Anna, Princess of the Byzantine Empire

Byzantine princess

• Born: March 13, 0963
• Birthplace: Byzantine Empire
• Died: 1011
• Place of death: Kiev, Kievan Rus' (now in Ukraine)

Anna resolved the strategic concerns of the two expanding and rival empires of Byzantium and Kievan Rus by consenting to marry Vladimir I, but only after insisting on his conversion to Christianity. The whole of Russia, too, would soon convert to Christianity.

Early Life

Anna was a Byzantine princess, the daughter of Empress Theophano and Emperor Romanus II (r. 959-963) and sister of the emperors Basil II (r. 976-1025) and Constantine VIII (r. 976-1028). She lived during a time of diplomatic intrigue between two rival kingdoms Byzantium and Kievan Rus in the late tenth century. Her marriage to Prince Vladimir I after Anna’s insistence that he convert to Christianity significantly influenced the Christianization of the pagan Slavs after 989.

Little is known of Anna’s life before she met and married Prince Vladimir in 989. It is believed that she was highly educated and took a certain interest in the way her brother, Basil II, ruled the Byzantine Empire. Byzantium in the late tenth century was a poor, rural backwater. Approximately 90 percent of its citizens were illiterate and engaged in subsistence agriculture. However, by medieval standards Byzantium was a highly developed society with a stable, diversified economy, a well-educated and efficient bureaucracy, and a capital city, Constantinople, which had no rival in all of Europe. During the ninth and tenth centuries, the Byzantine Empire enjoyed a particularly stable period an era that brought growing prosperity, territorial expansion, and a lucrative trading relationship with Scandinavian and Baltic Sea kingdoms through Kievan Rus, a Slavic kingdom to the east.

Women in the Byzantine Empire, even before Anna’s time, had more opportunities than those in other societies of that era. Indeed, several women ruled the empire, some as regents, others in their own right. Moreover, many women were educated and became nuns, abbesses, writers, and doctors. It also appears that women were believed capable of playing a part in public life.

Parallels to the quasi-empowered woman of Byzantium may also be seen in Kievan Rus, Byzantium’s neighbor. In the middle of the tenth century, Princess Olga (later Saint Olga), ruled the Kievan Rus domain. Her life would later be intertwined with that of Princess Anna. As early as 945, Olga the wife of Prince Igor (r. 912-945), who had been killed by assassins in 945 had claimed political power on behalf of her youthful son, Svyatoslav I. Ruling as regent for Svyatoslav I and the grandmother of the future Prince Vladimir, Princess Olga also became interested in the Christian religion of the Byzantines. Regent from 945 to 964, Olga made a state visit to Constantinople in 957. The first female barbarian potentate to ever see Byzantium, Olga had earlier converted to Christianity in Kiev in either 954 or 955. However, she did not attempt to convert her people, the Eastern Slavic tribes inhabiting present-day Ukraine.

Olga did later strive to get her son, Svyatoslav I, to convert from his pagan religion to the Orthodox Christianity of the Byzantines. Her efforts were to no avail. Indeed, Svyatoslav I remained a pagan all his life and, besides mounting a continuous campaign of warfare against neighboring eastern tribes and the Bulgarian kingdom to the west, he actively sought to extend the belief in various pagan deities among his Kievan Rus people. Indeed, some sources claim that Svyatoslav I maintained a strong allegiance to paganism in order to preserve an important alliance with pagan allies to the north.

Before Svyatoslav I’s death in 972, the prince entrusted various regions of his domain to each of his sons. Iaropolk and Oleg were given Kiev and Polotsk, respectively, while Vladimir, the youngest son, was sent to manage Novgorod in the north. On Svyatoslav’s death, a civil war raged among the brothers. By 980, Vladimir finally arose the victor in the post-Svyatoslav struggle for control of Kievan Rus.

In his early years as ruler, Vladimir I continued the pro-pagan policies of his plucky, pugilistic predecessor, Svyatoslav. A small, secretive Christian movement had been afoot within the realm of Vladimir I since at least the early tenth century. Indeed, the peace treaty signed between Kiev’s Prince Igor (Olga’s husband) and the Byzantine Empire in 945 suggests that a small Christian community, with its own church, resided in Kiev. However, the majority of people within Vladimir’s realm practiced paganism , following most specifically the god Perun, the god of thunder; Volos, the god of wealth; Svarog, the god of the heavens; Dazhbog, the god of fertility; and Stribog, the god of rain and wind. Polygamy was sanctioned by the pagan religion and Vladimir had taken for himself at least three, and possibly as many as seven, wives, along with dozens of concubines.

