Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Holland. Ref BK-NM-712. Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York, USA. Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, Germany. Veste Coburg (Art Collections (Kunstsammlungen)), Coburg, Germany. Minden Cathedral, Germany. Schloss Friedenstein museum, Gotha, Germany. Halberstadt Cathedral, Germany. Krakow Cathedral, Poland. Wrocław (formerly Breslau) Museum, Poland. The Abbey of the Soeurs de Notre-Dame de Oignies, Namur, Belgium (two examples here). Fragments Fragment from Bommersheim, Germany. Fragment from Göttingen, Germany (excavated at Ritterplan, the site of the destroyed castle in the centre of the city). Fragment from Navahrudak, Belarus. Three fragments from Hilpoltstein, Germany. Two fragments from Weinsberg, Germany. Fragment in the Budapest History Museum, Hungary, excavated from the former royal castle there. Inv. No 52.276. Fragment excavated from Brno (formerly Bruenn), Czech Republic. Fragment from South-west Russia. Almost complete glass from Nysa (formerly Neissen), Muzeum w Nysie, Poland. Fragments from Krymsk, Russian Federation at Azov Museum-Reserve. The British Museum's example is a "Highlight" object and was selected as the 57th object in the series A History of the World in 100 Objects selected by British Museum director Neil MacGregor and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010. Saint Hedwig Hedwig glass derives its name from the Silesian Saint Hedwig (ca. 1178-1243, canonized 1267), Duchess of Andechs-Meran and wife the Duke of Wroclaw. According to the legend of Saint Hedwig, recorded in a manuscript from the court of Duke Ludwig I in 1353, she used the beakers for the miraculous transformation of water into wine. The direct association of the beakers with the miracles of Saint Hedwig lead the glass series to be highly sought after, with almost all of them being immediately absorbed into monastic and cathedral treasuries. The relation of the beakers to the Patron Saint of Silesia led to a quasi-relic status of the series, with six out of ten glasses transformed into chalices, ostensories or reliquaries indicative of their high-status within medieval treasuries. This elevated status led many to believe in their protective and healing abilities; the women of the House of Wettin regarded the beakers as an insurance of safe childbirth. Additionally, a Hedwig beaker seems to have come into the possession of Martin Luther, or his hosts; it can be seen in a drawing by the Cranach workshop of 1507, and is now in the Veste Coburg. Theories of their place of origin Much scholarship in the last century discussed the Hedwig glasses, especially their elusive origins and