Oda Staden

The main source about Ode is the so-called “ Staden Annals ” written by the North Saxon chronicler Albert Stadensky in the middle of the 13th century ^[1] . The annals in an article under 1112 indicate that Oda’s mother was Ida from Elsdorf , who was the daughter of “the brother of Emperor Henry III , as well as the daughter of Pope Leo ’s sister, whose other name is Brunon” ^[2] . The first husband of Ida and Oda's father was called Lippold, he was "the son of Mrs. Gleesmod." The annals also indicate that Ida was married several more times. One of the sons of Ida was also Burchard , rector of the cathedral church in Trier ^[3] .

After much debate, historians concluded that Ida's father was Ludolph (d. 1038), Earl of Braunschweig , the uterine brother of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry III ^[4] , and his mother, Gertrude, possibly the sister of Pope Leo IX ^[5] . As for the first husband of Ida and, accordingly, the father of Oda, the version first put forward by N. M. Karamzin ^[6] based on the work of G. S. Troyer ^{[7] [8]} prevailed in Russian historiography for a long time. According to her, Oda's father was Leopold (d. 1055), Count Stade . This version was supported by many Russian historians. Thanks to this version, Oda in Russian historiography was given the name Stadenskaya. According to another hypothesis put forward by C. Lechner ^[9] , Lippold, the father of Oda, is identified with the Margrave of the Hungarian brand Luitpold (Lutpold) (d. 1043) from the house of the Babenbergs , the son of Margrave of Austria Adalbert . This version was supported by a number of German historians. In Russian historiography, it was introduced by A. V. Nazarenko ^[10] .

Very little is known about the biography of Oda herself. According to the Staden Annals, she was originally a nun in Rinteln , from where she was redeemed by her mother in exchange for the Stededorf estate near Hesling. After that, Oda was given to marry the “king of Russia”. From this marriage a son was born, named in the annals of Warteslaw. After the death of her husband, Oda returned to Saxony, while she took with her a significant part of her husband's money. There she remarried. From this marriage, the daughter of Aliarina was born, who later had a son named Burkhard , a count from Lokkum.

A lot of controversy has caused the identification of husband Oda. Troyer identified him with Vsevolod Yaroslavich , Prince Pereyaslavsky , and then Grand Prince of Kiev ^[8] . However, this identification was rejected by N. M. Karamzin , who considered the husband of Oda Smolensk Prince Vyacheslav Yaroslavich ^[6] . In his opinion, the name "Varteslav" was a distortion of the patronymic of his son, Boris Vyacheslavich , who died in 1078 in the battle of Nezhatina Niva . This hypothesis was supported by the fact that Boris appeared in Russia already quite old. Karamzin also suggested that the money taken by Oda after her husband’s death to Germany helped her son begin the struggle for power in Russia.

Other hypotheses appeared later. The basis for them was the message of the 11th-century German chronicler Lampert of Hersfeldsky ^[11] , who, in an article in 1075, reports that the “king of Russia” by the name of Dmitri came to the court of Emperor Henry IV , who asked the emperor to help him against his exiled brother. For negotiations, an embassy was sent to Russia, headed by Burchard , rector of the Church of Trier. As the reason why it was Burchard who was chosen for this mission, the chronicler indicated that the rebellious brother of the “King of Russia” was married to Burchard’s sister. This embassy was mentioned under the same year 1075 in The Tale of Bygone Years ^{[12] [13]} . The “King of Rus” mentioned in this message was Izyaslav Yaroslavich (Dmitry was baptized), and his brother was Svyatoslav Yaroslavich , before that Prince of Chernigov ^[14] . Since Burchard is also mentioned in the Staden annals as the brother of Oda, I. L. Gebhardi concluded that it was Svyatoslav Yaroslavich who was the husband of Oda ^[15] . This version was subsequently widely used in both German and Russian historiography and is currently prevailing.

The main drawback of this version is that in “ Lyubetsk Synodic ” the wife of Svyatoslav is named Killikia ^[16] . In addition, Svyatoslav knows 5 sons, while Oda has only one from his first marriage. However, an explanation was found for these facts. In “ Izbornik 1073 ” there is a miniature depicting Prince Svyatoslav, his wife and five children. Svyatoslav and his children are named by name, the name of the wife, however, is not reported, she is simply called "Princess". At the same time, you can see that Yaroslav is shown separately from his brothers and much younger than them. This explains the fact that in the "Tale of Bygone Years" Yaroslav appears much later than his brothers - the first mention only dates to 1096 ^{[17] [18]} , while his older brothers began to be mentioned already in the 60s. Based on this, a number of historians hypothesized that Yaroslav was the son of his second marriage, and the second wife is depicted in miniature ^{[19] [20]} . According to Nazarenko, the additional proof of this version is that Yaroslav (in the baptism of Pankraty) is not mentioned in the Lyubetsk Synodic, although he occupied the Chernigov table for some time. This could be due to the fact that he was born from another marriage, and due to the fact that Oda was a tattered nun, the compilers of the synodic could consider such a marriage to be non-canonical.

