000n. Ksenija Borisovna Godunova / Ксения Борисовна Годунова

Who was "Russia's first woman poet"? The earliest female poet (or writer) mentioned in Golicyn's 1889 Dictionary is the legendary Cossack singer Marusja Čuraj, to whom we've devoted a couple of posts (Marusja, Marusja bis). But maybe there were some others before Marusja?

Let's pause for a moment to think about what question we're asking – because answering the question "who was the earliest Russian woman writer" (to the extent that we are able to do so) requires that we reflect on the definitions of both "Russian woman" and "writing." Does "Russian women" also include women from other countries and cultures who live and write in Russia (such as Catherine the Great)? Should we consider only women who write in Russian or can we admit those who also (or even exclusively) wrote in other languages, such as French or German? And are we interested solely in women who produced examples of unmistakably literary texts, such as poetry or prose narrative, or can we also allow life writing? If yes to the latter, should life writing include, in addition to diaries and memoirs, also correspondence that describes experiences from daily life? At what point does a letter become interesting (or uninteresting) for a literary historian? And are there other genres that we should consider as well? What about political documents? Many women in Russian history have had important political roles: can we also consider a rhetorical flourish in a political tract as evidence of a literary sensibility or consciousness of the power of writing that will be useful for the history of women's writing?

I generally try to answer "yes" to such questions whenever possible. In my view, "Russian" and "writing" should not be used as predefined categories that exclude writers and texts before we have even considered why we're leaving them out. We do need to choose texts to work on, of course, and "of interest" is a powerful determining factor in how we make that selection. Certainly, specific scholarly inclinations (and training) will lead us to focus on certain writers or genres or periods, but we should also try to remain conscious of what boundaries are limiting our selection of texts together with our very perception of the basic problems under consideration.

When did women begin to write at all? Clearly, women have been able to read and to write more or less as long as men have. So when is it that "Russian women" begin to produce texts of interest? Here we need to make some political and/or linguistic decisions about what "Russia" is in order to better define our field of inquiry. Among the women of medieval Rus' (which is not medieval Russia, but a medieval precursor to three modern states: Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus), we find that a number of women produced written texts. A good place to begin identifying some of them is Natalia Pushkarёva's Women in Russian History: From the Tenth to the Twentieth Century (translated by Eve Levin, 1997); more detail on her specific sources and texts may be found in Pushkarёva's Ženščiny drevnej Rusi (Women of Medieval Rus', 1989). Many of the women that Pushkarёva treats were political actors, some in the medieval principalities of Rus' and some abroad, in the foreign states where their married lives unfolded. The stories of these women's lives are quite engaging and many of them wrote political documents as well as correspondence, or at least were reputed by historical chroniclers to have done so. Those who are specifically interested in women's production of written texts in this period (from the tenth to the fourteenth or fifteenth century) will find many wonderful topics in this period: which of these early texts actually exist today and which are only reported to have existed? In what languages were they written? Where is interesting detail on daily life visible? Where can a literary sensibility be seen? What literary or political models were familiar to these women and served them in the drafting of their own texts?

That said, the discussion of specifically "Russian" women should perhaps be reserved for the emergence both of the state of Muscovy (which later became "Russia") in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and of the Russian language in the same period. There are several references to women's writing in this period. Elena Ivanovna (1476-1513), for example, great aunt of Ivan IV (the Terrible),[1] was married off to Grand Prince Aleksander Jagiellon of Lithuania, from where "she carried on a regular correspondence with her father in Moscow" that "was part personal and part diplomatic" (Pushkarёva/Levin 63). Do these letters exist today and what do they tell us about women's writing or women's lives? If they do exist, examining them might be a good project for an interested student.

Another woman writer from Muscovy is Irina Fёdorovna Godunova (1557-1603), wife of tsar Fёdor I (son of Ivan IV, reigned 1584-1598) and sister of tsar Boris Godunov (reigned 1598-1605). Irina supposedly corresponded with the English queen Elizabeth I and with the Patriarch of Alexandria (Pushkarёva/Levin 76). Again, do these letters exist and what do they tell us about women's writing or women's lives?

