Dynastic marriages of Russian princes. Making a profitable match: dynastic marriages that changed the history of Russia. Father-in-law of all Europe

Yaroslav the Wise, the son of Grand Duke Vladimir Svyatoslavich and the Varangian princess Rognida, pursued an active foreign and domestic policy and made considerable efforts to strengthen the unity of his state and to centralize it. The reign of Yaroslav the Wise is considered the period of the greatest rise of Kievan Rus; The flourishing of culture, writing and scientific knowledge is associated with this prince.

In establishing external relations with various countries, Yaroslav the Wise gave preference to diplomatic methods. True, in 1030-1031, the Kiev prince conducted a series of campaigns to strengthen the borders of his state: in Poland he conquered the Cherven cities in Transbuzhie, then went north and annexed the Finnish Chud tribes to Rus', and conquered the city of Yuryev (now Tartu).

In 1036, Yaroslav the Wise struck a blow against the nomadic Pechenegs because they appeared near Kyiv.

In 1043, the last, but not successful, campaign of the Kyiv flotilla against Byzantium took place, led by Yaroslav’s son Vladimir. After this campaign, Yaroslav the Wise, having received the support of the Western allies, headed the anti-Byzantine coalition and forced Emperor Constantine Monomakh to enter into peace negotiations. As a result, a very important agreement for Rus' was concluded. The agreement provided for the service of Russian troops in Constantinople and their participation in the Byzantine wars with Italy and the Pechenegs. In order to finally strengthen the peace, the Byzantine emperor gave his daughter Anastasia (Maria) to Prince Vsevolod, the son of Yaroslav the Wise (from this marriage the famous statesman and commander Vladimir Monomakh was born). The conflict with Byzantium was the last military clash with the neighbors of Kievan Rus during the time of Yaroslav the Wise.

The growth of the political and economic power of Kievan Rus was facilitated by marriages with the monarchical dynasties of Europe. Yaroslav himself was married to Ingergida, the daughter of the Swedish king.

Yaroslav the Wise married all his sons to influential princesses.

His daughter Elizabeth became the wife of the very influential Norwegian king Harold. Their love story is very romantic. He dedicated his poems to her and spent a long time wooing her. But he died in an internecine war. After his death, Elizabeth married the Danish king.

Yaroslav also had a daughter, Anastasia. He married her to the Hungarian King Andre. But after his death, a power struggle began in Hungary between the king’s son and his opponents. Anastasia had to flee to Germany, after which there was no information about her.
Anna Yaroslavna, the youngest and beloved daughter of the prince, married the French king Henry I. Henry was a widower and, having learned about Anna, decided to marry her. She was beautiful and smart. Henry was not young, he was over 40 years old, and there were also rumors that he was illiterate and had difficulty managing his throne. Anne became a Catholic because Henry was a Catholic. She also took an active part in governing the country. It was very difficult for Anna to live in Paris, since in comparison with Kiev it looked very poor and dirty. Anna and Henry had three sons. After 9 years of marriage, he died. At the age of 30, she married Raoul de Valois for the second time. A large number of scholars suggest that this was true love, and for the sake of love she gave up the throne.
Yaroslav's second son Izyaslav took as his wife the sister of the Polish king Casimir Gertrude - Helen, but many sources call her Olisava. Elena was very smart and educated, she knew 4 languages. She helped her husband rule the country and gave wise political advice.

Svyatoslav married Cilicia, whose family roots are unknown. After her death he married Oda, a German countess. Oda has very noble and influential European roots.

Yaroslav the Wise married not only his children, but also his sister Dobrogneva. Her husband was the Polish Prince Kazemir. She was a very wise wife and helped Casimir conduct state affairs. After the death of her husband, she was left with a very large inheritance.

Yaroslav the Wise became related to all of Europe. All marriages entered into by his children were very important for the authority and development of Kievan Rus. Yaroslav's grandchildren also used dynastic marriages in the interests of their state.

