So Young a Queen: Jadwiga of Poland

At the age of five in 1378, she is betrothed to be married to Prince William of Austria. When the balance of power in Central Europe unexpectedly shifts, the Council from faraway Poland demands that Jadwiga become their monarch. The eleven-year-old girl is soon traveling north to Krakow where she is crowned queen in Wawel Cathedral, swearing “to keep and maintain the rights and liberties granted by the righteous Christian kings of Poland.” And she means to do it. However, when Poland’s Council insists upon her marrying the fierce pagan Prince Jagiello of Lithuania instead of William, Jadwiga passionately resists. The intense struggle in which this young queen lays down her personal hopes and gives her entire life to the fulfillment of a peaceful union between Poland and Lithuania—long referred to as “The wedding ring of Jadwiga”—will have far-reaching consequences in her own time and in the years to come.

Jadwiga, “White Dove of Poland,” was canonized a saint in 1997 by Pope John Paul II.