United in blood, divided by faith : Elena Ivanovna and Aleksander Jagiellonczyk

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Santuokos; Aleksandras, 1461-1506 (Aleksandras II, Aleksandras Jogailaitis, Alexander Jagiellon); Viduramžių istorija; Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė (LDK; Grand Duchy of Lithuania; GDL); Marriages; Aleksandras Jogailaitis; Medieval history.

ENIn search of political alliance, but existed as a clear confessional and therefore cultural divide, is a somewhat pessimistic enterprise. However, looking at cross-confessional marriages of late medieval and early modern rulers through a lens of gender and difference, it is possible to discover specific paths that brides-wives-widows underwent within frameworks of foreignness, femininity, and power. Regardless of whether these individual approaches led to success or failure, the lives of such spouses were rendered in confessionally biased sources, inevitably pushing scholarly inquiry into loops of particularities. Confessionally mixed matches had precedence in late medieval Europe, but diminished significantly in the fifteenth century, except for confessional borderlands such as, for example, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The following chapter will offer an overview of what sources tell about Elena Ivanovna (1476-1513) and her marriage with Aleksander Jagiellończyk (1461-1506). The available evidence consists of gaps and generalizations; therefore, this chapter is a string of episodes arranged more topically than chronologically with the aim of offering insights into Elena’s identity, gender, authority, membership in natal and marital families, as well as relations within the polities of her husband’s realms. According to the role which is given to Elena, sources fall into two very uneven groups: for the absolute majority of records she is a passive subject, even if their wording is rendered in Elena’s name. A tiny proportion of evidence informs us of her economic activity and authority, and there she does act as provider, payer, lender, receiver, and intercessor. While contemporary narratives do not offer a story of Elena’s life and are quite judgemental about her faith and manners, several biographies of her have been written, and recent studies have inquired into some aspects of the Grand Duchess political, economic, and religious agency.