Evpraksiya Mstislavna of Kiev (c1102-c1135)

Evpraksiya Mstislavna was the daughter of Grand Prince of Kiev Mstislav Vladimirovich and Princess Christina of Sweden, the granddaughter of Vladimir Monomakh and the Swedish King Inge I Starogo. Her Christian name is not clear, it could be Evpraksiya or Dobrodea), during the coronation of Zoya, there is also Irina [1] ) (1st half of the 12th century) ) - , who in 1122 was married to a relative of the Byzantine Emperor John II Comnenus, according to the most common version - his eldest son, who bore the name Alexei.

The author of the Hustyn chronicle, without naming the personal names of both brothers, reports the extradition of the daughter of Mstislav "for the prince of the Greek, the son of John Comnenus" [2]. (In other sources, the name Andronicus Comnenus [3] [4] is called - this is the name of the younger brother of the aforementioned Alexei in particular).

The name Mstislavna - Dobrodeya - is given only in the "History" of VN Tatishchev ; as far as it is certain, it is unclear [5]  - it is known that the overwhelming majority of female names cited by Tatishchev are fictitious. Uspensky Jr. refutes the view that female names on "good", not recorded in medieval sources, "were often the result of the transfer of their baptismal Greek names. Thus, Evpraksiya turned into Virtue, etc. In reality, we do not know of a single case of such a translation in Russia " [6].

Contents 1	Biography 1.1	Marriage 2	Characteristics 2.1	The Alimma Manuscript 3	References 4	References Biography Marriage As was generally believed, the marriage of Mstislavna was associated with the last war between Byzantium and Rus, when Vladimir Monomakh ( 1116 ) supported his son-in-law, the Byzantine adventurer False Diogenes, who pretended to be Leo , the long-dead son of Emperor Roman IV Diogenes. In the "History of the Russian" VN Tatishchev ( XVIII century. ) Under 1119, read a story about the final stage of the Russo-Byzantine confrontation. Vladimir allegedly organized a new big campaign, however, Emperor Alexei preempted him and sent to Vladimir a "great embassy" with gifts, among which were a royal crown (the future "the cap of Monomakh "), the scepter, etc.," and narekshi him to himself brother and king, and at the same time asked for peace. " The world was concluded that Vladimir's granddaughter, "the daughter of Mstislavl," was to marry the son of Emperor Alexei John (future emperor) [5]. Nevertheless, at the moment, historians suggest that this story was written in the XVIII century with the purpose of explaining the appearance of a significant regalia in Russia.

Nevertheless, some negotiations took place, and in 1122 they were crowned with the conclusion of a dynastic marriage: Mstislavna became the wife of the son of Emperor John - presumably Alexei. At the same time, a new metropolitan Nikita arrived in Kiev from Byzantium (his predecessor, Metropolitan Nikifor, died in April 1121 ). Historians note: "The rapprochement between the two countries was due to objective reasons, and above all a threat from the nomads - Polovtsians, Torks and Pechenegs. Researchers have long paid attention to the fact that the conclusion of the Russo-Byzantine dynastic union coincided in time with two important events in the history of the relationship between Rus and Byzantium with neighboring nomadic tribes: the expulsion from Rus by prince Vladimir Vsevolodovich torks and Pechenegs in 1121 and the Byzantine- the Pecheneg war of 1121-1122, which ended in the brilliant victory of the Emperor John Comnenus " [5]. VN Tatishchev adds that in 1122 Vladimir Monomakh sent Nikita and his granddaughter to Byzantium.

Alexey Komnin There is an uncertainty with the personality of Mstislavny's husband. The chronicler calls the spouse of Monomakh's granddaughter "king", that is, the emperor: "Vedena Mstislavna in the Greeks for the king . " Traditionally it is believed that he was Alexei Komnin, nephew of Alexius I ( Alexius Comnenus ) and son of John II, who was declared the co-ruler of his father, but died early. Nevertheless, accurate data on his marriage did not survive: "It is assumed that he was married twice. His first wife was Mstislavna, and the second - Katai of Georgia, the daughter of David IV the Builder . Both of these women know that they were married to representatives of the imperial dynasty, but it is not known for whom exactly " [3]. In this case, Mstislavna had to die before her husband, so he managed to marry a second marriage to a Georgian princess, who, as is known from Caucasian sources, was married in 1136. Greek researchers believe that Alexey's first wife Irina can be identified with Mstislavna, although there is no indication of the Russian origin of this Irina in the Greek texts [7].

It is known that Alexei had a single daughter named Maria, her mother could be Mstislavna.

Alexey Komnin died in 1142. His younger brother, Andronicus, died in the autumn of the same year. He was married to a woman named Irina from the family of Aineiadissa and had six children [3].

As the author of the monograph "Women of Ancient Rus" N.L. Pushkarev points out, in 1129 Mstislavna gave birth to a daughter. As it is believed, when her husband died, and the widow left the Byzantine court, remaining to live in Constantinople. On the other hand, they point out: "nothing definitive can be said about the further biography of the Russian princess in Byzantium. Attempts to trace its subsequent fate (with the name Zoya, allegedly received in the Byzantine imperial family) are based on a misinterpretation of sources " [5].

Feature She was a contemporary and ancestor of the famous chronicler Anna Comnina. According to the legend, traced in Russian science for more than one hundred and fifty years, Mstislavna was interested in medicine and still being a girl, in Kiev, mastered the methods of herbal treatment. In the Byzantine chroniclers, her hobby even aroused suspicions of involvement in witchcraft and witchcraft : "The Byzantine chronicler Balsamon claimed that" the doctors refused her cure "because of her" mania for witchcraft and witchcraft " [8].

The manuscript "Alimma" As pointed out by the domestic researcher (1900s), the Laurentian Library (Florence) preserved a medical manuscript in Greek, entitled "Alimma" ( Mazi ). Some researchers he is attributed to the authorship of Mstislavna, in this case, he is the first medical work written by a Russian woman. (This version was followed by the Russian historian H. M. Loparev who found this manuscript in the library at the end of the last century ). References to receptions and approaches of treatment indicate the acquaintance of the author of the text with the works of Hippocrates and Ibn Sina.

It has five parts:

the general rules of personal hygiene and child care, the treatment of childhood ailments, contains data on the human temperaments - sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic and melancholy. describes the hygiene of marital relations, the period of pregnancy and the patrimonial period. devoted to food hygiene, characterized by "cold" and "warm" properties of products. Myrtle oil is referred to the "cold" products, honey, wine, meat, etc. are included in the "warm" products. Here the bases and recipes of dietary nutrition are laid down. about external diseases; contains recommendations on the use of ointments in the treatment of skin diseases, as well as toothache. is devoted to therapeutic massage, including in the treatment of cardiac and gastric diseases. [8] . Yet most scientists deny the authorship of Mstislavna and suggest that the text of the treatise Alimma was written by an unknown doctor only at the request of Empress Zoe, the wife of Roman III Argir (1028-1034), who lived a century earlier[ source not specified 748 days ].

Literature