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The marriage of Evfimija Volodimerovna to Koloman, king of Hungary, has been a subject of intense scrutiny because of its outcome. [7] The marriage seems to have taken place in 1112, when Evfimija, who is identified by name in the Hypatian Chronicle, is sent to Hungary to marry the king. [8] Though the king is not identified by name, the king at the time was Koloman and the marriage is recognized in numerous other sources. [9] The purpose of the marriage seems clear: with the death of Koloman’s first wife earlier that year, [10] Koloman was free to create a new alliance, and Volodimer Monomax felt himself in need of a connection with Hungary. At this time Svjatopolk Izjaslavič still ruled in Kyiv, and the Izjaslaviči held the upper hand in terms of foreign dynastic connections, especially with Poland and Hungary, two dangerous border areas that could shelter them and provide troops as necessary. To remedy that, and counter the marriage of Svjatopolk’s daughter Peredslava with Koloman’s brother Almos, Volodimer sent his daughter Evfimija to marry Koloman. [11] As in all of these cases, there must be reciprocal advantage, and for Koloman it may have been connected to the death of his eldest son Ladislaus that same year. [12] Though he may already have been unwell at the time, perhaps he hoped to sire more sons to protect his lineage from his brother, with whom he often warred.
The marriage lasted less than a year before Koloman repudiated Evfimija and sent her home to Kyiv. [13] At the time, Evfimija was pregnant, and the assumption has been that she was pregnant with someone else’s child. However, multiple contemporary sources identify the son she bore in Kyiv,Boris, as the son of Koloman. [14] Interestingly, both Cosmas and Otto would have had better reason to disprove Boris’s lineage, as they were each allied with Boris’s foes in Hungary. [15] Thus their testimony in favor of his legitimacy means a great deal. Unfortunately, we are then left with an unanswerable conundrum. Evfimija, who went to Hungary to seal an alliance and produce sons for the king, became pregnant with a son (seemingly by the king), but was repudiated and sent home. The cause of the repudiation is unknown. It is clear from future events that the marriage did not secure its purpose, as would seem obvious from its abrupt end. Indeed, after Koloman’s death in 1116 his son Stephen II supported Jaroslav Svjatopolčič against Volodimer Monomax in Jaroslav’s attempts to stay independent. [16]
The fate of Boris was constant warfare to reclaim his birthright. He was raised in Rus´ and over the course of his life allied with Bolesław III of Poland and the Comneni emperors of Byzantium to attempt to take the throne of Hungary after the death of his half-brother Stephen II. [17] As for Evfimija, some maintain that she entered a monastery in Rus´. [18] This would certainly have been a common option for a princess in her position, but no reliable primary source records such an event as it was recorded for Evpraksia Vsevolodovna. [19] Her death is recorded in 1138 and she was laid to rest in the Holy Savior’s Church. [20] Her burial in a high-status location indicates that the family felt no shame over her failed marriage, but the lack of a response to her curt dismissal from Hungary and the absence of sources on her activities in the intervening years leave a mystery surrounding the dissolution of her marriage.