I 62 Giedrė Mickūnaitė Shown and Seen Betrothed by proxy to Alexander in Moscow upon the condition that she would remain Orthodox in her marital home,7 Helena left for Lithuania with a large retinue and wagons of goods. The accoutrement list compiled upon her departure from Moscow on January 15, 14958 included not only the full wedding garb for the bride and textiles for the nuptial chamber, but also a Muscovite costume for the groom, not to speak of the gifts from the in-laws. Records have indicated the size of Helena’s provisions, and Russel E. Martin, having analyzed their value, concluded that “the exorbitant cost of this wedding, if accurately reported in the inventory, must have put a pinch on finances for quite some time afterward”.9 On February 15, 1495,10 Helena approached Vilnius, instructed and equipped to remain a Muscovite princess in her future role as grand duchess of Lithuania.11 As the bride neared the Lithuanian capital, the groom sent her a chariot driven by eight dapple-grey horses, but Helena refused to change vehicles and continued her journey on Muscovite wheels. Three miles out of the city, Alexander rode to greet his bride, and the nuptial train continued together as it entered Vilnius, splitting after passing through the city gates. Helena and her entourage diverted for the Orthodox Church of the Most Pure Mother of God. There she was greeted by Metropolitan Makarii and the bridal rituals were performed. Alexander proceeded to the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Sts. Stanislaus and Wladislaus to wait for his bride. Helena and her retinue, led by Priest Foma carrying an Orthodox cross, approached the cathedral, where the Bishop of Vilnius Albert Tabor stood holding a Latin cross, ready to conduct the Catholic wedding. (Cracow, 2001), 157–97; Margarita E. Bychkova, “Velikaya kniazhna Elena Ivanovna v Moskve i v Vil’no,” in Didysis Kunigaikštis Aleksandras ir jo epocha, eds. Dalia Steponavičienė and Robertas Petrauskas (Vilnius, 2007), 86–92. 7 The earliest direct reference to negotiations comes from a letter of Jan Zaberezinski to Ivan Yur’evich on November 11, 1492, Sbornik Imperatorskogo Russkogo Istoricheskogo Obshchestva, vol. 35, Pamiatniki diplomaticheskikh snoshenii drevnei Rossii s derzhavami inostrannymi (St. Petersburg, 1882), no. 17, 71; to be followed by a note in Lithuanian Chancellery of November 6, 1493, Lietuvos metrika, vol. 5, Užrašymų knyga 5 (1427–1506), eds. Algirdas Baliulis, Artūras Dubonis, and Darius Antanavičius (Vilnius, 2012), no. 307, 195; and finalized in the note of thanks to Alexander’s envoy Litovar Khrebtovich, Vilnius, June 11, 1494, Lietuvos metrika, vol. 6, Užrašymų knyga 6 (1494–1506), ed. Algirdas Baliulis (Vilnius, 2007), no. 34, 72. 8 A fragment of the four folios of the original list of accoutrements is preserved, and has been published by Anna L. Khoroshkevich, “Iz istorii dvortsovogo deloproizvodstva kontsa XV v. Opis’ pridanogo velikoi kniaznhy Eleny Ivanovny 1495 g.,” Sovetskie arkhivy (1984), www.vostlit.info/Texts/Dokumenty/Russ/XV/1480-1500/Elena_Ivanovna/opis_pridanogo_1495.htm [accessed June 12, 2020]. Two later copies of the list have been preserved in the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, MS 16.15.15, ff. 1r –26v (later seventeenth c.) and MS 32.4.21 “O Brakakh drevnikh”, ff. 6r –23v (later eighteenth c.). For the English discussion of the content of these lists, see Russell E. Martin, “Gifts for the Bride: Dowries, Diplomacy, and Marriage Politics in Muscovy,” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 38 (2008): 119–45. The accuracy of the copies should not be doubted, as the content coincides with the surviving fragment of the original, and other items are mentioned in the wedding report. See Sbornik, vol. 35, no. 35.I, 186. 9 Martin, “Gifts for the Bride,” 129. 10 Records say that Helena entered Vilnius on Sunday. Hence, it should have been February 17, 1495. 11 Sbornik, vol. 35, no. 31.III, 163.
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