The events that will be discussed cover a two-hundred-year segment - X-XI centuries - of the history of France and Russia. Much has been written about this period and especially about the fate of the Russian princess Anna Yaroslavna (1032-1082) in recent decades. But, unfortunately, both journalists and writers approached the topic without sufficient scientific and historical analysis. In the proposed article, an approach from the particular to the general is chosen, the deduction method. It allows, through the description of individual events, to present a picture of historical development more vividly and figuratively. To recreate the images of gifted people, exceptional for their time, and most importantly, to look at a woman in medieval society, at the role she played against the background of the main events that characterized that era. Such events include the change in the borders of states, the transformation of institutions of power, the acceleration of money circulation, the strengthening of the role of the church, the construction of cities and monasteries.
WOMAN AND THE CONSOLIDATION OF POWER
In the 10th century in Russia, many Slavic tribes (there were more than thirty of them) were united into a single Old Russian state. At the same time, it is interesting to trace the socio-economic and other reasons that then caused changes in the history of France and Russia. They are almost the same. From early feudal fragmentation, both countries are moving to centralized power. This circumstance is especially important, since it is generally recognized that before the invasion of the Mongols, Ancient Russia developed according to the same laws as Europe.
This was the time when power acquired the most important, fundamental importance. Initially, it had a kind of "home", court character. Historical documents of that period traditionally highlight the power of men at different levels and, of course, as the head of state. Only their names and dates of life speak about the presence of women next to him. The role they played can be judged only indirectly, by those specific events that took place in the country and in the palaces of the sovereigns. And nevertheless, the special role of women was already obvious then. Even the church (as an institution), defining the place of spiritual power in the state, used the image of a woman-mother and declared that the church is a mother who gives people spiritual life through her faithful sons-bishops.
Power and its forms in the state were established primarily on the basis of property, economic relations, but also under the influence of inequality. The experience of inequality has traditionally been acquired in the family, in family relationships. Therefore, the inequality of men and women was perceived as sent from above, created by God - as a reasonable distribution of responsibilities. (Only from the 18th century, under the influence of revolutionary ideas and the ideas of the Enlightenment, the concept of inequality began to be considered from a negative standpoint.)
Relationships between spouses (especially in power, state spheres) meant that women who marry had only one duty - to protect the interests of the husband and help him. The exception was widows, who, after the loss of their spouse, played the role of head of the family, and sometimes of the state. Thus, they passed from “female” duties to the performance of “male” duties. Such a mission was successfully performed only by a woman with talent, character, will, for example, the Grand Duchess Olga, the Novgorod mayor Martha, the dowager empress Elena Glinskaya … order.
With the rise of large feudal empires, a strict succession of power was required. It was then that the question arose of control over the institution of marriage. Whose word will be decisive in this case? King, priests? It turned out that the main word often remained with the woman, the continuer of the clan. Increasing the family, caring for the growing offspring, about their physical and spiritual development and about the position that it will take in life, as a rule, fell on the shoulders of women.
That is why the choice of the bride, the future mother of the heirs, meant so much. The place and influence that the mother could acquire in the family depended on this choice, and not only through intelligence and talent. Its origin also played a significant role. If we talk about the families of sovereigns, then the degree of the wife's attitude to the royal family of her or another country was important here. This is what largely determined international and economic relations between the states of Europe. Bearing a royal child, a woman reunited two parental blood, two genealogies, predetermining not only the nature of the future power, but often the future of the country. A woman - a spouse and mother - already in the early Middle Ages was the basis of the world order.
YAROSLAV THE WISE AND THE ROLE OF WOMEN AT THE PRINCE'S COURT
In Russia, as well as in Europe, marriage unions constituted an important part of foreign policy. The family of Yaroslav I, called the Wise (years of the great reign: 1015-1054), became related to many of the royal houses of Europe. His sisters and daughters, having married European kings, helped Russia to establish friendly relations with the countries of Europe, to solve international problems. And the formation of the mentality of future sovereigns was largely determined by the mother's worldview, her family ties with the royal courts of other states.
