SEARCHING FOR THE KNIAGINIA

In 1252, the Mongols undertook a military operation against Pereiaslavl-Zalesskii in north-eastern Rus. Several Rus chronicles report that during the 1252 attack, “they [the Mongols] searched throughout the land and killed the kniaginia [the wife of the kniaz] and sent the [royal] children into captivity.” Several sources specify that the kniaginia in question is the wife of Yaroslav. The problem with that identification is which Yaroslav, and why were the Mongols searching for his wife?

By Donald Ostrowski

The kniaginia mentioned in the chronicles, who was searched for and possibly killed in the 1252 military action, is difficult to identify. Feodosiia, the wife of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (the ruler of Pereiaslavl-Zalesskii from 1212 to 1246 and of Vladimir from 1238 to 1246), had died in 1244, eight years earlier. And Yaroslav's children (deti) were already adults by then. The wife of Yaroslav Yaroslavich (the ruler of Tver from 1247 to 1272), is another option. But she seems to be hardly of consequence in the contemporary political scheme, since we do not even know which family she was from. Besides, this Yaroslav resided in Tver, not Pereiaslavl. The home seat of Andrei Yaroslavich (ruler of Vladimir from 1248 to 1252) was Pereiaslavl. Andrei's wife, Anastasia Daniilovna, would have had political significance, possibly…

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Medieval World (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 2 - 2022

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