Elisiv of Kiev

Elisiv of Kiev
Queen consort of Norway
Reign	1045–1066
Born	1025
Died	1067
Spouse	Harald III of Norway
Issue	Ingegerd of Norway
Father	Yaroslav I of Kiev
Mother	Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden

Elisaveta Yaroslavna of Kiev (in Norwegian: Ellisif or Elisabeth), (1025 – ca. 1067), was a Rus' Princess of Kiev and a Norwegian queen, wife and queen consort of king Harald III of Norway.

Biography

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 perhaps Agatha, wife of Edward the Exile.

Elisaveta was born to Prince Yaroslav I of Kiev and Princess Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden. She was the sister of Anne of Kiev, queen and regent of France, and Anastasia of Kiev, queen of Hungary. During the winter of 1043-44, Elisaveta was married to Prince Harald Sigurdsson of Norway. Harald had left Norway in 1030 after having participated in The Battle of Stiklastad on the side of Olav, and had since then served under her father as well as under the Byzantine monarch.

Elisaveta was the addressee of Harald's surviving poems where he lamented her suggested lack of affection towards him (no implications about their actual affections can be derived, as this might well be a poetic cliche). In 1045, she followed Harald to Norway, were they became king and queen of Norway. In Norway, she was called Queen Elisiv. In 1047, her husband became the sole ruler. However, the marriage is only documented by the poet Stuv Blinde, and there are no documents about her stay in Norway. In 1048, Harald took another wife, Tora Torbergsdatter. It is therefore possible, that Elisiv stayed in Russia, or that she died on her way to Norway. However, that would mean that the daughters of Harald, Ingegerd and Maria, which are attributed to her, must have been Tora's, which is not considered likely, as Maria was engaged to Øystein Orre fra Giske, wh would have been her uncle had she been the daughter of Tora. Is is therefore possible, that Tora was Harald's concubine.

In 1066, Harald invaded England, where he died. Traditon say, that Elisiv and her daughters followed Harald to England, where Maria died, as it was said, at the news of her fathers death, after which Elisiv and her second daughter Ingegerd returned to Norway with the Norwegian fleet. Elisiv was to have stayed at the Orkney islands during this trip. In reality, however, the oldest of the saga's claim that it was Tora and not Elisiv who accompanied Harald on the trip, which is also considered more likely, as she was the cousin of the Orkney jarl's.

According to Adam of Bremen, the mother of King Olav Kyrre remarried either King Sweyn II of Denmark of an unnamed Swedish king as a widow, but this is unconfirmed, and it is also unknown whether this refers to the actual mother of Olav Kyrre, which would mean Tora Torbergsdatter, or his stepmother, which would mean Elisiv. The year of her death is unknown.

Children

Elisaveta was married to Harald in 1043 or 1044. They had two known children:

• Maria Haraldsdotter of Norway, died in England 1066.
• Ingegerd of Norway, (d. 1120), queen of Denmark and Sweden.

Ancestry

Family of Elisiv of Kiev
16. Igor of Kiev 8. Sviatoslav I of Kiev 17. Olga of Kiev 4. Vladimir the Great 9. Malusha 2. Yaroslav I the Wise 10. Rogvolod 5. Rogneda of Polotsk 1. Elisiv of Kiev 12. Eric the Victorious 6. Olof Skötkonung 3. Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden 7. Estrid of the Obotrites

References

• This article is a translation of its equivalent on Bulgarian Wikipedia
• Snorre Sturlason: Snorres kongesagaer, bind II: «Harald Hårfagres saga» side 217. Oslo 2003.
• http://snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Ellisiv/utdypning