Anastasia of Kiev

Anastasia of Kiev
Queen consort of Hungary
Tenure	1046–1060
Coronation	1046
Successor	Adelaide/Rixa of Poland
Born	c. 1023
Died	1074/1096 [aged ~51/73] Admont Abbey, Styria
Burial	Admont Abbey, Styria
Spouse	Andrew I of Hungary
Issue	Adelaide, Duchess of Bohemia Solomon David
Full name Anastasia Yaroslavovna
Dynasty	Rurik (by birth) Árpád (by marriage)
Father	Yaroslav the Wise
Mother	Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden

Anastasia of Kiev (c. 1023 – 1074/1096) was Queen of Hungary as the wife of King Andrew the White. She was the eldest daughter of Grand Prince Yaroslav I the Wise of Kiev and Ingigerd of Sweden, and the older sister of Anne of Kiev, Queen consort of Henry I of France.

Life

11th-century fresco of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev representing the daughters of Yaroslav I, with Anna probably being the youngest. Other daughters were Anastasia wife of Andrew I of Hungary, Elizabeth wife of Harald III of Norway, and perhaps Agatha, wife of Edward the Exile.

Around 1039, Anastasia married to Duke Andrew of Hungary, who had settled down in Kiev after his father Vazul took part in a failed assassination attempt aimed at King Stephen I of Hungary.

In 1046, her husband returned to Hungary and ascended the throne as King Andrew I after defeating King Peter I. Anastasia followed her husband to the kingdom. It was probably she who persuaded her husband to set up a lavra in Tihany for hermits who had come to Hungary from the Kievan Rus'. The royal couple did not have a son until 1053, when Anastasia gave birth to Solomon. However, Solomon's birth and later coronation caused a bitter conflict between King Andrew I and his younger brother Duke Béla, who had been the heir to the throne until the child's birth.

When Duke Béla rose in open rebellion against King Andrew in 1060, the king sent his wife and children to the court of Adalbert, Margrave of Austria. King Andrew was defeated and died shortly afterwards, and his brother was crowned King of Hungary on 6 December 1060.

Anastasia sought the help of King Henry IV of Germany, whose sister, Judith had been engaged to her child Solomon in 1058. By the time the German troops entered to Hungary to give assistance to Solomon against his uncle, King Béla I had died (on 11 September 1063) and his sons, Géza, Ladislaus and Lampert had fled to Poland.

The young Solomon was crowned on 27 September 1063. On the occasion of her son's coronation, Anastasia presented what was believed to be the sword of Attila the Hun to Duke Otto II of Bavaria who was the leader of the German troops. Between 1060 and 1073 King Solomon governed his kingdom in collaboration with his cousins, Dukes Géza, Ladislaus and Lampert who had returned to Hungary and accepted his rule. However, in 1074 the three brothers rebelled against their cousin, and defeated him on 14 March 1074. King Solomon fled to the Western borders of Hungary where he was able to maintain his rule only over the counties of Moson and Pozsony.

Anastasia had followed Solomon, but they began to argue with each other. So she moved to Admont Abbey where she lived as a nun until her death. She was buried in the Abbey.

Marriage and children

c. 1039: King Andrew I of Hungary (c. 1015 – before 6 December 1060)

• Adelaide (c. 1040 – 27 January 1062), wife of king Vratislaus II of Bohemia
• King Solomon of Hungary (1053 – 1087)
• David of Hungary (after 1053 – after 1094)

Ancestry

Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anastasia of Kiev.

• Kristó, Gyula – Makk, Ferenc: Az Árpád-ház uralkodói (IPC Könyvek, 1996)
• Korai Magyar Történeti Lexikon (9–14. század), főszerkesztő: Kristó, Gyula, szerkesztők: Engel, Pál és Makk, Ferenc (Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1994)
• Magyarország Történeti Kronológiája I. – A kezdetektől 1526-ig, főszerkesztő: Benda, Kálmán (Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1981)