Prince Vladimir also continued efforts to extend the realm of Kiev by attacking Galicia in 981, the Yatvingians along the Baltic coast in 983, the Volga Bulgars in 985 and, finally, the Byzantine Empire in the Crimea in 987. It was the latter campaign that brought him and Anna together, a campaign that would change Russia forever.

Life’s Work

Vladimir I is usually given credit for converting Russia, hence the appellation ascribed to him, Vladimir Ravnoapostolny, or, “ranking with the apostles.” However, it may be that his Byzantine wife, Anna, deserves greater credit.

Vladimir I knew that surrounding nations were converting to organized religion. The Khazars to the east had converted to Judaism, the Volga Bulgars had accepted Islam, the Poles and Hungarians had become Catholic converts, and the Bulgarians to the west had accepted the Eastern Orthodox religion of the Byzantines.

In response, during the mid-980’, Vladimir sent emissaries abroad to scrutinize the diverse religious alternatives that existed. According to The Russian Primary Chronicle (c. 1113; English translation, 1930), the prince of Kievan Rus tried to determine which religion was most suitable for his growing realm. In the end, the envoys allegedly reported back that the ceremonies they had observed at St. Sophia Cathedral (also known as the Hagia Sophia or the Church of the Holy Wisdom) in Constantinople proved to them that

. . . we knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on earth there is no such splendor or such beauty, and we are at a loss how to describe it. We only know that God dwells there among men, and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of other nations. . . . [translation by Samuel Cross, 1953]

Though curious about neighboring religions, Vladimir did not convert to Christianity until he met and married Anna, which followed on an appeal to Vladimir for military assistance from Anna’s elder brother, Basil II. Basil II, later known as Basil Bulgaroktonus the Bulgar Slayer reigned as imperial master of the Byzantine realm from 976 to 1025, a period of singular achievement in the Middle Byzantine period. However, in the early years of Basil’s rule, he was opposed by usurpers from both within his kingdom and without. In 988, Basil asked Prince Vladimir for aid in his struggle against Bardas Phokas, a rival to the Byzantine throne, and the Bulgars to the west of Kievan Rus. Prince Vladimir duly dispatched six thousand soldiers the dreaded Varangians to assist Basil but not without securing from him a promise that he could wed Basil’s younger sister, Anna. In the end, the army of Bardas Phokas was conquered at Abydos on April 13, 989, and Vladimir’s capture of the former Byzantine city of Kherson on the Crimean peninsula occurred shortly thereafter.

At the time of her marriage to Vladimir, Anna was twenty-six years old, for that era a rather old age to first marry. Anna had at first declined Basil’s attempt to marry her off to the Slavic heathen. She reportedly stated that it would be better to stay in Constantinople and die rather than be married to the eastern upstart. In the end, however, she relented, but insisted that Prince Vladimir convert to Christianity before their marriage. The young empress apparently gave her assent in order to cement stronger ties between the two empires, while also reclaiming for Byzantium the city of Kherson. Moreover, Anna apparently also sought to play a part in the Christianization of the heathen Slavs. Thus, it was in Kherson in 989 that Vladimir was baptized, the two were married, and the introduction of Christianity into Russian lands began on a large scale.

Thereafter, Anna and Vladimir I set out to convert their people to Christianity, at times forcibly. Pagan statues were destroyed or thrown into rivers, while Vladimir’s concubines were converted into nuns and his former wives were cast off. As well, Anna actively sought to convert Vladimir’s children.

Anna also played a role in managing portions of Vladimir’s realm and maintained a large entourage on her own authority as princess of Kievan Rus. In addition, Princess Anna served Vladimir as a close adviser, and most sources agree that it was on her initiative that the first Christian churches in Kiev were instituted.

Before dying in 1011 from an unknown illness, Anna bore two sons, Boris and Gleb, and one daughter, Mariya. Mariya later continued the custom of “bridal diplomacy” by marrying the Polish king, Karol the Restorer.