Dynastic marriages were concluded with the goal of uniting two dynasties and thereby connecting the two countries with strong ties to each other. When such marriages were concluded, relations between countries improved.
To organize a dynastic marriage, both parties had to profess the same religion, but if they professed different religions, then the bride had to accept the religion of her future husband.
Russian princes always sought to strengthen the authority of Rus' in Europe, for this purpose they entered into dynastic marriages with European royal houses.
Prince Yaroslav the Wise (no wonder he received such a nickname!), ruling at the beginning of the 11th century, was married to the Swedish princess Ingigerda, who received the name Irina in baptism. Irina, the daughter of the Norwegian king Olaf, brought the city of Staraya Ladoga as a dowry.
One of Yaroslav's sons, Vsevolod, married the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomakh.
They had a son, Vladimir, who went down in history as the Grand Duke of Kiev Vladimir Monomakh, because he added the name of his maternal grandfather to his name. The word "monomakh" translated from Greek means "combatant". Thus, through the female line, Vladimir could be considered the direct heir to the throne of Byzantium.
It is believed that Constantine Monomakh gave his grandson Vladimir the well-known Monomakh cap as a sign that Vladimir contributed to the further advancement of the Orthodox faith in Rus'. This headdress was supposed to symbolize the continuity of power of Russian rulers from the Byzantine emperors. What kind of Monomakh hat is this?
This cap, a symbol of state power, is an antique piece of jewelry consisting of eight gold plates set with precious stones and weighs 498 grams. It is kept in the Kremlin Armory.
Kings wore Monomakh's hat only on the day of their royal crowning. The last Russian tsar to be crowned king with the cap of Monomakh was Ivan V, the elder brother of Peter the Great.
In turn, Vladimir Monomakh also continued the traditions of his grandfather and married the English princess Gita.
But let's return to Yaroslav the Wise. His other son Izyaslav married the sister of the Polish king Casimir Gertrude. Russian sources repeatedly mention the wife of the Kyiv prince Izyaslav, “Lyakhovitsa”. At baptism she received the name Elena, according to other sources Olisava (Elizabeth).
The princess was very educated, she was fluent in four languages ​​- Polish, German, Russian and Latin.
Prince Izyaslav listened to the words of his wife, she gave him wise political advice. For example, when he wanted to expel the monks from the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, the princess stood up for them, citing the fact that unrest began in her homeland in Poland after the “Monnets” were removed from there.
With this in mind, Izyaslav allocated land for the expansion of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery and founded the Dimitrovsky Monastery in Kyiv,
How did historians learn about Elena-Olisava’s active participation in governing the principality? After her, a Latin manuscript that belonged to her was preserved - the famous “Gertrude's Prayer Book”, with two miniatures depicting Gertrude herself, her son Yaropolk and his wife Irina.
In general, “Gertrude’s Prayer Book” is a unique monument in all respects. Currently, this prayer book is kept in the National Archaeological Museum of the northern Italian city of Cividale.
Continuing to talk about the political activities of Yaroslav the Wise, one cannot help but recall the fact that in order to strengthen the alliance with the Poles, the prince gave his sister Dobrogneva, who received the name Maria in Catholic baptism, as a wife to the Polish king Casimir.
Western historians report that the dowry received by Mary was so large that one could speak of “the enrichment of the kingdom thanks to such a brilliant marriage and the strengthening of its good neighborliness.” Maria Dobrogneva, together with her sons, also carried out state affairs.
In addition to his sons, Yaroslav the Wise had three daughters.
Yaroslav's eldest daughter Elizabeth, baptized Ellispva, was married to the Norwegian prince Harold the Terrible.
The prince met Elizabeth while serving at the court of Yaroslav the Wise. However, his attempt to immediately get the princess as his wife was unsuccessful: Yaroslav refused him, since the prince had neither wealth nor the throne. The Viking, having received a refusal, went to seek his fortune around the world in order to either forget the beautiful princess or become worthy of her hand and heart. He became famous for his military exploits in Italy and Sicily and acquired fame and enormous wealth, which he constantly sent to the court of Prince Yaroslav, proving that he was worthy of being his son-in-law.
The Norwegian prince turned out to be not only a Viking hero, but also a poet. In the best traditions of knightly poetry, he composed a song of 16 stanzas in honor of his beloved, each of which ended with the phrase: “Only a Russian girl in a golden hryvnia neglects me.” This song was repeatedly translated by Russian poets, in particular A.K. Tolstoy.
In 1035, Elizabeth was given to him as his wife, and Harold returned to Norway. However, he soon died in internecine wars. After his death, Elizabeth married the Danish king.
Yaroslav the Wise gave his second daughter Anastasia as a wife to the Hungarian King Andrew.
The name of Anastasia-Agmunda (she received this name upon conversion to the Catholic faith) is associated with the founding of two Orthodox monasteries - in Vysehrad and Tormov.
After the death of King Andrew, a political struggle for power began between his son and his opponents. Anastasia was forced to flee persecution to Germany. What happened to her in the future is not indicated in historical documents; the thread of her fate is lost.
The most interesting fate of the youngest and beloved daughter Anna, who was married to the French king Henry I.
The widowed French king Henry I of the Capetian dynasty heard about the Kyiv beauty and decided to marry her. Anna was beautiful (according to legend, she had “golden” hair), smart and received a good education for that time, she read a lot, because Yaroslav the Wise had the largest library of that time, and knew several foreign languages. At the time of the matchmaking, she was about 17 years old.
Heinrich was not young, at over forty years old he was obese and always gloomy, besides, he was illiterate and signed himself with a cross. He had difficulty holding the reins of power and hoped to strengthen the country's prestige through a matrimonial connection with a strong state.
The main motive for this choice of the French king Henry I was the desire to have a strong, healthy heir. The second motive was that his ancestors from the Capetian house were related by blood to all neighboring monarchs, and the church forbade marriages between relatives. So fate destined Anna Yaroslavna to continue the royal power of the French Capetians.
Henry sent the first wedding embassy to distant Rus'. The ambassadors were instructed to obtain consent to marry Anna. But Yaroslav the Wise refused the first embassy; he wanted to give Anna to the German ruler Henry III in order to strengthen allied relations with the countries of the North-West.
However, Henry I of Capet was persistent, and a year later the ambassadors of the King of France went to Kyiv for the second time for a Russian bride, Princess Anna Yaroslavna. Yaroslav the Wise was forced to agree.
The matchmakers presented Yaroslav with rich gifts from Henry the First: Flemish brocade, Reims cloth, Orleans lace, the famous Toledo sword. Yaroslav also did not disappoint and gave furs, vodka, caviar, and numerous jewelry for his daughter, among which was the famous gem - the hyacinth of St. Denis. To these gifts Anna herself added books and several icons, including her most beloved, depicting Saints Gleb and Boris, the founders of their family. She did not forget about the ancient Gospel, written in Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabet.
Anna Yaroslavna traveled for several months to France through Krakow, Prague and Regensburg. What did the young girl think, knowing that she was going to her husband, whom she had never seen, that he was ugly and not young? What kind of love could she dream of? After all, from childhood she was prepared to be a queen in a foreign country with foreign rituals and language. And all of Yaroslav’s daughters were ready for this. The prestige of the country was higher than personal feelings.
On May 14, 1051, Anna Yaroslavna solemnly arrived in France. A jubilant crowd in the ancient city of Reims came to greet their future queen. Anna was an excellent rider and proudly rode her horse into this unfamiliar country. Henry I went to meet his bride in Reims, where their wedding took place.
Anna Yaroslavna refused to swear in the Latin Bible and took an oath in the ancient Gospel, written in Cyrillic and Glagolitic, which she brought with her from Kyiv (it was already mentioned earlier).
Subsequently, according to tradition, the French kings, when anointing, made a vow to God on this Gospel, and since the Slavic alphabet was completely unfamiliar to them, they mistook it for some unknown magical language.
In July 1717, when Emperor Peter the Great visited Reims, he was shown this Gospel and explained that none of the people knew this “magic language.” Imagine the surprise of the French when Peter began to fluently read it aloud!
Now this Gospel is kept in Paris.
In the future, Anna, as the wise daughter of her father, will accept Catholicism.
Anna took part in governing the state - on documents of that time, next to her husband’s signature, her signature is also found. On state acts and charters you can read: “With the consent of my wife Anna,” “In the presence of Queen Anne.”