The future grand dukes and future queens of European states, who came out of the family of Yaroslav the Wise, were raised under the supervision of their mother - Ingigerda (1019-1050). Her father, King Olav of Sweden (or Olaf Shetkonung), gave his daughter the city of Aldeigaburg and all of Karelia as a dowry. The Scandinavian sagas convey the details of Yaroslav's marriage to Princess Ingigerd and the marriage of their daughters. (The retelling of some of these Scandinavian sagas was done by S. Kaydash-Lakshina.) Legends and myths included in the collection "The Earth's Circle" confirm the mentioned historical events. Undoubtedly, the family and friendly ties of the Grand Duchess Ingigerda influenced the marriage unions of her daughters. All three daughters of Yaroslav became queens of European countries: Elizabeth, Anastasia and Anna.
The Russian beauty Princess Elizabeth won the heart of the Norwegian Prince Harold, who served her father in his youth. To be worthy of Elizabeth Yaroslavna, Harold went to distant countries to gain glory through exploits, which A. K. Tolstoy poetically told us about:
Harold sits in a battle saddle, He left Kiev sovereign, He sighs heavily on the way:
"You are my star, Yaroslavna!"
Harold the Bold, having made campaigns to Constantinople, Sicily and Africa, returned to Kiev with rich gifts. Elizabeth became the hero's wife and queen of Norway (in the second marriage - the queen of Denmark), and Anastasia Yaroslavna - the queen of Hungary. These marriages were already known in France when King Henry I wooed Princess Anna Yaroslavna (he reigned from 1031 to 1060).
Yaroslav the Wise taught children to live in peace, love among themselves. And numerous marriage unions strengthened the ties between Russia and Europe. The granddaughter of Yaroslav the Wise, Eupraxia, was given to the German emperor Henry IV. Yaroslav's sister, Maria Vladimirovna (Dobronega), for the King of Poland Casimir. Yaroslav gave his sister a large dowry, and Kazimir returned 800 Russian prisoners. Relations with Poland were also consolidated by the marriage of Anna Yaroslavna's brother, Izyaslav Yaroslavich, to Casimir's sister, the Polish princess Gertrude. (Izyaslav in 1054 will inherit the great Kiev throne after his father.) Another son of Yaroslav the Wise, Vsevolod, married an overseas princess, the daughter of Constantine Monomakh. Their son Vladimir II immortalized the name of his maternal grandfather, adding the name Monomakh to his name (Vladimir II Monomakh reigned from 1113 to 1125).
Anna, Anastasia, Elizabeth and Agatha
Yaroslav's path to the grand-ducal throne was far from easy. Initially, his father, Vladimir Krasnoe Solnyshko (980-1015), put Yaroslav to reign in Rostov the Great, then in Novgorod, where a year later Yaroslav decided to become an independent sovereign of the vast Novgorod land and free himself from the power of the Grand Duke. In 1011, he refused to send 2000 hryvnias to Kiev, as all Novgorod mayor had done before him.
When Yaroslav reigned in Novgorod "under the hand" of Vladimir, coins with the inscription "Silver Yaroslavl" appeared. Christ is depicted on one side of it, on the other - Saint George, the patron saint of Yaroslav. This first minting of Russian coins continued until the death of Yaroslav the Wise. At that time, Ancient Russia was at the same level of development with neighboring European countries and played a significant role in shaping the appearance of medieval Europe, its political structure, economic development, culture and international relations.
After the death of Vladimir, the Red Sun, a stubborn struggle for the grand prince's throne unfolded between his sons. In the end, Yaroslav won, he was then 37 years old. And one had to be truly Wise in order to overcome the numerous confrontations of the appanage princes over and over again in the name of the unification of Russia: during his life, Yaroslav several times conquered the throne of the Grand Duke and lost it.
In 1018 he entered into an alliance with Henry II of Germany - that was the high level of international relations of Russia. Not only Henry II considered it an honor to negotiate with Russia, but also Robert II the Pious, King of France, father of Anna Yaroslavna's future husband. The two sovereigns agreed in 1023 about the reform of the church and the establishment of the peace of God among Christians.
