INGEBORG OF KIEV / Ingeborg Mstislavna / Ingibjörg, Englilborg / Ингибьёрг (born between 1097 and 1102 in Kiev - † after 1131), Duchess of Schleswig, in 1115–1123 the wife of the Danish prince, the Duke of Schleswig Knut Lavard, the son of the Danish king Eric I the Good, a claimant to the Danish throne
Father
- Mstislav Vladimirovich (Harald) the Great, the Prince of Novgorod (1088–1094), the Prince of Rostov (1094–1095), the Grand Prince of Kiev (1125–1132)
Mother
- Christina (Kristina) Ingesdotter (1070s - January 18, 1122), the Swedish princess, the princess of Novgorod, the first wife of Mstislav the Great
Biography
Ingeborg, like the other daughters of Mstislav (Harold) the Great and Christina of Sweden, is known only from Scandinavian and Latin sources. Russian chronicles do not contain any information about her. Due to such inattention to the married abroad members of the princely family it is currently difficult to determine the place that Ingeborg occupied among the other children of Mstislav and Christina. D. Dombrovsky, based on the approximate timing of the marriage of Ingeborg's brothers and sisters, suggests that she was the third oldest [3, p. 98]. L.E. Morozova does not directly call Ingeborg the eldest among Mstislav's daughters, but it follows from the text [8, p. 341-342]. N. Baumgarten, D. Donskoy and L. Voitovich assigned her the second place after the firstborn Vsevolod [1, p. 460; 4, p. 73; 12, Tabl. V. ES. II, Tabl. 135].
Like Christina's other daughters, Ingeborg is known only by her Scandinavian name. She probably also had a Slavic name that has not been attested in the sources. An indirect confirmation of this may be the fact that all the sons of Christina and Mstislav bore Slavic names, while in Scandinavian sources they all appear under Germanic names. A similar situation could be with the girls names, however, since information about them has been preserved only in Scandinavian sources, they are known to us only under one name [6, p. 39-40, 255, 366-367; 19, p. 35-36]. The name of Ingeborg itself might be a modified name of her grandfather, the Swedish king Inge I, and a kind of curtsey towards the great-grandmother of Mstislav, Ingegerda - Irina, the wife of Yaroslav the Wise [ibid.].
Ingeborg, the Malfrida's sister, is primarily mentioned in the sagas [I, p. 180; II, p. 177-184; III, p. 258; IV, p. 295; 2, c. 142, 146], as well as in the "Genealogy of Danish Kings" by Abbot Wilhelm [VII, p. 180]. Of greatest interest to the authors was the marriage of a Russian princess and the only legitimate son of King Eric Ejegod of Denmark, Knut Lavard, an active participant in the struggle for the Danish throne [VI, p. 356]. However, there are no exact dates. Based on the life of Knut Lavard, a number of researchers tried to restore an approximate chronology, without naming, however, exact dating [4, p. 73; 11, p. 146-147, 421; 12, Tabl. V; 15, Tabl. 27]. The Knutlingah Saga describes Knut Lavard's matchmaking to Harold (Mstislav), who at that time was the “king in Holmgrad” (in Novgorod) [II, p. 177-184]. From this indication might be determined the approximate date of wedding. Vladimir Monomakh transferred Mstislav from Novgorod to Belgorod in 1117, respectively, Knut Lavard's matchmaking should have taken place before this date [3, p. 95–96]. H. Orlik and D. Dombrovsky determine the interval in which the wedding could take place to be between 1115 and March 1117 [3, p. 97; 17, s. 63; 13, s. 143; 14, s. 61]. A.V. Nazarenko, however, argues the wedding to take place in 1115 or 1122/23, depending on the time when Knut acquired the title of “Prince of Denmark”. The researcher relies on the information in the Life of Knut about envy, which King Magnus felt for Knut for 9 years and which became the reason for his assassination in 1131 [9, p. 589-590; 10, p. 286-289, annex 7]. Other points of view are: approx. 1116/1118 [15, Tabl. 27, s. 135]; 1120 [1, p. 460; 4, p. 73; 5, p. 69; 18, p. 127]. Regardless of the dating of the marriage, researchers are unanimous in the opinion that it was based on the alliance of the Danish court with Mstislav-Harold and that an exceptional role in its conclusion was played by Margarita Fredkulla, the aunt of the Rus princess and wife of King Niels of Denmark [VI, p. 342].
Soon after the wedding Ingeborg gave birth to a daughter named Christina. Sources report her to have four children: daughters Christina, Margarita, Catherine and son Voldemar, named after his grandfather, Vladimir Monomakh. Voldemar was born shortly after the murder of his father in January 1131 [ibid, p. 356] and subsequently in 1169 achieved the canonization of Knut by Pope Alexander III. Sources have no mention of Ingeborg`s life after the death of Knut Lavard. She was not buried at Ringsted in the royal necropolis, where her husband, son and daughter-in-law and grandchildren are buried. This fact gave the researchers ground for the assumption that Ingeborga either returned to Rus after the murder of her husband [16, s. 235], or remained in Denmark and died, visiting relatives in Rus [3, p. 99].
It is not possible to establish the date of her death.
Children
- Valdemar I the Great (1131–1182), the King of Denmark (1157–1182) [I, c.181]
- Christine (1119/1120–1139 ?), the Queen of Norway, the wife of Magnus IV, the King of Norway
- Margaret, the wife of Stig Hvitalhedr
- Catherine (? –1150), the Princess of Brandenburg, the wife of Pribislaw Heinrich, the Prince of Brandenburg
Sources
I. Saga o Kniutlingakh // Drevniaia Rus' v svete zarubezhnykh istochnikov. T. 5. Drevneskandinavskie istochniki / Sost. G.V. Glyzina, T.V.Dzhakson, E.A. Mel'nikova. M., 2009. S.177–184.
II. Saga o synov'iakh Magnusa (inache nazyvaemaia Sagoi o Sigurde Krestonostse) // Drevniaia Rus' v svete zarubezhnykh istochnikov. T. 5. Drevneskandinavskie istochniki / Sost. G.V. Glyzina, T.V.Dzhakson, E.A. Mel'nikova. M., 2009. S. 160–162.
III. Snorri Stuoluson. Krug zemnoi / Podg. A.Ia. Gurevich, Iu.K. Kuz'menko, O.A. Smirnitskaia, M.I. Steblin-Kamenskii. M.,1980.IV. Fagrskinna // Noregs konunga tal / Bjarni Einarsson // Íslenzk fornit. Reykjavík. B. XXIX. Bl. 55–364.
V. Morkinskinna: The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030–1157) / Theodore Murdock Andersson, Kari Ellen Gade. NY, 2000.
VI. Saxonis Gesta Danorum / Ed. J.Orlik i H.Raeder. T. I. Hauniae, 1931.
VII. Wilhelmi abbatis Genealogia Regum Danorum / Ed. M.Cl. Gertz // Scriptores minores historiae Danicae medii aevi. T. I. Kobwnhavn, 1917. P. 176–185.
Internet resources
1. Arkhiv skandinavskikh istochnikov i kart
5. Snorri Stuoluson. Krug zemnoi
6. Sakson Grammatik. Deianiia danov. V 2 t. I–XVI knigi / Per. s lat. iaz. A.S. Dosaeva. M., 2017.
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