Editing Jadwiga of Poland (section)

== Childhood (1373 or 1374 – 1382) ==
[[File:HAZU 77 17 lipnja 2008.jpg|thumb|alt=A lady and three girls pray on their knees before a bearded man |Jadwiga with her mother and sisters, as depicted on Saint Simeon's casket in [[Zadar]]]]

Jadwiga was born in [[Buda]], the capital of the [[Kingdom of Hungary]].{{sfn|Halecki|1991|p=56}} She was the third and youngest daughter of [[Louis I of Hungary|Louis I]], [[King of Hungary]] and [[King of Poland|Poland]], and his second wife, [[Elizabeth of Bosnia]].{{sfn|Wolf|1993|p=xliii}}{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=169}} Both her grandmothers were Polish princesses, connecting her to the native [[Piast dynasty]] of [[Poland]].{{sfn|Halecki|1991|p=78}}<ref name="Duczmal305">{{cite book|last1=Duczmal|first1=Małgorzata|title=Jagiellonowie|date=1996|publisher=Wydawnictwo Literackie|location=Kraków|isbn=83-08-02577-3|page=305}}</ref> Polish historian [[Oscar Halecki]] concluded in his posthumously published work (1991) that Jadwiga's "genealogical tree clearly shows that [she] had more Polish blood than any other".{{sfn|Halecki|1991|p=78}} She was probably born between 3 October 1373 and 18 February 1374.{{sfn|Sroka|1999|pp=54–55}}{{refn|Jadwiga's name was first recorded in instructions to Hungarian envoys to France on 17 April 1384.{{sfn|Halecki|1991|p=56}} If by then, Jadwiga had reached twelve years, the minimum age prescribed by [[Canon law (Catholic Church)|canon law]] for girls to marry,{{sfn|Halecki|1991|p=93}} she must have been born before 18 February 1374.{{sfn|Sroka|1999|pp=54–55}}|group=nb}} She was named after her distant ancestor, Saint [[Hedwig of Silesia]], who was especially venerated in the Hungarian royal court at the time of her birth.{{sfn|Gromada|1999|p=434}}{{sfn|Halecki|1991|p=89}}

King Louis, who had not fathered any sons, wanted to ensure the right of his daughters to inherit his realms.{{sfn|Davies|2005|p=90}}{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=169}} Therefore, European royals regarded his three daughters as especially attractive brides.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=169}} [[Leopold III, Duke of Austria]], proposed his eldest son, [[William, Duke of Austria|William]], to Jadwiga already on 18 August 1374.{{sfn|Halecki|1991|p=58}} The envoys of the [[Polish nobles]] acknowledged that one of Louis's daughters would succeed him in Poland after he confirmed and extended their liberties in the [[Privilege of Koszyce]] on 17 September 1374.<ref name="Duczmal305"/>{{sfn|Davies|2005|p=90}}{{sfn|Sedlar|1994|pp=39–40}} They took an oath of loyalty to Catherine on Louis's demand.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=8}}

Louis agreed to give Jadwiga in marriage to William of Austria on 4 March 1375.{{sfn|Halecki|1991|p=58}} The children's ''[[sponsalia de futuro]]'', or "provisional marriage", was celebrated at [[Hainburg an der Donau|Hainburg]] on 15 June 1378.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=8}}{{sfn|Halecki|1991|pp=65, 93}}{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=170}} The ceremony established the legal framework for the [[consummation]] of the marriage without any further ecclesiastical act as soon as they both reached the age of maturity.{{sfn|Halecki|1991|p=65}} Duke Leopold agreed that Jadwiga would only receive [[Treviso]], a town that was to be conquered from the [[Republic of Venice]], as dowry from her father.{{sfn|Halecki|1991|pp=64–65}} After the ceremony, Jadwiga stayed in Austria for almost two years; she mainly lived in [[Vienna]].{{sfn|Halecki|1991|p=93}}

Catherine died in late 1378.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=169}} Louis persuaded the most influential Polish lords to swear an oath of loyalty to her younger sister, Mary, in September 1379.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=8}}{{sfn|Halecki|1991|p=71}} She was betrothed to [[Sigismund of Luxemburg]],{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=170}} a great-grandson of [[Casimir the Great]], who had been Louis's predecessor on the Polish throne.{{sfn|Halecki|1991|p=52}} The "promised marriage" of Jadwiga and William was confirmed at their fathers' meeting in [[Zólyom]] (now Zvolen in Slovakia) on 12 February 1380.{{sfn|Frost|2015|pp=8, 10}}{{sfn|Halecki|1991|pp=72–73}} Hungarian lords also approved the document, implying that Jadwiga and William were regarded as her father's successors in Hungary.{{sfn|Halecki|1991|p=73}}

A delegation of the Polish lords and clergy paid formal homage to Sigismund of Luxemburg as their future king on 25 July 1382.{{sfn|Halecki|1991|p=75}}{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=10}} The Poles believed that Louis planned also to persuade the Hungarian lords and prelates to accept Jadwiga and William of Austria as his heirs in Hungary.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=170}} However, he died on 10 September 1382.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=173}} Jadwiga was present at her father's death bed.{{sfn|Halecki|1991|p=75}}