MARIA DMITRIEVNA (1375-1378 - † May 15, 1399), Princess of Mstislavl, the first wife of Prince of Mstislavl Lengvenis (Semyon) Olgerdovich

• Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy, Prince of Moscow (1359-1389), the Grand Prince of Vladimir (1363-1389)

• Evdokia Dmitrievna, Princess of Moscow and the Grand Princess of Vladimir, the wife of Prince of Moscow and the Grand Prince of Vladimir Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy, daughter of Dmitry Konstantinovich, Prince of Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod (1365-1383)

Maria was the second of four daughters of Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy and Evdokia Dmitrievna [2, p. 18]. Very little information has been attested about her.

On June 14, 1394, she was married to Lengvenis, son of Algirdas, Duke of Mstislavl [I, p. 143; 2, p. 19; 4, p. 122]. The marriage of the Moscow princess and the son of the Lithuanian Duke Algirdas was supposed to strengthen the precarious balance between Vasily I, who became the Moscow prince, and the ruler of Lithuania Vitautas. Both sides were forced to look for points of contact in order to avoid open confrontation. In a sense, the wedding of Maria and Lengvenis supported the status quo of the warring parties. However, in 1395 Vituatas occupied Smolensk. Lengvenis, being a prince of Novgorod, ravaged the lands of the Ryazan principality allied to Moscow. Oleg of Ryazan, in turn, attacked Lyubutsk [1, p. 102]. Still striving to come to an agreement, Vitautas and Vasily I met in Smolensk and Kolomna. As a result of these meetings, they came to a seemingly mutually beneficial compromise: Vasily recognized the annexation of Smolensk to Lithuania, Vitautas - Vasily's claims to Novgorod. However, the plans of the Moscow prince were destroyed by the Novgorodians themselves, who refused to enter the war with the Livonian Order. As a result, the situation turned in favor of Vitautas, who, using, among other things, extensive dynastic connections, gradually spread his influence over an increasing number of principalities [1, p. 102].

In marriage Maria gave birth to two sons. From one of them, Yuri Lugvenovich, the family of the Mstislavsky princes originated.

In 1399, Mary died unexpectedly. Her body was transported to Moscow and buried in the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in the Moscow Kremlin [3, p. 99].

• Yuri Lugvenovich, Prince of Mstislavl (1431–1442, 1445–1460), Prince of Novgorod (1432–1440), founder of the Mstislavsky princely family
• Mstislav Lugvenovich (c. 1398–?)

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

1. Gudavichius E. Istoriia Litvy s drevneishikh vremen do 1569 goda. M., 2005.

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

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

3. 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.

Internet Resources 

Gudavichius E. Istoriia Litvy s drevneishikh vremen do 1569 goda. M., 2005.