In pre-Petrine Rus there were many outstanding women - rulers, educators, saints, and beautiful and faithful wives. We will tell about seven of them.
Princess Olga
Olga, baptized Elena, according to legend, came from Pskov. She ruled Kievan Rus after the death of her husband, Prince Igor Rurikovich, as regent from 945 to about 960. Olga showed herself as a decisive and wise ruler. After the murder of Igor, the Drevlyans sent matchmakers to his widow to call her to marry their prince Mal. The princess severely punished the Drevlyan elders and led the Drevlyans to obedience.
She was the first Russian ruler to adopt Christianity even before the baptism of Rus. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, this happened in 955 in Constantinople, Olga was personally baptized by Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus with the patriarch (Theophylact): “And she was named in baptism by the name Helen, like the ancient queen mother of Emperor Constantine I”.
The Tale of Bygone Years and the Life adorn the circumstances of baptism with a story about how the wise Olga outwitted the Byzantine king. He, marveling at her intelligence and beauty, wanted to take Olga as his wife, but the princess rejected the claims, noting that it was not proper for Christians to marry pagans. It was then that the tsar and the patriarch baptized her. When the king again began to harass the princess, she pointed out that she was now the goddaughter of the king. Then he richly gifted her and sent her home.
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Anna Yaroslavna, Queen of France
Anna (Agnessa) Yaroslavna or Anna Kievskaya is the youngest of the three daughters of the Kiev prince Yaroslav the Wise from marriage with Ingegerda of Sweden, the wife of the French king Henry I and the queen of France. The young queen was a visionary and energetic statesman. On the French documents of that time, along with the signatures of her husband, there are also Slavic letters: "Anna Rina" (Queen Anne).
Pope Nicholas II, astonished by Anna's remarkable political abilities, wrote to her in a letter: zeal and wonderful mind."
In 1060, Anna moved to the Château Senlis, 40 km from Paris, where she founded a convent and a church. She was the educator of the growing son and his leader in public affairs, but nominally the guardian was Count Baudouin of Flanders (only a man could be the guardian).
In 1063, Anne married Raoul de Crepy-en-Valois. This marriage caused a scandal. Although Raoul had Carolingian blood in his veins, and his fiefdoms outnumbered the domain of the French kings, he was nevertheless a vassal. After Raoul's death in 1074, Anne returned to court and was adopted as queen mother. We find the last mention of Anna in 1075 (her signature is on the letter), after which nothing is known about her fate.
According to one version, Anna was buried in the Abbey of Villiers in the town of Cerny near La Ferte Allais. An Church Slavonic parchment manuscript kept in Reims Cathedral was often associated with the name of Anna in the 18th-19th centuries; at least since the 16th century, French kings have sworn on it. The opinion that this manuscript (more precisely, the first part of it, written in Cyrillic; the second, Glagolic, refers to the XIV century) was brought to France by Anna Yaroslavna, gained great popularity.
Euphrosinia of Polotsk
Efrosinya Polotskaya is the first Belarusian and, according to some sources, the East Slavic educator. Her secular name is Predslava. She was born into a princely family and was the daughter of the youngest son of Prince Vseslav Bracheslavovich. Her mother - Sophia - was the daughter of Vladimir Monomakh. Although, apparently, a brilliant secular future was shining for Predslava, the little princess decided to live her life differently than it was customary. Upon reaching adulthood - and at that time it was 12 years old - Predslava firmly decided to leave for a monastery and, despite the pleas of her mother and threats from her father, she did so. In the monastery, her aunt was the abbess, and she adopted the young nun.
In 1127-1128, Euphrosinia founded the Polotsk Savior-Euphrosyne Monastery, where, under her influence, her sister Gordislava (in monasticism - Evdokia) and her cousin Zvenislava Borisovna (in monasticism - Eupraxia) were also tonsured. The monastery received rich contributions and Euphrosyne built a stone church of the Savior in it, which has survived to the present day.
In old age, Euphrosinia went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem (in April 1167). There she received an audience with Patriarch Luke. In Jerusalem, Euphrosyne, exhausted by a long journey, fell ill and died.
