Our Princess Queen of France 9. Princess Anna Yaroslavna is the Queen of France. Family of the future queen

The life story of the Russian princess Anna Yaroslavna is unusual and many-sided. It had everything: a dynastic marriage of convenience, wealth, power and an extraordinary love story, similar to the ballads of medieval minstrels.

The exact date of birth of Anna Yaroslavna, the youngest of the three daughters of the Kyiv prince Yaroslav the Wise and Ingegerda of Sweden, is unknown. Some historians attribute this event to 1024, others call 1032 or 1036. Anna's childhood passed at the princely court in Kyiv. Yaroslav the Wise made sure that not only his sons, but also his daughters received an excellent education. Indeed, in the future, the princesses were to enter into marriage alliances with European monarchs. Anna Yaroslavna from her youth showed special abilities for the sciences. She carefully studied foreign languages and history.

Anna's father - Prince Yaroslav the Wise

In 1048, the French king Henry I of Capet sent a magnificent embassy to distant Kyiv, headed by Bishop Roger. The ambassadors were instructed to obtain consent to the marriage of Princess Anna with Heinrich, for even France "has reached the fame of the charms of the princess, namely Anna, the daughter of George (Yaroslav)". The king told me to convey that he was "fascinated by the story of her perfections."

The consent of the parents and Anna herself to marry the French king was obtained. Soon, saying goodbye to her family forever, Anna Yaroslavna left her native Kyiv. Accompanied by a rich retinue, she set off on a months-long journey through all of Europe. Somewhere out there, in distant France, she had to join her fate with a stranger who was almost 20 years older than her.

Departure of Princess Anna, daughter of Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise, to France for the wedding with King Henry I Capet

In May 1051, Anna Yaroslavna, having made a long journey through Krakow, Prague and Regensburg, arrived in the city of Reims. The arrival of Anna Yaroslavna to the land of France was solemnly arranged. Henry I went to meet the bride in the ancient city of Reims. The king, in his forties, was obese and always gloomy. But when he saw Anna, he smiled. On May 19, 1051, a magnificent wedding was played.

Henry I Capet, husband of Anna Yaroslavna

It was in Reims that French kings were crowned from ancient times. Anna was given a special honor: the ceremony of her coronation took place in the same ancient city, in the Church of the Holy Cross. Already at the beginning of her royal journey, Anna Yaroslavna accomplished a civil feat: she showed perseverance and, refusing to swear on the Latin Bible, took an oath on the Slavic Gospel, which she brought with her from Kyiv. The Cyrillic manuscript went down in history under the name of the Reims Gospel. Legend has it that for many centuries the French kings, assuming the throne, took an oath on this relic.

Reims Gospel

The first years of Anna or Agnes of Kyiv (as they began to call her in the European manner) at the French court were quite difficult. In letters to her father, Anna Yaroslavna wrote that Paris was gloomy and ugly; she complained that she had ended up in a village where there were no palaces and cathedrals, which Kyiv is rich in. “To what barbarous country did you send me,” she reproached her father, “here the dwellings are gloomy, the churches are miserable, and the morals are monstrous.” However, Anna survived in difficult conditions. The young queen, beautiful, educated, wise beyond her years, won over the court.

A year after the wedding, the young queen gave birth to the heir to the French throne, Philip, and then two more sons: Robert and Hugo. All subsequent kings of France were her descendants. But there were sorrows in her life, for example, Anna's only daughter, Emma, died in infancy.

Heinrich was constantly busy with military campaigns, and Anna was engaged in raising children. But the royal couple lived, apparently, very friendly. Henry relied on his wife in everything, she, in turn, was known as a wise and far-sighted ruler. On many state acts of that time, especially letters granting privileges or granting estates to monasteries and churches, next to the royal signature was the following: “With the consent of my wife Anna”, “In the presence of Queen Anna”. As historians note, the history of France did not know any other cases, so that the royal decree was signed not by the reigning queen, but by the king's wife, either before or after Anna.