The reign of Yaroslav the Wise is a time of economic prosperity for Russia. This gave him the opportunity to decorate the capital following the example of Constantinople: the Golden Gate, the St. Sophia Cathedral appeared in Kiev, in 1051 the Kiev-Pechersky Monastery was founded - the higher school of the Russian clergy. In Novgorod in 1045-1052, the Church of St. Sophia was erected. Yaroslav the Wise, a representative of a new generation of literate, enlightened Christians, created a large library of Russian and Greek books. He loved and knew the church statutes. In 1051, Yaroslav made the Russian Orthodox Church independent from Byzantium: independently, without the knowledge of Constantino Pole, he appointed the Russian Metropolitan Hilarion. Previously, Greek metropolitans were appointed only by the Byzantine patriarch.
Reconstruction of the Golden Gate
ANNA YAROSLAVNA - QUEEN OF FRANCE
The matchmaking and wedding of Anna Yaroslavna took place in 1050, when she was 18 years old. The ambassadors of the King of France, recently widowed Henry I, went to Kiev in the spring of April. The embassy progressed slowly. In addition to the ambassadors who rode on horseback, some on mules, some on horseback, the convoy consisted of numerous carts with supplies for the long journey and carts with rich gifts. As a gift to Prince Yaroslav the Wise, magnificent battle swords, overseas cloth, precious silver bowls were intended …
Henry I, King of France
On boats we went down the Danube, then on horseback we went through Prague and Krakow. The path is not the closest, but the most beaten and safest. This road was considered the most convenient and crowded. Trade caravans traveled along it to the east and west. The embassy was headed by the Shalon bishop Roger from a noble family of the counts of Namur. The eternal problem of younger sons - red or black - he solved by choosing a cassock. An extraordinary mind, noble birth, master's grasp helped him to successfully conduct earthly affairs. His diplomatic abilities were used more than once by the king of France, sending the bishop first to Rome, then to Normandy, then to the German emperor. And now the bishop was approaching the goal of his great historical mission, which went down in history for millennia.
In addition to him, the embassy was the bishop of the city of Mo, the learned theologian Gauthier Saveyer, who would soon become Queen Anne's teacher and confessor. The French embassy arrived in Kiev for the bride, the Russian princess Anna Yaroslavna. In front of the Golden Gate of the capital of Ancient Russia, it stopped with a sense of surprise and delight. Anna's brother, Vsevolod Yaroslavich, met the ambassadors and easily spoke to them in Latin.
The arrival of Anna Yaroslavna to the land of France was arranged solemnly. Henry I went to meet the bride in the ancient city of Reims. The king, in his forty-odd years, was obese and always gloomy. But when he saw Anna he smiled. To the credit of the highly educated Russian princess, it must be said that she was fluent in Greek, and she learned French quickly. On the marriage contract, Anna wrote her name, her husband, the king, put a "cross" instead of a signature.
Anna Yaroslavna, Queen of France
It was in Reims that French kings have been crowned since ancient times. Anna was given a special honor: her coronation ceremony took place in the same ancient city, in the Church of the Holy Cross. Already at the beginning of her royal path, Anna Yaroslavna performed a civil feat: she showed perseverance and, refusing to swear an oath on the Latin Bible, took an oath on the Slavic Gospel, which she brought with her. Under the influence of circumstances, Anna will then convert to Catholicism, and in this the daughter of Yaroslav will show wisdom - both as a French queen and as the mother of the future king of France, Philip the First. In the meantime, the golden crown was placed on Anna's head, and she became the queen of France.
Arriving in Paris, Anna Yaroslavna did not consider it a beautiful city. Although by that time, Paris from a modest residence of the Carolingian kings turned into the main city of the country and received the status of the capital. In letters to her father, Anna Yaroslavna wrote that Paris was gloomy and ugly; she lamented that she had ended up in a village where there were no palaces and cathedrals like Kiev was rich.
THE DYNASTY OF THE CAPTINGS IS STRENGTHENED ON THE THRONE
At the beginning of the 11th century in France, the Carolingian dynasty was replaced by the Capetian dynasty - named after the first king of the dynasty, Hugo Capet. Three decades later, the future husband of Anna Yaroslavna Henry I, the son of King Robert II the Pious (996-1031), became the king of this dynasty. Anna Yaroslavna's father-in-law was a rude and sensual person, but the church forgave him everything for his piety and religious zeal. He was considered a learned theologian.
