Family of Yaroslav the Wise - portraits and biographies of relatives

Daughters of Yaroslav the Wise, Princess Anna, presumably the youngest. Fresco of St. Sophia of Kyiv, XI century

Schematic reconstruction of the fresco of the family of Yaroslav the Wise

The family of Yaroslav the Wise has its roots in Rurik (Yaroslav is the great-great-grandfather), who was called to reign by Novgorod and founded the dynasty for many centuries, ruled the Russian state.

Parents

The father of Yaroslav was Vladimir I the Baptist – it was he who was the first of the Russian princes to adopt Christianity and made it the state religion of Kievan Rus. It is considered the father of 13 sons and at least 10 daughters from different women.

The mother of Yaroslav the Wise was Polotsk Princess Rogneda. She was supposed to be the wife of Vladimir’s brother, Yaropolk, and she refused Vladimir herself, not wanting to become the wife of the “son of a slave”. Vladimir captured Polotsk, raped Rogneda in front of her parents, and then killed her father and two brothers.

Father

The son of Prince Svyatoslav the Brave and the slave-concubine Malusha

Princess of Polotsk, forcibly taken by Vladimir as a wife.

Wives

There is a historical theory (based on the Chitmar chronicle), according to which during the capture of Kiev by the Polish king Boleslav I, in addition to relatives of Prince Yaroslav, his first wife, Anna, was kidnapped. However, there is no exact evidence for this.

Swedish Princess Ingigerda

(1001 — 1050/1056) Daughter of the first Christian king of Sweden, Olaf Sjetkonunga and Queen Estrid. She was supposed to marry the king of Norway, Olaf II, but the ambassadors of the “King Yaritslev” arrived earlier. The king of Norway got the half-sister of Ingigerdy – Astrid. In Novgorod, Ingigerda converted to Orthodoxy under the name Irina. Yaroslav the Wise gave birth to 10 children: seven sons and three daughters.

Received in a dowry the city of Aldeigaborg (now the village of Staraya Ladoga) with adjacent lands, which have since received the name Ingermanland – “the land of the people of Ingigerd.”

She founded the first convent in Kyiv. Widowed in 1054, tonsured a nun named Anna and died in Novgorod according to various versions in 1050 or 1056.

Vladimir Yaroslavich

(1020 — 1052)

He was appointed by his father to govern Novgorod, according to various chronicles, in 1030 or 1034. The governor of Vyshat and Bishop Luke Zhidyat, who later became canonized, helped him manage the principality.

In 1042, Vladimir made a victorious campaign on the tribes Yam’ (territory of Southern Finland), and the next 1043 he went to Byzantium together with III the Cruel. The Byzantine campaign ended in failure, but there is a version that in 1044, Vladimir took Chersonese.

It was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in the 15th century, as “the holy noble prince Vladimir Yaroslavich of Novgorod”.

Monument to King Andras and his wife Anastasia of Kyiv

(ок. 1023—1074/1094)

The eldest (presumably) daughter of Yaroslav the Wise and Ingigerda of Sweden. Around 1038, Anastasia Yaroslavna married the Hungarian Duke Andras (Andrei), who, fleeing persecution by King Istvan I, had previously fled to Kyiv. In 1046, Andras together with Anastasia returned to Hungary, and, having seized the throne, became king.

In 1060, Andras was defeated by his brother Bela, and soon after he died, and Anastasia with her children was forced to flee to the German king Henry IV. A few years later, Anastasia was able to take advantage of the situation and, with the help of the German king, returned the throne to her son.

(1024 — 1078)

The second son of Yaroslav and Ingigerdy received from his father a reign in Turov. After the death in 1052 of the elder brother of Novgorod Prince Vladimir, Izyaslav put his son Mstislav in Novgorod and, according to the then dynastic rules, became the heir to the Kyiv table (although Vladimir had a son). After the death of his father, he became the Grand Duke of Kyiv.

