Early life She was the daughter of
Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos and his first wife Irene, likely a
Tornikina. In the
Galician–Volhynian Chronicle she is known simply as the Princess of Roman. According to Aleksandr Mayorov, the first half of the chronicle (Daniel of Galicia chronicle) is similar to Byzantine rather than Ruthenian historiography not out of coincidence. In his lection Mayorov tries to prove that not only the chronicle, but the prince himself has Byzantine origin,
Princess She married the Prince of Galicia and Volhynia,
Roman the Great. The name of Roman's wife is under discussion. The name was assumed to be Anna based on the fact that her grandchild
Mstislav Danilovich established the Church of
Saint Joachim and Anna in
Volodymyr. According to the
Supraśl Orthodox Monastery and
Kiev Caves Monastery obituaries, her second name was Helena. It is possible that she was a daughter of
Margaret of Hungary (
House of Árpád) rather than Irene Palaiologina. It is known that
Roman the Great was killed at the
Battle of Zawichost in 1205, possibly rushing to help
Philip of Swabia, who was married to Anna's sister
Irene Angelina. The existence of relations between Philip and Roman could be traced with the fact that Roman was recorded to be among the founders of the 12th century Peterskirche of Benedictine monastery in
Erfurt when he gave as a charity 20
grzywna of silver.
Regency After the death of her spouse in 1205, she became regent for her son during his minority. She successfully made treaties with Poland, Hungary and Lithuania and benefited commerce, but was opposed by the nobility. She was deposed in a coup by the boyars and escaped to Poland. By the help of an army provided by king Andrew of Hungary, she retook the power of regency. She arrested the boyars who had opposed her and confiscated their property. During her regency, she annexed Tikholm, Peremyshl and Volodymyr. In 1214, she retired from regency and turned power over to her sons.
Later life In 1219 she became a nun after her older son
Daniel of Galicia married the daughter of
Mstislav the Bold. According to
Leonid Makhnovets the widow of Roman the Great was at the burial of her grandchild
Volodymyr Vasylkovich in 1288 in
Liuboml, so it is possible that she died soon thereafter. == Footnotes ==