The accession to the throne of Henry I did not go without a palace intrigue, in which a woman played the main role. Robert the Pious has been married twice. With his first wife, Bertha (mother of Henry), Robert divorced at the insistence of his father. The second wife, Constanta, turned out to be a gloomy and vicious woman. She demanded from her husband that he crown their young son Hugo II as co-ruler. However, the prince fled from home, unable to bear the despotic treatment of his mother, and became a robber on the roads. He died very young, at the age of 18.
Contrary to the queen's intrigues, the brave and energetic Henry I, crowned in Reims, became the co-regent of his father in 1027. Constanta hated her stepson with fierce hatred and, when his father, Robert the Pious, died, she tried to depose the young king, but in vain. It was these events that made Henry think of an heir in order to make him his co-ruler.
Widowed after his first marriage, Henry I decided to marry a Russian princess. The main motive for this choice is the desire to have a strong, healthy heir. And the second motive: his ancestors from the Kapet family were blood relatives with all neighboring monarchs, and the church forbade marriage between relatives. So fate intended Anna Yaroslavna to continue the royal power of the Capetian.
Anna's life in France coincided with the country's economic recovery. During the reign of Henry I, the old cities revived - Bordeaux, Toulouse, Lyon, Marseille, Rouen. The process of separating craft from agriculture is faster. The cities are beginning to free themselves from the power of the lords, that is, from feudal dependence. This led to the development of commodity-money relations: taxes from cities bring income to the state, which contributes to the further strengthening of statehood.
The most important concern of Anna Yaroslavna's husband was the further reunification of the lands of the Franks. Henry I, like his father Robert, was expanding eastward. The foreign policy of the Capetian was distinguished by the expansion of international relations. France exchanged embassies with many countries, including the Old Russian state, England, the Byzantine Empire.
The correct way to strengthen the power of kings was to augment, increase the royal lands, turning the royal domain into a compact complex of fertile lands of France. The domain of the king is the land on which the king is sovereign, here he had the right to court and real power. This path was carried out with the participation of women, through thoughtful marriage unions of members of the royal family.
To strengthen their power, the Capetian adopted the principle of heredity and co-government of royal power. For this heir, the son, was introduced, as already mentioned, to governing the country and was crowned during the life of the king. In France, for three centuries, it was the co-government that retained the crown.
The role of women in maintaining the principle of inheritance was considerable. So, the wife of the sovereign after his death and the transfer of power to a young son became regent, mentor of the young king. True, this rarely did without a struggle between the palace factions, which sometimes led to the violent death of a woman.
The practice of co-government, which was established in France, was also used in Russia. For example, in 969 Yaropolk, Oleg and Vladimir became co-rulers of their father, Grand Duke Svyatoslav I Igorevich. Ivan III (1440-1505) declared his eldest son Ivan from his first marriage to be co-ruler, but his second wife, the Byzantine princess Sophia from the Paleologian family, was unhappy with this. After the early mysterious death of his son, Ivan Ivanovich, Ivan III appointed his grandson Dmitry Ivanovich co-regent. But both the grandson and the daughter-in-law (the wife of the deceased son) fell into disgrace during the political struggle. Then the co-ruler and heir to the throne was declared the son, born to Sophia, - Vasily Ivanovich.
In those cases when such an order was violated and the father distributed the inheritance to his sons, after his death a fratricidal struggle began - the path to the feudal fragmentation of the country.
THE DIFFICULT SHARE OF THE MOTHER QUEEN IF SHE IS A WIDOW
Anna Yaroslavna was widowed at the age of 28. Henry I died on 4 August 1060 at the castle of Vitry-aux-Loges, near Orleans, in the midst of preparations for war with the English king William the Conqueror. But the coronation of the son of Anna Yaroslavna, Philip I, as co-ruler of Henry I, took place during the life of his father, in 1059. Henry died when young King Philip was eight years old. Philip I reigned for almost half a century, 48 years (1060-1108). He was a smart but lazy person.
Letter from the French King Philip I in favor of the Abbey of St. Krepin in Soissons, containing the autographic signature of Anne Yaroslavna, Queen of France, 1063
As a testament, King Henry appointed Anna Yaroslavna as the guardian of his son. However, Anne - the mother of the young king - remained queen and became regent, but she did not receive guardianship, according to the custom of that time: only a man could be a guardian, and he became Henry I's brother-in-law, Count Baudouin of Flanders.