The courtiers noted the extraordinary mind of Queen Anne, her kindness, patience, and ability to get along with people. Pope Nicholas II wrote to her in 1059: “The rumor about your virtues, our exemplary daughter, has reached our ears, and we learned with great joy that in your most Christian state you carry out your royal duties with worthy zeal and excellent mind ...”

Anna Yaroslavna was widowed at the age of 28. Henry I died on August 4, 1060 at Vitry-aux-Loges, near Orléans, in the midst of preparations for war with English king William the Conqueror. But the coronation of the son of Anna Yaroslavna, Philip I, as co-ruler of Henry I, took place during the life of his father, in 1059. Henry died when the young King Philip was eight years old. Philip I reigned for almost half a century, 48 years (1060-1108). In his will, King Henry appointed Anna Yaroslavna as the guardian of his son. However, Anna - the mother of the young king - remained queen and became regent, but, according to the custom of that time, she did not receive guardianship: only a man could be a guardian, and Henry I's brother-in-law, Count Baudouin of Flanders, became the guardian.

After the death of her husband, Anna moved to the Senlis castle, 40 km from Paris. Here she founded both a convent and a church (in the 17th century, a stucco image of a Russian princess was erected on the portico of the temple, holding a model of the temple she founded in her hands).

At the end of mourning, Anna devoted herself entirely to her son and the care of the state, not suspecting that life was preparing an unusual gift for her.

The Dowager Queen of France was 36 years old. She was still pretty and full of vitality. Free from state affairs, Anna devoted time to feasts, spent a lot of time hunting, surrounded by numerous courtiers, among whom one stood out in particular: Count Raul de Crepy en Valois. Count Raul had long been in love with Anna. The Queen reciprocated. But their feelings ran into two very serious obstacles. The first of these was the status of Anna, and the second was the count's living wife, who stubbornly did not want to get a divorce. However, what obstacles can there be for Her Majesty of Love?

In the summer of 1065, there was no more scandalous topic of gossip in the royal courts of Europe than the kidnapping of the Queen of France by the Count of Valois. Anna was "kidnapped" (of course, with her consent) while hunting in the Sanlis forest. The count took her to his castle in Krepi, having previously expelled his wife from there, and entered into a secret marriage with her. Raoul's wife Eleanor (Alpora) of Brabant filed a complaint about the count's bigamy with Pope Alexander II himself, who ordered Raul to terminate the marriage with Anna, but the lovers neglected this. Raul wrote to the Pope that he respects his will, but will not back down from Anna, whom he considers his only true wife. Then the pope excommunicated the count from the church. At that time, this was considered a terrible punishment, since it was supposed to plunge the excommunicated after death into hell.

The son of Anna Yaroslavna - King Philip I of France

The situation was critical. But, on the side of the lovers stood the son of Anna Philip, the king of France, who was attached to his mother and favorably treated the Count of Valois. But even his intercession did not shake the position of the Pope. Anna loved Raoul, but at the same time, she could not jeopardize the relationship between France and Rome. She refused royal status and did not rule more officially, although, as before, she helped her son in public affairs.

Anna and Raul lived in harmony for another long 12 (according to other sources 10) years in the family estate of Valois. Anna Yaroslavna's life with her beloved was almost happy, she was only worried about her relationship with her children. The eldest son, King Philip, although he treated his mother with unchanging tenderness, no longer needed her advice and participation in royal affairs. And the sons of Raoul from his first marriage, Simon and Gauthier, did not hide their dislike for their stepmother.

Anna Yaroslavna was widowed for the second time in 1074. Shortly before this, the scandalous marriage was recognized as legal by Pope Gregory VII. Not wanting to depend on the sons of Raoul, she left the castle of Montdidier and returned to Paris. Anna Yaroslavna tried to forget herself, plunging back into state affairs. She settled at the court of her son and again began to sign decrees and orders. In them, she no longer calls herself “queen” and “ruler”, but only “the mother of the king”, but nevertheless her confident signature is more than once found on the business papers of the French court next to the “crosses” of illiterate royal officials.

