Xenia Borisovna of Russia
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Russian. (July 2012) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2022) |
Xenia Borisovna | |
---|---|
Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius | |
Burial | Godunov Mausoleum in front of the Cathedral of the Assumption at the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius |
House | Godunov |
Father | Boris Godunov |
Mother | Maria Grigorievna Skuratova-Belskaya |
Xenia Borisovna Godunova (Russian: Ксения Борисовна Годунова) (1582–1622) was a Russian Tsarevna, daughter of Tsar Boris Godunov, and sister of Tsar Feodor II of Russia.
Life
She was described as very beautiful and well educated, with an average height, a white and ruddy face, with black wavy hair and large black eyes. Among her fiancés were:
- Prince Gustav of Sweden, who arrived in Moscow in 1600, but the engagement was broken because of his dissolute life.
- John, Prince of Schleswig-Holstein, arrived in 1602, but fell ill and died before the marriage.
Xenia remained a maiden until her father's death in 1605, when her brother Feodor become a Tsar. Some months later, when the
She was spared, but False Dmitriy
In 1606 she sojourned to the
In 1610, the monastery was attacked by Cossack troops, and the nuns including Xenia were raped by them.[citation needed]
Her name is inscribed as "Nun Olga Borisovna" at the crypt of the Godunovs near the entrance of the Assumption Cathedral at Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra where she is buried with her parents and brother.
In the arts
She is one of the characters in Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov, but plays only a minor role in the story.
She also appears in Antonín Dvořák's opera Dimitrij, where the False Dmitry and her relationship to him is portrayed in a more sympathetic light. The opera is only loosely based on the historical account; she is murdered on Marina Mniszech's orders rather than sent to the monastic life.
A fictionalized dramatization of her life during the time of troubles appeared in the Russian film 1612, where she was played by actress Violetta Davydovskaya.