Hedwig HedwigHedwig first appears by name on 17 September 964, when count Sygifridus gave to the church of Saint-Pierre at Trèves lands in Saargau and Bidgau, retaining the said lands for his life and the life of his wife Hadewig and their son Henry ["... ego et coniunx mea Hadewig filiusque noster Henricus ..." Wampach (1935), 237-40 (#174)]. Her last known appearance was in 993, between 24 September and Christmas, when count Sigifridus and his wife Hadewihc, for the health of their souls and the souls of their children, both living and dead, donated to Saint-Maximin at Trier a manse in Mersch (Marics), in comitatus Ardenensi, then in the rule of their son Heinricus, with the condition that they hold it for their own lives [Wampach (1935), 286-9 (#206)]. See the page of Sigefroid.
Date of Birth: Say 935×940.
In an act of archbishop Bruno of Cologne on a 31
October, evidently 958×9, count Sigefroid is mentioned with a
wife along with sons in the plural ["... Sigfridus
comes, ... comes cum consensu uxoris et filiorum et amicorum
suorum ..." Wampach (1935), 215 (#168); Uhlirz (1956),
46]. In the other direction, her son Adalbero was called an immaturus iuvenis in 1008, which
probably indicates that he had not yet reached the canonical age
of 30. With an estimate of ca. 955 - ca. 980 as her childbearing
years, the above estimate for her birthdate should
not be far off.
Place of Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: 13 December, 993 or later.
As indicated above, she was still
living on 24 September 993. Her death date is give as 13 December
in the Ranshofer codex ["Idus Decembris domina
Hedewich comitissa, mater Chunigundis imperatrice, obiit." MGH SS 4: 791].
Place of Death: Unknown.
Father: Unknown.
Mother: Unknown.
Although a number of hypotheses have been
advanced regarding Hedwig's origin, none has been backed up by
convincing evidence. See the Commentary section for an outline of
some of these theories.
Spouse: m. say 955, Sigefroid,
living 997, ancestor of the counts of Luxemburg.
See the comment above under her birth.
Children:
See Sigefroid's page for the
details.
Henri/Heinrich (Hezelo), d. 27 (or 28)
February 1026; advocate of Saint-Maximin and Echternach; count of
Ardennes; count in Bidgau; duke of Bavaria, 1004-9, 1017-1026; m.
Hizila or Maria.
Sigefroid, living 985, d. 15 August,
year unknown.
Liutgarde, d. 13 May, after 1005; m.
980, Arnulf, count of Holland.
Frédéric, d. 1019, advocate of Stavelot-Malmedy, 1004, perhaps
count in Hessengau; m. NN, daughter of Heribert, count in
Kinziggau.
NN, m. Thietmar, who
d. 29 March, year unknown.
Giselbert, d. 18 May 1004, count of Wallerfangen, in Moselgau.
Thierry/Dietrich II (Theodoricus),
d. 30 April or 2 May 1046, bishop of Metz, 1005-1046.
Cunégonde/Kunigund, d. 3 March 1033,
m. Heinrich II, d. 1024, duke of Bavaria,
Emperor, 1002-1024.
Ève (Abenza),
d. 19 April, after 1040; m. Gérard, living
1020, count in Alsace.
Adalbero, archbishop of Trèves,
1008-1015; living 10 November 1036, when he was provost of St.
Paulin (Trèves), lord of Rüttgen, Sierck, Saarburg, and
Bernkastel.
Ermentrude, abbess, d. 3 May, year
unknown.
Hedwig's conjectured
parentage:
A number of candidates have been put forward as possible
candidates for Hedwig's father. Unfortunately, all are subject to
serious objections.
Falsely attributed
father:
Giselbert, d. 939, duke of Lorraine.
The existence of a daughter of Giselbert named Hedwig is
suggested by a list in the Liber Memorialis of
Remiremont, which names a Haduidis after Giselbert, his
wife Gerberge, and their son Henri (Ainricus) ["Dumnus
Gislibertus dux cum om[n]ibus fidelibus suis. Dumna Girbirga.
Ainricus. Haduidis. ..."
MGH Libri Memoriales 1: 9 (fol. 6r)]. Because it would help
explain the names of several of Hedwig's children Depoin
suggested that Sigefroid's wife was this apparent daughter of
Giselbert, followed later by Geldner [Depoin
(1904), 309-312; Geldner (1973), 40]. As has been pointed out on
a number of occasions, this highly improbable connection would
make the emperor Heinrich II, famous for his opposition to
consanguineous marriages, a second cousin of his wife Cunégonde
[see figure; Renn (1941), 62-3; Twellenkamp (1991), 479].