However, the first years of her life in this country were far from easy. Being a queen, she simply had no right to make the slightest mistake. In letters to her father, Anna Yaroslavna wrote that Paris is gloomy and ugly, like a village where there are no palaces and cathedrals, which Kyiv was rich in: “What a barbaric country have you sent me to. The houses here are gloomy, the churches are ugly.” Indeed, this was not the Paris that “you can see and die,” as they say now. It was Paris of the 11th century, a dirty village, and all the famous buildings appeared in it only after the 16th century.
Moreover, in Paris they did not use the bathhouse that Anna was used to, and Henry himself generally washed very rarely, about once a year. It’s hard to believe now, but the morals of that time really were like that.
The food was also different from what Anna was used to. In Rus' they ate porridge, pies, soups, drank honey drinks and decoctions, and in Europe at that time they ate lightly fried meat, washing it down with sour wine. Of course, she had to get used to a completely different way of life.
Moreover, Anna was hardly happy as a woman. Scientists have different opinions on this matter, and here's why: some of Queen Anne's fans believe that the king had homosexual tendencies, and he was absolutely indifferent to his young and beautiful wife, from whom he primarily expected an heir. Anna, apparently, also did not experience any other feelings for Henry, except for duty and respect.
The marriage of Anna and Henry lasted about nine years, then Henry died. Three sons were born from this marriage. The eldest Prince Philip became King of France at the age of 8.
The Greek-Byzantine name Philip was not used in Western Europe at that time. Anna named her eldest son by this name, and it later became widespread. It was worn by five more French kings; one can say that with Anna’s light hand this name became a family name in other European dynasties.
Anna achieved real recognition by continuing her husband's policy aimed at strengthening royal power in France. She managed to inspire respect for herself, showing herself to be a brave, persistent, selfless ruler, striving for the good of her kingdom.
At 30, she married again to Count Raoul de Valois. Apparently it was true love.
Anna, like Raoul, sacrificed a lot for this love. She alienated herself from her son the king, lost the title of queen, and along with the title she was deprived of the right to rule the kingdom. She preferred love to a high title, and this can be understood.
Where Anna's grave is located is unknown. Some believe that in France, but during the French Revolution her grave was plundered and lost. Others believe that she returned to Russia, but this is most likely just a legend. The most important thing is that Queen Anne is still honored and remembered in France.
The political steps of the sons, daughters and sisters of the powerful Yaroslav the Wise are worthy of remaining in our memory for the fact that they made a feasible contribution to strengthening the international prestige of their Motherland, their dynastic marriages contributed to the strengthening of friendly relations with the states of Western Europe and thereby strengthened the position of Rus' in the international arena.
The story about Anna Yaroslavna involuntarily echoes the story about another Anna, but one that happened 500 years after the above events.
We all know the story of Anne of Austria, Queen of France and wife of King Louis XIII thanks to Dumas' novel The Three Musketeers. Meanwhile, this woman played an extraordinary role in the events of the turbulent 17th century.
Anne was a Spanish princess belonging to the Habsburg dynasty. As is expected in arranged marriages, at the age of three she was betrothed to the French Dauphin Louis.
At the age of fourteen, Anna Maria was taken to Paris to marry the young King Louis XIII.
Anna was exhausted by curiosity as to what her fiancé would turn out to be - handsome or ugly, good or evil. But this did not play any role, since its task was to reconcile the long-warring dynasties of the Habsburgs and the French Bourbons.
The life of Anna, who was born in September 1601, like other Spanish princesses, was subject to a strict routine: early rise, prayer, breakfast, then hours of study. Young infantas learned sewing, dancing and writing, crammed the sacred history and genealogy of the reigning dynasty. This was followed by a gala dinner, a nap, then games or chatting with the ladies-in-waiting (each princess had her own staff of courtiers). Then again long prayers and going to bed - exactly at ten in the evening. As you can see, Anna was raised in Spanish strictness.
The French court where Louis grew up was completely different from the Spanish one. Laughter and dirty jokes were often heard here, adultery was discussed, and the king and queen almost openly cheated on each other. They paid no attention to Louis at all, and his mother, Maria de Medici, visited him only to slap him in the face or whip him with rods for any offense. It is no wonder that he grew up withdrawn and obsessed with many complexes.
Louis also knew from childhood that Anna was destined for his wife, but already in advance he was prejudiced towards his future wife. Already at the age of three he spoke about her like this: “She will sleep with me and give birth to a child for me.” And then he frowned: “No, I don’t want her. She’s Spanish, and the Spaniards are our enemies.”
When he first saw Anna, she seemed so beautiful to Louis that he could not say a word to her. Anna was truly beautiful. From her Austrian ancestors she inherited blond hair and skin; only her black, burning eyes betrayed her Spanish origin.
In the evening, at the official engagement banquet, Louis was embarrassed and dumb as a fish.
In Paris, after the wedding, a marriage bed awaited the newlyweds, but Louis was so frightened that his mother had to almost force him into the bedroom where Anna was waiting. In addition to the mother, there were two maids present who instructed the young people what and how to do. In the morning, a crowd of courtiers was presented with evidence that “the marriage had taken place properly.”
It is no wonder that such actions led to the fact that Louis was completely discouraged from communicating with women. They say that after his wedding night he “did not look into his wife’s bedroom” for four whole years. The desired heir was never conceived - neither on the first night, nor for the next ten years.
Seeing the debauchery at court, Louis began to hate women and consider them insidious temptresses.
He forbade not only his wife, but also all the ladies of the court, from wearing too revealing necklines and tight dresses, so that their appearance would not distract him and his subjects from pious thoughts.
But the king behaved very affectionately with the handsome young pages, which gave rise to a wave of rumors in Paris. Louis spent whole days with them falconry, completely forgetting about his wife, and the young queen led a boring life in the Louvre, she yearned for male attention, which she was still deprived of. It took the efforts of the Pope and the Spanish ambassador for Louis to appear in his wife’s bedroom again, but the “honeymoon” was short-lived this time too. And yet, the queen did not want to cheat on her husband; her Spanish upbringing was reflected in her.
And then Cardinal Richelieu suddenly became involved in the “education of feelings” of the queen. Despite his rank, he did not shy away from women. Now he himself decided to win the heart of Anna of Austria.
The Cardinal hopes to do what Louis failed - to conceive an heir and elevate him to the throne of France. It is more likely that he simply wanted to keep the queen “under the hood”, preventing her from getting involved in any conspiracy. It cannot be ruled out that Richelieu was simply carried away by Anna, whose beauty had reached its peak; she was 24 years old, he was almost forty.
But the cardinal's masculine charms left her indifferent. Perhaps her Spanish upbringing again played a role - Anna perceived men in robes only as servants of the Lord.
And yet love visited the queen’s heart. This happened when the English envoy, 33-year-old George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, arrived in Paris.
Thanks to literature and films, we imagine the Duke of Buckingham as a kind of English macho who appeared on the French horizon.
In fact, he came from an impoverished family. The Duke's wealth and title came to him thanks to the generosity of the aging King of England, James I, whose young Buckingham was his lover, who even agreed to portray a jester at court for the sake of titles and wealth. In fact, Buckingham did not have homosexual inclinations.
Dying, the king bequeathed Buckingham to his son Charles as his chief adviser and lover, but the young people were truly connected by male friendship, so Buckingham did not become Charles’s lover.
At his request, the Duke came to France to woo the sister of Louis XIII, Princess Henrietta, to the new monarch.
As soon as Buckingham saw Anna, he lost his head. His masculinity surged within him, which he could not express under King James. The Duke spent three years of his life trying to win Anna's favor. Apparently, Anna did not deprive Buckingham of her attention, since she had long yearned for male attention. From the novels of Alexandre Dumas and films we know what a passionate love it was!
There was also a story with pendants. Several contemporaries speak about them in their memoirs, including the queen’s friend, the famous philosopher Francois de La Rochefoucauld.
D'Artagnan also existed. True, he did not take part in the mad rush to return the pendants to France, as we know from Dumas’ novel - at that time this son of a Gascon nobleman was only five years old.
Why was the cardinal so eager to annoy the queen? Of course, one of the reasons was his wounded pride as a rejected man. And of course, he was again afraid that Anna would conspire with the enemies of France. Therefore, he tried to quarrel between her and her husband. He succeeded: despite the return of the pendants, Louis was completely disappointed in his wife. She turned out to be not only an immoral person, but also a traitor, ready to exchange him for some foreigner! Buckingham was banned from entering France, and the queen was locked in the palace.
