11th-century fresco of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev representing the daughters of Yaroslav I, with Anna probably being the youngest. Other daughters were Anastasia wife of Andrew I of Hungary, Elizabeth wife of Harald III of Norway, and Agatha wife of Edward the Exile.

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. Once in Russia, 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 (arguably a corruption of Ingegerd's name). 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 (arguably) 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.

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