Anna Yaroslavna [Jaroslavna], b 1024/25 or 1032 in Kyiv, d after 1075. Daughter of Grand Prince Yaroslav the Wise of Kyiv and Ingegerd, daughter of King Olof Skötkunung of Sweden; the third wife of King Henry I of France; and sister-in-law of kings Andrew I of Hungary and Harald III of Norway. The sonless, twice-widowed Henry arranged to marry Anna to obtain Yaroslav’s support against the Holy Roman Empire and in the hope that Anna would give him a male heir. Their marriage took place at the Reims Cathedral on 19 May 1051, and the first of their three sons, later King Philip I, was born in 1052. After Henry's death in 1060, Anna (Anne) ruled France while Philip was a child, thus becoming the first queen of France to serve as regent. In 1062 she married Count Raoul III of Valois, resulting in their excommunication by Pope Alexander II because Raoul already had a wife. After Raoul’s death in 1074, Anna returned to Philip’s court. The place and date of her death are unknown. Some sources state she returned to Kyivan Rus' and died there, possibly in Kyiv. Others state there is evidence she was buried at the Villiers Abbey in La Ferté-Alais, Essonne department.

Anna’s signature in Cyrillic on a French royal document from 1069 is the oldest extant example of Old Ukrainian handwriting. A medieval fresco depicting her and her mother and two sisters is preserved in Kyiv’s Saint Sophia Cathedral, and a full-figure sculpture of Anna is found in Senlis near Paris in the church of Saint Vincent's Monastery, which she had built. When Anna came from Kyiv to France, she brought with her a Glagolitic and Old Church Slavonic copy of what became known as the Reims Gospel, which was used during the enthronement of all French kings from 1059 to 1793.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lobanoff de Rostoff, A. Recueil de pieces historiques sur la Reine Anne ou Agnes, épouse de Henri I, roi de France (Paris 1825)
Caix de Saint-Aymour, Vicomte de. Anne de Russie, reine de France et comtesse de Valois au Xie siècle (Paris 1896)
Hallu, Roger. Anne de Kiev, reine de France (Rome 1973)

[This article was updated in 2007.]