Gytha of Wessex


Gytha of Wessex was one of several daughters of Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo-Saxon King of England, by his consort, Edyth Swannesha. Through marriage to Vladimir II Monomakh Gytha became a Grand Princess consort of Kievan Rus'.

Life

According to the thirteenth-century chronicler Saxo Grammaticus, after the death of their father Harold Godwinson, Gytha and two of her brothers escaped to the court of their first cousin once-removed, King Sweyn Estridsson of Denmark. The two brothers were treated by Sweyn with hospitality, Magnus entering into high-level service with Bolesław II the Generous while their sister was married to Waldemar, King of Ruthenia, i.e. Vladimir II Monomakh, one of the most famous rulers of Kievan Rus. This took place in 1069/1070 when Bolesław restored Grand Prince Iziaslav I of Kiev and Gertruda to power after they had been deposed. Gytha's role in Vladimir’s rule isn't documented. Vladimir explained in a book of 'Instructions' for his sons, written in the twelfth-century: “Love your wives, but grant them no power over you.” In his book, Vladimir also mentioned Yuri mother's recent death.
Gytha was the mother of Mstislav the Great, the last ruler of united Kievan Rus. In the Norse sagas, Mstislav is called Harald, after his grandfather. The patericon of St. Pantaleon Cloister in Cologne says that "Gytha the Queen" died as a nun on 10 March. A year later Vladimir Monomakh married another woman.

Children

With Vladimir, Gytha had several children, including:
  1. Mstislav the Great
  2. Izyaslav Vladimirovich, Prince of Kursk
  3. Svyatoslav Vladimirovich, Prince of Smolensk and Pereyaslav
  4. Yaropolk II of Kiev
  5. Viacheslav I of Kiev

    Legacy

Through her son Mstislav the Great she was an ancestor of both Philippa of Hainault and King Edward III of England, hence of all subsequent English and British monarchs.
According to Russian politician and historian Vladimir Medinsky, Gytha was a significant influence on Monomakh's public relations: "Knyaz's English wife wasn't wasted". As a source, Medinsky quotes M. P. Akekseev's comparative analysis between Monomakh writings' and Alfred the Great's, and other anonymous then contemporary Anglo-Saxon texts.

Family trees