At the age of fifty, she retired from worldly affairs in a convent and the Cathedral of Senlis (photo above). A rare statue, created in the 17th century, of Queen Anne in full growth has been preserved here. On the pedestal are written words that speak very well about the significance of Anna Yaroslavna in history - "Anne de Kiev - reine de France", which means - Anna from Kyiv - Queen of France.

O recent years little is known from the life of Anna Yaroslavna historical literature, so all available information is of interest. Anna looked forward to hearing from home. News came different: sometimes bad, sometimes good. Shortly after her departure from Kyiv, her mother died. Four years after the death of his wife, at the age of 78, Anna's father died, Grand Duke Yaroslav.

The old sick Yaroslav did not have the determination to leave the supreme power to one of his sons. He did not use the European principle of co-government. He divided his lands among his sons, bequeathing them to live in harmony, honoring their elder brother. Vladimir received Novgorod, Vsevolod - Pereyaslavl, Vyacheslav - Suzdal and Beloozero, Igor - Smolensk, Izyaslav - Kyiv, and at first Novgorod. With this decision, Yaroslav laid a new round of struggle for the throne of the Grand Duke. Izyaslav was removed three times, Anna's beloved brother Vsevolod Yaroslavich returned to the throne twice.

Anna Yaroslavna now lived a dreary life, no significant events awaited her anymore. The father and mother, many brothers, relatives and close people passed away. In France, her teacher and mentor, Bishop Gauthier, died. The husband of Elizabeth's beloved sister, King Harold of Norway, died. There was no one left who once arrived with the young Anna Yaroslavna on French soil: who died, who returned to Russia.

Anna decided to travel. She became aware that her older brother, Izyaslav Yaroslavich, having been defeated in the struggle for the throne of Kyiv, was in Germany, in the city of Mainz. Henry IV of Germany was friendly with Philip I (both were in conflict with the Pope), and Anna Yaroslavna set off, counting on a good reception. Arriving in Mainz, I learned that Izyaslav had already moved to the city of Worms. Persistent and stubborn, Anna continued her journey, but fell ill on the way. In Worms, she was informed that Izyaslav had gone to Poland, and his son had gone to Rome to the Pope. According to Anna Yaroslavna, it was not in those countries that one should look for friends and allies for Russia.Some historians believe that Anna returned to her homeland.

This is stated in the book "Under the sky of Novgorod" published in 1988 in France. The novel, written by Regine Deforge, aroused enormous reader interest and turned into a real bestseller. The author tried to tell about the life and death of Anna Yaroslavna: “The inhabitants of Saint-Lys saw with great joy the queen dressed in furs. Passing through the streets of the city, she stopped at the stalls, talked with merchants and artisans, threw alms to the beggars who followed her at a respectful distance, caressed the children and tasted the milk that was given in her presence. The queen laughed at the jokes of her courtiers and, together with the common people, attended mass.

According to the author, Queen Anne enjoyed the respect and support of many influential knights, including the famous Duke of Normandy, nicknamed William the Conqueror - the conqueror of England. It was he, among other noble persons, who was present at the departure of Anna to her homeland. With the consent of her son, the queen left France and went to Novgorod. It is difficult to say what prompted her to this decision. But R. Deforge did not build her version from scratch. The legend says that Anna ended up in Russia again.

However, she was not destined to get to Novgorod alive. On the way, she fell seriously ill and died at the very city walls. According to the will of the queen, she was buried according to a pagan rite, laying her body on a set fire to a raft, which was floated on the water...

Anna's father - Prince Yaroslav the Wise

Departure of Princess Anna, daughter of Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise, to France for the wedding with King Henry I Capet

Henry I Capet, husband of Anna Yaroslavna

Reims Gospel

Anna Yaroslavna was widowed at the age of 28. Henry I died on August 4, 1060 at the castle of Vitry-aux-Loges, near Orleans, in the midst of preparations for war with the English king William the Conqueror. But the coronation of the son of Anna Yaroslavna, Philip I, as co-ruler of Henry I, took place during the life of his father, in 1059. Henry died when the young King Philip was eight years old. Philip I reigned for almost half a century, 48 years (1060-1108). In his will, King Henry appointed Anna Yaroslavna as the guardian of his son. However, Anna - the mother of the young king - remained queen and became regent, but, according to the custom of that time, she did not receive guardianship: only a man could be a guardian, and Henry I's brother-in-law, Count Baudouin of Flanders, became the guardian.

