EVDOKIA DMITRIEVNA (c. 1350 - † June 7, 1407 in Moscow), Princess of Moscow and the Grand Princess of Vladimir, since January 18, 1366 the wife of Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy, Prince of Moscow and the Grand Prince of Vladimir
Sculptural portrait of Evdokia Dmitrievna. Reconstruction of the skull by S.A. Nikitin

EVDOKIA DMITRIEVNA (c. 1350 - † June 7, 1407 in Moscow), Princess of Moscow and the Grand Princess of Vladimir, since January 18, 1366 the wife of Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy, Prince of Moscow and the Grand Prince of Vladimir

Father

  • Dmitry Konstantinovich, Prince of Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod (1365-1383)

Mother

  • Anna / Vasilisa (in monasticism Irina) unknown by origin (about the possible name of Dmitry Konstantinovich's wife see: 9, vol. 2, p. 416, n. 1174)

Biography

Evdokia was born into the family of the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod prince Dmitry Konstantinovich and his wife of unknown origin. The exact date of her birth is unknown, but given the date of the wedding with Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy, researchers call c. 1350. Evdokia was the youngest daughter of Dmitry Konstantinovich [4, p. 18].

Evdokia's youth fell on a particularly turbulent time, when her father was busy fighting with her younger brother, the Horodets prince Boris, for the Nizhny Novgorod princely table, and her future husband Dmitry Ivanovich - fighting for the great reign of Vladimir. As V.A. Kuchkin notes, Dmitry Konstantinovich, who received a label from the hands of Aziz Xaikh, decided to voluntarily give it to Dmitry Ivanovich in exchange for military assistance against Boris. Having thus received Nizhny Novgorod, the Suzdal prince turned from an enemy of Moscow into its ally [3, p. 62-64]. The existing union was sealed by the marriage of 15-year-old Dmitry Ivanovich and the youngest daughter of Dmitry Konstantinovich Evdokia. The wedding took place on January 18, 1366 [VIII, cl. 74, 77-78, 83; IX, p. 105-105]. According to sources, 12 children of Dmitry and Evdokia are known: 8 sons and 4 daughters [4, p. 18-19].

Chronicle information about Evdokia Dmitrievna has been attested, allowing us to draw some conclusions about her personality and activities. N.L. Pushkareva notes that even in the "Tale of the Mamayev Massacre", contrary to the previous tradition of lamenting for those who left for battle, Evdokia appeals to the boyars with a prayer - the demand to defeat the enemy [8, p. 48].

Dmitry Donskoy bequeaths to the children to obey and honor their mother in everything, from the context of spiritual charter it can be concluded that Evdokia, being a widow, did not fall under the care of older male relatives  and independently managed family affairs [8, p. 99]. It was she who was the guarantor of the execution of the last will of Dmitry Ivanovich and had to make sure that the sons complied with the conditions of the will and did not start feuds. However, it is unlikely that Evdokia could completely keep her sons from the next civil strife after the death of Dmitry Donskoy. Establishing a new order of inheritance, the will itself was the reason for the subsequent confrontation due to the ambiguity of the wording [1, no. 12, p. 33–37].

Evdokia Dmitrievna was active in construction and educational activities. She took part in the creation of the first Moscow chronucals collection, reflected in the Trinity Chronicle [III, p. 289; 6, p. 477]. By her order, the Ascension Convent was founded (it became the burial vault for the Grand Princesses of Moscow), the Goritsky Monastery, the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist in Pereyaslavl. In 1393 on her initiative instead of a wooden church in the name of the Resurrection of Lazarus, a stone church of the Nativity of the Virgin was erected in the Moscow Kremlin. Consecration took place on February 1 of the same year in the presence of all representatives of the princely family [7, p. 98]. This church would later become the tomb of the daughter of Evdokia and Dmitry, Maria Dmitrievna, Princess of Mstislavl, who died in 1399.

Evdokia herself would be tonsured under the name of Euphrosynia [IV, cl. 538; VII, p. 81; X, p. 141; 5, p. 544].

The princess died on June 7, 1407 in Moscow [VI, p. 134; VII, p. 81].

In 2007 in honor of Evdokia Dmitrievna an award of the Russian Orthodox Church was established - the Order of the Monk Euphrosynia, Grand Princess of Moscow.

The relics of Evdokia, lost in the 1920s, were found in 2002 and reburied in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin/

Sons [II, p. 132–136; V, p. 356, 360; 4, p. 18–19; 9, V. 1, p. 121–122]

