Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden
Encyclopedia
Princess Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden also known as Irene, Anna and St. Anna (1001 – 10 February 1050), was a Swedish princess and a Grand Princess of Kiev. She was the daughter of Swedish
King Olof Skötkonung and Estrid of the Obotrites
and the consort of Yaroslav I the Wise
of Kiev.
Ingegerd or St. Anna is often confused with the mother of St. Vladimir “the Enlightener” of the Rus. This is mainly because Ingegerd and Yaroslav also had a son named Vladimir.
However, St. Vladimir was actually the father of Ingegerd’s husband Yaroslav I “the Wise”, thus making her St. Vladimir’s daughter-in-law. St. Vladimir is actually the son of Sviatoslav and Malusha.
, Sweden. She was engaged to be married to Norwegian King Olaf II
, but when Sweden
and Norway
got into a feud, Swedish King Olof Skötkonung would no longer allow for the marriage to take place.
Instead, Ingegerd's father quickly arranged for a marriage to the powerful Yaroslav I the Wise
of Novgorod. The marriage took place in 1019. Once in Kiev
, her name was changed to the Greek Irene. According to several sagas
, she was given as a marriage gift Ladoga
and adjacent lands, which later received the name Ingria
, arguably a corruption of Ingegerd's name. She placed her friend, jarl Ragnvald Ulfsson
, to rule in her stead.
Ingegerd initiated the building of the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev
that was supervised by her husband, who styled himself tsar
. She also initaited the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod
. They had six sons and four daughters, the latter of whom became Queens of France
, Hungary, Norway, and (arguably) England
. The whole family is depicted in one of the fresco
es of the Saint Sophia.
The following was stated by the church in reference to her sainthood:
As saint her, her hymn goes:
And 4 stichera, in Tone I: Spec. Mel.: Joy of the ranks of heaven
Feast days: February 10, October 4.
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
King Olof Skötkonung and Estrid of the Obotrites
Estrid of the Obotrites
Estrid of the Obotrites was a Medieval and Viking age Swedish Queen consort and West Slavic Princess, married to Olof Skötkonung, the King of Sweden, ca...
and the consort of Yaroslav I the Wise
Yaroslav I the Wise
Yaroslav I, Grand Prince of Rus, known as Yaroslav the Wise Yaroslav I, Grand Prince of Rus, known as Yaroslav the Wise Yaroslav I, Grand Prince of Rus, known as Yaroslav the Wise (Old Norse: Jarizleifr; ; Old East Slavic and Russian: Ярослав Мудрый; Ukrainian: Ярослав Мудрий; c...
of Kiev.
Ingegerd or St. Anna is often confused with the mother of St. Vladimir “the Enlightener” of the Rus. This is mainly because Ingegerd and Yaroslav also had a son named Vladimir.
However, St. Vladimir was actually the father of Ingegerd’s husband Yaroslav I “the Wise”, thus making her St. Vladimir’s daughter-in-law. St. Vladimir is actually the son of Sviatoslav and Malusha.
Biography
Ingegerd was born in SigtunaSigtuna
Sigtuna is a locality situated in Sigtuna Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 18 inhabitants in 2005. It is the namesake of the municipality even though the seat is in Märsta....
, Sweden. She was engaged to be married to Norwegian King Olaf II
Olaf II of Norway
Olaf II Haraldsson was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. He was posthumously given the title Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae and canonised in Nidaros by Bishop Grimkell, one year after his death in the Battle of Stiklestad on 29 July 1030. Enshrined in Nidaros Cathedral...
, but when Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
got into a feud, Swedish King Olof Skötkonung would no longer allow for the marriage to take place.
Instead, Ingegerd's father quickly arranged for a marriage to the powerful Yaroslav I the Wise
Yaroslav I the Wise
Yaroslav I, Grand Prince of Rus, known as Yaroslav the Wise Yaroslav I, Grand Prince of Rus, known as Yaroslav the Wise Yaroslav I, Grand Prince of Rus, known as Yaroslav the Wise (Old Norse: Jarizleifr; ; Old East Slavic and Russian: Ярослав Мудрый; Ukrainian: Ярослав Мудрий; c...
of Novgorod. The marriage took place in 1019. Once in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, her name was changed to the Greek Irene. According to several sagas
Norse saga
The sagas are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, the battles that took place during the voyages, about migration to Iceland and of feuds between Icelandic families...
, she was given as a marriage gift Ladoga
Staraya Ladoga
Staraya Ladoga , or the Aldeigjuborg of Norse sagas, is a village in the Volkhovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Volkhov River near Lake Ladoga, 8 km north of the town of Volkhov. The village used to be a prosperous trading outpost in the 8th and 9th centuries...
and adjacent lands, which later received the name Ingria
Ingria
Ingria is a historical region in the eastern Baltic, now part of Russia, comprising the southern bank of the river Neva, between the Gulf of Finland, the Narva River, Lake Peipus in the west, and Lake Ladoga and the western bank of the Volkhov river in the east...
, arguably a corruption of Ingegerd's name. She placed her friend, jarl Ragnvald Ulfsson
Ragnvald Ulfsson
Ragnvald Ulfsson the Old was a jarl of Västergötland or Östergötland, and married to a sister of Olav Tryggvason.Ragnvald is mentioned in the skaldic poem Austrfaravísur, ascribed to Sigvatr Þórðarson, skald of King Olaf Haraldsson of Norway , who had been on a diplomatic mission to Sweden...