Significance

The historical importance of Anna and her marriage to Prince Vladimir I is immeasurable. Although pagan beliefs and ceremonies continued to exist among the Russian people for several centuries thereafter, the betrothal brought the Russian people solidly into the camp of Eastern Orthodoxy. With that came the Cyrillic (Slavic) alphabet; Byzantine church law; monastic communities at Kiev, Chernigov, Belgorod, and Pereyaslav; and wider Byzantine cultural influences in art, literature, and architecture. In addition, the exceedingly important notion of the “divine right of kings” entered into the Russian political lexicon with Vladimir’s conversion to Orthodoxy, an idea that would continue to provide a source of legitimacy for the Russian czars up to the early twentieth century. The Christian faith Anna brought to the Russians also served to help unite the young nation, bestowing on it a powerful unifying culture. At the same time, however, Anna’s marriage to Vladimir also had some adverse ramifications for later Russian political development. The close cultural ties with Byzantium would later serve to sever Russia from the dramatic and important periods of the Reformation and the Enlightenment, historical eras that deeply altered Western Europe’s political and cultural trajectory.

Rulers of Kievan Rus, c. 862-1167

Reign

• Ruler

c. 862-879

• Rurik

879-912

• Oleg

912-945

• Igor

945-964

• Saint Olga (regent)

964-972

• Svyatoslav I

972-980

• Yaropolk

980-1015

• Vladimir I (with Anna)

1015-1019

• Sviatopolk I

1019-1054

• Yaroslav

1054-1073

• Iziaslav

1073-1076

• Svyatoslav II

1076-1078

• Iziaslav (restored)

1078-1093

• Vsevolod

1093-1113

• Sviatopolk II

1113-1125

• Vladimir II Monomakh

1125-1132

• Mstislav

1132-1139

• Yaropolk

1139-1146

• Vyacheslav

1146-1154

• Iziaslav

1149-1157

• Yuri I Dolgoruky

1154-1167

• Rostislav

Bibliography

Alan, Rupert, and Anna Marie Dahlquist. Royal Families of Medieval Scandinavia, Flanders, and Kiev. Kingsburg, Calif.: Kings River, 1997. This book provides the reader with colorful insight into the royal lineage of families that receive too little attention from mainstream history.

Cross, Samuel H., trans. The Russian Primary Chronicle. Vol. 12 in Harvard Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1953. This work is one of the more faithful translations of the early work by the Russian historical chroniclers.

Dukes, Paul. A History of Russia: Medieval, Modern, Contemporary, Circa 882-1996. 3d ed. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1998. Part 1 introduces medieval Russia and the rise and then collapse of Kiev (882-1240). Extensive bibliography and an index.

Fennell, John. A History of the Russian Church: To 1448. London: Longman, 1995. A volume on the life of the early Russian Church, it also contains considerable detail concerning the ties between Byzantium and the early Russian metropolitans.

Franklin, Simon, and Jonathan Shepard. The Emergence of Rus: 750-1200. New York: Longman, 1996. This book examines the medieval origins and development of the Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe, focusing on Scandinavian, Byzantine, and barbarian influences. Maps, extensive bibliography, list of genealogies, and excellent index.

Gurney, Gene. Kingdoms of Europe. New York: Crown, 1982. This general purpose work provides a succinct overview of many of the major dynasties of Europe, ancient and modern.

Obolensky, Dimitri. Byzantium and the Slavs. Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1994. Surveys Slavic relations with the Byzantine Empire in the Middle Ages. Includes a chapter on “Russia’s Byzantine Heritage.” Bibliography, map, index.

Riasanovsky, Nicholas V. A History of Russia. 6th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. This volume provides an excellent, in-depth overview of Russia’s history, beginning with the premodern period.

Roesdahl, Else. The Vikings. 2d ed. Translated by Susan M. Margeson and Kirsten Williams. New York: Penguin Books, 1998. Provides a solid, meticulous survey of Viking expansion into Kiev Rus and Kiev’s relations with Byzantium. Includes maps, illustrations, an extensive bibliography, and indexes.

Warnes, David. Chronicle of the Russian Tsars. London: Thames and Hudson, 1999. A valuable text about Russian imperial families from the medieval period to the twentieth century.