Hedwig also Heilwig,[1] (c. 778 – c. 835) was a Saxon noblewoman, abbess of Chelles,[1] the wife of Count Welf, and mother-in-law of Emperor Louis the Pious through his marriage to Judith, her daughter.[2]
Upon her daughter's marriage to Louis the Pious, the family began benefiting from royal patronage, with the family possessing the previously royal estate of Schussengau in 819.[4]
In 827, Hedwig's other daughter Hemma married Louis the German, making Hedwig mother-in-law to both Emperor Louis and his Son.
Hedwig was ordained the abbess of Chelles before 825, likely entering upon Welf's death.[1] Under Hedwig, the abbey would become a significant abbey surrounding queenship, hosting the bones of Saint Balthild, a Merovingian queen consort. Hedwig would become an advocate for the cult of Balthild, being responsible for transferring the relics of Saint Balthild to Aachen on behest of Louis the Pious.[4]
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc's reconstruction of the 13th-century dormitory at Chelles, Hedwig's Abbey.
Hedwig died in c. 835 and was buried in the Basilica of Saint Martin, in modern-day Baden-Wurttemberg.
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