How the future kings of Europe were raised in ancient Russia under Yaroslav the Wise: the homeless princes of Ingigerda

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Princess Ingigerda, wife of Yaroslav the Wise, is one of the most legendary women in Ancient Russia. Loving Novgorod with all her heart, when she had to move to Kiev, she arranged a magnificent courtyard there, which brought Kiev from the periphery to a number of magnificent European capitals. And the whole secret lay in Ingigerda's love for homeless princes.

Unequal marriage

Ingigerda's parents, King Olaf and Queen Estrid, did not form an alliance for love. Olaf grabbed two beautiful girls, noble and not so, as practically a trophy of war after a raid on the lands of the Bodrichs - a Slavic tribe that lived on the territory of modern Poland. Estrid was the daughter of the prince of the vigorous, and she was given in marriage to the Viking Olaf in order to conclude peace with this alliance. At the same time, the real name of the princess was lost in the centuries, only what the Swedes had given remained. By the way, it means "star".

Olaf took both trophy girls as his wife, but married only to the princess, for class reasons. He settled the wives separately so as not to offend the married wife. The Bodric princess gave the harsh Scandinavian royal court a bit of European chic - they say about the Swedes of her era that they clearly experienced a strong Slavic influence, and they just associate this with the figure of Queen Estrid and her retinue.

Princess Ingigerda was originally intended as a bride for the young Norwegian king, father's namesake - also Olaf. And the groom, I must say, was to her taste. It is all the more surprising that in the end she married the Novgorod (then) prince Yaroslav, the son of Rogneda of Polotsk and Vladimir Saint, who was much older than her and was hardly very good-looking (for example, it is known that he was lame, which means that with very likely suffered from scoliosis).

This marriage looked unequal not only because of the difference in age and beauty - Ingigerda was the daughter of a powerful king, Yaroslav was only a candidate for the princes of Kiev, moreover, one under which the "career ladder" had already begun to stagger. His plans were to eliminate all his brothers who were not related to the Polotsk dynasty, and he sought alliances with the Scandinavians. Before Ingigerda, it is supposed, for this purpose, Yaroslav married a noble Norwegian woman, Anna, but she was eventually captured and made his permanent concubine by the Polish king Boleslav.

Homeless Princes

While still a princess of Novgorod, Ingigerda - in baptism, probably Irina - gave shelter to princes who had lost their homes. In Kiev, where she moved, when her husband strengthened there, she continued to do so. As a result, young men of royal blood grew up, were brought up, served at the Kiev court, moreover, each or almost everyone wanted to regain the throne of their father. The number of pupils of the royal blood gave a certain weight to the court of the Kiev prince. And also - it provided marriage alliances with respectable European dynasties, since the young princes had the opportunity to personally get acquainted with the young princesses, the daughters of Ingigerda and Yaroslav and take care of them.

In 1016, Ingigerda's paternal uncle conquered England, killing King Edmund Ironside and taking his throne. From the superstitions of the sons of the king, he sent to Ingigerda's father to kill them not personally - otherwise their inheritance will not go for the future. The princes, however, were left alive - they took refuge with the Hungarian king, but not for long. The usurper sent assassins to them, so that their relatives and, probably, the Hungarian king proper began to look for another shelter for boys who had barely entered adolescence. Ingigerda took them to her.

In Hungary during the time of Yaroslav, two brothers, Vazul and Istvan, fought for the throne. The throne went to Istvan. He blinded Vasul (it was believed that the blind man was incapable of reigning), and expelled his three sons. First, the young men found shelter at the court of the Bohemian duke, then moved to Poland, where one of the brothers, Bela, married the daughter of King Boleslav Ryksa. The other two continued to look for a place where they would not feel humiliated by exiles, and eventually reached Kiev. Their names were Andras and Levente.

Ingigerda's ex-fiancé and her brother-in-law by sister, Olaf Norwegian, also asked for refuge in Kiev, having lost his crown. He had a son with him - not from Ingigerda's sister, but from another woman, a boy named Magnus. This boy was recognized by Olaf as his heir, so he was also considered a prince. A little later, Olaf went to regain his crown, but Ingigerda insisted that he leave Magnus to her - it was too dangerous. The Kiev princess was right. In Norway, Olaf was killed. Magnus, on the other hand, grew up quietly among the sons of Yaroslav and later managed to regain the crown. The pupil of Ingigerda was known under the nickname “Kind”.

And he later inherited, by the way, his paternal uncle and son-in-law Jaroslav Harald. When Olaf of Norway died, Prince Harald was fifteen. He gathered around him people who were loyal to him and his deceased brother and entered the service of Prince Yaroslav. There he met Princess Elizabeth, who had grown up in front of his eyes, and went to the southern seas to perform feats in order to earn the respect of her father and win her hand.

How Ingigerda's chicks influenced the history of Europe

All daughters of Yaroslav and his wives became queens of foreign lands. One got married of convenience, having seen her husband for the first time before the wedding, the others were well acquainted with the suitors and, probably, were in love with each other. The first became the most famous - Anna, Queen of France. Anna Yaroslavna was the first crowned queen (that is, the co-ruler of the king) in France.

When her husband died and she fell in love with another man, she, it is assumed, had to separately renounce co-rule with her son in order not to give food to suspicions about an attempt to seize the throne and erect a new husband on him. It is believed that in the early years of Queen Anne's life, Anne strongly influenced the court manners in Paris. She also corresponded with many prominent politicians of her time, including the Pope. All or almost all of the royal dynasties of Europe were related by kinship with Anna Yaroslavna.

