Hedwig of Gudensberg

Hedwig of Gudensberg
Spouse(s)	Louis I, Landgrave of Thuringia
Noble family	Gisones
Father	Giso IV, Count of Gudensberg
Mother	Kunigunde of Bilstein
Born	1098
Died	1148

Hedwig of Gudensberg, also known as Hedwig of Hesse (1098–1148) was a member of the Gisones family. She was the daughter and heiress of Giso IV, Count of Gudensberg (1070 – 12 March 1122), Count of Gudensberg and Hesse and his wife, Kunigunde of Bilstein (d. 1138/1140).

Hedwig married in 1110 to Louis, the son of Count Louis the Springer of Thuringia. Her husband was elevated to Landgrave of Thuringia in 1131. After her brother Giso V, Count of Gudensberg, the County of Hesse and the other vast possessions of the Gisones dynasty fell to her and her husband and thus fell to the Thuringian branch of the Ludowingians dynasty.

In 1122, Hedwig's mother, Kunigunde of Bilstein remarried to Henry Raspe I, who was Louis I's younger brother. Kunigunde thus became her daughter's sister-in-law. Via these two marriages, the Thuringian counts inherited an extensive triple heritage:

In 1128 Hedwig gave birth to her son Louis II. In 1140, Louis I died and King Conrad III enfeoffed twelve-year-old Louis II with Thuringia. While he was a minor, Hedwig acted as regent.

In 1148, Hedwig founded Ahnaberg Abbey, together with her second son Henry Raspe II, who at the time administered the parts of Hesse held by the Ludowingians. A settlement grew between this abbey and the former Franconian royal court Chasalla (from Latin: Castellum, "castle"), on the left bank of the Fulda and this settlement developed into the city of Kassel, which became the capital of Hesse in the 13th century.

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