Shortly after the death of his first wife, Christina Ingesdotter of Sweden, Mstislav I of Kyiv married again. This time not to a foreign princess, but to a woman from Novgorod, Liubava Dmitrievna Zavidich.
Family and Marriage
Liubava was born around 1104 to Dmitry Zavidich and an unknown mother. Dmitry was a son of Zavid, who was Posadnik (mayor) of Novgorod between 1088 and 1094. Dmitry himself was Posadnik of Novgorod from 1117 to 1118. Besides Liubava, Dmitry had a son, Zavid, who was Posadnik of Novgorod in 1128. Liubava’s name is not mentioned in the chronicles and comes from later sources, so we are not sure if it was her actual name or not.
Dmitry died in 1118, and in 1122, Liubava married. She was married to Mstislav Vladimirovich, Prince of Belgorod, who was the eldest son of Vladimir II Monomakh, Grand Prince of Kyiv. Mstislav’s first wife, Christina Ingesdotter of Sweden had died earlier that year, leaving him with ten or eleven children, some of them already adults and older than Liubava herself. Mstislav had previously been Prince of Novgorod before ceding the title to his son, Vsevolod, in 1117. Mstislav perhaps married Liubava because he wanted to keep his ties to Novgorod. When Vladimir Monomakh died in 1125, Mstislav became Grand Prince of Kyiv. At this time, Mstislav and Liubava would have moved to Kyiv from Belgorod.
Nothing is recorded about Liubava’s life while she was married to Mstislav, but they had between two and four children together:
- Euphrosyne (c.1130-c.1193) Married Geza II, King of Hungary
- Vladimir (c.1132-1171) Prince of Volhynia and Grand Prince of Kyiv
- Yaropolk (c.1123/28/32-aft. 1149) Prince of Poros, not mentioned in all sources
- Possibly Durantia, who married Otto III, Duke of Olomouc, who was from the Bohemia royal Premyslid dynasty. She might have been a daughter of another Rus prince.
Widowhood
Mstislav died on 14 April 1132. He was succeeded by his brother Yaropolk II of Kyiv. Yaropolk reigned until his death in 1139. During this time, there seems to be no information about Liubava, but it can be assumed that she was raising her children. In 1139, another brother of Mstislav, Viacheslav, became Grand Prince of Kyiv, but he was soon driven out by Vsevolod Olgovich, who was from another branch of the Rurikid dynasty.
Liubava supported Vsevolod, and helped him become Grand Prince. Vsevolod was married to Liubava’s stepdaughter, Maria, who was from Mstislav’s first marriage. In 1141, her stepson, Izyaslav, asked Vsevolod if he could give the Principality of Novgorod to his younger brother, Svyatopolk. Liubava persuaded Vsevolod to agree to this request, and Svyatopolk became Prince of Novgorod. She took part in arranging the marriage of her daughter, Euphrosyne. In 1146, thanks in part to Liubava, Euphrosyne married Geza, the King of Hungary.
Vsevolod died in 1146 and left the Kievan throne to his brother, Igor. However, the people of Kyiv did not want Igor to be their prince, and deposed him shortly afterwards. Liubava’s stepson, Izyaslav became the new Grand Prince of Kyiv. Igor remained in Kyiv, and the uprisings against him continued. In 1147, the Kievans tried to kill Igor, so Liubava and her son, Vladimir tried to hide him. However, Igor was eventually found by a mob who dragged him out into the street and killed him.
Izyaslav lost the throne of Kyiv in 1149, and Yuri, another brother of Mstislav became the new Grand Prince. Liubava and her son Vladimir, were not in favor with Yuri, so they moved to Volodymyr in Volhynia. Liubava eventually hoped for Vladimir to one day become Grand Prince of Kyiv. In 1152, Vladimir became Prince of Dorogobuzh, a city in the Volhynia region, and in 1154, he became Prince of Volhynia. In 1150, Vladimir married the daughter of the Serbian Prince, Belos. Belos was the uncle of his sister’s husband, Geza of Hungary.
In 1155 or 1156, Liubava traveled to Hungary to visit her daughter. By this time, Euphrosyne had six children, and it is possible that Liubava got to meet her grandchildren. Meanwhile, things did not go smoothly for Vladimir. In 1157, he lost his principality of Volhynia to Mstislav, the eldest son of his half-brother, Izyaslav. Vladimir and Mstislav were not in agreement with each other. Soon after Liubava returned to Volodymyr in Volhynia, Mstislav sacked the city and captured Liubava and her daughter-in-law. Mstislav also plundered their treasury, and took gifts that she had received from the Hungarian king. He put Liubava and her daughter-in-law in wagons, and sent them to Lutsk. Liubava and her daughter-in-law were freed from captivity the following year.
In 1159, Liubava’s stepson, Rostislav became Grand Prince of Kyiv. At this time, Liubava returned to Kyiv. She stayed in contact with Vladimir, and on the event of Rostislav’s death, she was hoping that Vladimir could become Grand Prince of Kyiv. By this time, Liubava herself had the support of the people of Kyiv. However, Vladimir helself thought it would be more profitable to support his former opponent, Mstislav, and for this he would receive an increase in possessions. In 1167, Rostislav died, and Liubava immediately sent word to Vladimir, who in turn sent word to Mstislav. On the way to Kyiv, Vladimir met with Liubava. She seems to have been in no mood to forgive Mstislav. She probably advised him to fight for the throne himself instead of being content with an increase in possessions. Vladimir listened to her advice, and started to gather supporters.
Mstislav became the new Grand Prince of Kyiv, as Mstislav II, and soon found out about Vladimir’s intrigues. Because of this, he was afraid of Liubava’s influence, so he told her to leave Kyiv. He also gave her the option to go anywhere she liked, just to not stay in Kyiv. Liubava did not argue with him, and left for Chernigov.
After this, it is possible that Liubava turned to the next most powerful Rus prince, Andrey Bogolyubsky, Prince of Vladimir-Suzdal. Andrey was the son of Mstislav I’s brother, Yuri. Liubava probably told him about all that had happened to her under Mstislav II, such as her capture, the plundering of her property and her exile from Kyiv in her old age.
Liubava’s story was one of the things that probably outraged Andrey, and in 1169, he sent his son, another Mstislav, at the head of a coalition with ten other princes. These included Liubava’s grandsons and step-grandsons. They marched to Kyiv, where Mstislav II was expelled from in disgrace. However, it was not Vladimir who became the new Grand Prince of Kyiv, but Andrey’s brother, Gleb.
The events of 1169 are the last references to Liubava. It is thought that she died shortly afterwards. When Gleb died in 1171, Vladimir finally got to become Grand Prince of Kyiv, but he died just three months later.
Even though not much is said of Liubava during her marriage to the prince, she certainly had an active widowhood. She got caught up in the turmoil in Kyiv after 1139, and got to see many princes ascend and then get replaced. She seems like a very influential woman, and probably helped her son to get the lands and titles he had. Although she probably did not live to see him become Grand Prince of Kyiv, Vladimir probably had her to thank for him getting there.
Sources
Evgenievna, Morozova Lyudmila; Great and Unknown Women of Ancient Russia
She-wolves and Saints 
One thought on “Liubava Dmitrievna Zavidich, Grand Princess of Kyiv”