Soon the Duke of Buckingham died at the hands of an officer named Felton, who stabbed him with a sword. Many considered the killer to be the cardinal's spy, but no evidence of this was ever found.
Thus ended the tragic love of Anne of Austria and the Duke of Buckingham, in memory of which only the story of diamond pendants remains.
Anna of Austria lived in an atmosphere of conspiracies and intrigues. Despite this dynastic marriage, Spain continued to fight with France, and in order to avoid accusations of disloyalty, Anna did not communicate with her compatriots at all for many years and had already begun to forget her native language.
However, when she wrote a completely harmless letter to the Spanish ambassador in Madrid, it immediately fell into the hands of Cardinal Richelieu and was handed over to the king as proof of a new conspiracy. But this time Anna found an intercessor - the young nun Louise de Lafayette, with whom the king began a sublime “spiritual romance.” She reproached Louis for cruelty towards his wife and recalled that it was his fault that France was still left without an heir.
This suggestion was enough for the king to spend the night in the Louvre in December 1637, and after the allotted time, the queen had a son - the future “Sun King” Louis XIV. Two years later, his brother, Duke Philippe of Orleans, was born. Of course, the story with the “iron mask” is just another invention of novelists: there were no twins, sons were born one after another. However, many historians doubt that the father of both children was actually Louis XIII.
Many candidates were proposed for this role, including Richelieu, Mazarin and even Rochefort - that same scoundrel from The Three Musketeers. The king's brother Gaston d'Orléans, who shared with Anna a hatred of Richelieu, was not excluded. It is not unreasonable to assume that the cardinal personally selected and sent some strong young nobleman to the yearning queen to ensure the appearance of the Dauphin. And in the French film "The Three Musketeers" the father of the king was D'Artagnan himself.
The name of the real father of the “Sun King” became another mystery of Anna and history. She lived for 65 years and died of breast cancer, taking with her all the secrets.
Anna of Austria was neither cruel nor selfish. She cared in her own way about the good of the state and yet had the most vague idea about this good. She cannot be placed next to such great empresses as the English Elizabeth I or the Russian Catherine II.
Dynastic marriages were not always so unhappy. There are examples when spouses in such a marriage found love and happiness.
Over the years, films called "Sissi" were made about the romantic love of Elizabeth of Bavaria and Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria.
The life of Elizabeth, whom everyone called Sissy, in many ways remained a mystery, which after her death caused an avalanche of literary research with speculation and fantasies.
The story of her marriage was romantic. Franz Joseph was destined to marry Sissi's elder sister, Princess Helena, and the entire Bavarian family was invited to Austria for the "bride." At the end of a boring dinner, little Sissy fluttered into the room. Seeing her, Franz Joseph, who was already 23 years old, lost his head. He approached not the older sister, but the younger one and invited her to look at the horses. Returning from a walk, he announced to his mother that he was marrying, not Elena, but Princess Elizabeth. A few months later, on a ship strewn with flowers, the emperor took his young bride from Bavaria to Vienna along the Danube. Elizabeth experienced a similar love then.
Over the course of six years, she gave birth to two daughters, but after the difficult birth of her third child, the heir to the throne Rudolf, all feelings were cut off from the empress like a knife. Why this happened still remains a mystery.
Elizabeth leaves Vienna for a long time, away from her husband and children. She spends almost two years alone on the island of Madeira, then on Corfu. Although she returned to her husband, from then on she spent most of the year outside her empire. This suited her, but Franz Joseph was forced to accept it.
Elizabeth died in an unusual way, as she lived, as a result of a terrorist attack.
On September 9, 1898, Sissy arrived in Geneva. Tormented by a vague premonition, she decided to leave the next day by boat. Before landing, she managed to go to a music store, and then went on foot to the pier, which was about 100 meters away.
Just before the pier, a man suddenly ran across the street and, bending low, hit Elizabeth in the chest, as if with a fist. The empress fell, the man ran. Random passersby chased him and soon caught him. It turned out to be the Italian anarchist Luccheni.
Already on board, when the ship began to depart, Elizabeth suddenly turned pale and began to fall to her knees. It turned out that the terrorist who attacked her pierced her heart with an ordinary triangular file 16 cm long. With such a terrible wound, she talked, moved and lived for about half an hour.
Shortly before this, Franz Joseph was also assassinated by a terrorist from Hungary, but he survived. In general, the emperor reigned for about 70 years. He was a very conservative person who did not recognize any technical innovations. In his entire life, he only rode once in a car, did not use an elevator, did not use a typewriter, and did not like the telephone.
Some historians point to the fatal circumstances that accompanied the reign of Franz Joseph. This is the loss of his wife and several heirs to the throne.
Franz Joseph's son and heir, Crown Prince Rudolf, a very talented but unbalanced man, committed suicide at the age of 30 in the Mayrling hunting lodge near Vienna. The tragedy remains a mystery to this day: the most common version is that Rudolph killed his mistress, 17-year-old Maria Vechera, with a revolver shot, and a few hours later he shot himself, so unsuccessfully that he blew off almost the entire top of his skull.
What caused the double murder? Crown Prince Rudolf was married to Princess Stephanie of Belgium, but the marriage was unsuccessful. He fell in love with the daughter of Baroness Evenings; naturally, he could not marry her. In his suicide letter to Stefania, he writes: “You will get rid of my presence. I calmly go towards death, because this is the only way I can save my name. Your loving husband Rudolf.”
There is not a word in this letter about the motives for death, only a short hint. On
what - on a gambling debt, unhappy love, the inability to live double
life? The same hint is repeated in other suicide letters from the prince. It turns out that it was suicide.
The Mayerling tragedy has become the subject of many works of art and films.
The second tragedy is the famous Sarajevo assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 by a Serbian high school student, a member of a terrorist organization. This event marked the beginning of the First World War.
Austria-Hungary ceased to exist two years after the death of Emperor Franz Joseph.
And yet, the love story of the Bavarian Princess Elisabeth, nicknamed Sissi, and the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph is an impeccable, well-selling brand. The love story of their son Rudolf and Maria Vechera is also often replicated. The Austrians know how to benefit from their history!
Here is another example of a successful dynastic marriage in Russia.
Princess Dagmar (her full name is Maria-Sofia-Frederica-Dagmar) from the Kingdom of Denmark has always been a desired bride for the rulers of many European countries, but she was given in marriage to the Russian Emperor Alexander III.
The decision was made by Alexander’s parents, and he had no choice but to agree to ask for Dagmar’s hand in marriage. “He bowed to necessity, to duty,” wrote S.D. Sheremetev, friend of the royal family. The fact is that Dagmar was supposed to marry his older brother Nikolai Alexandrovich, the future emperor, but he, having caught a cold, unexpectedly died from tuberculous meningitis and from improper treatment.
Dagmar also could not forget Nikolai, but agreed with her parents’ decision. Alexander was uncouth, poorly educated and unprepared for serious government activities, since he was never considered by his parents as a possible future emperor.
We remember that dynastic marriages are concluded without a hint of love.
When Princess Dagmar was escorted to the ship bound for Russia, the great storyteller Hans Christian Andersen could not hold back his tears when the princess, passing next to him, extended her hand in farewell. “Poor child!” he would write later. “There is a brilliant court in St. Petersburg and a wonderful royal family, but she is going to a foreign country, where there is a different people and religion, and there will be no one with her who surrounded her before.” But all the royal children are ready for this, knowing that their they must sacrifice their lives for the good of their country.
But everything turned out to be not so bad.
The young crown princess, who took the name Maria Feodorovna at Orthodox baptism, began her family and social life. She regularly gave birth to children (there were five of them, of course, the first-born was named Nikolai in honor of the deceased older brother Alexander and ex-fiancé Dagmar) and participated in social life. Everyone admired her intelligence, beauty, and manners. She steadfastly withstood hours-long receptions, loved balls and dancing “till you drop,” and the crown princess did not change her love of dancing even during periods of pregnancy, she was friendly and at the same time majestic with everyone.
Unlike his wife, Alexander the Third did not like balls and receptions; he was overweight and was afraid to seem funny while dancing. But he liked military training and competitions, where he showed the abilities of an excellent shooter.