At the end of mourning, Anna devoted herself entirely to her son and the care of the state, not suspecting that life was preparing an unusual gift for her.

The son of Anna Yaroslavna - King Philip I of France

Little is known about the last years of Anna Yaroslavna's life from historical literature, therefore all available information is of interest. Anna looked forward to hearing from home. News came different: sometimes bad, sometimes good. Shortly after her departure from Kyiv, her mother died. Four years after the death of his wife, at the age of 78, Anna's father, Grand Duke Yaroslav, died.

Russia and surrounding lands in 1050 Map

The still rather weak, new French crowned family, on the one hand, preferred to avoid a matrimonial union with a stronger noble family of local origin, and on the other, sought to counteract pressure through marriage with the daughter of the Kyiv prince German Emperor Henry III (1017–1056) and take over strong position in relations with the influential Duke of Normandy William (1027–1087).

The information about the relics of St. Pope Clement († between 97/100), which were in Kyiv and became known through Bruno from Querfurt (974-1009) to the French chronicler Ademar Shabansky (988-1034), should have indirectly promoted the marriage. According to the latter, it was St. Bruno baptized Russia, the rulers of which, thus, in the reception of the Christian ideology and worldview of the representatives of the Capetian court on the eve of Henry I's second marriage, received additional bonuses. Information about the relics of St. Clement was probably simultaneously collected by the canon of the cathedral in Reims, Odalric, who was well acquainted with the member of the French embassy to Kyiv in 1049, the Bishop of Chalons Roger II (1042–1066), who, apparently, together with other ambassadors, voiced the proposal to the bride’s father to conclude a matrimonial union.

Anna lived in marriage with her husband until his death on August 4, 1060, giving birth to four children - three sons: Philip (1053–1108), Roberta (1055–1060), Hugo (1057–1102) and one daughter Emma (1054–1109?), possibly known since 1600 under the church name Edygna – blessed of the Roman Catholic and, later, Ukrainian Greek Catholic churches . The appearance in the French ruling dynasty of the Greek name Philip, quite popular in the country in subsequent centuries, is directly related to this marriage. The eldest son of Henry and Anna became the third longest king in the history of the country (48 years). The second son Robert died at a young age, but the third Hugo was a participant in the First Crusade, the founder of the branched family of Vermandois.

Absolutely unknown from the chronicles, the biography of Anna Yaroslavna is reconstructed exclusively from Western European monuments of the 11th-12th centuries, where she is recorded as "filia regis illius terre Rabastia, Anna nomine"(“daughter of the king of that land of Russia [corrupted - Rabastia. –M.V.] by the name of Anna”), "regis Ruthenorum filie"("daughter of the king of the rutens"), identified by name ( Anna, Agnes), matrimonial and family affiliation to royal family (S. Henrici regis. S. Annae regine uxoris ejus, Henricus couigisque meus, Philipus rex cum matre regina), by title ( Anna Reginae, A. Gratia Dei Francorum regina), etc. In general, out of dozens issued during the X-XIV centuries. for the dynasts of the “Latin” world, representatives of the Rurik dynasty, it is the third in terms of the number of references in the sources, quite, unlike others, it is favored by the attention of researchers different countries since the XVIII century, but at the same time - the object of politicization, frequent hoaxes and insinuations.