Together with his brothers Svyatoslav and Vsevolod, they created the Triumvirate of Yaroslavichy – the princes ruled the southern lands of Kievan Rus in 1054-1073 without entering into a confrontation. Enmity broke out between the brothers in 1073, and in 1078 Izyaslav died during a battle with the troops of his nephews.

Bas-relief of Elizabeth Yaroslavna - Queen of Norway. — Bas-relief of Elizabeth Yaroslavna – Queen of Norway.

(1025 — 1066/1067)

The second daughter (fourth child) in the family of the Kyiv Prince Yaroslav the Wise and Ingergerda of Sweden. Elizabeth grew up at the princely court in Kyiv, where she received a good education.

In the winter of 1043/1044, she married Harald, who long and stubbornly sought her hand from Yaroslav the Wise. In 1046, Harald became king of Norway, he and Elizabeth moved to his kingdom. She gave birth to her husband two daughters – Maria and Ingegerd, who later married the Danish king Olaf Sveinsson and became the Queen of Denmark.

Svyatoslav Yaroslavich. Portrait of a late artist

(1027—1076)

The third son of Yaroslav the Wise and Ingegerda of Sweden. In 1054-1073 he was a member of the “triumvirate of the Yaroslavichi”. During his reign, Chernigov was under active construction, and the local bishop adopted the status of metropolitan.

On November 1, 1068, near Snovsk, Svyatoslav defeated the Polovtsians after being defeated by them on the Alta River with his brothers.

In 1073, having entered into a conspiracy with Vsevolod, overthrew Izyaslav, who fled to Europe. December 27, 1076 Svyatoslav died in the 50th year of life, becoming the first known victim of an unsuccessful surgical operation in Russia: he died from “cutting the tumor”.

(1030 — 1093)

The fourth son of Yaroslav and Ingigerdy. During the life of his father, Vsevolod was not his viceroy in any city and lived in Kyiv with his parents. From 1054 to 1073 he reigned in the Pereyaslavl-Russian and Rostov lands, and belonged to the “triumvirate of the Yaroslavichi”.

In 1046 he married a relative (presumably a daughter) of the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomakh, from the marriage with which Vladimir Monomakh was born – the future grand duke.

He reigned in Kyiv in 1076-1077 and from 1078 until the end of his life, he was the first ruler of Kyiv, who used the title “Prince of All Russia.”

Anna Yaroslavna - Queen of France Degree work of Ilya Tomilov. — Anna Yaroslavna – Queen of France Degree work of Ilya Tomilov.

(1032/1036 — 1075/1089)

The youngest of the three daughters of the Kiev prince Yaroslav the Wise. In Russian sources, including chronicles, no information about Anna (as well as about the other daughters of Yaroslav) was preserved.

The 17th-century historian Francois de Mesere wrote that Henry I of France “received fame about the charms of the princess, namely Anna, daughter of George (the name of Yaroslav in baptism) , king of Russia, now Muscovy, and he was fascinated by the story of her accomplishments. ” Anna gave birth to four children, including the future king of France, Philip I. She was known in France as Anna Russkaya or Anna Kievskaya.

Vyacheslav Yaroslavich

(1036—1057)

Almost nothing is known about Vyacheslav. He was probably born in Kiev, where he lived until adulthood. In 1054, after the death of Yaroslav, he received the Principality of Smolensk. Died three years later, in 1057.

Igor Yaroslavich

Igor is the brother of Vsevolod. William Took. History of Russia from the founding of the monarchy by Rurik to the reign of Catherine — Igor is the brother of Vsevolod. (art. William Took)
History of Russia from the founding of the monarchy by Rurik to the reign of Catherine

(1036—1060)

The youngest son of Yaroslav and Ingigerdy. In 1054, according to the will of his father, he received the Principality of Volyn, and in 1057, after the death of his brother Vyacheslav, he was appointed by three senior Yaroslavichs to reign in Smolensk.

Like his brother Vyacheslav, Igor died at an early age – in 1060. At the time of his death, he was about 24 years old. He left his young sons: Davyd and Vsevolod, who became rogue princes and, by the decision of the senior Yaroslavichs, did not inherit lands from their father.