The Missing Rusian Women: The Case of Evpraksia Vsevolodovna

Abstract

T he women of the largest medieval eastern European kingdom, Rus′, are largely missing. Or perhaps more accurately, they have been misplaced. Though they exist in the few primary sources, and admittedly there are not many of them named, they are nearly completely left out of the secondary sources written about Rus′, and about medieval eastern Europe more broadly. Evpraksia Vsevolodovna, the daughter of the ruler of Rus’ who married two Germans, one ofwhom was Emperor Henry IV, ranks as one of only approximately five women mentioned by name in the earliest Rusian source, The Russian Primary Chronicle , and as such is an important figure, but has been only briefly noted in histories dealing with Rus’. 1 German historians have found her in a plethora of Latin sources relating to her second husband, Henry IV; however they nearly universally dismiss her as being of any consequence. The lack of real scholarship on such a woman, a Rusian princess and German empress, is indicative of the problem still facing the writing of eastern European women’s lives. In this study, I will discuss my investigation into the life of Evpraksia and the problems involved in finding medieval eastern European women, suggesting some ideas, and hopefully solutions, for future research into these fascinating and much overlooked historical actors. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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