Family of Vladimir the Great

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

Overview

According to Tampere University scholar Aleksandr Koptev (2010), 'the legend surrounding Rogneda is closely related to the legend about the Chersonese princess and the prince Jaropolk's widow, all being raped by Prince Vladimir.'^[2]

Ancestry and children with Anna

Children with Rogneda and Adela

Children with Olava and Malfrida

Children with German wife and unknown mistress

Norse wife

Several authorities, notably Rydzevskaya ("Ancient Rus and Scandinavia in 9-14 cent.", 1978), hold that later skalds confused Vladimir's wife Olava with his grandmother and tutor Olga, with Allogia being the distorted form of Olga's name. Others postulate Olava was a real person and the mother of Vysheslav, the first of Vladimir's sons to reign in Novgorod, as behooves the eldest son and heir. On the other hand, there is no evidence that the tradition of sending the eldest son of Kievan monarch to Novgorod existed at such an early date.^{[citation needed]}

Those scholars who believe that this early Norse wife was not fictitious, suppose that Vladimir could have married her during his famous exile in

According to the Primary Chronicle, Vladimir wanted to forge an alliance with her father, prince Rogvolod of Polotsk, but after she refused to marry Vladimir, he raped and forcibly married Rogneda.^[4] Koptev (2010) hypothesised that the story of Rogneda's revenge (found in the Laurentian Chronicle under the year 1128), namely her attempt to kill her husband Vladimir, was 'an obvious later addition to the original story of Rogneda, known in the Primary Chronicle under the year 980.'^[2] Koptev stated that "Shakhmatov is almost certainly correct when he suggests that the story derives from the later Novgorodian tradition, which asserted the superiority of the clan of Jaroslav's descendants in comparison to Rogvolod's descendants ruling in Polotzk.'^[2]

The Primary Chronicle mentions three of Rogneda's sons -

Vladimir apparently had a

Sviatopolk I (left), Boris and Gleb

(right)

Another wife was a Bulgarian lady, whose name is given by Tatishchev as Adela. Historians have disagreed as to whether she came from Volga Bulgaria or from Bulgaria on the Danube. According to the Primary Chronicle, both Boris and Gleb were her children. This tradition, however, is viewed by most scholars as a product of later hagiographical tendency to merge the identity of both saints. Their names point to different origins, indicating that Adela was not fully Bulgarian.^{[citation needed]}

Anna Porphyrogenita

Main article: Anna Porphyrogenita

Anna (March 13, 963 - 1011/12) was the daughter of

Byzantine Emperor Romanos II (r. 959–963)) and the Empress Theophano. She was also the sister of Emperors Basil II Bulgaroktonos (the Bulgar-Slayer; r. 976–1025) and Constantine VIII. Anna was a Porphyrogenita, a legitimate daughter born in the special purple chamber of the Byzantine Emperor's Palace. Anna's hand was considered by Vladimir such a prize that he allegedly became Christian (988) just to marry her.^{[citation needed}

]

German wife

Historia Welforum Weingartensis one daughter of Count Kuno von Oenningen (future Duke Konrad of Swabia) by "filia Ottonis Magni imperatoris" (Otto the Great's daughter; possibly Rechlinda Otona [Regelindis], claimed by some as a legitimate daughter born from his first marriage with Edith of Wessex and by others as an illegitimate child) married "rex Rugorum" (king of Russia). He interpreted this evidence as pertaining to Vladimir's last wife.^{[citation needed}

]

It is believed that the only child of this alliance was

Wladyslaw Herman), it is thought probable that she was Vladimir's daughter by the last marriage.^{[citation needed}

]

Yaroslav's parentage

There is also a case for

Normanist theory for details). Proponents allege that Yaroslav's true age was falsified by Nestor, who attempted to represent him as 10 years older than he actually had been, in order to justify Yaroslav's seizure of the throne at the expense of his older brothers.^[5]

The

Baptism of Kievan Rus and Vladimir's divorce of Rogneda. Consequently, it is assumed that Yaroslav was either Vladimir's natural son born after the latter's baptism or his son by Anna.^[5][6]

Had Yaroslav an imperial Byzantine descent, he likely would not have stinted to advertise it. Some have seen the willingness of European kings to marry Yaroslav's daughters as an indication of this imperial descent. Subsequent Polish chroniclers and historians, in particular, were eager to view Yaroslav as Anna's son. Recent proponents invoke

onomastic arguments,^[7] which have often proven decisive in the matters of medieval prosopography, but these may be worthless in this case specifically because of the great shift to Christian names just then experienced in the Rus royal dynasty, an upheaval more than enough to explain all unprecedented names if they are Christian. It is curious that Yaroslav named his elder son Vladimir (after his own father) and one of his daughters Anna (as if after his own mother). Also, there is a certain pattern in his sons having Slavic names (as Vladimir), and his daughters having Greek names only (as Anna).^[8] However, in the absence of better sources, Anna's maternity remains a pure speculation.^{[citation needed}

]

Obscure offspring

Vladimir had several children whose maternity cannot be established with certainty. These include two sons, Stanislav of Smolensk and

Arpadians.^{[citation needed}

]

References

1. ^ Poppe 1988, p. 488.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Koptev, Aleksandr (2010). "Ritual and History: Pagan Rites in the Story of the Princess' Revenge (the Russian Primary Chronicle, under 945–946)" (PDF). Mirator. 11 (1). Glossa – The Society for Medieval Studies in Finland: 4. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
3. ^ this article Archived 2004-11-16 at the Wayback Machine Site with arguments for extensive but tenuous arguments for her Yngling royal descent.
4. ^ Janet Martin, Medieval Russia 980-1584 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 1.
5. ^ ^{a b} Arrignon J. —P. Les relations diplomatiques entre Bizance et la Russie de 860 à 1043 // Revue des études slaves. - 1983 .-- T. 55 . - S. 133-135 .
6. ISBN 5-9533-1256-3
7. ISBN 978-90-04-12097-6
   . Retrieved January 27, 2013.
8. ^ William Humphreys, "Agatha, mother of St. Margaret: the Slavic versus the Salian solutions - a critical overview", Foundations, 1(1):31-43; Joseph Edwards, "Editorial", Foundations, 1(2):74; William Humphreys, "Agatha ‘the Greek’ – Exploring the Slavic solution", Foundations, 1(4):275-288.

Bibliography

• Martin, Janet (2007). Medieval Russia: 980–1584. Second Edition. E-book. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-511-36800-4
  .
• Poppe, Andrzej (1988). "Two Concepts of the Conversion of Rus' in Kievan Writings". Harvard Ukrainian Studies. Proceedings of the International Congress Commemorating the Millennium of Christianity in Rus'-Ukraine 1988–1989. 12. Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute: 488–504.