Another proof that Svyatoslav was married twice is the news from the continuation of the Chronicle by Hermann of Reichenau , written shortly after 1102 and long considered lost. A message from 1072 indicates the marriage of the daughter of Count Lupald and Ida from Otersberg, which Nazarenko identifies with Ida from Elsdorf ^[21] , with the “king of Russia”, concluded through mediation with the emperor. However, since the article under the same year refers to the death of Pope Alexander II , who actually died in 1073 , as well as discrepancies in the dates of other events, allowed Nazarenko to conclude that the specified date is approximate. The wedding of Oda and Svyatoslav, he refers to the year 1070/1071 . Since by that time he already had sons, the marriage was to be the second in a row. The fact that in the "Staden Annals" Yaroslav, the son of Oda, is called "Warteslav", Nazarenko explains the distortion of the text during transmission. As an example of such a distortion, he cites the distortion of the name of Yaroslav the Wise in the Latin anonymous “History of Norway”, where Yaroslav is called “Warerlafus” ^[22] .

However, there is also a version put forward by N.A. Baumgarten , who considered Oda, the wife of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, the daughter of Count Eteller White , the third husband of Ida from Elsdorf and possible father Burchard from a hypothetical first marriage. In his opinion, Oda, the daughter of Ida from Elsdorf, married the early deceased eldest son of Yaroslav the Wise, Vladimir Yaroslavich , Prince of Novgorod , and he identifies Bartislav, mentioned in the Staden annals, with Rostislav , the ancestor of the Galician princes ^{[23] [24] [25]} . This version is accepted by some historians ^[26] .

There is a hypothesis put forward by A. V. Nazarenko, according to which Svyatoslav had another daughter from his second marriage with Oda Shtadenskaya who was married to Byzantium ; her daughter, the granddaughter of Svyatoslav, was captured by the Seljuks in the first quarter of the 12th century and became the mother of Sultan Kylich-Arslan II , who, as is known from Western sources, considered himself a relative of the German crusaders through his Russian mother. After the death of Svyatoslav in December 1076, Oda, along with her son Yaroslav, was forced to flee to her homeland. According to legend, she inherited great treasures from her husband, but could not take them all out and hid most of them. Later, having returned to Russia, her son Yaroslav found them. According to European chronicles, Oda married a second time in her homeland. The further fate is unknown ^[27] .

• Ida from Elsdorf

• Baumgarten N.A. Oda Shtadenskaya, granddaughter of Pope Leo IX - daughter-in-law of Yaroslav the Wise // Blagovest. - Paris, 1930. - No. 1 . - S. 95-101 .
• Baumgarten N. A. The first branch of the princes Galitsky: Offspring of Vladimir Yaroslavich // Chronicle of the historical and pedigree society. - M. , 1907. - No. 4 . - S. 3-4 .
• Zotov R.V. About the Chernigov princes according to the Lyubetsky synodik . - SPb. : Printing house of the Panteleev brothers, 1892 .-- 327 (+47) p.
• Ipatiev Chronicle // PSRL . - SPb. , 1908. - T. 2 .
• Karamzin N. M. History of the Russian State in 12 volumes / Ed. A. N. Sakharova. - M .: Nauka, 1991 .-- T. II — III. - S. 210 (note 48). - ISBN 5-02-009493.
• Kashtanov S. M. Was Oda Shtadenskaya the wife of Grand Duke Svyatoslav Yaroslavich? // Eastern Europe in antiquity and the Middle Ages: Ancient Russia in the system of ethno-political and cultural ties. Readings in memory of Corr. USSR Academy of Sciences V.T. Pashuto. - M .: Institute of Russian History, 1994. - S. 16-18 . - ISBN 5-201-00594-2 .
• Laurentian Chronicle // PSRL . - L. , 1927 .-- T. 1 .
• Morozova L.E. Great and unknown women of Ancient Russia. - M .: AST, 2009.
• Nazarenko A.V. Ancient Russia on international routes: Interdisciplinary essays on cultural, commercial, political relations of the 9th-12th centuries. - M .: Languages ​​of Russian Culture, 2001 .-- 784 p. - (Studia Historica). - 1000 copies. - ISBN 5-7859-0085-8 .
• Nazarenko A.V. On the dynastic ties of the sons of Yaroslav the Wise // Patriotic History. - M .: Nauka, 1994. - No. 4-5 . - S. 181-194 .
• Baumgarten N. Généalogies et mariages occidentaux des Rurikides Russes du Xe au XIIIth siècle // Orientalia Christiana. - Roma, 1927. - T. 35. - P. 7, tabl. I, N 22, 25.
• Hlawitschka E. Untersuchungen zu den Thronwechseln der ersten Hälfte des 11. Jahrhunderts und zur Adelsgeschichte Süddeutschlands. Zugleich klärende Forschungen um "Kuno von Öhningen". - Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 1987 .-- P. 144.

• Brunswick Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Date of treatment April 7, 2012.
• Oda von Elsdorf Großfürstin von Kiew (German) . Genealogie des Mittelalters . Date of treatment December 25, 2011. Archived on April 8, 2012.