Hedwig of Habsburg

Hedwig of Habsburg (d. 1285/86) was a daughter of Rudolph I of Germany and his first wife, Gertrude of Hohenburg. Hedwig was a member of the House of Habsburg. It is unknown when Hedwig was born, but it was probably between 1258 and 1261 from the evidence of the births of her two closest siblings.

The Habsburg family did not play much of a role in history until the time of Hedwig's father, Rudolph, when they became more powerful as the ruling family of Germany.

Hedwig was the seventh of nine children borne to her father's wife Gertrude. Hedwig's brothers became powerful monarchs in Europe, while Hedwig and her sister married powerful monarchs. Hedwig's surviving brothers were Albert I of Germany and Rudolph II, Duke of Austria. Hedwig and all of her sisters lived to adulthood: Matilda, Duchess of Bavaria, Katharina, Agnes, Electress of Saxony, Klementia, Queen of Hungary, and Judith, Queen of Bohemia.

When Gertrude died 1281, Rudolph remarried to Isabelle of Burgundy. Isabelle was younger than Hedwig and her siblings, apart from Judith.

Rudolph wished to make peace with Bohemia, and to do this he needed to marry at least one of his daughters into the royal family of Bohemia. Judith married Wenceslaus, son of Ottokar II of Bohemia, and Hedwig married Otto VI, Margrave of Brandenburg-Salzwedel. They were married in 1279 in Vienna.

The couple may have had a child who died young. Hedwig died in 1285 or 1286.