Maria Vladimirovna of StaritsaLines of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe; P.46/Table 19
(c. 1560 in

Staritsa Staritsa (russian: Старица) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. Modern localities ;Urban localities * Staritsa (town), Tver Oblast, a town in Staritsky District of Tver Oblast ;Rural localities * Staritsa, Astrakhan Obla ...

– 13 May 1610) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

princess Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subst ...

. She was the daughter of

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

Vladimir of Staritsa Vladimir Andreyevich (1533 – 9 October 1569) was the last appanage Russian prince. His complicated relationship with his cousin, Ivan the Terrible, was dramatized in Sergei Eisenstein's movie '' Ivan the Terrible''. The only son of Andrey of ...

and his wife, Princess Eudoxia Romanovna Odoevskaya, and, through her father, descended from

Sophia Palaiologina Zoe Palaiologina ( grc-x-byzant, Ζωή Παλαιολογίνα), whose name was later changed to Sophia Palaiologina (russian: София Фоминична Палеолог; ca. 1449 – 7 April 1503), was a Byzantine princess, member of ...

. On 12 April 1574, in

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...

, she married

Magnus Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wid ...

Livonia Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...

. They had two children: # Maria of Oldenburg (July 1580 – 1597). # Eudoxia of Oldenburg (January 1581 – 18 March 1589). Upon her husband's death,

Jerome Horsey Sir Jerome Horsey (c. 1550 – 1626), of Great Kimble, Buckinghamshire, was an English explorer, diplomat and politician in the 16th and 17th centuries. He spent much time in Russia over the course of seventeen years, first arriving in 1573 ...

escorted Maria from the

Bishopric of Courland The Bishopric of Courland ( la, Episcopatus Curoniensis, Low German: ''Bisdom Curland'') was the second smallest (4500 km2) ecclesiastical state in the Livonian Confederation founded in the aftermath of the Livonian Crusade. During the Liv ...

to the court of

Boris Godunov Borís Fyodorovich Godunóv (; russian: Борис Фёдорович Годунов; 1552 ) ruled the Tsardom of Russia as ''de facto'' regent from c. 1585 to 1598 and then as the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605. After the end of his ...

. Although Horsey proposed to marry her, Godunov was anxious to get rid of a potential claimant to the throne. As a result, Maria was forced to take the

veil A veil is an article of clothing or hanging cloth that is intended to cover some part of the head or face, or an object of some significance. Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies. The practice has been prominent ...

and entered a

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

adjacent to the

Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius (russian: Тро́ице-Се́ргиева ла́вра) is the most important Russian monastery and the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church. The monastery is situated in the town of Sergiyev Pos ...

. In 1609, she entered into correspondence with her false cousin,

False Dmitry II False Dmitry II ( rus, Лжедмитрий II, Lzhedmitrii II; died ), historically known as Pseudo-Demetrius II and also called "тушинский вор" ("rebel/criminal of Tushino"), was the second of three pretenders to the Russian throne w ...

, who had proclaimed himself Tsar. Her subsequent fate is not documented.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Staritskaya, Maria 1560s births 1610s deaths Tsardom of Russia people Queens consort 16th-century Russian people 17th-century Russian people Year of birth uncertain People of Byzantine descent Tsardom of Russia nuns 16th-century Russian women 17th-century Russian women Rurik dynasty