Anastasia of Kiev

Anastasia of Kiev (c. 1023 – 1074/1096) was Queen of Hungary as the wife of King Andrew the White. She was the eldest daughter of Grand Prince Yaroslav I the Wise of Kiev and Ingigerd of Sweden, and the older sister of Anne of Kiev, Queen consort of Henry I of France.

Around 1039, Anastasia was married to Duke Andrew of Hungary, who had settled down in Kiev after his father Vazul took part in a failed assassination attempt aimed at King Stephen I of Hungary.

In 1046, her husband returned to Hungary and ascended the throne as King Andrew I after defeating King Peter I. Anastasia followed her husband to the kingdom. It was probably she who persuaded her husband to set up a lavra in Tihany for hermits who had come to Hungary from the Kievan Rus'. The royal couple did not have a son till 1053, when Anastasia gave birth to Solomon. However, Solomon's birth and later coronation caused an embittered conflict between King Andrew I and his younger brother Duke Béla, who had been the heir to the throne till the child's birth.

When Duke Béla rose in open rebellion against King Andrew in 1060, the king sent his wife and children to the court of Adalbert, Margrave of Austria. King Andrew was defeated and died shortly afterwards, and his brother was crowned King of Hungary on 6 December 1060.

Anastasia sought the help of King Henry IV of Germany, whose sister, Judith had been engaged to the child Solomon in 1058. By the time the German troops entered to Hungary to give assistance to Solomon against his uncle, King Béla I died on 11 September 1063 had died and his sons, Géza, Ladislaus and Lampert fled to Poland.

The young Solomon was crowned around 27 September 1063. On the occasion of her son's coronation, Anastasia presented the alleged sword of Attila the Hun to Duke Otto II of Bavaria who was the leader of the German troops. Between 1060 and 1073 King Solomon governed his kingdom in collaboration with his cousins, Dukes Géza, Ladislaus and Lampert who had returned to Hungary and accepted his rule. However, in 1074 the three brothers rebelled against their cousin, and defeated him on 14 March 1074. King Solomon run to the Western borders of Hungary where he could only maintain his rule only over the counties of Moson and Pozsony (Slovak: "Bratislava").

Anastasia followed her son, but they began to argue with each other and she moved to Admont Abbey where she lived as a nun till her death. She was buried in the Abbey.

Marriage and children

"# c. 1039:" King Andrew I of Hungary (c. 1015 – before 6 December 1060)
* Adelaide (c. 1040 – 27 January 1062), wife of king Vratislaus II of Bohemia
* King Solomon of Hungary (1053 – 1087 or after)
* David of Hungary (after 1053 – after 1094)

ources

* Kristó, Gyula - Makk, Ferenc: "Az Árpád-ház uralkodói" (IPC Könyvek, 1996)
* "Korai Magyar Történeti Lexikon (9-14. század)", főszerkesztő: Kristó, Gyula, szerkesztők: Engel, Pál és Makk, Ferenc (Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1994)
* "Magyarország Történeti Kronológiája I. – A kezdetektől 1526-ig", főszerkesztő: Benda, Kálmán (Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1981)