The daughter of the Kyiv prince, the wife of Henry I at the time of the marriage was educated. This is the only one of all Ryurikoven whose authentic Cyrillic autograph has survived to this day. It is represented in capital letters - ANARINA("Anna queen", either from Latin, or a form of Statrophratsian) in the charter of her eldest son, the French king Philip I, to the abbey of St. Crepin in Soissons from 1063. After moving to France, along with the old Greek name, a new one, Latinized from Greek, was assigned to her - Agnes (hagne- translated from Greek as “pure”, “holy”), noted by sources after the death of her husband in 1060, which can serve as an argument, however, weak, about conversion. Sources of the XI century. do not report anything about canonical prescriptions, and even more so about cases of transition from the Greek rite ( ritus graeci) into Latin ( ritus latini), more characteristic of the XIV-XV centuries. The virtue of the French queen is emphasized not only by letters of award issued by her husband and by her personally to the surrounding monasteries, but also by a letter dated 1059 from Pope Nicholas II († 1061), in which he unambiguously compared her with Old Testament pious women, for example, with the Queen of Sheba (X century BC).

Anna Yaroslavna is one of the first representatives of the conditional Rurik dynasty married abroad, who, after the death of her husband, did not go to the monastery, as often (almost always) happened in the Russian lands with a crowned widow, and, despite the canonical warnings and admonitions of church bishops , yet in 1061/1062 in the second she tied herself up with marriage. She married a former enemy of Henry I - the odious Count Raoul de Crepy of the Valois family († 1074).

At the time of the marriage, the second wife of the French nobleman Eleanor (Hakeneza), Countess Montidier and Perron, remained alive (however, for “observance of the procedure”, accused of treason and exiled). This threatened Count Raul with ecclesiastical sanctions from the Archbishop of Reims Gervasius (1007–1067), which, probably, as indicated Chronicon sancti Petri Vivi Senonensis, for some short time they were still applied to him (but not to Anna Yaroslavna!) However, the active participation of the new couple in the life of France during the reign of Philip I as regents, the signatures of both under numerous acts, rather testify to the temporary excommunication (if there was one at all!) of Raoul de Crepy.

After the last documentary mention of Anna Yaroslavna in one of the acts of King Philip I, dated 1075, her fate and place of burial remain unknown. Discovery in the 17th century in the abbey of Villiers in the city of Cerny, a tombstone with a fragmentary surviving inscription “Here lies Domina Agnes, wife former king Heinrich" ( Hic jacet domina Agnes uxor quondam Henrici regis) in scientific literature does not contact Anna Yaroslavna.

