The most famous wife of Grand Duke Vladimir Svyatoslavovich Anna of Byzantium married him in 988 on the eve of the baptism of Russia. She was the daughter and sister of the emperors who reigned in Constantinople.
Anne's personality
Princess Anna of the Byzantine was born in the family of Emperor Roman II in 963. Father had to rule only 4 years. The girl’s mother was a noble girl of Armenian descent. Roman died a few days after the birth of his daughter. The commander Nikifor Foka came to power, for whom the mother of Anna Feofano married. In 969, a coup d'etat took place. Another military leader, John Tzimiskes, became the emperor. He expelled Anna and her mother from the capital.
The girl returned to Constantinople only after the elder brothers took the throne. Anna was an enviable European bride, who was predicted to be a spouse to many monarchs. Relatives treated the princess as an important political map and were in no hurry to extradite her.
Dynastic marriages at that time were an integral part of government 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 that era could give her. Contemporaries gave the bride the nickname Rufa (Red).
Enviable bride
Since 976, two brothers of Anna ruled in Constantinople - Vasily II the Bolgaroboyts and Constantine VIII. European sources of that time have intricate testimonies about which of the Christian monarchs married to the Byzantine princess to the Slavic prince Vladimir.
In 988, ambassadors from Paris arrived in Constantinople. The French king Hugo Capet was looking for a bride of equal dynastic proportions for his son Robert II. The mission of the envoys to Byzantium was important for this monarch. His Capetian dynasty was just beginning 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 it came to politics. For unknown reasons, the organization of marriage broke, and the girl remained at home.
Matchmaking of Vladimir
How Anna Byzantine married Vladimir Kievsky is best known thanks 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 captured the important city of Korsun. In a letter, Rurikovich threatened the emperor Vasily that he would attack Constantinople if he did not extradite his younger sister.
Anna of the Byzantine agreed to marriage, but at the same time announced her condition. She demanded that Vladimir accept baptism according to the Orthodox Greek model. For the inhabitants of the empire, the Slavs were wild pagans from the northern steppes. In the then Greek chronicles, they were even called Taurus and Scythians.
The organization of Anna’s move dragged on for several months. The emperor brothers hoped that they could gain time and offer Vladimir other conditions. However, the Slavic prince firmly insisted on his own. For greater conviction, 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.
Circumstances of Anna's Arrival
Even before the Crimean events in Byzantium, a military rebellion of the influential commander Varda Foki took place. Two emperor brothers were in a precarious position. When, among other things, they were attacked by a Slavic prince, they agreed to accept his conditions regarding marriage to Anna. Vladimir, according to pagan custom, had many concubines. However, it was not without reason that he chose the Byzantine princess. Rumors of personal virtues were spread among diplomats from 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 treated her inevitable marriage as a public debt. In fact, she sacrificed herself to the ambitions of the prince of the wild country. The princess did not want a destructive war for her homeland and therefore agreed to go to Kiev. At that moment, she probably did not expect happiness in Russia.
Wedding with a Slavic prince
The Byzantine Princess Anna, at a meeting with her chosen one, persuaded him to convert to Christianity as soon as possible. The prince really was baptized very soon. After that, in 988, the couple married. Vladimir made peace with the Byzantine emperor and returned Korsun to him.
When the sovereign returned to Kiev, he commanded to get rid of pagan idols and to baptize all compatriots. The adoption of Christianity was an important state step for Vladimir, which he decided before the start of the war with Byzantium. The campaign for him was just an excuse to speak with Vasily on an equal footing.
Christian marriage
With the capture of Korsun, the Prince of Kiev achieved two important things. Firstly, Princess Anna of the Byzantine became his wife, which made him akin to the 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 separately from each other. They had not only their customs, but also the gods. Pantheons often differed from each other. Christianity has become an important religious bond that created the Russian nation.
Anna Byzantine (wife of Prince Vladimir) contributed to the spread of the native faith in a foreign country. The husband 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 nicknamed the Church of the Tithes due to the fact that a tenth of the princely income was spent on it. Together with Anna, numerous Greek missionaries and theologians came to the Russian lands.
Founder of the Church of the Tithes
There is much evidence that the daughter of the Byzantine emperor Anna became the founder of the Church of the Tithes in Kiev. The temple was dedicated to the Virgin, 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 with the two great Byzantine temples - Blachernae and Faros. She appeared next to Anna's palace in Kiev. The climate of this city suited the Greek princess much more than the situation in northern Novgorod, where Vladimir himself was from and where he spent his youth. His wife rarely left the southern capital. There, from Kherson, she brought rich Greek gifts from her homeland, which replenished Anna's own treasury. Byzantine architects and craftsmen came from Crimea to help implement the project of the new Church of the Tithes.
Anna's death
Slavic Prince Vladimir and Anna of Byzantium were married for 22 years. However, during this time they did not have children. The sons of Vladimir, who later inherited his power, were the offspring of the former ties of the monarch. As a pagan, Vladimir had his own harem and concubines. When the prince married the Greek princess, he left in the past his former life.
Anna died in 1011 at the age of 48. It is not known exactly what caused her death. Most likely, it was a disease caused by an epidemic. For Vladimir it was a bereavement. After the death of his wife, he himself did not live long and died in 1015.
A marble sarcophagus was made for Anna. It was made by Greek masters who adorned their creation with unique carvings. It was decided that Anna Byzantine would be buried in the Church of the Tithes. An Armenian by birth, she was born and raised in Byzantium, and lived an adult life 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 razed Kiev to the ground.
The value of marriage for Vladimir
Marriage with Anna exalted Vladimir. Some foreign chroniclers began to call him king, according to the title of wife. It was under him that Russia finally became part of Christian Europe and the civilization there. At the same time, one should not forget that Vladimir, while still a pagan, was considering the possibility of adopting Islam or Judaism for state purposes. But in the end he chose Orthodoxy.
It was the Byzantine Princess Anna (wife of Prince Vladimir) who 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 level with the monarch of Constantinople.
Russian church without Anna
Anna's death markedly hit the young Russian church. In 1013, the stepson of 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 preparations began for the creation of the Turov Catholic Diocese. However, Vladimir did not tolerate the stepson's defiant behavior. He arrested Svyatopolk, and expelled the Catholic missionaries from the country.
The son of Vladimir Yaroslav the Wise paid much attention to religious issues. Under him, the Kiev Metropolis was created, the first Russian hierarch Hilarion appeared. All these events somewhat overshadowed the important role that Anna of the Byzantine played in the Christianization of Russia. Metropolitan Hilarion did not like 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, the scarcity of Russian sources telling about Anna is connected with this.