Adelaide of Hesse
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Adelaide of Hesse | |
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Piast (by marriage) | |
Father | Henry II, Landgrave of Hesse |
Mother | Elisabeth of Thuringia |
Adelaide of Hesse (
Biography
She was named after her paternal grandmother, Adelheid von Ravensberg .[citation needed]
Marriage
On 29 September 1341, Adelaide married Casimir the Great and was crowned queen consort of Poland at Poznań Cathedral in Poznań. The marriage was a result of an agreement between Casimir III and Luxemburgs.[clarification needed][citation needed]
It was Casimir's second marriage and occurred two years after the death of his first wife,
Adelaide was seventeen or eighteen years old at the time of the wedding – only a few years older than Casimir's eldest daughter – and Casimir was 31. The marriage was an unhappy one and Casimir started living separately from Adelaide soon after their marriage. Adelaide lived primarily at the castle in Żarnowiec on the Pilica river and is credited with founding the parish church there.
Their loveless marriage lasted until 1356. Casimir
Casimir continued living with Krystyna despite complaints by Pope Innocent VI on behalf of Adelaide. The marriage lasted until 1363 or 1364, at which time Casimir again declared himself divorced. They had no children. The marriage to Adelaide was annulled in 1368. Then Casimir married his fourth wife, Jadwiga (Hedwig) of Żagań. This marriage produced another three daughters.
With Adelaide still alive and Christina possibly as well, the marriage to Jadwiga was also considered bigamous. The legitimacy of the three last daughters was disputed. Casimir managed to have two of his daughters, Anna and Kunigunde, legitimatized by Pope Urban V on December 5, 1369. Jadwiga the younger, was legitimatized by Pope Gregory XI on October 1, 1371.
Later life
After the annulment of her marriage, Adelaide went back home to Hesse. She spent the rest of her life in Hesse.
After her ex-husband's death, she fought for her property rights. She intervened in this case to Pope
In popular culture
Film
Queen Adelaide is one of the main characters in the second season of Polish historical TV drama series The Crown of the Kings (Polish: Korona królów). She is played by Aleksandra Przesław .
Bibliography
- Balzer Oswald: Genealogia Piastów. Kraków 1895, p. 386-387.
- Paszkiewicz H.: Adelajda. In: Polski Słownik Biograficzny. Vol. 1. 1935, p. 28.
- Semkowicz Aleksander: Adelajda, Krystyna, Jadwiga, żony Kazimierza Wielkiego. Kwartalnik Historyczny 12. 1898, p. 561-566.