Anna Vsevolodovna of Kiev

Last updated
Anna Vsevolodovna of Kiev
Died3 November 1112
House Rurikid
Father Vsevolod I of Kiev
MotherAnastasia of Byzantium

Anna Vsevolodovna of Kiev, also called Yanka or Ianka (died 3 November 1112), was a princess of Kievan Rus', known for having introduced schools for girls in Kievan Rus'.

She was the daughter of Vsevolod I of Kiev and Anastasia. She was engaged to the Byzantine prince Konstantios Doukas in 1074. [1] The marriage never materialized, as Constantine Dukas was forced to become a monk in 1081 and died in same year before they could be married.

In 1089, Anna lead an embassy to Byzantium with the purpose of selecting a new metropolitan in Rus'. [2] During her stay in Constantinople, she was impressed by the scholarly learning in Byzantium, at that time a center of culture and education, and upon her return to Rus', she introduced an innovation of learning for women. [2] Her intended Byzantine marriage not having been realized, she remained unmarried, and instead founded a convent for women named Ianchinii. [2] She became a nun and started a school for girls. [3] Her convent school was the first school for girls in Rus'. [2] She organized the school herself, selecting the teachers, preceptresses, requirements and curriculum, offering "writhing, needlework and other useful crafts", such as rhetoric and singing. [2] Her innovation introduced the Byzantine tradition of education for upper class women in Kievan Rus', and during the 12th and 13th centuries, convent schools became common in Kievan Rus', founded and managed by princesses, noblewomen and abbesses, and many aristocratic and clerical women became literate and educated in Greek and Latin, philosophy and mathematics and several nuns and abbesses noted writers. [2]

Related Research Articles

Olga was a regent of Kievan Rus' for her son Sviatoslav from 945 until 960. Following her baptism, Olga took the name Elenа. She is known for her subjugation of the Drevlians, a tribe that had killed her husband Igor. Even though it was her grandson Vladimir who adopted Christianity and made it the state religion, she was the first ruler to be baptized. Olga is honored as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church with the epithet "Equal Apostolic".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vsevolod I of Kiev</span> Prince of all Rus

Vsevolod I Yaroslavich, ruled as Grand Prince of Kiev from 1078 until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vladimir the Great</span> 10th and 11th-century Grand Prince of Kiev and Novgorod

Vladimir I Sviatoslavich or Volodymyr I Sviatoslavych, nicknamed the Great, was Prince of Novgorod from 970 and Grand Prince of Kiev from 978 until his death in 1015. The Eastern Orthodox Church canonised him as Saint Vladimir.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sviatoslav I</span> Prince of Kiev from 945 to 972

Sviatoslav or Svyatoslav I Igorevich was Prince of Kiev from 945 until his death in 972. He is known for his persistent campaigns in the east and south, which precipitated the collapse of two great powers in Eastern Europe, Khazaria and the First Bulgarian Empire. He conquered numerous East Slavic tribes, defeated the Alans and attacked the Volga Bulgars, and at times was allied with the Pechenegs and Magyars (Hungarians).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne of Kiev</span> 11th-century Kievan Rus princess and queen of France

Anne of Kiev or Anna Yaroslavna was a princess of Kievan Rus' who became Queen of France in 1051 upon marrying King Henry I. She ruled the kingdom as regent during the minority of their son Philip I from Henry's death in 1060 until her controversial marriage to Count Ralph IV of Valois. Anne founded the Abbey of St. Vincent at Senlis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vladimir II Monomakh</span> Grand Prince of Kiev from 1113 to 1125

Vladimir II Monomakh was Grand Prince of Kiev from 1113 to 1125. He is considered a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and is celebrated on May 6.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianization of Kievan Rus'</span> Historical process in Eastern Europe

The Christianization of Kievan Rus' was a long and complicated process that took place in several stages. In 867, Patriarch Photius of Constantinople told other Christian patriarchs that the Rus' people were converting enthusiastically, but his efforts seem to have entailed no lasting consequences, since the Primary Chronicle and other Slavonic sources describe the tenth-century Rus' as still firmly entrenched in Slavic paganism. The traditional view, as recorded in the Primary Chronicle, is that the definitive Christianization of Kievan Rus' dates happened c. 988, when Vladimir the Great was baptized in Chersonesus (Korsun) and proceeded to baptize his family and people in Kiev. The latter events are traditionally referred to as baptism of Rus' in Ukrainian and Russian literature.