Geldner's attempt to explain away this problem is unconvincing
[Geldner (1973), 40ff].
Falsely attributed
father:
Otto the Great,
d. 973, emperor.
This conjecture apparently never received wide notice, but since
it was at one time advanced by me, I should take this opportunity
to retract it [Posting to soc.genealogy.medieval/GEN-MEDIEVAL, 13
May 2002, under heading of "Otgiva of Luxemburg"].
Making Hedwig a daughter of Otto by his English wife Eadgyth,
daughter of Eadweard the Elder, king of Wessex, would have had
several advantages: explaining Sigefroid's description as
"Sicco, imperatorius frater"; explaining the apparently
English name of Hedwig's granddaughter Otgive; and explaining the names of several of Hedwig's
children. However, it must be rejected for the same reason that
Giselbert of Lorraine is not a plausible father for Hedwig, i.e.,
because it would make emperor Heinrich II and his wife Cunégonde
second cousins [see figure].
Falsely attributed
fathers:
Eberhard IV, d.
bef. 966, count of Nordgau. [Witte
(1893-5), 5: 65 (table)]
Gerhard, son of said Eberhard.
[Vanderkindere (1902), 2: 360 (table)]
Both of these conjectures are based on the statement of a
fabricated charter that Hedwig's son Adalbero had duke Adalbert
of Lorraine as an avunculus ["... Adelberti
avunculi nostri marchionis et ducis Lothoringie et Iuditte amicte
nostre, uxoris sue ...", Wampach (1935), 367-8 (#252)], added to various conjectures about Adalbert's
uncertain parentage (thus the two variations). Another problem is
that Eberhard was evidently the husband of Sigefroid's sister
Liutgarde (see Wigeric's
page). [See also Lefort (1900)]
Falsely attributed
father:
Giselbert, son of
Wigeric. [Brière (1962), 13-4, following
Kimpen]
This theory would be possible only if Sigefroid was not
Giselbert's brother (as Brière suggested). However, since the
evidence making Sigefroid a brother of Giselbert is strong, this
suggested connection must be rejected.
Falsely attributed
father:
NN, count of
Saint-Pol and Guînes.
[Wampach (1935), 298 (#211) states that
Bertels, Historia Luxemburgensis, 41 (not seen by me) makes this
claim]
Brière (1962) = Pierre Brière, "Les origines de la première Maison de Luxembourg", Publications de la Section historique de l'Institut Grand-Ducal de Luxembourg 79 (1962): 9-22.
Depoin (1904) = Joseph Depoin, "Sifroi Kunuz, comte de Mosellane, tige de la Maison de Luxembourg", Ons Hemecht 10 (1904): 307-315, 349-358, 422-431, 507-516.
Geldner (1973) = Ferdinand Geldner, Tatsachen und Probleme der Vor- und Frühgeschichte des Hochstifts Bamberg (Meisenbach, 1973).
Lefort (1900) = Alfred Lefort, "La Maison Française de Luxembourg", Ons Hemecht 6 (1900): 356-366, 417-427, 456-468, etc.
Renn (1941) = Heinz Renn, Das erste Luxemburger Grafenhaus (963-1136) (Rheinisches Archiv 39, Bonn, 1941).
Twellenkamp (1991) = Markus Twellenkamp, "Das Haus der Luxemburger", in Weinfurter & Kluger, eds., Die Salier und das Reich 1: 475-503.
Vanderkindere (1902) = Léon Vanderkindere, La Formation Territoriale des Principautes Belge au Moyen Age (2 vols., 2nd ed., Brussels, 1902, reprinted 1981).
Wampach (1935) = Camillus Wampach, Urkunden- und Quellenbuch zur Geschichte der altluxemburgischen Territorien bis zur burgundischen Zeit, I (Luxemburg, 1935).
Witte (1893-5) = Heinrich Witte, "Genealogische Untersuchungen zur Geschichte Lothringens und das Westrich", Jahr-Buch der Gesellschaft für lothringische Geschichte und Altertumskunde 5 (1893): 26-107; 7 (1895): 79-124.
I would like to thank Peter Stewart for his comments on the internet newsgroup/mailing list soc.genealogy.medieval/GEN-MEDIEVAL in response to many of my postings there on this subject, and for sharing copies of many sources with me. I also thank Chris Phillips for sharing copies.
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 5 April 2007.