According to the tradition that then existed, the dowager Queen Anne (she was about 30 years old) was married. Count Raoul de Valois married the widow. He was known as one of the most rebellious vassals (the dangerous family of Valois had previously tried to depose Hugh Capet, and then Henry I), but nevertheless he always remained close to the king. Count Raoul de Valois was a lord of many estates, and he had no fewer soldiers than the king. Anna Yaroslavna lived in the fortified castle of her husband Mondidier.
But there is also a romantic version about Anna Yaroslavna's second marriage. Count Raoul fell in love with Anna from the first days of her appearance in France. And only after the death of the king did he dare to reveal his feelings. For Anna Yaroslavna, the queen mother's duty was in the first place, but Raoul persisted and kidnapped Anna. Count Raoul broke up with his former wife, having convicted her of infidelity. After the divorce, marriage with Anna Yaroslavna was concluded according to the church ceremony.
The life of Anna Yaroslavna with Count Raul was almost happy, she was worried only about relations with children. His beloved son, King Philip, although he treated his mother with constant tenderness, he no longer needed her advice and participation in royal affairs. And Raoul's sons from their first marriage, Simon and Gaultier, did not hide their dislike for their stepmother.
Anna Yaroslavna was widowed for the second time in 1074. Not wanting to depend on the sons of Raoul, she left the castle of Mondidier and returned to Paris to her son-king. The son surrounded the aging mother with attention - Anna Yaroslavna was already over 40 years old. Her youngest son, Hugo, married a wealthy heiress, daughter of the Count of Vermandois. The marriage helped him legitimize the seizure of the count's lands.
NEWS FROM RUSSIA AND RECENT YEARS
Little is known from the historical literature about the last years of Anna Yaroslavna's life, so all the available information is interesting. Anna was eagerly awaiting news from home. Different news came - sometimes bad, sometimes good. Soon after her departure from Kiev, her mother died. Four years after the death of his wife, at the age of 78, Anna's father, Grand Duke Yaroslav, died.
Departure of Princess Anna, daughter of Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise, to France for a wedding with King Henry I
The old sick Yaroslav did not have the determination to leave the supreme power to one of his sons. The European principle of co-government was not used by him. He divided his lands between his sons, bequeathing to them to live in harmony, honoring his older brother. Vladimir received Novgorod, Vsevolod - Pereyaslavl, Vyacheslav - Suzdal and Beloozero, Igor - Smolensk, Izyaslav - Kiev, and at first Novgorod. With this decision, Yaroslav laid a new round of struggle for the grand prince's throne. Izyaslav was deposed three times, Anna's beloved brother Vsevolod Yaroslavich returned to the throne twice.
Statue of Anna of Kiev in Senlis
From the marriage of Vsevolod with the daughter of the Byzantine emperor Anastasia in 1053, the son Vladimir was born, the nephew of Anna Yaroslavna, who will go down in history as Vladimir Monomakh (Grand Duke of Kiev in 1113-1125).
Anna Yaroslavna's life was now dreary, no more significant events awaited her. Father and mother, many brothers, relatives and friends passed away. In France, her teacher and mentor, Bishop Gaultier, died. The husband of Elizabeth's beloved sister, King Harold of Norway, died. There was no one left who had once arrived with young Anna Yaroslavna on French soil: who died, who returned to Russia.
Anna decided to travel. She learned that the elder brother, Izyaslav Yaroslavich, having suffered defeat in the struggle for the Kiev throne, is in Germany, in the city of Mainz. Henry IV of Germany was friends with Philip I (both were in conflict with the Pope), and Anna Yaroslavna set off, counting on a good welcome. It resembled an autumn leaf torn from a branch and driven by the wind. Arriving in Mainz, I learned that Izyaslav had already moved to the city of Worms. Persistent and stubborn, Anna continued the journey, but fell ill on the way. In Worms she was informed that Izyaslav had gone to Poland, and his son - to Rome to the Pope. According to Anna Yaroslavna, it was necessary to look for friends and allies for Russia in the wrong countries. Grief and illness broke Anna. She died in 1082 at the age of 50.