In the photo of that time, Dagmar looks like a small, thin, graceful girl, and next to her is the healthy, huge, real Russian hero Alexander the Third. By the way, he was the largest of all the reigning emperors.
Dagmar spent time not only at balls. She was probably the only one of the wives of the ruling emperors who devoted much time to charity.
She skillfully managed the Russian Red Cross Society, shelters, hospitals, and women's schools, organizing surprise checks in hospitals, while literally looking into the plates of the sick, asking what they were fed and what kind of bed linen they had.
During the First World War, she organized hospitals, collected things and food for soldiers, often visited warships, and “rooted” for the development of Russian military aviation. She herself was a skillful and economical housewife: she did not disdain to peel potatoes with her own hands and darn her husband’s socks. This is evidenced by photographs depicting the august lady with a knife and a potato in her hands.
Alexander Alexandrovich was completely captivated by the kindness, sincerity and amazing femininity of his chosen one. He wrote in his diary that if you have such a wife, you can be calm and happy.
The Emperor always remained emphatically, to the point of asceticism, modest in everyday life, and there was no posture in this.
They lived together for 28 years and really fell in love with each other and were very sad when they had to part, so they tried to do this as little as possible and, while apart, wrote to each other every day. In his letters he called her "Minnie".
Although Alexander did not like his wife to interfere in state affairs, Maria Feodorovna still secretly guided her husband, since Alexander III did not have great abilities in leading the country, and was not averse to drinking, so it was up to his crowned wife to ensure that decorum was maintained.
Maria Feodorovna, oddly enough, hated the Germans and everything German from childhood. The choice of her eldest son, the heir of Nicholas II, who decided to marry a German princess, was a blow for her. She resisted this marriage for a long time and subsequently did not love her daughter-in-law. She considered Alexandra Fedorovna to be overly hysterical, incapable of the burdensome imperial duties, and, moreover, with bad taste.
After the son’s marriage, relations with his daughter-in-law did not go well at all: the two empresses were too different in character. Alexandra Feodorovna, constantly immersed in her complex experiences that were incomprehensible to her mother-in-law, seemed vulnerable and at the same time too cold and alienated.
At the beginning of 1894, Alexander III suddenly and seriously fell ill. Doctors diagnosed him with pneumonia. Having always given the impression of a man with powerful, even indestructible health, he literally melted before our eyes. All the famous doctors to whom the royal family turned for consultations could not establish the exact cause of the sharp deterioration in his health (as it turned out later, it was acute heart failure).
In addition, Alexander III himself really did not like to get sick and be treated; he simply ignored many of the recommendations of doctors. He began to experience severe swelling of his legs, shortness of breath and weakness, he became terribly thin, could not sleep or walk, and suffered terribly from acute pain in his chest. Maria Fedorovna transported him to Crimea, in the hope of the beneficial effects of the southern climate, but this did not help, and he soon died in the Livadia Palace. Having learned about this, Maria Fedorovna lost consciousness, so great was their love.
During these 13 years, while they jointly led the country, Russia lived without wars and upheavals, nevertheless having the highest political and military authority in Europe, although historians call this period “stagnation”.
After the revolution, Maria Feodorovna was not arrested along with the royal family. She was even allowed to say goodbye to her son Nicholas II, who had abdicated the throne, and leave for Crimea. There she received news of the death of her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. She was allowed to travel to her homeland, Denmark.
What else characterizes Maria Fedorovna as a noble person who loves Russia? This is that she took with her only a jewelry box when she emigrated, although she had at her disposal considerable wealth from the imperial dacha and a whole ship for exporting valuables.
Maria Feodorovna, whose maiden name was the Danish princess Dagmar, lived another seven years in her homeland in Copenhagen, in extreme poverty and loneliness. But until the end, she kept the box with her jewelry and believed that her son and grandchildren survived, and hoped to meet them.
Maria Fedorovna, despite her origin, was always considered to be originally Russian, therefore, at the insistence of the public, on September 28, 2006, her ashes were brought from Denmark and reburied in the Peter and Paul Cathedral of St. Petersburg.
As we reported earlier, Empress Maria Feodorovna was always against the marriage of her son Nicholas II and Princess Alix from the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt. Alexander III also knew about his son’s passion for his charming cousin Alix, but was not enthusiastic about an alliance with another German ruling house. Having concluded an alliance with France, he considered marrying his heir to one of the princesses of the House of Orleans.
Nicholas was in despair, but in the end his parents agreed to his marriage to Alix, and Nicholas II married her (her full name was Alix Victoria Elena Brigitte Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt, at baptism she received the name Alexandra Fedorovna).
Although this marriage did not contribute to the improvement of Russian-German relations, the emperor loved Alexandra Fedorovna all his life. This is one of the few cases where royalty married “for love.”
The Hessian princess was raised in Great Britain by her grandmother, Queen Victoria. In mind, feelings and tastes she was more like an Englishwoman than a German. The daily language of the last emperor's family was English. Letters in English from Nicholas II to his Alix, filled with love and tenderness, have been preserved.
Nikolai Alexandrovich and Alexandra Fedorovna had 5 children: Princess Olga was born in 1895, Tatiana in 1897, Maria in 1898, Anastasia in 1901, and the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Alexei, was born in 1904.
After the revolution, the family was sent to Yekaterinburg. In July 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, headed by Chairman Sverdlov, decided to execute the royal family. Lenin believed that “it is impossible to leave a living banner, especially in the current difficult conditions.”
Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna and their children remained together until the last minute, understanding what awaited them. On the night of July 16-17, 1918, the royal family, 3 servants and a doctor were shot in Ipatiev’s house. They did not part during life and did not part after death, their love went into eternity.
Thank God that history has put everything in its place.
The remains of the royal family were discovered and identified using modern methods. On July 17, 1998, they were buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. In 2000, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, princesses Olga, Maria, Tatiana, Anastasia, and Tsarevich Alexei as martyrs.
Nowadays, there are also arranged marriages that occur among the political or economic elite. Such marriages are viewed more as a connection between different families (surnames, clans) than a personal relationship between a man and a woman. Although representatives of both families offer partners for future marriage, the decision remains with their children. Often, contractual relationships lead to good relationships and successful marriages over time.
At one time, the son of the President of Kyrgyzstan, Aidar Akayev, and the daughter of the President of Kazakhstan, Aliya Nazarbayeva, got married.
Another “dynastic marriage” of the century: not long ago, the son of the owner of Crocus International, Emin Agalarov, married Leyla Aliyeva, the daughter of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and the granddaughter of former President Heydar Aliyev.
Emin Agalarov was among the most eligible bachelors. He is attractive, well educated (he studied in the USA and Switzerland), and most importantly, he is the heir to a multimillion-dollar fortune.
Back in 2004, Forbes magazine included his father Aras Agalarov among the hundred richest Russians, placing him in 66th place with a capital of $360 million. Agalarov Sr. himself boasted that he plans to increase capital to $1 billion. However, Emin Agalarov is beautiful not only because of his father’s condition. His assets include his own acumen and efficiency. Now the twenty-five-year-old representative of the Agalarov dynasty is the commercial director of Crocus International. In addition, he is interesting as a person, musical, has a good voice, because he studied vocals with Muslim Magomayev himself.
Leyla Aliyeva is a worthy match for such a groom. She is a beautiful young girl, brought up in a Swiss school, pretty and smart. She is engaged in social activities, is the president of the foundation of her grandfather Heydar Aliyev, promotes recreation and resorts on the Caspian Sea, in addition, she is the publisher and editor-in-chief of the glossy magazine “Baku”.
Each marriage is the intersection of two family trees, with huge “crowns of ancestors.” And the ancestors are not indifferent: whether the branches of the family wither or bloom with many beautiful fruits. .
Dynastic marriages led to the fact that marital ties began to be concluded between cousins. Such marriages are called cousin marriages. In the next chapter we will move on to examine such marriages.