A third figure from this period is Ksenija Borisovna Godunova (1582-1622), the daughter of Boris Godunov. Her dramatic life story has lent itself to a number of retellings. After Boris Godunov died, his wife and son were killed by the False Dmitrij, pretender to the throne, while daughter Ksenija was held captive for several months, before being forced to take monastic vows. Her fate was made particularly poignant by the number of times that tsar Boris had actively, but unsuccessfully attempted to arrange a marriage for her before his death; the tragic figure of Ksenija has since been featured in songs and poems, plays and novels, paintings and films.

Ksenija Borisovna is of special interest here because she is reputed by some to have "authored poetry and prose works and even tried her hand at composing music" (Pushkarёva/Levin 78). What is the source of these ideas? There is some mention of Ksenija Borisovna's literary activity in the Chronicle Book (Letopisnaja kniga) generally ascribed to the pen of prince Ivan Mikhajlovič Katyrёv-Rostovskij (brother-in-law of tsar Michail Romanov, reigned 1613-1645):

Царевна же Ксения, дщерь царя Бориса, девица сущи, отроковица чюднаго домышления, зелною красотою лепа, бела велми, ягодами румяна, червлена губами, очи имея черны великы, светлостию блистаяся; когда же в жалобе слезы изо очию испущаше, тогда наипаче светлостию блистаху зелною; бровми союзна, телом изообилна, млечною белостию облиянна; возрастом ни высока ни ниска; власы имея черны, велики, аки трубы, по плещам лежаху. Во всех женах благочиннийша и писанию книжному навычна, многим цветяше благоречием, воистинну во всех своих делех чредима; гласы воспеваемыя любляше и песни духовныя любезне желаше.[2]

While this text merits a full translation, students, let us note in passing references to Ksenija Borisovna being a "youth of marvellous perspicacity" and "skilled in bookish writing" or perhaps "book-style writing": it would seem a bit of a stretch to translate this as "skilled in the writing of books" without at least some consideration of what the term "book" implies in the context of Russia in 1600. Ksenija Borisovna clearly deserves some attention: has this topic been properly addressed or is it waiting for the right student? Are there other reports of her literary activity from the 1600s? A quick hop through some materials online suggests that claims for Ksenija Borisovna's poetry writing derive from the well-entrenched (and probably groundless) supposition that at least some of the popular songs bewailing her plight were authored by Ksenija herself. But a more detailed examination of the issues involved and how they have been addressed (or not) in previous scholarship awaits one of you.

FURTHER READING:

Pushkarёva, Natalia. Women in Russian History: From the Tenth to the Twentieth Century. Translated and edited by Eve Levin. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1998.

Puškarёva, Natal'ja L'vovna. Ženščiny drevnej Rusi. Moscow, Mysl', 1989.

NOTES:

[1] Elena Ivanovna was the daughter of Grand Prince of Moscow Ivan III (the Great) and Sofia Paleologue (niece of the last Byzantine Emperor) as well as the sister of Grand Prince of Moscow Vasilij III, father of Ivan IV.

[2] Text available online at the site of O. G. Usenko (consulted September 9, 2019).

ILLUSTRATIONS:

1. Here we see Ksenija Borisovna responding with horror to the death of her mother in Konstantin Makovskij's "Dmitry the Pretender's Agents Murder Boris Godunov's Son" (1862). Courtesy of Russian Wikipedia.

2. Ksenija Borisovna's sapphire ring (from the Museum of the Moscow Kremlin). Photo courtesy of Shakko on Russian Wikipedia (Ksenija Borisovna Godunova). I am also grateful to Shakko for sharing with me information about the provenance of this ring from the Museum's catalog: it was purchased by the Kremlin Armory museum in the 1830s from the Pokrovskii Monastery of Suzdal'; documents from the monastery indicate that it belonged to Ksenja Borisovna (the nun "Ol'ga"), who perhaps died there.

3. This canvas by N. V. Nevrev, depicts "Ksenija Borisovna Godunov Brought to the Pretender" (pre1883). Courtesy of Russian Wikipedia.

4. The Godunov family tomb at the Trinity Lavra in Sergiev Posad. Ksenija's grave is on the far left, marked by her monastic name "Ol'ga." Courtesy of Russian Wikipedia.