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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogneda_of_PolotskRogneda of Polotsk is the
Slavic name for
Ragnhild, whose father
Ragnvald came from overseas and established himself at
Polatsk in the mid-10th century.
It has been speculated that Ragnvald belonged to the
Ynglings royal family of
Norway. In or about 980,
Vladimir of
Novgorod, on learning that she was betrothed to his brother
Yaropolk I of
Kiev, took Polotsk and forced Rogneda to marry him. Having raped Rogneda in the presence of her parents, he ordered them to be killed, along with two of Rogneda's brothers.
Rogneda gave him several children. The four sons were
Yaroslav the Wise, Vsevolod,
Mstislav of Chernigov, and
Izyaslav of Polotsk. She also bore two daughters, one of whom is named by
Nestor the Chronicler as
Predslava . A later chronicle tells a story, most likely taken from a
Norse saga, of Rogneda plotting against Vladimir and asking her elder son, Izyaslav, to kill him. As was the Norse royal custom, she was sent with her elder son to govern the land of her parents, i.e. Polotsk. Izyaslav's line continued to rule Polotsk and the newly-found town of
Izyaslavl until the
Mongol invasion.
After Vladimir converted to Christianity and took
Anna Porphyrogeneta as his wife, he had to divorce all his previous wives, including Rogneda. After that, she entered the convent and took the name
Anastasia.
Around 1825
Kondraty Ryleev wrote a narrative poem entitled Rogneda. This poem became a literary source for her portrayal in the nationalist Russian opera
Rogneda by
Alexander Serov, which premiered in 1865.