"King" Jadwiga of Poland
Jadwiga (Hedvig in Hungarian) was born in Hungary at some time in the winter of 1373-4 to father King Louis I of Poland and Hungary and mother Elizabeth of Bosnia. In 1375 it was decided that she would marry William of Austria so she lived in Vienna from 1378-80. This was one of the first cases of the Habsburgs* attempting to spread their dominion by marrying heiresses. She had two older sisters: Catherine, who died in 1379 before she could become the monarch, and Mary, who was crowned King of Hungary after her father's death in 1382, as insisted by her mother.
*The Habsburgs were from one of the principal dynasties of central Europe from the medieval era.
At this point, between monarchs in Poland, Mary's husband Sigismund of Luxembourg attempted to take control of Poland but Polish nobility insisted that they would only ever take orders from a daughter of the late King Louis I if she lived in Poland. Another potential contender to the Polish throne was Siemowit IV, the Duke of Mazovia (a historical region in north-eastern Poland); however, the nobility of Lesser Poland (another historical region in the south of Poland) persuaded Elizabeth to choose Jadwiga to rule and to send her to Poland.
In 1384 Jadwiga became the first female monarch of Poland (when she was about 10 years old) - but she, like her sister Mary, was King, not Queen. Some argue that she was only coronated as the Polish nobility strongly opposed her husband becoming King; others, on the other hand, argue that her coronation was simply emblematic of her status as a queen regnant - a queen who reigns in her own right with power equivalent to that of a king (as opposed to a queen consort).
When the Polish nobility decided to coronate Jadwiga they also decided to repudiate her betrothal to him and forced the end of their engagement. This meant that once Jadwiga was King she got her mother's consent to begin negotiations with Jogaila, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, regarding their potential marriage. Jogaila had been a pagan but pledged to convert to Roman Catholicism and encourage his subjects to do the same. This is when things got juicy, as during this time William of Austria visited the capital of Mazovia, Kraków, trying to win Jadwiga back. He was later expelled by nobles as they believed he as King and Austria would not have been able to protect Poland from her very powerful neighbours. Jadwiga and Jogaila got married in February 1386. The following month, Jogaila was crowned King of Poland and Jadwiga's co-ruler. They couldn't speak a common language but they worked together closely.
Meanwhile, Pope Urban IV sent an ambassador to investigate the royal couple but he had nothing scandalous to report. The Teutonic Knights** began a propaganda campaign in favour of William of Habsburg. Jadwiga's mother Elizabeth pledged to support Jogaila against his enemies but Elizabeth and Jadwiga's sister Mary were both captured by a group of Slavonian lords (Slavonia is a historical region in Croatia) and Elizabeth was murdered six months later in January 1387. The next month Jadwiga marched the Polish troops to Ruthenia (now western Ukraine) where almost ever governor submitted to her immediately. Duke Vladislaus of Opole also had a claim on the area but the King of Romans refused to help him intervene so Jadwiga was able to promise the people of Ruthenia that they would forever be under the Polish crown. Around October 1387 she instructed all her subjects to treat Jogaila with as much respect as they did her.
**The Teutonic Knights were a Catholic religious order set up as a military order in Jerusalem around 1190. They held their headquarters in Austria. Their allegiances have laid with the Pope since they were founded.
William insisted the Pope launch another investigation into the marriage of Jadwiga and Jogaila. A supporter of William accused Jadwiga of having secret meetings with William but Jadwiga took an oath insisting that she had remained loyal to her husband. William's supporter then admitted he had lied.
Sigismund, Mary's widower husband, who was still King of Hungary, began negotiations with the Teutonic Knights to annex a part of Poland in 1392. However, Hungary's southern border was vulnerable to attack by the Ottomans which prevented Sigismund from invading Poland. Records make clear that Jadwiga was very intelligent and level-headed in the discussions with Hungary though relations with the two countries remained very tense. Sigismund invaded Moldavia (what is now part of Romania) in 1394 which led the former King to pledge allegiance to Poland against Hungary, the Ottomans and the Teutonic Knights.
In May 1395, Jadwiga's sister, Mary, died childless, which left Jadwiga (and Jogaila) the rightful heir to the Hungarian throne. Jogaila readied his troops on the Polish-Hungarian border ready to invade Hungary, but on 8th September the most influential Hungarian lords declared that they wouldn't support any change in government that took place while Sigismund was out of Hungary fighting the Ottomans. By the end of the year, peace negotiations between the two countries ended. Jadwiga would have the title "heir to Hungary" and she and her husband were to take no further action against Hungary.
While tensions between Poland and Hungary appeared cooler, there was still conflict with the Teutonic Knights. Jadwiga wanted to avoid war with the Knights and invited the Grand Master of the Knights to new negotiations in June 1396 but didn't yet meet a compromise. When Sigismund returned to Hungary in July after a humiliating defeat against the Ottomans he agreed to mediate negotiations between Poland, Lithuania and the Teutonic Order. She had the King of Bohemia agree to open a college for Lithuanian students in Prague in July 1397 - a project she had spent many sleepless nights thinking about. She also financed restoration of the University at Kraków which to this day remains a centre of Polish influence and culture.
Ten years passed in Jadwiga and Jogaila's marriage before Jadwiga got pregnant which caused some conflict between the two. She became pregnant in the winter of 1398-9 and she continued her work as "King" of Poland throughout her pregnancy. Jogaila's brother send them expensive gifts on behalf of himself and his wife including a silver cradle. Horoscopes predicted Jadwiga and Jogaila were to expect a son in September 1399 but they had a daughter who was born prematurely (according to reports from the time) in June. The baby was named Elizabeth Bonifacia after Jadwiga's mother and Pope Boniface IX who agreed to be godfather if the baby was named after him. However, the baby died at just three weeks old on 13 July 1399. Jadwiga died four days later after having advised Jogaila to marry the granddaughter of Casimir the Great in order to strengthen his ties to the Polish throne (which he did).
As she requested in her will, Jadwiga was buried with her daughter in August.
Jadwiga was canonised Patron Saint of Queens by Pope John Paul I in Kraków in 1997.
Bibliography:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William,_Duke_of_Austria
https://www.britannica.com/place/Poland/The-arrival-of-the-Teutonic-Knights#ref396749
Jadwiga of Anjou and the Rise of East Central Europe, Oscar Halecki
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