The most famous wife of Grand Duke VladimirSvyatoslavovich Anna Byzantine married him in 988 on the eve of the baptism of Rus. She was a daughter and sister to the emperors who reigned in Constantinople.
Princess Anna of Byzantium was born in a familyEmperor Roman II in 963 year. My father had to rule only 4 years. The girl's mother was an unmarried girl of Armenian origin. Roman died a few days after the birth of his daughter. The commander Nikifor Fok came to power, for whom Anna Feofano's mother married. In 969 there was a coup d'état. The emperor was another commander - John Tzimiskhy. He expelled Anna and her mother from the capital.
The girl returned to Constantinople only afterThe throne was taken by her older brothers. Anna was an enviable European bride, who was supposed to be married to many monarchs. Relatives treated the princess as an important political card and did not hasten to marry her.
Династические браки в то время были неотъемлемой part of public affairs. Anna was a valuable wife not only because she came from the reigning Byzantine dynasty, but also because the girl received the best education that only that era could give her. Contemporaries gave the bride the nickname Rufa (Red).
Since 976 in Constantinople ruled by two brothersAnna - Vasily II Bolgaroboytsa and Constantine VIII. European sources of the time have intricate evidence of which of the Christian monarchs wooed to the Byzantine princess before the Slavic prince Vladimir.
In 988, ambassadors arrived from ConstantinopleParis. French King Hugo Capet sought for his son Robert II a bride of equal dynastic scale. The mission of the envoys to Byzantium was of great importance to this monarch. His dynasty of the Capetians only began to rule, and she needed to emphasize her legitimacy. Robert was 9 years younger than Anna, but the age difference at that time was rarely taken into account when the question concerned politics. For some reason, the organization of marriage broke, and the girl stayed at home.
About how Anna of Byzantium marriedVladimir of Kiev, most of all is known due to the "Tale of Bygone Years". According to this document, the Slavic prince went with the army to the Crimea, which belonged to the empire. On the peninsula, Vladimir seized the important city of Korsun. Rurikovich in a letter threatened the Emperor Basil that he would attack Constantinople if he did not give his younger sister for him.
Anna of Byzantium agreed to a marriage, but withthis announced its condition. She demanded that Vladimir be baptized in the Orthodox Greek pattern. For the inhabitants of the empire, the Slavs were savage pagans from the northern steppes. In the then Greek chronicles they were even called tavras and Scythians.
The organization of Anna's move was delayed by severalmonths. The Emperor brothers hoped that they could gain time and offer Vladimir other conditions. However, the Slavic prince firmly insisted on his own. For the sake of persuasiveness, he again promised to go with the army to the capital of the empire. When news of this threat came to Constantinople, Anna was hurriedly put on a ship.
Even before the Crimean events in Byzantium occurredmilitary mutiny of the influential commander Varda Foki. The two emperor brothers were in a precarious position. When they, among other things, attacked the Slavic prince, they agreed to accept his terms relating to marrying Anna. Vladimir, according to the pagan custom, had many concubines. However, it was not without purpose that he chose the Byzantine princess. Rumors of personal dignity spread among diplomats of all European countries. They reached Kiev. For Vladimir, the wedding of the sister of the Byzantine emperor was not only a family affair, but also a matter of reputation.
According to the Greek chronicles, Anna reacted totheir inevitable marriage as a public debt. In fact, she sacrificed herself to the ambitions of the prince of a wild country. The princess did not want a destructive war for her homeland and therefore agreed to go to Kiev. At that moment, she certainly did not expect happiness in Russia.
Byzantine Princess Anna, when meeting with herelect persuaded him to adopt Christianity as soon as possible. The prince was really baptized in the very near future. After that, in 988, the couple was married. Vladimir reconciled with the Byzantine emperor and returned Korsun to him.
When the sovereign returned to Kiev, he commandedget rid of pagan idols and baptize all compatriots. The adoption of Christianity was for Vladimir an important state step, which he decided before the war with Byzantium. The campaign for him was only a pretext to speak with Vasily on equal terms.
