Uliana of Tver (Julijona Tverietė)¶

Summary¶

Uliana of Tver (Lith. Julijona Tverietė, born in the 1320s or early 1330s; died 17 Mar 1391) is Algirdas’s second wife, Orthodox, and the mother of Jogaila, Skirgaila, Švitrigaila and Kaributas. She is the dynast of the Algirdaičiai who sees to it that her sons, not Maria of Vitebsk’s, inherit in 1377. In Book VI she is called Uliana and learns to count horses in her first winter at Vilnius.

Uliana of Tver (Julijona Tverietė), Algirdas’s second wife


Type	character
Years	c. 1325–1391
Status	Historical record
Note	Mother of Jogaila, Skirgaila, Kaributas, Švitrigaila and others; Orthodox, a dynast who steered the 1377 succession; died 17 Mar 1391 (en.wikipedia, Uliana of Tver). Not Julijona Alšėniškė (Vytautas’s wife).

Record vs saga¶

[Historical record]: Daughter of Alexander of Tver, married to Algirdas around 1349–50, died on 17 March 1391; her exact birth date, marriage month and children’s birth order are reconstructed rather than settled; Jan Tęgowski gives her eight sons and seven daughters, the birth order disputed. Sources conflict on whether she took the veil, at the Holy Spirit monastery in Vitebsk or at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra (en.wikipedia, Uliana of Tver). The novel reconstructs the private succession discussion and a secret infant Jakov ceremony; neither is a surviving transcript or verified baptism record. See Baronas’s family study.
[The saga’s invention]: Her private conversations and Moscow marriage-brokering in 1384 (the offer itself is attested; the bride’s name is not secure).

Not to be confused with¶

Julijona Alšėniškė, Vytautas’s second wife (married 1418), a different woman.

Appearances¶

Book VI: ch. 15, 20, 25, 27, 28, 29 (as Uliana). She is mentioned, not shown, in Books I-II.

Relations

Member of: Algirdaičiai (Algirdas’s line)

Parent of: Jogaila · Kaributas · Skirgaila · Švitrigaila

Spouse: Algirdas (1349–1377)

Connections¶

graph LR
  algirdaiciai["Algirdaičiai (Algirdas's line)"]
  algirdas["Algirdas"]
  jogaila["Jogaila"]
  kaributas["Kaributas"]
  skirgaila["Skirgaila"]
  svitrigaila["Švitrigaila"]
  uliana_tver["Uliana of Tver (Julijona Tverietė), Algirdas's second wife"]
  uliana_tver -->|Parent of| jogaila
  uliana_tver -->|Parent of| skirgaila
  uliana_tver -->|Parent of| svitrigaila
  uliana_tver -->|Parent of| kaributas
  uliana_tver -->|Member of| algirdaiciai
  algirdas -->|Spouse| uliana_tver
  style uliana_tver stroke-width:3px