KUNIGUNDE VON ORLAMÜNDE (Irina) (born in 1055 in Germany - † after 1117 in Germany), Princess of Thuringia, then Princess Volyn, since 1071–1072 was the wife of Prince of Volyn and Turov Yaropolk Izyaslavich (first marriage).
Father
- Otto I, the Count of Orlamünde and Weimar
Mother
- Adela of Louvain
Biography
Kunigunde was the daughter of the Count of Orlamünde Otto I and Adele of Louvain, she was born around 1055 and was the middle of three daughters [III, p. 231; IV, p. 693]. After the death of Otto I in 1067, Adele remarried the Margrave of the Saxon (Lower Lusatia) march Dedi. This marriage, most likely, had mercantile motives: Dedi at that time decided to confront the young king Henry IV for the unification of the Saxon (Lower Lusatia) and Meissen marchs and in order to substantiate his claims, had to marry the widow of Otto [I, p. 115]. The confrontation, however, ended in nothing only indirectly influencing the choice of a future husband for Dedi's stepdaughter [3, p, 527].
The most complete description of the life of Kunigunda is contained in the "Annalista Saxo". In particular, her marriage to the "Prince of Rus", who is not called by name, is mentioned [III, p. 231; IV, p. 693]. Various versions about the personality of the Rus prince, the husband of Kunigunde, have been put forward. It was considered to be the youngest son of Yaroslav the Wise, Igor [12, s. 318], as well as Izyaslav Yaroslavich, the husband of Gertrude of Poland [9, s. 185, Anm. 21; 10, s. 132-140]. Finally, the identity of Kunigunde's husband was established: he turned out to be the son of Izyaslav and Gertrude Yaropolk [1, p. 32-40; 6, p. 10 Tabl. II, N 1; 7, s.196–201; 8, s. 686-689; 9, s. 49–55].
It is noteworthy that Kunigunde was half-cousin of an unknown Czech princess, the wife of Svyatopolk Izyaslavich through her stepfather, the Margrave Dedi [3, p. 576-577].
Several possible dates have been put forward regarding the date of Yaropolk's marriage. 1075 is suggested based on the assumption that the marriage could have been concluded during the stay of Izyaslav with the Margrave Dedi in Thuringia [9, s. 51, 53; 4, p. 188]. However, A.V. Nazarenko revised the dating in favor of 1074, agreeing with the point of view of N. Baumgarten [3, p. 526-527; 6, p. 27, tabl. II, No. 5]. Information on the marriage and birth of the daughter of Kunigunde and Yaropolk substantiate an earlier date [3, p. 526-527]. The motive for the marriage between Yaropolk and Dedi's stepdaughter, obviously, was the desire of Izyaslav to balance the forces in the international arena: not long before that, Svyatoslav Yaroslavich had married Oda of Stade, the daughter of Liudolf, the Margrave of the march of Frisia, whose family ties could be used to neutralize Izyaslav's ally, Boleslaw II [ ibid, p. 527-528].
The "Annalista Saxo" mentions only of one daughter of Yaropolk and Kunigunde, who is not called by name (Mathilde?). She was married to Günther [III, p. 231]. However, it is known that Kunigunde had three more children in marriage with Izyaslavich: sons Yaroslav and Vyacheslav and daughter Anastasia (?), the princess Minsk, whose death is described in detail in the annals [II, clm. 492].
In Rus, Kunigunde received the name Irina. Two images of her and her husband Yaropolk are attested in the so-called Gertrude's Prayer Book (Gertrude's Psalter or Codex) [5, p. 81, 84. tab. 76, 79].
Apparently, Kunigunde accompanied her husband in exile in 1073-1077. [2, p. 435], she lived with her husband and mother-in-law in Vlodymyr Volynskiy. When the struggle between rus princes continued, Yaropolk sent his mother and wife to Lutsk. The town was occupied by Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh and Gertrude and Kunigunde were captured [II, clm. 277].
After the death of Yaropolk in 1086/87, Kunigunde returned to Thuringia with her daughter. Her sons, Yaroslav and Vyacheslav, apparently remained in Rus. They were still quite young and did not have their own court, so the princess could not live at the court of her eldest son, as it was usually done [III, p. 232, annex. 41]. However, it remains unclear why Kunigunde took only her youngest daughter with her, leaving Anastasia in Rus. It is suggested that Anastasia was already married to the Minsk prince Gleb Vseslavich at that time [ibid.].
In Thuringia, Kunikunde remarried to Kuno, the son of the Bavarian count Otto of Northeim [III, p. 232; IV, p. 693]. Later Kuno received the nickname Beichlingen after the name of the Beichlingen castle, which belonged to Kunigunde's father [3, p. 526]. In her second marriage Kunigunde gave birth to four daughters [III, p. 232; IV, p. 693]. After becoming a widow for a second time, the princess remarried to Wiprecht of Groitzsch, the Margrave of Lusatia and Meissen. There were no children in this marriage. The approximate date of Kunigunde`s death is after 1117.
Children
- Yaroslav († 11 August 1102), the Prince of Berestia
- Vyacheslav († 13 December 1104)
- Anastasia (1074–3 January 1158), the Princess of Minsk, since 1086 the wife of Gleb Vseslavich, the Prince of Minsk
- N (in german sources Mathilde; born around 1076), in 1087/88 was married to Günther, the count of Käfernburg, the ancestor of the Schwarzburg counts
- Mathilde (born around 1088/1089), since 1100 was the wife of Heinrich von Zütphen, son of Otto the Rich
- Liutgard (born around 1089/90), since 1100 was the wife of Wilhelm von Luxemburg
- Adele (1090/1094–1123), since 1100/ 1106 was the wife of Dietrich III von Katlenburg, later was the wife of Helferich von Plötzkau
- Kunigunde (late 1090-s – 1140), since 1110 the wife of Wiprecht III von Groitzsch, later the wife of Diepold III., Markgraf von Vohburg
Demesne
Information
Psalter of Gertrude (?) [2, p. 181–182, 435]
Sources
I. Lampert Khersfel'dskii. Annaly // Drevniaia Rus' v svete zarubezhnykh istochnikov: Khrestomatiia / Pod red. T.N. Dzhakson, I.G. Konovalovoi, A.V. Podosinova. T. 4. Zapadnoevropeiskie istochniki / Sost., per. i komment. A.V. Nazarenko. M., 2010. S. 115–122.
II. Polnoe sobranie russkikh letopisei. M., 2001. T. 2. Ipat'evskaia letopis'.
III. Saksonskii annalist // Drevniaia Rus' v svete zarubezhnykh istochnikov: Khrestomatiia / Pod red. T.N. Dzhakson, I.G. Konovalovoi, A.V. Podosinova. T. 4. Zapadnoevropeiskie istochniki / Sost., per. i komment. A.V. Nazarenko. M., 2010. S. 225–237.IV. Annalisto Saxo / Ed. G.Waitz // Monumenta Germaniae Scriptores (in folio) T. 6. Hannover, 1844.
Bibliography
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