Anna Yaroslavna or Anna of Kyiv, she is Anna Russian. (She was born according to various sources: about 1024, about 1032 or 1036 - died in 1079 or 1089 (?) - the youngest of the three daughters of the Kyiv prince Yaroslav the Wise from her marriage to Ingegerda of Sweden. I entered my name in world history when she married the French king Henry I and began to rule, by the way, most likely at that moment she was 14 years old ... What is most surprising, the Russian chronicles do not say anything about this noticeable fact of diplomatic and dynastic relations. Only European chronicles write about this. Anna grew up at the princely court in Kyiv and received a good education: I already knew in my youth Greek language and Latin. In 1048, in distant Kyiv, where she lived with her father and four sisters, the French king Henry I Capeting sent a magnificent embassy. The ambassadors were instructed to obtain consent to the marriage of one of the daughters of the Kyiv ruler with Heinrich, because even France "had reached the fame of the charms of the princess, namely Anna, the daughter of George (Yaroslav)". The king told me to convey that he was "fascinated by the story of her perfections." Anna was beautiful (according to legend, she had “golden” hair), smart and received a good education for that time, “developing books” in her father’s house. The consent of the parents to the marriage of the princess with the French king was obtained, and on August 4, 1049, Anna Yaroslavna, having made a long journey through Krakow, Prague and Regensburg, entered Paris, more precisely, on the territory of modern Paris, and then it was Saint - Denis, where was married to Henry I. It should be noted that Henry I was illiterate and signed with a "cross". Although the "cross" was actually a complex figure in the form of a cross with letters - the royal monogram ... Her autograph has been preserved in Cyrillic under one of the acts: ANA RINA (that is, Latin Anna Regina, "Queen Anna"; perhaps a record of the second word reflects the Old French language - roine, reine. And there is a version that this word is Russian ... Let me remind you that dews, Uruses, Russ, Russians, Russians, Russians lived just near Kyiv.Rus (Russians, in the unit number Rusyns) - a people or tribe that gave its name and made up the social elite of the first state of the Eastern Slavs - Russia, in modern literature known as Ancient Russia or Kievan Rus.
Its ethnic identification is debatable, since in some sources Rus is identified with the Slavs, in others it is clearly distinguished from them. The history of Russia can be reliably traced from the 1st floor. IX century, although its exact reconstruction remains unreliable due to the paucity and inconsistent nature of the sources. K ser. X century, the “Russian clan”, which constitutes a squad of fellow tribesmen headed by the prince of Kyiv, united under its rule the territory of Slovenes, glades, parts of the Krivichi and made most of the rest of the East Slavic tribal unions and a number of Finno-Ugric tribes dependent on itself. As a result of the integration of Russia with the Slavic population of the middle Dnieper basin, the name Rus - "Russian Land" - spread first to the glades, and later to the entire population of Kievan Rus.) In Paris, the Gospel brought by her from Kyiv is kept, with which Anna was blessed by her father before leaving. The gospel is written in Church Slavonic. The French kings, when anointed, made a vow to God on this Gospel, and since the Slavic alphabet was completely unfamiliar to them, they mistook it for some unknown magical language. On July 22, 1717, when Emperor Peter the Great visited Reims, he was shown this Gospel and explained that none of the people knew this “magic language”. Imagine the surprise of the French when Peter began to fluently read it aloud! (There is evidence that these are just inventions of individual authors, and the gospel itself is generally of the 16th century.) Anna took part in government - on the documents of that time, next to her husband's signature, her signature is also found. Pope Nicholas II, according to legend, surprised by Anna's remarkable political abilities, wrote to her in a letter: duties with commendable zeal and admirable intelligence."
In 1059 or still 1052, Anna gave birth to a son, Philip, who already in 1060, due to the premature death of his father, became kingPhilip I. The name Philip is now perceived as Western European, although in fact it is Greek-Byzantine and in the time of Anna Yaroslavna was not in circulation in Western Europe. Thanks to the popularity of Philip I among the people, the name subsequently became widespread.
It was worn by five more French kings, this name became a family name in other European dynasties.
Queen Anne had a son in 1057 (?) - Prince Hugh, the future brave crusader, commander of the royal army in the first crusade 1096 and for his courage went down in history under the name of Hugo the Great.
In gratitude to Saint Vincent, Anna built a church in Senlis (St. Vincent la Senlis) and founded an abbey (Abbaye Saint-Vincent). Until the revolution of 1789, when the abbey was closed, the priest annually, on September 5, Queen Anne's birthday, performed a memorial service, and after Mass invited 18 poor women to a free dinner.
Anna also gave birth to a son, Robert, who died at the age of five, and a daughter, Emma. The family lived in Senlis, 40 km from Paris - which at that time was a large village ...
Remaining the main educator of the growing son and his leader in state affairs, Anna nevertheless refused the regency. One of the reasons for the refusal, as a version, was Anna's love or calculation for the married Count Raoul III of the de Crepy and Valois family. In 1062, the count became Anna's husband and took him to his castle. Raoul's wife Eleanor (Alpora) of Brabant complained about the bigamy of the count to the Pope himself, who ordered Raoul to terminate the marriage with Anna, but the feudal lord in those days was his own "dad" and did not pay attention to the demands from Rome. Then the pope excommunicated the count from the church. At that time, this was considered a terrible punishment, since it was supposed to plunge the excommunicated after death into hell. But again, the count only laughed at the dad's attempts ... By the waythe count was many times richer and owned more lands than the previous husband - the king of France ...They lived in harmony and happiness for another 12 long years in the family estate of Valois ... Until the death of Raoul de Valois in 1074, Anna did not appear at the court of Philip I.
In 1074 Anna returned to court and was received as queen mother. She again began to take part in state affairs. The last charter she signed dates back to 1075. Since 1076, her life has been shrouded in mystery. One of the French chroniclers believed that she returned to Kyiv before her death, where she died, but this assumption is unlikely. There is a version that she died in 1089. In any case, it was then that rich gifts were presented to the church of St. Quentin for prayers for the repose of the soul of the deceased queen.
But where is her grave? In 1682, the monk father Menetrier discovered in one of the churches located near Paris a tombstone depicting a woman with a crown on her head. On it one could make out the name "Agnes" written in Latin. It is possible that it was here that the queen was buried, given that the names "Anna" and "Agnes" were often perceived as similar. But the church where the gravestone was found appeared in 1220, much later than Anna's death. So, most likely, the monk found the burial place of another person.
Unfortunately, in modern France they do not know their history, what to say about the 10th-11th centuries, if, thanks to the new policy of the ministry education is talking about stopping studying figures like Joan of Arc or Napoleon Bonaparte...

