Princess Uliana Olshanska ( pl, Julianna Holszańska, lt, Julijona Alšėniškė or ; d. 1448) was a noblewoman from the

Olshanski Olshanski or Olshansky is a Ukrainian or Belorussian habitational name for someone from Olshana or Olshanka in Ukraine or Olshany in Belarus or a americanized form of Polish and Jewish (from Poland) Olszanski. Notable people with the name include: ...

family, the second wife of

Vytautas Vytautas (c. 135027 October 1430), also known as Vytautas the Great ( Lithuanian: ', be, Вітаўт, ''Vitaŭt'', pl, Witold Kiejstutowicz, ''Witold Aleksander'' or ''Witold Wielki'' Ruthenian: ''Vitovt'', Latin: ''Alexander Vitoldus'', O ...

Grand Duke of Lithuania The monarchy of Lithuania concerned the monarchical head of state of Lithuania, which was established as an absolute and hereditary monarchy. Throughout Lithuania's history there were three ducal dynasties that managed to stay in power— Ho ...

. They had no issue. Very little is known about Uliana's life. Her first husband was Ivan of

Karachev Karachev (russian: Карачев) is an ancient town and the administrative center of Karachevsky District in Bryansk Oblast, Russia. Population: History First chronicled in 1146, it was the capital of one of the Upper Oka Principalities in ...

. German chronicle of Johann von Posilge and Polish historian Jan Długosz asserted that Ivan was murdered so that widowed Uliana could marry Vytautas. Most likely she was an

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...

who converted to Catholicism in order to marry Vytautas. After the death of his first wife Anna on 31 July 1418, Vytautas wished to marry Uliana, daughter of one of his closest allies

Ivan Olshansky Ivan Olshanski (Olshansky) ( be, Іван Гальшанскі, lit=Ivan Halshansky, lt, Jonas Alšėniškis or , pl, Iwan Olgimuntowicz Holszański, died in or after 1402) was a member of the Lithuanian princely Alšėniškiai (Holshansky) fa ...

. However, Anna was sister of Agripina, who was wife of Ivan and mother of Uliana. That made Vytautas uncle-in-law of Uliana. Piotr Krakowczyk, Bishop of Vilnius, refused to perform the wedding ceremony due to this relationship and demanded they seek approval from the pope. Jan Kropidło, Bishop of Włocławek, performed the ceremony before Christmas 1418 and, eventually, Vytautas obtained a matrimonial dispensation from Pope Martin V. It appears that the marriage was a loving one, but they had no children. Vytautas died in October 1430. Uliana died in 1448.Handbuch der Geschichte Weißrußlands / Hrsg. von Dietrich Beyrau und Rainer Lindner, Göttingen : Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2001, p. 521. According to historian Ignas Jonynas Uliana's further life is unknown.

References

{{end 1448 deaths Grand Duchesses of Lithuania Uliana Converts to Roman Catholicism from Eastern Orthodoxy Former Lithuanian Orthodox Christians Lithuanian Roman Catholics Year of birth unknown