ANNA DANILOVNA (the year of birth is unknown - † before1348), the Grand Princess of Ryazan, the wife of one of the Grand Princes of Ryazan, the daughter ofDaniil Alexandrovich, Prince of Moscow and the Grand Prince of Vladimir

• Daniil Alexandrovich, Prince of Moscow(1263–1303) and the Grand Prince of Vladimir, theyoungest son of Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky

• Agrippina Lvovna, Princess of Moscow and the Grand Princess of Vladimir, the daughter of Lev Danilovich, Prince of Halych

The mention of Princess Anna is found in two documents: the contractual charter of 1348 and the spiritual letter of Semyon the Proud of 1353 * [I, p. 12-13, 156]. In both documents, she is called Semyon's "aunt", which gave rise to two views on her possible origin. In pre-revolutionary historiography the prevailing opinion was that Anna was the wife of Prince Afanasy Danilovich, uncle of Semyon Ivanovich the Proud on the father's side [9, No. 377, p. 37; 10, p. 88 n. 213; 11, Tabl. XI], and in the first marriage the wife of a certain prince Svyatoslav [7, p. 56]. M.D. Khmyrovwas the first to suggest that Anna could be the wife of her own uncle Semyon on the basis of the records of the Novgorod Second Chronicle of the construction in Novgorod of the Church of the Holy Mother of God on the Marketplace [II, p. 131]. However, later this version of the identification of the two princesses mentioned in the chronicle and in the acts was criticized [6, p. 6-7]. Shedding light on the origin of the princess was helped by the localization of the volosts mentioned in Semyon's will as passed on to him from Anna. V.A.Kuchkin determined that all the named volosts and villages were located in the Ryazan principality. Based on the rules of inheritance of princely lands, the researcher claims that these lands could only be transferred to a woman from her father. Accordingly, Anna was the aunt of Semyon the Proud by blood, i.e. sister of Ivan Kalita and daughter of Daniil Alexandrovich [ibid., p. 8]. Also, a hypothesis was expressed about the origin of Anna from the Belozersk prince Vasily Glebovich [2, p. 241-247, 257].

The fact that Anna transfers the land to her nephew, and not to her own children, with a high degree of probability indicates that she was childless [1, p. 8]. The absence of any additional information about the princess does not allow us to reliably find out whether she was married. All existing hypotheses on this score are based on the possible political benefits that Daniil Alexandrovich could receive from the marriage of his only and, probably, later daughter. Most researchers see this benefit as the strengthening of dynastic ties between the Moscow and Ryazan princes. A. A. Gorsky suggested that Anna's husband could have been Prince Alexander Mikhailovich of Pronsk [3, p. 70-72]. This, however, is unlikely, since, as S.N. Abukov notes, Alexander Mikhailovich had sons, which, in the event of a marriage with Anna, would make it impossible for her to transfer the lands to her nephew [III, p. 243; 1, c. 7].

S.N. Abukov suggested that Anna's husband could be Ivan Ivanovich, the son of the Ryazan prince Ivan Yaroslavich [ibid., P. 8-9]. Such a marriage could have been arranged in order to create an alliance between Moscow and Ryazan, relations between which until 1320 were not just tense, but hostile. S. N. Abukov proposes 1320 or the closest to it to be the date the probable marriage [ibid.]. After the death of Ivan Ivanovichin the internecine struggle with the Pronsk princes Alexandrovichs, his childless widow could write off the remaining lands at her disposal to a powerful nephew [ibid.]. According to A. A. Gorsky, the trip of Semyon the Proud to the khan is connected with the acquisition of the designated land from his aunt [3, p. 71]. Nothing else is known about Anna's fate. She could go to a monastery, as tradition demanded, or die shortly after her husband, in the mid-40s of the XIV century, probably before 1348, when Semyon, in agreement with his brothers, was already operating the possessions received from her.

* On the dating of these documents, see the work of V.A. Kuchkin and B.N. Flory [4, p. 19-21; 5, p. 99-106; 8, p. 58–80].

I. Dukhovnye i dogovornye gramoty velikikh i udel'nykh kniazei XIV–XVI vv. M.; L., 1950.

II. Polnoe sobranie russkikh letopisei. T. III. Vyp. 2. Novgorodskie letopisi (tak nazvannye Novgorodskaia vtoraia i Novgorodskaia tret'ia letopisi). SPb., 1879.

III. Polnoe sobranie russkikh letopisei. Letopis' po Voskresenskomu spisku. T.VII. M., 2001.

1.      Abukov S.N. K voprosu o proiskhozhdenii tetki Semena Gordogo kniagini Anny // Izvestiia Saratovskogo universiteta. Seriia Istoriia. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia. 2017. T. 17. Vyp. 1. S. 5–11.

2.      Aver'ianov K.A. Kupli Ivana Kality: istochnikovedcheskie problemy protsessa ob"edineniia russkikh zemel' XIV v.: dis… d-ra ist. nauk: spets. 07.00.09. "Istoriografiia, istochnikovedenie i metody istoricheskogo issledovaniia'. M., 2001.

3.      Gorskii A.A. Moskva i Orda. M., 2000.

4.      Kuchkin V.A. Dogovor Kalitovichei (K datirovke drevneishikh dokumentov Moskovskogo velikokniazheskogo arkhiva) // Problemy istochnikovedeniia istorii SSSR i spetsial'nykh istoricheskikh distsiplin. Stat'i i materialy. M.: Nauka, 1984. S. 19–21. 

5.      Kuchkin V.A. K datirovke zaveshchaniia Simeona Gordogo // Drevneishie gosudarstva na territorii SSSR. Materialy i issledovaniia. M., 1989. S. 99–106.

6.      Kuchkin V.A. Kniaginia Anna–tetka Simeona Gordogo // Issledovaniia po istochnikovedeniiu istorii Rossii (do 1917 g.). M., 1993. S. 4–11.

7.      Liubavskii M.K. Obrazovanie osnovnoi gosudarstvennoi territorii velikorusskoi narodnosti. M., 1929.

8.      Floria B.N. Bor'ba moskovskikh kniazei za smolenskie i chernigovskie zemli vo vtoroi polovine XIV v. // Problemy istoricheskoi geografii Rossii. M., 1982. Vyp. 1. S. 58–80.

9.      Khmyrov M.D. Alfavitno-spravochnyi perechen' gosudarei russkikh i zamechatel'neishikh osob ikh krovi. SPb., 1870.

10.   Ekzempliarskii A.V. Velikie i udel'nye kniaz'ia severnoi Rusi v tatarskii period s 1238 g. po 1505 g.: biograficheskie ocherki po pervoistochnikam i glavneishim posobiiam. T. 1. Velikie kniaz'ia Vladimirskie i Vladimiro-Moskovskie. SPb., 1889.

11.   Baumgarten N., de. Généalogies et mariages occidentaux des Ruricides Russes. Du X au XIII siècle. Roma, 1927.

Internet Resources 

1. Abukov S.N. K voprosu o proiskhozhdenii tetki Semena Gordogo kniagini Anny // Izvestiia Saratovskogo universiteta. Seriia Istoriia. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia. 2017. T. 17. Vyp. 1. S. 5–11