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Anne of Kiev

Overview

Title social-status
Queen of France
Date of Birth
r.1050
Date of Death
1075-1079

Biography

(See also Genealogical Table(s): 1, 2, 2.4.1)
Anne of Kiev (Anna Yaroslavna), rarely called Agnes, daughter of Yaroslav I of Kiev and Princess Ingegerd of Sweden; Yaroslav was king of Rus',(1) described in medieval histories as king of the Russians “rex Russorum” (Hugh of Fleury, Aubry des Trois Fontaines, and Raoul Tortaire). Jaroslav’s sister was married to Casimir, king of Poland. Jaroslav and Ingegard had nine children, several of whom were married to royalty: Anastasia to Andrew I of Hungary, Elisabeth to Harold of Norway and later to Sven of Denmark, Isiaslav to the sister of Casimir of Poland, Vsevolod to a member of the Monomachos family, Sviatoslav to a niece of a former queen of France, Oda of Stade. Vsevolod's daughter, Evpraksia, became empress by marriage to Henry IV.(2) Anne was married in 1051 to Henry I(3), king of France, whose first two wives(4) had died; she was consecrated queen at Reims when Liebert, bishop of Cambray was consecrated. Anne brought no land to the marriage, but did bring connections and wealth, probably including a jacinth which Suger later mounted in the reliquary of St. Denis (5).   Anne and Henry had three sons, Philip I(6), born 1052, Robert, born 1054, died young, and Hugh, born 1057, who became count of Vermandois by marriage. Anne participated in judgments of the courts as a member of the curia regis and after the birth of her sons she is associated in four of Henry’s acts, towards the end of his reign: in 1058, a charter of concession to the monastery St. Maur-les-Fosses(7), “annuente mea conjuge Anna et prole Philippo, Roberto ac Hugone” (HGF, 11.600, XXXII); a donation of Villas to the monastery of Hasnon, with the signatures of Henrici regis, Philippi Regis pueri, A. Reginae (HGF 11.599, XXXI); 1059, assent to giving restored church to abbey of Coulombs, signed by Henry king, Anna queen his wife (Reginae uxoris ejus), and Philip, son of the king (HGF, 11.604, XXXV); and a concession to St. Martin des Champs, which the king, the queen "equally," and son Philip with his brothers confirm with their signatures, “Ego ipse Rex Henricus, et Regina pariter, et Philippus filius meus cum fratribus suis manufirmatam corroboravimus” (HGF, 11.605-6, XXXVI).

When Henry died in 1160, Anne participated in the government of her son, although Baldwin V of Flanders, married to Henry’s sister, Adele, was technically regent. Baldwin described himself as “procurator et bajulus regni” but the bishop of Chartres speaks of Philip and Anne as his sovreigns, "our most pious lord king, Philip and his mother" ("dominorum nostrorum piissimorum regum Philippi scilicet et matris ejus," Prou, document VI, 1060). Philip declares that as a child he took up the kingdom together with his mother (“ego, Philippus, filius ejus [Henrici] admodum parvulus, regnum unacum matre suscepissem,” Prou, XIII, 1061); Zajac points out that Baldwin signed this charter, therby publically acknowledging Anne's governing role. Anne signed various royal acts during Philip’s reign: see Prou, II, reconfirmation of a document of Henry’s confirming a donation to a monastery St. Pere de Chartres,“Philipus rex cum matre regina, hanc cartam firmavit”; III, confirming consent to the donation of a church to the abbey of St Pere, “Concessit autem hoc domnus meus rex Philipus, cum regina matre sua”; IV, gift to the abbey of St. Denis at the request of his paternal aunt, Adele, and the intervention of his mother, “per interventum matris mee A,” who signed it; V, renunciation of certain royal rights over a monastery of St. Lucien de Beauvais, “per interventum matris nostrae,” with her signature; VI, confirmation of a charter to abbot of Marmoutier to build a church, with the advice and will also of our most pious royal lords, “dominorum nostrorum piisimorum regum, Philippi scilicet et matris ejus, Agnetis”; X, donation to St. Nicaise of Reims, with the counsel of our beloved mother “consilioque dilectissime matris nostre Anne”; XI, grants exemption to basilica of St. Adrieu in the presence of the queen “Interfuerunt autem etiam huic adstipulationi Agnes regina, …”; XII, confirms predecessors' donations to Notre Dame de Poissy at the intervention and intercession of the venerable queen his mother, "interventu et intercessione Anne, venerabilis regine et matris nostre"; XVI, concession to abbey of St. Crepin, which is signed apparently by Anne’s hand in Cyrillic, Anna queen; XVIII, confirming a gift to the abbey of St. Benoit-sur-Loire, signed Anna regina; XIX, confirmation of his father’s gift to St. Martin-des-Champs, with the good-will of his mother and count Baldwin, “favente matre atque comite Balduino”; XXXII, confirmation of renunciation of certain customs, signed Anna regina, according certain freedoms extended to other royal churches to a church restored by his mother, at her request, “mater mea, nomine Anna, divina inspirante”; LXXV, confirms the charter founding the monastery of Pontlevoy, signed Anne, matris Philippi regis. Documents II-VI are dated 1060, X, XI, 1061, XVI, 1063; XVIII, XIX,1065, XXXII, 1067, XLIII, 1069, LXXV, 1075. When Anne signs, it is either the first signature listed, or the first following the king’s (in XXXII, several bishops precede the signatures of the king and the queen). There is also a confirmation by Henry of a donation to St. Peter of Chartres, dated 1059, which Philip and his mother signed in 1062, after Henry’s death, “Post mortem autem Henrici Regis, secundo anno regni sui Philippus Rex cum Regina matre sua … manu propria firmavit” (HGF, 11.602-4, XXXIV). Hallu lists 23 acts of Philip's which mention Anne or carry her signature, four of them probably after her death, 185ff.

In 1061, Anne remarried, a powerful ally of the king, Raoul, count of Crepy and Valois, the Vexin, Amiens, Bar-sur-Aube, Vitry, Peronne, and Montdidier, who repudiated his wife, accusing her of adultery, to marry Anne. But the wife, Eleanor (Haquenez) of Champagne, appealed to the pope; Alexander II responded to her complaint, asking the archbishop of Reims to investigate, try to save the marriage or take appropriate steps. Raoul refused to take her back and was excommunicated. Nonetheless, he remains an important royal ally, signing some of Philip’s acts.  Anna co-issued at least one document with Raoul and his son, and one in her own name as queen while she was married to Raoul (Prou, #XXXVI).  After Raoul died, Anne returned to Philip’s court, where she continued to appear in royal charters as queen until Philip married; after that she was cited as mother of the king.(8)