Dobrodeia of Kiev

Born in Kiev in the early years of the 12th century, Dobrodeia was the daughter of Mstislav of Kiev and Christina Ingesdotter of Sweden.[1] In or shortly after 1122, she married Alexios Komnenos, the eldest son and co-emperor of Byzantine emperor John II Komnenos (r. 1118–1143). She received the title of empress (basilissa), and the name of Irene, after her mother-in-law, Empress Irene of Hungary.[2] She and Alexios had one daughter, Maria, who was born c. 1125.[3]

In the imperial court of Constantinople, she became a part of a circle of women intellectuals, notably Alexios' aunt Anna Comnena, and the noblewoman Irene, known as a patron of astrologers and scholars.[1] She was encouraged to find her own scholarly interest, studied extensively and was described by contemporaries: "She was not born in Athens, but she learned all the wisdom of the Greeks".[1] The writer Theodore Balsamon noted that she "displayed a fascination with healing methods" and that she formulated medical salves and described their efficiency in a treatise on entitled "Ointments" (Greek "Alimma"), which is regarded as the first treatise on medicine written by a woman. Fragments of this work are kept in the Medici Library in Florence.[1] She studied the ancient physician Galen, and translated some of his works into Russian.[1]

She died, of unknown causes, on 16 November 1131.[3] Following her death, Alexios Komnenos is believed to have married his next spouse Kata of Georgia.[4]

• Timeline of women in science

• Pushkareva, Natalia (1997). Women in Russian History: From the Tenth to the Twentieth Century. Translated by Eve Levin. New York and London: M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 1-56324-797-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Varzos, Konstantinos (1984). Η Γενεαλογία των Κομνηνών [The Genealogy of the Komnenoi] (PDF) (in Greek). A. Thessaloniki: Centre for Byzantine Studies, University of Thessaloniki. OCLC 834784634.