Eupraxia Ryazan
Holy noble princess Eupraxia of Ryazan is the wife of Fyodor Yuryevich, Prince of Ryazan. According to the chronicles, it was famous for its beauty. During the Mongol-Tatar invasion, Batu Khan, having heard about her beauty, wished to be brought to him. Prince Fyodor refused to bring his wife to the Horde, for which he was killed on the orders of Batu. Learning about the fate of her husband (according to other sources - after the capture of the fortress of Batu, so as not to remain outraged), Eupraxia, together with the child, committed suicide by throwing herself from the roof of the prince's mansion (according to other sources - from the bell tower of the church of St. Nicholas).
Fevronia Muromskaya
Fevronia (in the world Euphrosinia) is a saint, the wife of the Murom prince David, in the monasticism of Peter. About Fevronia, news of a later origin reached us, in all likelihood of the 16th century, which appeared simultaneously with the canonization of the Murom miracle workers. Prince David, even before taking the princely table in Murom, suffered for a long time from some kind of serious illness: his body was covered with scabs.
The daughter of one "drevolazets" (beekeeper), famous for intelligence and beauty, cured the prince with some kind of ointment. The prince gave his word to marry her, but then found it indecent for his dignity to marry a girl of low birth. Soon the prince was again visited by the same illness, and again he was healed by the same Euphrosyne. This time he fulfilled his promise and married her. David Yurievich, after the death of his elder brother, took over the Murom princely table. Murom nobles, who envied his power and they demanded that the prince either let his wife go, or leave Murom himself. David Yurievich left the principality. The princess advised the prince not to grieve and hope in the Lord. Soon the boyars were forced to ask David and Euphrosinia to return to Murom. An intelligent and pious princess helped her husband with advice and charity work.
Reaching old age, the prince and princess took monastic vows, one with the name of Peter, the other with the name of Fevronia. Fevronia died in 1228, on the same day with her husband. Both of them, according to the will, are laid in one coffin.
Martha the Posadnitsa
Martha, the wealthy and influential widow of the Novgorod mayor Isaac Boretsky, became the informal leader of the boyar opposition to Moscow's growing influence in the 15th century. She negotiated with the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Casimir IV on the entry of Novgorod into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania on the basis of autonomy rights while maintaining the political rights of Novgorod. Martha and her son, the Novgorod power mayor Dmitry, in 1471 advocated the withdrawal of Novgorod from the dependence on Moscow established by the Yazhelbitsky Peace (1456). Having learned about this, the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III declared war on the Novgorod Republic and in the Shelonskaya battle (1471) defeated Novgorodians. Dmitry Boretsky was executed, but Novgorod retained the right to self-government in its internal affairs.
But Martha, despite the death of her son and the actions of Ivan III, continued negotiations with Casimir, who promised her support. In 1478, Ivan III finally deprived the Novgorod lands of the privileges of self-government, extending the power of autocracy to them. As a sign of the abolition of the Novgorod veche, the veche bell was taken to Moscow, Martha's lands were confiscated, she and her grandson were first brought to Moscow, and then sent to Nizhny Novgorod. There Martha was tonsured into monasticism under the name of Mary in the Conception Monastery, where she died in 1503. Nikolai Karamzin's story "Martha the Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novgorod" is dedicated to this controversial, but bright woman, and her image is present on the monument "1000th Anniversary of Russia" in Veliky Novgorod.
Boyarynya Morozova
Feodosia Morozova, nee Sokovnina, at the age of 17, married the tsar's sleeping bag Gleb Ivanovich Morozov. Having become a widow, Theodosia took care of her young son and enjoyed influence at the court of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, having the rank of riding boyar. Boyarynya Morozova was an opponent of the reforms of Patriarch Nikon, and communicated with an apologist of the Old Believers - Archpriest Avvakum. Feodosia was engaged in charity work, made home prayers "according to ancient rituals", and her Moscow house served as a haven for the Old Believers persecuted by the authorities.
After the secret tonsure of a nun under the name of Theodora, held in December 1670, Morozova began to withdraw from church and social events. Adherence to the "old faith" and the refusal to attend the royal wedding caused an irreconcilable conflict with Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The noblewoman was arrested, deprived of her estate, and then exiled to the Pafnutevo-Borovsky monastery and imprisoned in the monastery prison, where she died of hunger. Academician A. M. Panchenko, examining Morozova's letters to Avvakum, writes that Feodosia "is not a gloomy fanatic, but a mistress and mother, busy with her son and household chores." Boyarynya Morozova is depicted in the famous painting by Surikov (1887); she is one of the main characters in the TV movie "The Sundering".