Abstract
The article questions the image that has emerged in secondary sources of Anna Yaroslavna (r. 1050- c. 1075), the Rus-born wife of King Henri I of France (d. 1060), as an “alien queen” who remained a foreigner in Capetian society. Focusing on charter evidence, it examines the ways in which Anna exercised her queenship and demonstrates that while limited evidence suggests that she maintained contact with the Orthodox culture of her homeland, she also became assimilated into her husband’s western-Christian court culture. The article thus also sheds light on relations between western and eastern Christianity in the mid eleventh century.
Highlights
The article questions the image that has emerged in secondary sources of Anna Yaroslavna (r. 1050-c.1075), the Rus-born wife of King Henri I of France (d. 1060), as an “alien queen” who remained a foreigner in Capetian society
It examines the ways in which Anna exercised her queenship and demonstrates that while limited evidence suggests that she maintained contact with the Orthodox culture of her homeland, she became assimilated into her husband’s western-Christian court culture
The extant charters of Anna Yaroslavna demonstrate that, far from being isolated as an “alien queen” by her contemporaries, Anna actively participated in the governance of the kingdom, in both temporal and spiritual matters
Summary
The extant charters of Anna Yaroslavna demonstrate that, far from being isolated as an “alien queen” by her contemporaries, Anna actively participated in the governance of the kingdom, in both temporal and spiritual matters Most of her subscriptions and issuing of charters are in favour of Benedictine monasteries and houses of Augustinian canons, foremost among the latter her own foundation of Saint-Vincent in Senlis. Charters provide strong evidence for Anna’s co-regency, corroborating the statement of the Annales Bertholdi that Anna shared in the governing of the kingdom Instead of labeling her as an “alien queen”, one charter even calls her “king.” The documentary sources on her reign suggest both continuity with her natal Orthodox culture as well as conformity to the practice of western ideals of queenship.
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