How to enlist the support of a neighboring country, establish profitable trade ties and enter into military alliances? From time immemorial, both in domestic and world history, one of the most effective means was dynastic marriages. Russian rulers constantly resorted to this method of establishing friendly relations between states - from Yaroslav the Wise to Nicholas II

Father-in-law of all Europe

The ruler who understood the power of “marriage diplomacy” better than most of his contemporaries was. The Kiev prince, with whose name it is customary to associate the flourishing of the Old Russian state, sought to strengthen international ties through peaceful means. He himself married the Swedish princess Ingigerda and in his confrontation with Svyatopolk the Accursed he relied on Varangian mercenaries.

The dynastic policy of the Kyiv prince acquired the greatest fame thanks to the marriages of his daughters. Princess Elizabeth Yaroslavna won the heart of the Norwegian Prince Harold (later he received the nickname Severe), who served her father in his youth. In 1030, when Harold was 15 years old, his older brother died defending the throne from the Danish king. The prince was forced to leave Norway and go into hiding, and soon reached Kyiv. Even then, he tried to woo the beautiful princess, but was refused: Yaroslav the Wise did not want to marry his daughter to a warrior who had neither wealth nor power.

Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org

After this, Harold went to Constantinople and signed up as a mercenary for Emperor Michael IV of Paphlagon. The elite warriors were paid very generously, and, after fighting in Palestine, Africa and Sicily, the Norwegian prince returned to Rus' for his bride. The wedding took place in the winter of 1043, and in the spring the newlyweds left for the north. Harold entered into a military alliance with the king of Sweden and reconciled with his nephew Magnus, who ruled Norway at that time. After Magnus's death in 1047, he finally received the throne, but did not stop there.

Source: https://culture.ru

Elizaveta Yaroslavna accompanied her husband on all military campaigns. When Harold decided to conquer England, his wife and two daughters went with him on the long journey. Fortune favored Harold the Severe until 1066: at the Battle of Stamford Bridge he received a fatal wound to the neck. Elizabeth returned to Norway as a widow, and, alas, little is known about the further fate of the queen. But her daughter, named Ingigerda in honor of her grandmother (the wife of Yaroslav the Wise), married the Danish king and became the ruler of a neighboring country.

As for the youngest daughter of Yaroslav the Wise, she bore him four children, among whom was the future monarch Philip I. In France, the young and charming wife of the king was known as Anna of Russia and they argued that only she could bring a smile to the face of the strict ruler. It is known that in addition to her natural beauty, Anna was distinguished by her education: unlike her husband, she could read and write, and also knew several languages. On official documents, the Queen indicated her name, while Henry I used a regular cross.

By the way, despite the vigorous activity launched by Anna Yaroslavna in France during her life and after the death of her husband, the queen did not like Paris. In letters to her father, she called the capital gloomy and complained about the lack of rich palaces and cathedrals. When the young Philip inherited the throne, Anna shared guardianship and regency with the Count of Flanders, and in the 1060s she married again - this time to a large French landowner, Raoul de Crepy. She signed the last official document in 1075, calling herself succinctly but succinctly - “the king’s mother.”

Source: https://pravda.ru

Drama of the Moscow Prince

In 1309, the first Moscow prince died, and the reign passed into the hands of his son, Yuri. Just a year later, Yuri Danilovich was already arguing with the Tver prince Mikhail for the grand-ducal Vladimir throne and was forced to retreat, since the latter had more funds to bribe Horde dignitaries.

Yuri Danilovich, however, did not give up hopes of receiving a label. In 1317, he decided to become related to the Khan of the Golden Horde, Uzbek, and married his sister Konchak. The bride brought to Rus' accepted the Orthodox faith and received the name Agafya. The wedding gift to the Moscow prince from the khan was the long-awaited label. In addition, some historians believe that Uzbek presented Yuri Danilovich with another gift, namely the same one! According to one version, this headdress was for women and belonged to Konchaka. Later, Moscow craftsmen remade it into one of the most important royal regalia.

Source: https://strana-rosatom.ru

Be that as it may, the fate of Konchaka in Rus' turned out to be tragic. In the autumn of 1317, strife began between Moscow and Tver. Yuri Danilovich suffered another defeat, and his wife was captured and died. The Moscow prince did not continue the war and informed the khan that Konchak had been insidiously poisoned by Mikhail Tverskoy, and summoned him to the Golden Horde. There the Tver prince was executed, and Yuri Danilovich again received the grand ducal label.

This episode becomes the first in the history of the rise of the Moscow Principality. Although Yuri himself outlived his wife by only a few years and died at the hands of Prince Dmitry the Terrible Eyes (son of Mikhail Tverskoy), his descendants continued the policy of peaceful coexistence with the Horde khans and, until the reign of Dmitry Donskoy, did not directly resist them, increasing their wealth and protecting lands from raids.

