus Magnus, who met her in 1528, as a "very beautiful, wise maiden [...] finer than all the riches I have just mentioned, and worthy of a glorious realm." children: Elisabeth Magdalena (6 September 1537 – 22 August 1595); married Francis Otto, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg Sigismund (2 December 1538 – 14 September 1566), Bishop of Magdeburg and Halberstadt. Hedwig (2 March 1540 – 21 October 1602); married Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg Sophia (14 December 1541 – 27 June 1564); married of Wiliam of Rosenberg Joachim (1543 – 23 March 1544) A daughter; died at birth.

Ancestry