Anna of Kiev: An Enigmatic Capetian Queen of the Eleventh Century: A Reassessment of Biographical Sources

Abstract

Anna of Kiev, a member of the ruling Rurikid dynasty of Kievan Russia, became the sixth queen regnant of the Capetian monarchy when she married King Henry I in 1051. The reasons underlying this matrimonial alliance are complex. Anna is a somewhat enigmatic personality whose life was influenced by two different cultures and religious doctrines. She had the reputation of a pious queen, participating actively in grants to the Church. She also founded the Abbey of Saint-Vincent de Senlis. During the minority years of her son, King Philip I, Anna played an active role as queen mother, acting as co-regent with the officially appointed custodian of the kingdom, Count Baldwin V of Flanders. Anna’s second marriage, shortly after Henry I’s death, to the powerful Count Raoul III of Crépy-en-Valois caused a scandal. Widowed again in 1074, Anna seems to have retired from all public life and died sometime between 1075 and 1079. Anna appears as a rather unusual example of early Capetian queenship.