PS There is a legend about Anna's first wedding night.
She denied sexual intimacy to the king, and he, in a rage, ordered five nobles to rape her in the bedroom. Anna realized that no one would help her and offered the rapists to drink wine from the cherished Byzantine glasses. Saying at the same time that the one who drinks first will be her first man. Five rapists raced to drink wine in one gulp and fell dead at her feet. The glasses were Byzantine with a secret, a wedding gift... The king comes in expecting to see an unsightly picture and sees his wife standing with a glass of wine over a pile of dead bodies. That's when he fell in love with her, and she gave herself to her husband ...

By the way, the inscription on the monument in France was changed.
Here is the first option.

Or Anna of Kyiv (c. 1024 / 1036-1075 / 1082), the youngest of the three daughters of the Kyiv prince Yaroslav the Wise from marriage to Ingigerda of Sweden.

Anna was born, according to various sources, around 1024, 1032 or 1036. It is known that the girl grew up at the princely court in Kyiv and already in her youth knew Greek and Latin. Yaroslav the Wise made sure that not only his sons, but also his daughters received an excellent education. After all, in the future, the princesses were to conclude such marriage unions, which were necessary at that time, with European monarchs.

In 1048, the French king Henry I Capet sent a magnificent embassy headed by a bishop to distant Kyiv. The ambassadors were instructed to obtain consent to the marriage of Princess Anna with Heinrich, for even in France Anna Yaroslavna was famous for her intelligence and beauty. Anna's parents and herself immediately agreed to this marriage. Soon, saying goodbye to her family forever, Anna Yaroslavna left her native Kyiv. Accompanied by a rich retinue, she set off on a months-long journey through all of Europe. In distant France, she had to join her fate with a stranger almost twenty years older than her.

In May 1051, Anna Yaroslavna, having made a long journey through Krakow, Prague and Regensburg, arrived in the city of Reims. Anna was greeted solemnly on French soil. Even Henry I himself went to meet the bride. On May 19, 1051, a magnificent wedding was played.

Already at the beginning of her royal journey, Anna Yaroslavna accomplished a civil feat: she showed perseverance and, refusing to swear on the Latin Bible, took an oath on the Slavic Gospel, which she brought with her from Kyiv. The manuscript in Cyrillic was included in the book under the title "Rheims Gospel". Legend has it that for many centuries the French kings, assuming the throne, took an oath on this relic.

The first years at the French court for Agnes of Kyiv, as Anna was called in the European manner, were quite difficult. In letters to her father, Anna wrote that Paris was a gloomy and ugly city. She also complained that she ended up in a village where there are no palaces and cathedrals, which Kyiv is rich in. However, in difficult conditions, the Slavic beauty survived. The young queen, beautiful, educated, wise beyond her years, very quickly won over the court. A year after the wedding, Anna gave birth to the heir to the French throne, Philip, and then two more sons: Robert and Hugo. All subsequent kings of France were her descendants.

But there were also sorrows in her life. So, Anna's only daughter Emma died in infancy. The French king Henry was constantly busy with military campaigns, and Anna was engaged in raising children. But the royal couple lived, apparently, very friendly. Henry relied on his wife in everything, she was known as a wise and far-sighted ruler.

