Eudoxia of Kiev (Evdokia) The year of birth is unknown, † after 1187, Princess of Krakow, wife (from 1158) of Prince of Krakow Mieszko III the Old, High Duke of Poland
Father
- Izyaslav Mstislavich, Grand Prince of Kiev (1146-1149, 1150, 1151-1154), or Rostislav Mstislavich, Prince of Novgorod (1154), Grand Duke of Kiev (1154-1155, 1159-1161, 1161-1167), or Yuri Dolgoruky (the Long Arm), Prince of Rostov and Suzdal (1096-1149), Grand Prince of Kiev (1149-1151, 1155-1157).
Mother
- unknown relative of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa [2; 14, Tabl. V] or an unknown woman, or an unknown second wife of Yuri Dolgoruky (the Long Arm) from Byzantium [4, p. 721]
Biography
All the information about the wife of Mieszko III the Old, the High Duke of Poland, comes from very few Polish testimonies [7, p. 542]. Russian sources do not mention her at all. The scarcity of evidence does not allow establish princess’s filiation, therefore there are three points of view about her origin. The first and, perhaps, the most widespread version is that Eudoxia was the daughter of Izyaslav Mstislavich [1, p. 469; 2, p. 223; 3, p. 144; 5, p. 104-105; 8, p. 154; 9, p. 157; 10, p. 119-120; 11, p. 56; 12, p. 199; 13, p. 292; 14, table V; 15, table 1-2, 27; 16, p. 189; 18, p. 317; 23, p. 19–20, etc.]. The supporters of this hypothesis justify their view basing on the accounts of Wincenty Kadłubek and Jan Dlugosz [I, p. 49; III, p. 131]. In the most detailed way, this hypothesis was developed by O. Baltzer [13, p. 292-295]. The scholar excluded all Kiev rulers who could not be Mieszko III’s father-in-law. The reasons for such an exclusion were different. Either they belonged to a different political camp hostile to the descendants of Monomakh (for this reason Baltzer excluded Vsevolod Olgovich and Izyaslav Davydovich) and therefore were unlikely to enter into an alliance with their supporters; or their reigns in Kiev were too short (for this reason Baltzer excluded Izyaslav Davydovich); or, finally, their age of the prince, because his daughter should not have been much older than Mieszko by the time of the marriage (for this reason Baltzer excluded Yuri Dolgoruky). There remained only Izyaslav Mstislavich. According to O. Baltzer, there also was another argument in his favour: there was another marriage contracted almost at the same time: between Izyaslav’s son and Meshko’s sister [ibid].
According to the second hypothesis Evdoxia’s father was Rostislav Mstislavich [6, p. 61-62; 20, p. 81; 21, p. 34]. The author of this hypothesis, I. A. Linnichenko, cited J. Dlugosz to support his view. According to Dlugosz, Boleslaw the Curly’s wife was Evdoxia’s sister, Linnichenko then built up his proofs around the confusions of names in the work of the Polish chronicler [6, p. 61–62]. This approach has been criticized by D. Dombrowski, who affirmed that Eudoxia’s origin could not be determined. Hypothesizing about princess’s father, inclined in favour of Yuri Dolgoruky, but did not exclude other candidates: Izyaslav Davydovich, Rostislav Mstislavich, Izyaslav Mstislavich [4, p. 720-723]. According to Dombrowski, Yuri Dolgoruky seems to be the most plausible because his children continued to come into the world until 1154. In addition, the political situation, especially after the Izyaslav’s death and the Yuri’s ascension to the throne in Kiev (i.e. between 1155 and 1157) also made the marriage of his daughter to a member of Piast dynasty very logical [ibid., p. 719]. Yuri Dolgoruky’s second wife was probably a Byzantine woman, which would explain the unusual choice of a Greek name, Eudoxia, which appeared for the first time in the history of Rurikids [ibid., P. 723].
There also are several point of view on Eudoxia’s date of birth, and her place among her hypothetical brothers and sisters. Obviously, they are directly dependent on the aforementioned hypotheses about Eudoxia’s filiation.
Basing on information about Eudoxia’s first child, Boleslaw, who was born in 1159 [IV, p. 833; V, p. 833], one can assume that the princess here was born before 1145. She would thus have been Izyaslav’s fourth child, younger than Mstislav and Yaroslav and older than Yaropolk [4, p. 723]. If she is Yuri Dolgoruky’s daughter, she was born in prince’s second marriage. In Izyaslav Davydovich’s family, she would be the youngest daughter, born after two already safely identified daughters.
Sometime around 1154/58, Eudoxia married Mieszko III whit whom she and five children mentioned in various sources [22, p. 123] Later, Mieszko was much closer with and gave preference to his sons from Eudoxia and estranged his son from his first marriage, Odon, which provoked a struggle for power. In 1177, Mieszko was expelled from Krakow and found refuge with his family in Bohemia by his son-in-law of Sobieslaw III and later in Pomerania, by Bogislaw I. A few years later, he returned to power in Krakow to be soon expelled once again. Nothing is known about the princess at that time. Her name appears in the charter of 1191/1192 in which the Bishop of Poznan Benedict affirmed that in 1187 Mieszko, his wife and their children had made a generous grant to a monastery [II, p. 242]. This mention allows to think that in 1187 Eudoxia was still alive. Probably, she even survived her husband, Mieszko III, who died in 1202 [18, p. 317].
The burial place of the princess is unknown [17, p. 242]. Probably, she was buried with her husband in St. Paul monastery in Kalisz; however, there is no evidence proving this hypothesis [4, p. 724].
Sons [13, p. 350-380; 4, p.725]
Daughters *
* The possibility that Eudoxia had a third daughter, Zvenislava, was refuted by [17, p. 242]
Children
- Boleslav Meshkovich, Prince Kujawski (1186-1194/1195)
- Mieszko the Younger, prince of Kalisz (1191-1193)
- Władysław III Spindleshanks, High Duke of Poland (1202–1206, 1227–1229), Duke of Silesia and Krakow (1228–1231)
- Anastasia, wife of Bogislaw I, Duke of Pomerania
- Salome of Pomerania?
Sources
I. Ioannis Dlugossii Liber beneficiorum dioecesis Cracoviensis. T.I: Ecclesia cathedralis Cracoviensis. Ecclesiae collegiatarum // Jan Długosz. Opera omnia. T. 7. Cracoviae, 1863.
II. Kodeks dyplomatychzny Wielkopolski. T. I. Nr. 29/ Ed. I.Zakrzewski. Poznań. 1877.
III. Magistri Vincentii dicti Kadłubek Chronica Polonorum / Wyd. M. Plezia // Monumenta Poloniae Historica sn. T.XI. Krakow, 1994.
IV. Rocznik krakowski // Monumenta Poloniae Historica. T. II. / Wyd. A. Bielowski. Lwów, 1872.
V. Rocznik Traski // Monumenta Poloniae Historica. T. II / Wyd. A. Bielowski. Lwów, 1872.
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Links
I. Грушевьcкий М. Історія Русі-України. В 10 томах
II. Пашуто В.Т. Внешняя политика Древней Руси. М., 1968.