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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingegerd_OlofsdotterPrincess
Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden was a Swedish princess and a Grand Princess of Kiev, the daughter of
Swedish King
Olof Skötkonung and
Estrid of the Obotrites and wife of
Yaroslav I the Wise of Kiev.
Biography
Ingegerd was born in
Sigtuna, Sweden, and was engaged to be married to Norwegian King
Olaf II, but when
Sweden and
Norway got into a feud, Swedish King
Olof Skötkonung wouldn't allow for the marriage to happen.
Instead, Ingegard's father quickly arranged for a marriage to the powerful
Yaroslav I the Wise of
Novgorod. The marriage took place in 1019. Once in
Kiev, her name was changed to the Greek Irene. According to several
sagas, she was given as a marriage gift
Ladoga and adjacent lands, which later received the name
Ingria . She set her friend
jarl Ragnvald Ulfsson to rule in her stead.
Ingegard initiated the building of the
Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev that was supervised by her husband, who styled himself
tsar. They had six sons and four daughters, the latter of whom became Queens of
France,
Hungary,
Norway, and
England. The whole family is depicted in one of the
frescoes of the Saint Sophia. Upon her death, Ingegard was buried in the same cathedral.
Ingegerd-Irene is sometimes confused with Yaroslav's first wife, whose name was Anna and who was later declared a local saint in Novgorod because of her initiative to build the
local version of the Saint Sophia. Her remains were exhumed in the 1930s and examined by Soviet scientists who determined that they belonged to a young woman rather than to Ingigerd, who died at the age of fifty or so.
Children
Ingegerd had the following children
▪ Elisiv of Kiev, queen of Norway
▪ Anastasia of Kiev, queen of Hungary
▪ Anne of Kiev, queen of France
▪ Vladimir of Novgorod ▪ Iziaslav ▪ Sviatoslav ▪ Vsevolod ▪ Igor of
Volynia ▪ Vyacheslav of
Smolensk.