Anastasia Yaroslavna became the wife of Prince András and, when he regained the throne, Queen of Hungary. She seriously contributed to the spread of Orthodoxy in the Carpathians, founding monasteries and inviting Orthodox priests from the East to lead them.

Prince Edward almost managed to reclaim the throne in England. He arrived there with his wife, who, presumably, was one of Ingigerda's daughters - it is difficult to say for sure, because in England she changed her name to Agatha. It is only known that Edward met her in Kiev and it is clear that in his interests there was an alliance with some ruling dynasty. The daughter of Agatha and Edward, Margarita became famous for her influence on the cultural and religious life of Scotland and, incidentally, became the Scottish queen.

The pupil of Yaroslav and Ingigerda, the Norwegian king Magnus the Good, spent twelve years on the throne. He became famous for his military victories, including over the Slavs (possibly the Bodrichs) who invaded Denmark. He died of an accident - unsuccessfully fell from his horse. He was succeeded by his uncle and co-ruler Harald. Harald's wife was Elizaveta Yaroslavna, another princess from Kiev.

Harald the Severe, having gone to perform feats in the name of Princess Elizabeth, went into the service of the Byzantine emperors. There he fought against pirates off the coast of Syria, suppressed the uprising of the Bulgarians (killing Tsar Peter), took part in a palace coup (overthrowing Emperor Michael V), and all because Yaroslav promised him his daughter's hand only if Harald would cover his name with glory and get rich.

As a result, Harald returned to his Elizabeth (who, by the way, was waiting for him in Novgorod), played a wedding with her and left for Norway. There he founded Oslo - the current capital of the country, and at that time just a trading city. It is believed that it was Harald who consolidated Christianity in the Norwegian lands. His eldest daughter, Ingigerda, took turns queen in Denmark and Sweden.

Cain's seal

Although traditionally Yaroslav claimed that his younger paternal brothers Boris and Gleb were killed by their half-brother Svyatopolk, according to the testimony of the Norwegian governor Yaroslav, the blood of Boris and Gleb was in the hands of Yaroslav himself. Probably, Svyatopolk was also killed on the orders of the Novgorod prince. According to Scandinavian beliefs (and Yaroslav was in many ways a man of Scandinavian culture), fratricide can cause a family curse (to put a "Cain seal", as they began to say in Europe already in Christian times). The fate of Yaroslav's pupils and daughters makes us remember this belief.

Magnus the Good unsuccessfully fell off his horse and died at twenty-three. His uncle Harald tried to invade England. First, he was defeated by the British, and then he died in battle with the troops of William the Conqueror, who also decided to take control of England. It is believed that the Viking Age ended with his death.

Harald's wife Elizaveta Yaroslavna suffered from the fact that her husband took a second wife - because of the inability to give him a son, Harald took a second wife. Despite Christianity, this was a common practice among the Scandinavians. Elizabeth gave birth to only two daughters, after which, apparently, she lost the ability to bear. A daughter named Maria died a young girl, Ingigerd's daughter took turns to marry two kings, but never left offspring. Elizaveta Yaroslavna herself is believed to have outlived her husband for no more than a year, and all this time she was fed out of mercy by the son of the second, unmarried, wife.

Anastasia Yaroslavna gave birth to her husband, King Andrash, the son of Sholomon. This became the reason for the conflict with Bela - thus, András's brother, who married a Polish princess. András, a few years after his accession, was paralyzed, and Anastasia herself actually ruled for some time. Bela revolted against his brother. András was taken to the battlefields. After one of the battles, his brother's soldiers trampled him right in the tent. He soon died from his injuries. Anastasia had to run away with her little son.

A little later, German troops helped to return the throne to her son. Later, Anastasia had a strong quarrel with her son: she cursed him, and he raised his hand to her. Sholomon's sons were overthrown anyway, and they, together with their mother, were forced to seek shelter in the German lands. There, traces of Anastasia were lost. Both of her sons, Sholomon and David, left no offspring.

It is believed that Andrash was helped to regain the crown by the English princes Edward and Edmund. At least they lived there for a while. Edward then returned to England and brought there his Kiev wife, Agatha. At some point, the king sat on the throne, who was related to both Edward and Ingigerda's uncle, who took the throne from Edward's father. He appointed Edward the Exile as his successor. But immediately upon arrival in England, Edward, it seems, was killed, and his wife with three children (who, by the way, spent their childhood in Hungary) had to urgently seek shelter in Scotland.

Edgar, Edward's son, could not regain the throne and died childless. His sister Christina also did not leave offspring. Margarita was more fortunate. She became one of the most famous queens of Scotland by marrying a Scottish king, and was canonized as a saint after her death. Her daughter married the son of William the Conqueror, King Henry, thus indirectly returning the throne to the descendants of Edward the Exile. But their only son died at seventeen, childless. Their daughter, Queen Maud, ruled so unsuccessfully that she was overthrown. But she left the heirs.

The fate of Anna Yaroslavna was also strange. She had to endure the shame that she fell in love with a married man and began to live with him. Her son defended his mother as best he could, but in fact she and her chosen one had to live in exile - they did not lead a normal lifestyle for their circle, since they avoided communicating with them.

However, maybe it's not a curse. The times were just harsh. Rogvolodovich, not Rurikovich: Why Prince Yaroslav the Wise did not love the Slavs and did not spare his brothers.