Sviatopolk II Iziaslavich was Grand Prince of Kiev for 20 years, from 1093 to 1113. He was not a popular prince, and his reign was marked by incessant rivalry with his cousin Vladimir Monomakh.

Gytha of Wessex was one of several daughters of Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, and his consort, Edith the Fair. Through marriage to Vladimir II Monomakh, Gytha became a princess of Kievan Rus'.

Anna Porphyrogenita was a Grand Princess consort of Kiev; she was married to Grand Prince Vladimir the Great.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman the Great</span> Prince of Novgorod

Roman Mstislavich, also known as Roman the Great, was a Rus’ prince and a member of Izyaslavichi of Volhynia clan. He founded the Romanovichi dynasty, which would rule Volhynia and Halych until 1340.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eupraxia of Kiev</span> 11th century empress of the Holy Roman Empire

Eupraxia Vsevolodovna of Kiev was a Holy Roman Empress consort. She was the daughter of Vsevolod I, Grand Prince of Kiev, and his wife Anna Polovetskaya, daughter of a Cuman khan. She married Henry IV of Germany in 1089 and took the name Adelaide.

The family life and children of Vladimir I, popularly known as Vladimir the Great (c.958–1015), grand prince of Kievan Rus', is subject to scholarly studies. The primary sources about his life, such as the Primary Chronicle and the Chronicon Thietmari of Thietmar of Merseburg, are legendary, and require critical scrutiny to separate fact from fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mstislav of Chernigov</span> Earliest attested prince of Tmutarakan and Chernigov in Kievan Rus

Mstislav Vladimirovich was the earliest attested prince of Tmutarakan and Chernigov in Kievan Rus'. He was a younger son of Vladimir the Great, Grand Prince of Kiev. His father appointed him to rule Tmutarakan, an important fortress by the Strait of Kerch, in or after 988.

The final Byzantine–Rus' War was, in essence, an unsuccessful naval raid against Constantinople instigated by Yaroslav the Wise and led by his eldest son, Vladimir of Novgorod, in 1043.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Byzantine Empire under the Macedonian dynasty</span> 867–1057 period of Byzantine history

The Byzantine Empireunder the Macedonian dynasty underwent a revival during the reign of the Macedonian emperors of the late 9th, 10th, and early 11th centuries, when it gained control over the Adriatic Sea, Southern Italy, and all of the territory of the Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria. The Macedonian dynasty was characterised by a cultural revival in spheres such as philosophy and the arts, and has been dubbed the "Golden Age" of Byzantium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kievan Rus'</span> State in Europe, c. 880 to 1240

Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus', was a state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century. Encompassing a variety of polities and peoples, including East Slavic, Norse, and Finnic, it was ruled by the Rurik dynasty, founded by the Varangian prince Rurik. The modern nations of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine all claim Kievan Rus' as their cultural ancestor, with Belarus and Russia deriving their names from it. At its greatest extent in the mid-11th century, Kievan Rus' stretched from the White Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south and from the headwaters of the Vistula in the west to the Taman Peninsula in the east, uniting the East Slavic tribes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianity in the 10th century</span> Christianity-related events during the 10th century

By the 10th century, Christianity had spread throughout much of Europe and Asia. The Church in England was becoming well established, with its scholarly monasteries, and the Roman Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church were continuing their separation, ultimately culminating in the Great Schism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Konstantios Doukas</span> Byzantine emperor

Konstantios Doukas, Latinized as Constantius Ducas, was a junior Byzantine emperor from 1060 to 1078. Konstantios was the son of Emperor Constantine X Doukas and Empress Eudokia Makrembolitissa. Upon his birth, he was elevated to junior emperor, along with his brother Michael VII. He remained as junior emperor during the reigns of Constantine, Romanos IV, and Michael VII. He was handed over to Nikephoros III, a usurper, following the abdication of Michael VII. He was sent to live in a monastery, where he stayed until recalled by Alexios I Komnenos, who made him a general. He was killed in 1081, in the Battle of Dyrrhachium. Sources sometimes confuse him with his nephew, Constantine Doukas.

Barbara Komnena is a mythical figure, claimed to be the daughter of the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos, and the wife of the Grand Prince of Kiev Sviatopolk II Iziaslavich.

References

  1. Vernadsky 1948, p. 351.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Natalia Pushkareva, Women in Russian History: From the Tenth to the Twentieth Century ,
  3. Vernadsky 1948, pp. 154, 351.