Dynastic ties as a reason to leave the war

In the fall of 1724, secular St. Petersburg discussed the latest news: Anna, the youngest daughter of his wife Ekaterina Alekseevna, entered into a marriage contract with Duke Charles of Holstein. A few days later, the young people got engaged: Anna Petrovna was 16 years old at that time, the Duke was slightly over 20. Both spouses officially renounced any claims to the Russian throne on their own behalf, as well as on behalf of their descendants, but pledged to fulfill the will of the emperor if he so wishes appoint one of their children as heir.

Source: https://arthive.com

This is what happened, however, not under Anna’s father, but under her sister -. The choice of the childless empress fell on her nephew - a boy named Karl Peter Ulrich, born in Holstein on February 10, 1728. The future ruler arrived in the Russian Empire at the age of 14 and was baptized under the name, but was not interested in either the culture or traditions of a country foreign to him. Prussia was much closer to the young man, and his idol was Elizabeth Petrovna’s opponent in the Seven Years’ War - the Prussian king Frederick II.

As soon as he ascended the Russian throne after the death of Elizabeth, Peter III declared that he no longer intended to fight, and prematurely withdrew the country from the conflict. The officers were indignant: Berlin was taken in 1760, and now it, along with other conquests, had to be returned back! Pyotr Fedorovich, meanwhile, did not let up and conceived a new military campaign. The Emperor planned to attack Russia's ally, Denmark, and capture Schleswig, which was once part of his native Holstein.

With his short-sighted decisions and nostalgic attachment to everything German, Peter III caused discontent among wide sections of society - but above all among the nobles and guards. The history of his short reign ended quite predictably: not supported by anyone, Pyotr Fedorovich fell victim to a palace coup. Russia began to be ruled by his wife Sophia Augusta Frederica of Anhalt-Zerbst (aka -), who did not feel sentimental about her foreign origin.

Source: https://rusarchives.ru

Who did the Grand Duchess choose over Napoleon?

The relationship between the two emperors and Napoleon Bonaparte has always been difficult. In addition to political ambitions and personal animosity, by 1812 the enmity between them was also aggravated by the German question. When Napoleon began to annex small German principalities to France, the Duchy of Oldenburg also came under his authority, the ruler of which was the uncle of the Russian emperor, and his heir was the husband of Catherine Pavlovna (sister of Alexander I).

Grand Duchess Ekaterina Pavlovna, sister of Alexander I

DAUGHTERS:

About sons:

1. About the prince’s eldest son: Ilya Yaroslavich is the possible son of Yaroslav the Wise from his first wife, who was taken to Poland. Hypothetical prince of Novgorod.

   Ilya Yaroslavich - hypothetical prince of Novgorod

   (XI century), supposed eldest son of Yaroslav Vladimirovich the Wise.

   Ilya mentioned only in the chronicle of the Novgorod Chronicle of the younger edition in the list " And behold, after holy baptism, about the reign of Kiev..."in front of mayor Konstantin Dobrynich, (Konstantin Dobrynich

   declared mayor in 1017.

   and armed themselves. Despite this service, in 1019 Yaroslav became angry with Constantine for something and imprisoned him, according to later chronicles, for 3 years in Rostov.

   And a son, Ilya, was born to Yaroslav, and he was planted in Novgorod, and he died. And then Yaroslav became angry with Kosnyatin, and imprisoned him; and put your son Volodymyr in Novgorod.

   A. V. Nazarenko also put forward a hypothesis according to which it is Ilya was the “son of the King of Rus'”, to whom Estrid (Margarita) of Denmark was married (from her marriage with Jarl Ulv came the Estridsen dynasty, which ruled in Denmark).

   Then the marriage, in his opinion, could only be concluded around 1019.

   Marriage to the “son of the King of Rus'”

   The news of this marriage is found only in Adam of Bremen - in a postscript to the scholium made by Adam himself: “Canute gave his sister Estrid in marriage to the King of Rus'.” The identification of this “son of the King of Rus',” as well as the timing of the marriage, is controversial among researchers

   

   The most common assumption is that the “son of the King of Rus'” is Estrid’s third husband. Then the marriage dates back to the period after 1026, when Earl Ulf was killed. However, a number of researchers consider this marriage to be the first or second

   L M Sukhotin suggested that this son could be Vsevolod Vladimirovich, one of the sons of Grand Duke Vladimir Svyatoslavich, who is often identified with Vissavald of Gardariki, mentioned in the Saga of Olav Tryggvason, who died in Scandinavia. If this assumption is correct, then the marriage could only have been concluded before 1015, when Vladimir Svyatoslavich died. However, this version was not supported by other historians. The identification of Vsevolod Vladimirovich with Vissavald has a number of problems, since the information in the saga about Vissavald does not quite fit Vsevolod. the widow of King Eric the Victorious, who died around 993/995, do not correlate with the news of Adam of Bremen. At the same time, Sverdlov, although at first he accepted Sukhotin’s assumption, later revised his views, believing that Estrid’s husband could be one of Vladimir’s sons. The most likely husband of the Danish princess Sverdlov considered the Murom prince Gleb Vladimirovich, attributing the marriage to 1014/1015.

   Nazarenko did not agree with the opinion that the “son of the King of Rus'” was one of the sons of Vladimir Svyatoslavich. In his opinion, Sverdlov’s hypothesis that the son of Vladimir in 1014-1015 could have married the daughter of the King of Denmark does not fit well with the political situation of that time , therefore, the marriage could only have been concluded later Nazarenko believes that Estrid’s husband could have been Ilya Yaroslavich, the alleged son of Grand Duke Yaroslav Vladimirovich the Wise, and dates the marriage itself to 1018/10192 At the same time, a number of historians doubt the reality of Ilya’s existence11

   Nazarenko’s hypothesis was criticized by Karpov. He believes that Nazarenko’s constructions are built on a shaky foundation. According to Karpov, Estrid’s husband could well have been one of Vladimir’s sons Gleb, Sudislav, Stanislav or Pozvizd, then the marriage could have been concluded in the period 1014-1019 as possible candidates are also indicated: the Tmutarakan prince Evstafiy Mstislavich, the Polotsk prince Bryachislav Izyaslavich, then the marriage could have been concluded after 1026. Another possibility was expressed that Svyatopolk the Accursed could have a son, unknown to the chronicles, who could also marry Estrid. In addition, a hypothesis was expressed that Estrid could have been the first wife of Yaroslav the Wise, who was captured by Boleslav I the Brave, mentioned by Thietmar of Merseburg12

   Subsequent years of life.

   After her execution, Ulf Estrid did not lose her brother's trust and received significant land holdings from him. She gave her son Sven a church education, made donations to churches and may have founded the first stone church in Denmark. Roskilde Cathedral. She contributed to her sons in the struggle for dominance over Denmark in 1047. Sven became the king of Denmark due to the origin of his mother, which is why he is known as Sven Estridsen dat Svend Estridsen, that is, the son of Estrid Estrid herself was granted the honorary title of queen and not queen mother, which is usually received by the wives of kings. Thus Estrid Svensdottir became famous How Queen Estrid, despite the fact that she was neither a monarch nor the consort of a monarch

   The hypothesis that Sven Estridsen could have been offered to become the heir of Edward the Confessor was subsequently rejected: due to the marriage of Earl Ulf's sister to Earl Godwin of Wessex, the whole family was firmly connected with the Confessor's opponents from the Anglo-Scandinavian party. The date of Estrid's death is not established, but it is known that at her funeral the service was conducted by William, Bishop of Roskilde, who held this post in 1057-1073

   .