Children

  • Daniil (1370-1379)
  • Vasily (1371-1425), Prince of Moscow and the Grand Prince of Vladimir
  • Yuri (1374-1434), Prince of Moscow and the Grand Prince of Vladimir
  • Semyon († in 1379)
  • Ivan (1380-1393)
  • Andrei (1382-1432), Prince of Mozhaisk (since 1389)
  • Peter (1385-1428), Prince of Dmitrov (since 1389), Prince of Uglich (1389-1405)
  • Constantine (1389-1433), Prince of Uglich
  • Sofya Dmitrievna (born in 1371–1373, † 1427), the Grand Princess of Ryazan, since the spring of 1387 the wife of the Grand Prince of Ryazan Fedor Olegovich
  • Maria Dmitrievna (born in 1375-1378, † May 15, 1399), Princess of Mstislavl, the first wife of Prince of Mstislavl Lengvenis (Semyon) Olgerdovich (since June 14, 1394)
  • Anastasia Dmitrievna (years of birth and death are unknown), Princess of Kholmsk, since September 23, 1397 the wife of Prince of Kholmsk Ivan Vsevolodovich
  • Anna Dmitrievna (born January 8, 1388, the year of death is unknown), princess of Moscow, since 1406 the wife of the Lithuanian prince Yuri Patrikeevich

Demesne

Villages and towns: Yulka, Iledam with Komeloi, Salt, Volskoe with Shagotu and Milolyubsky, Andreevskoe, Dobroe, Kanev, Pesochnoe, Malinskoe, Lystsevo, Sukhodol with Isteyu, with Ystervoy, Kamenskoe, Lutsinskoe with a mill, Izhva, Syama and Rudoshevsky villages, Ivanovo with Khorobrov, Lokhno, Samoilesev pochinok with villages, Savelyevsky pochinok, villages Mikulskoye and Babyshevo, Oslebyatevskoye, Repensky, Semtsinskoye village with a Khodynskoye mill, Ostyevskoye, Ilmovskoye, Petrovskoye, Frolovskoye and Elohkov, Kholokh, Malino with all the villages [I, no. 20, p. 56; II, p. 134].. Slobods and settlements: Yuryevaya, Skirmenovskaya settlement with Shepkov, Smolyany with Mityaevsky pochinok, Kropizna, Zheleskova Slobodka, Iskonskaya Slobodka, Kuzovskaya Slobodka. * Established according to the spiritual letters of Dmitri Ivanovich Donskoy and Vasily I Dmitrievich

Sources

I. Dukhovnye i dogovornye gramoty velikikh i udel'nykh kniazei KhIV–XVI vv. /  Pod red. L.V. Cherepnina. M., 1950.

II. Kuchkin V.A. Izdanie zaveshchanii moskovskikh kniazei XIV veka. Vtoraia dushevnaia gramota velikogo kniazia Dmitriia Ivanovicha // Drevniaia Rus'. Voprosy medievistiki. № 3 (37). 2009. S. 132–136.

III. Priselkov M. D. Troitskaia letopis'. M.; L., 1950.

IV. PSRL. T. 1 Lavrent'evskaia letopis'. M., 2001.

V. PSRL. T. IV. Ch. 1. Novgorodskaia chetvertaia letopis'. Vyp. 2. L., 1925.

VI. PSRL. T.VI.  Vyp. 1. Sofiiskaia pervaia letopis' starshego izvoda. M., 2000.

VII. PSRL. T. VIII. Letopis' po Voskresenskomu spisku. M., 2001.

VIII. PSRL. T. XV. Rogozhskii letopisets. Tverskoi sbornik. M., 2000.

IX. PSRL. T. XVIII. Simeonovskaia letopis'. M., 2007.

X. PSRL. T. XXIII. Ermolinskaia letopis'. M., 2004.

Bibliography

1.      Zimin A.A. Vitiaz' na rasput'e: Feodal'naia voina v Rossii XV v. M., 1991.

2.      Kuchkin A.V. Poslednee zaveshchanie Dmitriia Donskogo // Srednevekovaia Rus'. M., 2001. Vyp. III. S. 106–183.

3.      Kuchkin V.A. Dmitrii Donskoi // Voprosy istorii. M.,1995. № 5–6. S. 62–83.

4.      Kuchkin V.A. Moskovskie Riurikovichi (genealogiia, demografiia) // Istoricheskii vestnik, 2013. № 04 (151). S. 6–73.

5.      Litvina A.F., Uspenskii F.B.  Vybor imeni u russkikh kniazei v X–XVI vv. Dinasticheskaia istoriia skvoz' prizmu antroponimiki. M., 2006.

6.      Morozova L.E. Velikie i neizvestnye zhenshchiny Drevnei Rusi. M, 2009.

7.      Panova T.D. Kremlevskie usypal'nitsy. Istoriia, sud'ba, taina. M., 2003. 

8.      Pushkareva N.L. Zhenshchiny Drevnei Rusi. M., 1993.

9.        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. T. 2. Vladetel'nye kniaz'ia Vladimirskikh i Moskovskikh udelov i velikie i udel'nye vladetel'nye kniaz'ia Suzdal'sko-Nizhegorodskie, Tverskie. Riazanskie. SPb., 1891.

 

Internet Resources 

1.      Kuchkin V.A. Izdanie zaveshchanii moskovskikh kniazei XIV veka. Vtoraia dushevnaia gramota velikogo kniazia Dmitriia Ivanovicha // Drevniaia Rus'. Voprosy medievistiki. № 3 (37). 2009

2.       Kuchkin V.A. Dmitrii Donskoi // Voprosy istorii. M.,1995. № 5–6. S. 62–83