Alexandra Bryachislavna

Alexandra Bryachislavna (in some sources Paraskeva) was a princess of Polotsk, daughter of Prince Bryachislav Vasilkovich, and wife of Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky. She is a locally venerated saint of the Vladimir diocese and, it is believed, bore the name Vassa in monastic life. Her commemoration is on 23 November (6 December by the new calendar) and on 23 June (6 July), in the Synaxis of the Saints of Vladimir. Our record gives the birth year 1250, which does not fit: she was Alexander's wife already in 1238 or 1239.

She was the wife of Alexander Yaroslavich, then prince of Novgorod and future grand prince of Vladimir, known as Nevsky, from 1238 or 1239. She was buried in the Dormition cathedral of the Princess's Dormition Convent in Vladimir.

They had four sons and a daughter. The sons were: Vasily (before 1245 to 1271), prince of Novgorod; Dimitry (1250 to 1294), prince of Novgorod (1260 to 1263), prince of Pereslavl, grand prince of Vladimir in 1276 to 1281 and 1283 to 1293; Andrei (about 1255 to 1304), prince of Kostroma, grand prince of Vladimir, prince of Novgorod and of Gorodets; and Daniil (1261 to 1303), prince of Moscow, founder of the dynasty of the Danilovichi. The daughter, Evdokia, was the wife of Prince Constantine Rostislavich of Smolensk.

Alexandra Bryachislavna became a character in Dmitry Balashov's novel "The Youngest Son", from the cycle "Sovereigns of Moscow", and in the film "Alexander: The Battle of the Neva" (Russia, 2008), where she was played by Svetlana Bakulina.