General Notes

The following post to SGM, 18 Feb 2003, by Igor Sklar, in reponse to the question of who Iaroslav/Jaroslaus The Wise's mother was gives her ancestry:

From: Igor Sklar (sklar2002@yandex.ru)
Subject: Re: Iaroslav the wise
Newsgroups: soc.genealogy.medieval
Date: 2003-02-18 10:31:36 PST

"jl" <zglorg@wanadoo.fr> wrote in message news:<b2rvkb$br2$1@news-reader12.wanadoo.fr>...
> Plz someone can tell me who his mother was.
>
> Anna of Macedonia or Rogneda
>
> thanks
>
> jl

Yaroslav's mother was Rogneda of Polotsk. I don't understand how it could be, conditioned that Vladimir took Rogneda by force in 980, whilst Yaroslav was born about 978 (he was 76 when he died). However the case, Yaroslav was the eldest biological son of Vladimir.

Rogneda is not a Slavic name. Her father was Ragnvald of West Gotland, then of Polotsk (killed 970), the brother of Truggvi Olafson of Norway (died 965) and the illegitimate son of Olaf Haraldson of Norway (died 934). As you may see, Yaroslav was a great grandson of Harald I Fairhair (died 931), the first Yngling king of Norway. This explains why in Norse sagas Vladimir is called a kinsman of Norse King Olaf Traggvison (who was brought up in Kiev) more than once.

Some folks are in pains to establish their line of descent from Macedonian Emperors of Byzantium. They assume that Yaroslav was born in 988 and his mother was Anna of Byzantium. But it's nothing more than their fantasy.

Respects, Igor

Note: Even though there is some doubt about the above ancestry, I am adopting it.  There is much doubt about all of the early Scandinavian ancestry, depending as it does not 11th century writers (ie. Snorri & Nestor), and sagas. It is best to categorize the ancestries as legendary or historical, where the latter have verifiable evidence backing them up, while the "legendary" depend on the sagas, etc.  This ancestry is legendary.  Another variation is that it was Rogneda's mother (Ragnvald's wife) Ingelborge who was daughter of Olaf, instead of Ragnvald being son.