Historical Figures

Aldona Anna Giedyminówna (-1339)

Marta Bryła as Aldona Anna Giedyminówna in the series "Crown of Kings"

Aldona Anna Giedyminówna (-1339) - Lithuanian princess and Polish queen as wife of Casimir III the Great. She was one of at least six daughters of prince Gediminas - the supreme ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, considered to be the creator of this country's power. Her pagan name is unknown - she appears as the Aldona princess in a late and unreliable source, but is so named because of tradition. It is also impossible to indicate the exact date of birth of Aldona Anna. She was probably born around 1312. In 1325 an alliance was formed between Giedymin and the Polish ruler Władysław the Short. It was sealed with a marriage between the daughter of a Lithuanian prince and the Polish heir to the throne, Kazimierz.

A Lithuanian woman came to Kraków in the spring of 1325. She was baptized and received the Christian name Anna. The wedding took place after a few months. The alliance with Lithuania turned out to be of little use and impermanent for Poland. Aldona Anna's relationship with Kazimierz did not meet the expectations of either party. The mother-in-law of the Lithuanian woman, Queen Jadwiga Kaliska, tried to block her coronation after the death of Władysław Łokietek. Aldona Anna was also exposed to insults from the Bishop of Krakow and the Pope.

She was considered too frivolous, unable to fulfill the duties of a monarch. Her position was all the more weaker as she gave birth to only two daughters and no son to her husband. During her lifetime, Casimir the Great concluded with his sister, Hungarian Queen Elizabeth the Short, an inheritance pact that gave priority to the throne to her husband or son, not to the royal daughters from marriage to Aldona Anna.

The queen died in 1339 under unknown circumstances. The Krakow bark beetle Traski states that she "left this world with a terrible fate".