She was the daughter of Count Berthold IV of Andechs and his second wife Agnes of Wettin, she was born at Andechs Castle in the Duchy of Bavaria.
At the age of twelve, Hedwig married Henryk I Brodaty, son and heir of the Piast duke Boleslaw I the Tall of Silesia.
Hedwig and Henry had lived very pious lives, and Hedwig had great zeal for religion. She had supported her husband in donating the Augustinian provostry at Nowogród Bobrzan'ski (Naumburg) and the commandery of the Knights Templar at Oles'nica Mala (Klein Oels). Hedwig always helped the poor and donated all her fortune to the Church. According to legend, she went barefoot even in winter, and when she was urged by the Bishop of Wroclaw to wear shoes, she carried them in her hands. On 15 October 1243, Hedwig died and was buried in Trzebnica Abbey with her husband, while relics of her are preserved at Andechs Abbey and St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin.
Hedwig was canonized in 1267 by Pope Clement IV, a supporter of the Cistercian order, at the suggestion of her grandson Prince-Archbishop Wladyslaw of Salzburg. She is the patron saint of Silesia, of Andechs, and of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wroclaw and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Görlitz. Her feast day is celebrated on the Roman Catholic calendar of saints on 16 October. A 17th-century legend has it that Hedwig, while on a pilgrimage to Rome, stopped at Bad Zell in Austria, where she had healing waters spring up at a source which today still bears her name.
Hedwig and Henryk I had seven children:
Agnes (ca. 1190 – before 11 May 1214).
Boleslaw (ca. 1191 – 10 September 1206/08).
Henry II the Pious (ca. 1196 – killed in Battle of Legnica, 9 April 1241).
Konrad the Curly (ca. 1198 – Czerwony Kosciol, 4 September 1213).
Sophie (ca. 1200 – before 22/23 March 1214).
Gertrude (ca. 1200 – Trebnitz, 6/30 December 1268), Abbess of Trebnitz.
A son [Wladyslawl] (before 25 December 1208–1214/17).
She was the daughter of Count Berthold IV of Andechs and his second wife Agnes of Wettin, she was born at Andechs Castle in the Duchy of Bavaria.
At the age of twelve, Hedwig married Henryk I Brodaty, son and heir of the Piast duke Boleslaw I the Tall of Silesia.
Hedwig and Henry had lived very pious lives, and Hedwig had great zeal for religion. She had supported her husband in donating the Augustinian provostry at Nowogród Bobrzan'ski (Naumburg) and the commandery of the Knights Templar at Oles'nica Mala (Klein Oels). Hedwig always helped the poor and donated all her fortune to the Church. According to legend, she went barefoot even in winter, and when she was urged by the Bishop of Wroclaw to wear shoes, she carried them in her hands. On 15 October 1243, Hedwig died and was buried in Trzebnica Abbey with her husband, while relics of her are preserved at Andechs Abbey and St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin.
Hedwig was canonized in 1267 by Pope Clement IV, a supporter of the Cistercian order, at the suggestion of her grandson Prince-Archbishop Wladyslaw of Salzburg. She is the patron saint of Silesia, of Andechs, and of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wroclaw and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Görlitz. Her feast day is celebrated on the Roman Catholic calendar of saints on 16 October. A 17th-century legend has it that Hedwig, while on a pilgrimage to Rome, stopped at Bad Zell in Austria, where she had healing waters spring up at a source which today still bears her name.
Hedwig and Henryk I had seven children:
Agnes (ca. 1190 – before 11 May 1214).
Boleslaw (ca. 1191 – 10 September 1206/08).
Henry II the Pious (ca. 1196 – killed in Battle of Legnica, 9 April 1241).
Konrad the Curly (ca. 1198 – Czerwony Kosciol, 4 September 1213).
Sophie (ca. 1200 – before 22/23 March 1214).
Gertrude (ca. 1200 – Trebnitz, 6/30 December 1268), Abbess of Trebnitz.
A son [Wladyslawl] (before 25 December 1208–1214/17).
Family Members
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