The Princess of Discord: Anna of Kyiv and Her Influence on Medieval France

In a recent meeting with the new French president Emmanuel Macron, the Russian president Vladimir Putin referred to Anna Yaroslavna (also known as Anna of Kyiv) as "Russian Anne," in an attempt to point to both a long-standing connection between Russia and France, and to Russia's importance for French history. Playing on the ambiguity in the use of the adjective "Russian" – a use that removes the difference between the Rusian state – Kyivan Rus' (hence the use of one "s" in this adjective), the largest kingdom in Medieval Europe, – and the modern Russian state that grew out of Muscovy – the Duchy of Moscow. (In the Russian language, the difference is obvious: "russkiy" points to Kyivan Rus', while "rossiyskiy" points to "Rossiya," the modern Russia.) One, likely intended, consequence was also the effective privatization of Anna for Russian history and the virtual severing of her connection with Kyiv, i.e her removal from the history of modern Ukraine that traces its origin back to Kyivan Rus' (the Rusian period of Ukrainian history). Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine's president elected after the Revolution of Dignity of 2013-14 that ousted the pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych, objected to Putin's subtle rewriting of history by calling the move Anna's "kidnapping" (in allusion to Russia's illegal seizure of the Crimea). An exchange broke out on social media between Ukraine's and Russia's official Twitter accounts, capturing the attention of Western media. In the age of hybrid warfare, historical facts often get lost in the desire to achieve a symbolic victory, a strategy known well from past Russian campaigns of disinformation and confusion.

Since its founding in 1997, Krytyka has prided itself in relying on scholarly research and expert knowledge in all publications. We are thus pleased to offer you a chapter from Christian Raffensperger’s recent book Ties of Kinship. Genealogy and Dynastic Marriage in Kyivan Rus´ (Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute Publications, 2016). As Raffensperger shows, Anna Yaroslavna, the daughter of Yaroslav Mudryi (the Wise) and wife of Henry I of France, while well known in Western Europe and mentioned in many Latin chronicles of that period, is virtually absent from Rusian chronicles. Krytyka is grateful to both the author and the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University for granting the permission to republish this chapter below. Christian Raffensperger's book is currently available for purchase from Harvard University Press.

In 1043 Yaroslav Mudryi sent an embassy to the German ruler Henry III to discuss a marriage between Henry and one of Yaroslav’s daughters.1 This would have been the best dynastic marriage Yaroslav could have made with the resources available to him. From the beginning of his reign, he had attempted to make an alliance with the German Empire, and now in 1043 he believed he had that chance. The marriage would have bolstered the pan-European prestige of Rus´ and created a situation ...