With the help of the capture of Korsun, the prince of Kiev achievedtwo important things. First, the princess Anna of Byzantine became his wife, which made him a powerful Greek dynasty. Secondly, Orthodoxy was adopted, which soon united the whole country. Prior to this, the Eastern Slavs were divided into several tribal unions, living apart from each other. They had not only their customs, but also gods. Pantheons often differed from each other. Christianity has become an important religious bond that created the Russian nation.
Анна Византийская (жена князя Владимира) contributed to the spread of the native faith in a foreign country. Spouse often consulted with his wife in religious matters. On her initiative, several churches were built. Especially important was the Kiev Cathedral in honor of the Assumption of the Virgin. Later he was called the Tithe Church due to the fact that a tenth part of the princely income was spent on it. Together with Anna, numerous Greek missionaries and theologians came to the Russian lands.
There is much evidence that a daughterByzantine Emperor Anna became the founder of the Tithe Church in Kiev. The temple was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, which hints that the initiator of its creation was a woman. Anna wanted the new building to have the usual Constantinople architecture.
The Church of the Tithes is often compared to twothe great Byzantine temples - Vlacherna and Faroese. She appeared next to the palace of Anna in Kiev. The climate of this city fit the Greek princess much more than the atmosphere of northern Novgorod, where Vladimir himself was from and where he spent his youth. His wife rarely left the southern capital. She was brought there from Kherson by rich Greek gifts from her homeland, which replenished Anna's own treasury. From the Crimea, Byzantine architects and craftsmen came to help bring to life the project of the new Church of the Tithes.
Slavic prince Vladimir and Anna of Byzantinehave been married for 22 years. However, during this time they never had children. The sons of Vladimir, who later inherited his power, were the offspring of the monarch's former connections. Being a pagan, Vladimir had his own harem and concubines. When the prince married a Greek princess, he left his past life in the past.
Anna passed away in 1011 at the age of just 48years old. It is not known exactly what caused her death. Most likely, it was a disease caused by an epidemic. For Vladimir, it was a great loss. After the death of his wife, he himself lived very briefly and died in 1015.
For Anna, the sarcophagus was made of marble.It was made by Greek masters, who decorated their creation with unique carvings. It was decided that Anna of Byzantine would be buried in the Church of the Tithes. An Armenian by descent, she was born and raised in Byzantium, and lived in adulthood in Russia, where she died. A few years later, Vladimir was buried next to his wife. Their tombs were destroyed in 1240, when the Tatars captured and leveled Kiev.
Marriage with Anna exalted Vladimir.Some foreign chroniclers began to call him king, according to the title of wife. It was under his rule that Russia finally became part of Christian Europe and the civilization there. It should not be forgotten that Vladimir, still being a pagan, considered the possibility of adopting Islam or Judaism for state purposes. But in the end he chose Orthodoxy.
It was the Byzantine Princess Anna (the wife of the princeVladimir) helped him not to become dependent on the Byzantine emperor after the adoption of Christianity. On the contrary, the Kiev ruler was on the same step with the monarch of Constantinople.
Anna's death noticeably hit a young Russianchurches. In 1013, the stepson Vladimir Svyatopolk, who claimed the future supreme power in Russia, married the daughter of Boleslav I - the Polish king and political opponent of the Kiev princes. Even began preparations for the establishment of the Turov Catholic Diocese. However, Vladimir did not tolerate the stepson’s defiant behavior. He arrested Svyatopolk, and expelled Catholic missionaries from the country.
Son of Vladimir Yaroslav the Wise much attentiondevoted religious issues. Under him, the Kiev metropolis was created, the first Russian hierarch Illarion appeared. All these events somewhat overshadowed the important role played by Anna of Byzantine in the Christianization of Russia. Metropolitan Hilarion did not like the Greek influence on the church and therefore did everything so that the chroniclers did not particularly spread about the activities of Vladimir’s wife. In many ways, this is due to the paucity of Russian sources telling about Anna.
