Barbara Komnene, {possibly fictional}

Evidence needed to support as daughter of Isaac Komnenos

Note

In 1104, Sviatopolk would marry for a third time to Barbara Komnena.[6]

However, Barbara Komnene is generally considered to be a fictional person, as there is no mention of her in byzantine sources at all and she is mostly likely an attempt at fabricating a connection between the early Grand Princes of Kiev and the Byzantine Empire.

6. Vernadsky, George (1976). Kievan Russia. Yale University Press. Page 351.

Barbara Komnena (Russian: Варвара Комнина, romanized: Varvara Komnina) is a mythical figure, claimed to be the daughter of the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos (reigned 1081–1118), and the wife of the Grand Prince of Kiev Sviatopolk II Iziaslavich.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Komnena

Although she is mentioned in the works of various modern historians such as G. V. Vernadsky,[1] most researchers her a fictional character. Varvara never appears among the four daughters of the emperor: Anna, Maria, Eudokia and Theodora.[2][3] She is also never mentioned lists of the members of the Komnenos dynasty at all. There is no mention of such a marriage in Byzantine sources. The most important text about this era is the Alexiad, written by Alexios I's daughter Anna Komnene, who would have been Varvara's sister, and who does not mention her in the number of her father's children, or as a relative given in marriage to the Russian prince.

Barbara appears in Russian history mainly in connection with the transfer of the relics of her holy patroness, Saint Barbara, from Constantinople to Kiev. According to legend, the relics were given to Barbara as a dowry by her father. These relics, according to tradition, were laid by her in St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery, and transferred, after its demolition, to St. Volodimir's Cathedral).

Visiting Kiev in 1656, the Patriarch of Antioch, Macarios III Zaim, heard another legend about the transfer of the relics to Kiev in connection with the marriage of Princess Anna Porphyrogenita to Prince Vladimir the Great.[4] However, it seems most likely that the transfer relics of Saint Barbara's relics to Kiev took place after the Mongol invasion of Rus' and during the decline of the Byzantine Empire.[5][6]

Researchers point out that the story of Princess Barbara seems to have appeared in hagiographic literature, such as The Lives of Saints by Dimitry of Rostov, and also in The torment of St. the Great Martyr Barbara and the story of her glorious wonders by Theodosius Safonovich [Wikidata].[7]

http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/BYZANTIUM%2010571204.htm#BarbaraKdi...

The connection between the following individuals and the main Komnenos family is not known.

1. [BARBARA] Komnene (-1125). Baumgarten cites one secondary source confirming Barbara Komnene as third wife of Grand Prince Sviatopolk II[119]. The Translatio Manus Sancti Stephani, included in Orlieb's Zwiefaltensis Chronicon, records the marriage of "Bolezlai Boloniorum…ducis" and "ex nobilissimis principibus Grecorum filiam suam cuidam tradidit in matrimonium regi Rutenorum", the editor of the compilation consulted identifying "rex Rutenorum" as "Swiatopolk Michael princeps Kiewensis, cuius coniux altera filia aut cognate fuit imperatoris Alexii"[120]. Neither source specifies her precise parentage. Sturdza refers to her as the daughter of Isaakios Komnenos, brother of Emperor Alexios I, although he does not name her[121]. The primary source on which this is based has not yet been identified. There must be some doubt whether her name can be correct as it is rare among Byzantine families[122]. m ([1103]) as his third wife, SVIATOPOLK II Iziaslavich Grand Prince of Kiev, son of IZIASLAV I Iaroslavich Grand Prince of Kiev & his wife Gertrud of Poland (1050-16 Apr 1113).

References

• https://genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00330317&tree=LEO

Царевна Византийская, Княгиня Киевская (по сказаниям), дочь Императора Византийского Алексея I Комнина