Rimgailė (also ''Rymgajla, Rimgaila, Ringaila'', , ; c. 1367 – 1423 or 1430) was a Lithuanian princess of the House of Kęstutis. Daughter of the

Grand Duke of Lithuania This is a list of Lithuanian monarchs who ruled Lithuania from its inception until the fall of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1795. The Lithuanian monarch bore the title of Grand duke, Grand Duke, with the exception of Mindaugas, who was crown ...

Kęstutis Kęstutis ( – 3 or 15 August 1382) was sole Duke of Trakai from 1342 to 1382 and List of Lithuanian monarchs, Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1342 to 1382, together with his brother Algirdas (until 1377), and with his nephew Jogaila (from 1377 to ...

and Grand Duchess

Birutė Birutė (died 1382) was the Grand Duchess of Lithuania as the second wife of Kęstutis, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and mother of Vytautas the Great. There is very little known about Birutė's life, but after her death a cu ...

, sister of Grand Dukes

Vytautas the Great Vytautas the Great (; 27 October 1430) was a ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was also the prince of Grodno (1370–1382), prince of Lutsk (1387–1389), and the postulated king of the Hussites. In modern Lithuania, Vytautas is revere ...

and Žygimantas Kęstutaitis, Dukes Butautas and Tautvila, and Masovian Duchess

Danutė of Lithuania Danutė of Lithuania (baptized ''Anna''; – 26 November 1424), was a Lithuanian princess of the Gediminids, Gediminid dynasty and by marriage Duchess of Warsaw. She was a daughter of Kęstutis, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and his second wife, Biru ...

. Baptismal name ''Ona''. ''Rimgailė'' (feminine) or ''Rimgailas'' (masculine) is a typical dual-

stem Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

med pagan Lithuanian name constructed from ''rim''- (rimti - "be calm") + ''gail''- (*gailas - "strong"), which is quite common in Lithuania at present. By marriage with Henry of Masovia, she was Princess of

Masovia Mazovia or Masovia ( ) is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. It spans the North European Plain, roughly between Łódź and Białystok, with Warsaw being the largest city and Płock being the capital of the region . Throughout the ...

for about one year, until the death of her husband (winter of 1392–1393).

Jan Długosz Jan Długosz (; 1 December 1415 – 19 May 1480), also known in Latin as Johannes Longinus, was a Polish priest, chronicler, diplomat, soldier, and secretary to Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki of Kraków. He is considered Poland's first histo ...

wrote in his chronicles that to marry her Henry resigned from the title of

Bishop of Płock A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

. Henry's death was allegedly due to poison, with Rimgailė as one of the potential suspects. Her second marriage (1419–1421) was with

Alexander the Good Alexander I, commonly known as Alexander the Good (; – 1 January 1432) was Voivode of Moldavia between 1400 and 1432. He was the son of Roman I and succeeded Iuga to the throne. As ruler he initiated a series of reforms while consolidating ...

Voivode of Moldavia This is a list of monarchs of Moldavia, from the first mention of the medieval polity east of the Carpathian Mountains, Carpathians and until its disestablishment in 1862, when Unification of Moldavia and Wallachia, it united with Wallachia, the ot ...

(1400–1432). Upon their politically motivated divorce she was given the customs of the town of

Siret Siret (; ; ; ; ) is a town, municipality and former Latin bishopric in Suceava County, northeastern Romania. It is situated in the historical region of Bukovina. Siret is the 11th largest urban settlement in the county, with a population of 6,708 ...

and 40 villages. Also, as part of the divorce settlement Alexander the Good promised to pay her lifetime income worth 600 Hungarian gold ducats or florins payable in two installments.Octavian Iliescu,
The History of Coins in Romania
, ''Editura Encyclopedica'', Bucharest, 2002

References

{{reflist Medieval Romanian nobility 14th-century Polish people 15th-century Moldavian people 14th-century Romanian women 15th-century Romanian women 14th-century Lithuanian nobility 15th-century Lithuanian nobility 14th-century Lithuanian women 15th-century Lithuanian women Pre-Christian Lithuanian names Princesses consort of Moldavia

See also

References