Maria Vladimirovna of Staritsa (c. 1560 in

Staritsa Staritsa () is the name of several types of inhabited localities in Russia, inhabited localities in Russia. Modern localities ;Urban localities *Staritsa (town), Tver Oblast, a town in Staritsky District of Tver Oblast ;Rural localities *Staritsa ...

– 1612, 1614, or 1617) was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

princess Princess is a title used by a female member of a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for ...

Early life and ancestry

Born into the Daniilovichi branch of the

House of Rurik A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air cond ...

, she was the daughter of

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

Vladimir of Staritsa Vladimir Andreyevich (; 9 July 1535 – 9 October 1569) was the last appanage Russian prince. His complicated relationship with his cousin, Ivan the Terrible, was dramatized in Sergei Eisenstein's 1945 film ''Ivan the Terrible (1945 film), ...

by his second wife, Princess Eudoxia Romanovna Odoyevskaya (d. 1569), and, through her father, descended from

Sophia Palaiologina Sophia Fominichna Palaiologina or Paleologue (; born Zoe Palaiologina; ; – 7 April 1503) was a Byzantine princess from the Palaiologos imperial dynasty and the grand princess of Moscow as the second wife of Ivan III of Russia. Her fath ...

Marriage and issue

On 12 April 1574, in

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the V ...

, she married

Magnus Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wid ...

Livonia Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...

, member of the

House of Oldenburg The House of Oldenburg is a Germans, German dynasty whose members rule or have ruled in Danish Realm, Denmark, Kingdom of Iceland, Iceland, Kingdom of Greece, Greece, Norway, Russian Empire, Russia, Sweden, United Kingdom, the United Kingdom, King ...

, second son of

Christian III of Denmark Christian III (12 August 1503 – 1 January 1559) reigned as King of Denmark from 1534 and King of Norway from 1537 until his death in 1559. During his reign, Christian formed close ties between the church and the crown. He established ...

and his wife,

Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg (9 July 1511 – 7 October 1571) was queen consort of Denmark and Norway by marriage to King Christian III of Denmark. She was known to having wielded influence upon the affairs of state in Denmark.Jorgensen, Ellen & S ...

. They had: # Maria of Holstein (July 1580 – 1597). # Eudoxia of Holstein (January 1581 – 18 March 1589).

Biography

Upon her husband's death,

Jerome Horsey Sir Jerome Horsey (c. 1550 – 1626), of Great Kimble, Buckinghamshire, was an English explorer, diplomat and politician in the 16th and 17th centuries. He spent much time in Russia over the course of seventeen years, first arriving in 1573 ...

escorted Maria from the

Bishopric of Courland The Bishopric of Courland (, ) was the second smallest (4500 km2) Prince-bishopric, ecclesiastical state in the Livonian Confederation founded in the aftermath of the Livonian Crusade. During the Livonian War in 1559 the bishopric became ...

to the court of

Boris Godunov Boris Feodorovich Godunov (; ; ) was the ''de facto'' regent of Russia from 1585 to 1598 and then tsar from 1598 to 1605 following the death of Feodor I, the last of the Rurik dynasty. After the end of Feodor's reign, Russia descended into t ...

. Although Horsey proposed to marry her, Godunov was anxious to get rid of a potential claimant to the throne. As a result, Maria was forced to take the

veil A veil is an article of clothing or hanging cloth that is intended to cover some part of the human head, head or face, or an object of some significance. Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies. The practice has be ...

and entered a

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

adjacent to the

Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius () is a lavra and the most important Russian monastery, being the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church. The monastery is situated in the town of Sergiyev Posad, about to the northeast from Mosco ...

. In 1609, she entered into correspondence with her false cousin,

False Dmitry II False Dmitry II (; died ), historically known as Pseudo-Demetrius II and also called ("the thief of Tushino"), was the second of three pretenders to the Russian throne who claimed to be Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich, the youngest son of Ivan the T ...

, who had proclaimed himself Tsar. Her subsequent fate is not documented.

Death and burial

There are various resources about her death. In some documents she died on 13 May 1610, but in other resources, she died after 1611. She is buried in the

Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius () is a lavra and the most important Russian monastery, being the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church. The monastery is situated in the town of Sergiyev Posad, about to the northeast from Moscow ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Staritskaya, Maria 1560s births 1610s deaths Queens consort Year of birth uncertain Year of death uncertain People of Byzantine descent Nuns from the Tsardom of Russia 16th-century Russian women 16th-century Russian people 17th-century Russian women 17th-century Russian people Daniilovichi family Forcibly monasticised