On many state acts of that time (especially letters granting privileges or granting estates to monasteries and churches), next to the royal signature was the following: “With the consent of my wife Anna” or “In the presence of Queen Anna”. As historians note, the history of France did not know any other cases, so that the royal decree was signed not by the reigning queen, but by the king's wife, either before or after Anna.

By will, King Henry appointed Anna Yaroslavna as the guardian of his son, but Anna remained queen and became regent. According to the custom of that time, she did not receive guardianship: only a man could be a guardian, and Henry I's brother-in-law Count Baudouin of Flanders became him.

After the death of her husband, Anna moved to the castle of Senlis, located 40 km from Paris. It was here that she founded a convent and a church (in the 17th century, a stucco image of a Russian princess was erected on the portico of the temple, holding a model of the temple she founded in her hands).

At the end of mourning, Anna devoted herself entirely to her son and the care of the state, not suspecting that life was preparing an unusual gift for her. The Dowager Queen of France was thirty-six years old. She was still pretty and full of vitality. Free from state affairs, Anna devoted time to feasts, spent a lot of time hunting, surrounded by numerous courtiers, among whom Count Raoul de Crepy en Valois stood out in particular.

The count had been in love with Anna for a very long time, and the queen reciprocated his love. But their feelings ran into two very serious obstacles: the first of them was the status of Anna, the second was the count's living wife, who stubbornly did not want to get a divorce. In the summer of 1065, there was no more scandalous topic of gossip in the royal courts of Europe than the kidnapping of the Queen of France by the Count of Valois. Anna was "kidnapped" (of course, with her consent) while hunting in the Senlis forest. The count took her to his castle in Krepi, after expelling his wife from there, and entered into a secret marriage with her. Raoul's wife Eleonora (Alpora) of Brabant filed a complaint about the count's bigamy with Pope Alexander II himself, who ordered Raul to terminate the marriage with Anna, but the lovers neglected this. Raul wrote to the Pope that he respects his will, but will not back down from Anna, whom he considers his only true wife. Then the Pope excommunicated the count from the church. At that time, this was considered the most terrible punishment, since it was supposed to plunge the excommunicated after death into hell.

The situation was becoming critical. Anna's son, Philip, the king of France, who was attached to his mother and favorably treated the Count of Valois, took the side of the lovers. But even his intercession did not shake the position of the Pope. Anna loved Raoul, but at the same time she could not jeopardize the relationship between France and Rome. She renounced royal status and no longer officially ruled, although, as before, she helped her son in public affairs.

Anna and Raul lived together for another ten (according to other sources, twelve) years in the family estate of Valois. Anna Yaroslavna's life with her beloved was almost happy, she was only worried about her relationship with her children. The eldest son, King Philip, although he felt unchanging tenderness for his mother, no longer needed her advice and participation in royal affairs. And the sons of Raoul from his first marriage, Simon and Gauthier, did not hide their dislike for their stepmother.

In 1074, Anna Yaroslavna was widowed for the second time. Shortly before this, the scandalous marriage was recognized as legal by Pope Gregory VII. Not wanting to depend on the sons of Raoul, Anna returned to Paris. She tried to plunge into state affairs again, for this she settled at the court of her son and again began to sign decrees and orders. In them, she no longer called herself "queen" and "ruler", but only "the king's mother", but nevertheless her confident signature was more than once met on business papers of the French court next to the crosses of illiterate royal officials.

The exact date of her death is unknown. Some researchers call 1075 the year after which the name of the queen ceases to be mentioned in official documents, others attribute this sad event to a later period - approximately to 1082.

According to one version, Anna was buried in the abbey of Villiers in the town of Cerny near La Ferte Alley (Department of Essons), which was destroyed during the French Revolution.

Surprisingly: having become the wife of the French king Henry I and the queen of France, Anna Yaroslavna clearly did not interest the Russian chroniclers, who do not mention this noticeable act of diplomatic and dynastic relations at all. Only chronicles of old Europe write about it.

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