   It is possible that Ilya had another, “princely” pagan name, which has not reached us; Perhaps the information about him was taken by the chronicler from a church memorial, where only the Christian name was used.

In contact with

Anastasia Yaroslavna is the eldest daughter of Yaroslav the Wise and Ingigerda of Sweden. She was born around 1023.

Anastasia's future husband, the Hungarian Duke Andras, together with his brothers Bela and Levente, was forced to flee Hungary after the massacre of their father Vazul, committed by King Stephen I the Saint. The brothers ended up first in the Czech Republic, then in Poland (where Bela remained, having married the daughter of the Polish prince Meshko II), then in Rus'. Historians differ regarding the date of the wedding of Anastasia and András: some call it 1038/39, others 1040/41, and others call 1046.

In 1046, the Hungarian nobility, dissatisfied with the pro-German policy of the king, invited András and his brother to Hungary. At the end of September, András ascended the throne, and in the spring of 1047 he was crowned in Székesfehérvár. So Yaroslav's daughter became the queen of Hungary.

In 1053, Anastasia gave birth to a son named Sholomon. It is also known that in Hungary Anastasia gave birth to a son, David, as well as at least one daughter. The birth of Sholomon, and later his coronation, led to conflict between the royal couple and the king's brother Bela, who was heir until the birth of the child.

In Hungary, Anastasia remained Orthodox. The founding of several Orthodox monasteries is associated with her name. One of them is in the name of St. Aniana in Tihany on Lake Balaton. Another Orthodox monastery was founded in Tormovo. Another monastery founded by Anastasia is the monastery in Visegrad.

In 1060, Bela rebelled against András and in the same year defeated his brother, shortly after which he died, and on December 6, 1060, Bela became king of Hungary. Anastasia and her children were forced to flee to the German king Henry IV, whose sister Judith Maria was engaged to Sholomon. Henry ordered them to live in Bavaria and paid their expenses from the royal treasury. Anastasia wanted German troops to help her overthrow Bela and return the throne to her son. The army had already begun to gather, but as a result of an accident, Bela received serious injuries and died. After Béla's death in 1063, German troops invaded Hungary, forcing his sons to flee to Poland.

Sholomon was declared the new king. In gratitude for the help provided to her, Anastasia gave the Bavarian Duke Otto of Northeim the Hungarian royal relic “Attila’s sword”.

With her young son, Anastasia ruled the kingdom, and their position remained precarious. The support of her and King Sholomon was Henry IV, and the sons of Bela I Geza and Laszlo were supported by Poland, as well as Anastasia’s brother, Prince of Kiev Izyaslav Yaroslavich, married to the Polish princess Gertrude.

At this time, Anastasia remarried the German Count Poto. She was against the armed struggle between Shalamon and his cousins ​​and urged her son to resolve all conflicts peacefully. In 1074, after the defeat of Shalamon's armies by the troops of Geza and Laszlo, their relationship became so tense that Shalamon raised his hand against his mother. Anastasia cursed her son, who lost the Hungarian throne because of his aggressiveness and greed.

Anastasia died no later than 1094, since in this year she is already mentioned as having died. According to legend, she died in the Admont monastery in Styria.

Elizabeth

Elizaveta Yaroslavna is the second daughter of Yaroslav the Wise and Ingegerda of Sweden. She was probably born in 1025.

Elizabeth's future husband, Harald, son of King Sigurd the Pig of Eastern Norway, was the younger brother of King Olaf II of Norway. In 1030, when Harald was 15 years old, Olaf II died defending the throne from the Danish king Canute the Great. Harald had to go into hiding and then leave Norway. In 1031 he arrived in Kyiv, where he entered the service of Yaroslav the Wise. He wooed Elizabeth. But then Yaroslav did not agree to such a marriage, since the groom had neither money nor a throne.

After this, Harald went to Constantinople and signed up as a mercenary for the Byzantine emperor Michael IV of Paphlagon, who needed to keep his huge state in obedience. The emperor paid the elite mercenaries very generously. Harald fought in Africa, Sicily and Palestine, receiving a lot of money and achieving fame.

Returning from his travels, Harald received the hand of Elizabeth, with whom he married in the winter of 1043-1044. In the spring, Harald and Elizabeth went to Scandinavia. Having entered into an alliance with the king of Sweden, Harald equipped ships and set off on a military campaign against Denmark. Then Harald reconciled with his nephew Magnus, who ruled Norway at that time, and they began to rule the country together. Magnus soon died, and from 1047 Harald became the sovereign king of Norway. Elizabeth became queen.

By the time Harald began to rule Norway, he and Elizabeth already had two daughters: Maria and Ingigerda. Harald wanted to have a son, and he took his concubine Thora, who bore him not one, but even two sons: Magnus and Olav. Nevertheless, Elizabeth continued to share with her husband all the hardships of his turbulent life. When he decided to conquer England, Elizabeth and both of their daughters went on the campaign with him.

At first, luck smiled on the Norwegian king in England. He won a number of victories and captured several cities. But at the Battle of Stamfordbridge on September 25, 1066, an arrow hit him in his unprotected throat. The wound turned out to be fatal.

At the time of the battle, Elizabeth and her daughters were in the Orkney Islands, north of Scotland. Harald was confident that they were safe there. But, as the sagas say, on the same day that Harald died, his daughter Maria also died.

Elizabeth and Ingigerd returned to Norway. What happened to Elizabeth later is unknown. Her daughter Ingigerd married the Danish king Olaf Sveinsson and became Queen of Denmark.

Anna

Anna Yaroslavna is the youngest of three daughters of the Kyiv prince Yaroslav the Wise from his marriage to Ingegerda of Sweden. She was born, according to various sources, around 1032 or 1036. In France they believe that she was born around 1025.

The 17th-century historian François de Mézeret wrote that Henry I of France “reached the fame of the charms of a princess, namely Anne, daughter of George, King of Russia, now Muscovy, and he was fascinated by the story of her perfections.” In 1051, Anna married the French king.

In 1052, Anna gave birth to an heir to the king, the future King of France Philip I, and then three more children (including two sons, Robert and Hugo, of whom the first died in childhood, and the second later became Count of Vermandois).

After Henry's death, Anna shared custody of the young Philip I with the regent Baudouin of Flanders. She took part in the royal court's tour of the domains at the end of 1060 - beginning of 1061, but soon her name again disappeared from the acts. Apparently, already in 1061 she married Count Raoul de Crepy. This lord had been constantly at court for several years, where he occupied a prominent place - right after the peers of France and the highest clergy. He was married for the second time, but accused his wife of adultery, drove her away and married Anna.