, to rule in her stead.
Ingegerd initiated the building of the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev
Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev
Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev is an outstanding architectural monument of Kievan Rus'. Today, it is one of the city's best known landmarks and the first Ukrainian patrimony to be inscribed on the World Heritage List along with the Kiev Cave Monastery complex...
that was supervised by her husband, who styled himself tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
. She also initaited the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod
Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod
The Cathedral of St. Sophia in the Kremlin in Veliky Novgorod is the cathedral church of the Archbishop of Novgorod and the mother church of the Novgorodian Eparchy.-History:...
. They had six sons and four daughters, the latter of whom became Queens of France
Anne of Kiev
Anne of Kiev was the queen consort of France as the wife of Henry I, and regent for her son Philip I.Her parents were Yaroslav I the Wise and princess Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden....
, Hungary, Norway, and (arguably) England
Agatha, wife of Edward the Exile
Agatha was the wife of Edward the Exile and mother of Edgar Ætheling, Saint Margaret of Scotland and Cristina of England...
. The whole family is depicted in one of the fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
es of the Saint Sophia.
Death & Burial
Ingegerd died on 10 February 1050. Upon her death, Ingegerd was buried in the Saint Sophia Cathedral.Sainthood
Ingegerd was later declared a saint, by the name of St. Anna, in Novgorod and Kiev. The reason was that she initiated the building of the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev as well as the local version, the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, along with many good doings.The following was stated by the church in reference to her sainthood:
St. Anna, Grand Duchess of Novgorod, She was the daughter of Swedish King Olaf Sketktung, the "All-Christian King," who did much to spread Orthodoxy in Scandinavia, and the pious Queen Astrida.
In Sweden she was known as Princess Indegard; she married Yaroslav I “the Wise“, Grand Prince of Kiev, who was the founder of the Saint Sophia Cathedral in 1016, taking the name Irene.
She gave shelter to the outcast sons of British King Edmund, Edwin and Edward, as well as the Norwegian prince Magnus, who later returned to Norway.
She is perhaps best known as the mother of Vsevolod of , himself the father of Vladimir Monomakh and progenitor of the Princes of Moscow.
Her daughters were Anna, Queen of France, Queen Anastasia of Hungary, and Queen Elizabeth (Elisiv) of Norway. The whole family was profoundly devout and pious.
She reposed in 1050 in the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom (St. Sophia) in Kiev, having been tonsured a monastic with the name of Anna.
As saint her, her hymn goes:
And 4 stichera, in Tone I: Spec. Mel.: Joy of the ranks of heaven
O joy of the Swedish people, thou didst gladden the Russian realm, filling it with grace and purity, adorning its throne with majesty, lustrous in piety like a priceless gem set in a splendid royal crown.
Named Ingegerd in the baptismal waters, O venerable one, thou wast called Irene by thy Russian subjects, who perceived in thee the divine and ineffable peace; but when thou didst submit to monastic obedience, thou didst take the new name, Anna, after the honoured ancestor of Christ, the King of kings.
Wed in honourable matrimony, O holy Anna, thou didst live in concord with thy royal spouse, the right-believing and most wise Prince Yaroslav; and having born him holy offspring, after his repose thou didst betroth thyself unto the Lord as thy heavenly Bridegroom.
Disdaining all the allurements of vanity and donning the coarse robes of a monastic, O wondrous and sacred Anna, thou gavest thyself over to fasting and prayer, ever entreating Christ thy Master, that He deliver thy people from the all want and misfortune.
Feast days: February 10, October 4.
Children
Ingegerd had the following children- Elisiv of KievElisiv of KievElisaveta Yaroslavna of Kiev , , was a Rus' Princess of Kiev and a Norwegian queen, wife and queen consort of king Harald III of Norway.-Biography:...
, queen of Norway - Anastasia of KievAnastasia of KievAnastasia of Kiev 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:Around 1039, Anastasia was married to Duke...
, queen of Hungary - Anne of KievAnne of KievAnne of Kiev was the queen consort of France as the wife of Henry I, and regent for her son Philip I.Her parents were Yaroslav I the Wise and princess Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden....
, queen of France - (Disputed) Agatha, wife of Edward the ExileAgatha, wife of Edward the ExileAgatha was the wife of Edward the Exile and mother of Edgar Ætheling, Saint Margaret of Scotland and Cristina of England...
- Vladimir of NovgorodVladimir of NovgorodVladimir Yaroslavich reigned as prince of Novgorod from 1036 until his death. He was the eldest son of Yaroslav I the Wise of Kiev by Ingigerd, daughter of king Olof Skötkonung of Sweden....
- IziaslavIziaslav I of KievIziaslav Yaroslavich , Kniaz' , Veliki Kniaz of Kiev , King of Rus'...
- SviatoslavSviatoslav II of KievSviatoslav Iaroslavich was the Prince of Chernihiv from 1054 to 1073 and Grand Prince of Kiev from 1073 until his death...
- Vsevolod
- Igor YaroslavichIgor YaroslavichIgor Yaroslavich was one of the younger sons of Yaroslav the Wise from the Rurikid dynasty of Kievan Rus’. He was baptized as George.The date of his birth is unsure. Some historians consider him to be born in 1034–35, while others think that he was born after Yaroslav moved to Kiev in 1036...
- Vyacheslav Yaroslavich.