Mstyslavna Euphrosyne

XII page → Kyivan Rus, Hungary → Princely times → Kings and Queens

Euphrosyne Mstyslavna (ca 1130 – after 1176) – daughter of Grand Prince of Kyiv Mstyslav Volodymyrovych, granddaughter of Volodymyr Monomakh, Grand Prince of Kyiv.

In 1146 was married to Hungarian King Géza II (1115–1162) from the Árpád dynasty. Energetic and ambitious, Euphrosyne exerted great influence on her husband and directed Hungarian politics in the mid-12 th century to the support of the Mstyslavych princes in their struggle for the Kyiv throne. Rus chronicle states that King Géza II sent his troops to Kyiv to back up Iziaslav Mstyslavych, sibling of Euphrosyne.

Géza II and Euphrosyne had seven children, among them two kings of Hungary – István III and Béla III. After the death of her husband Euphrosyne was a regent for underage Béla II, who later, trying to remove his mother from power, first kept her confined in the fortress of Braničevo, and later forced her to become a nun in the Jerusalem convent of Hospitallers.

Among Euphrosyne’s grandchildren there are András II, King of Hungary, and Queen Constance of Bohemia, and among great-grandchildren two famous Roman Catholic Saints – Elisabeth of Hungary and Agnes of Bohemia – a Bohemian patron saint whose portrait is on the 50-koruna Czech banknote.

Portrait of Euphrosyne Mstyslavna.

By T. Turdieva. Oil on canvas. 90×70. 2008