BIOGRAPHY
Ingegerd was born about 1001 in Uppsala, daughter of Olof III 'Skötkonung', king of Sweden, and Estrid of the Obotrites. In February 1019 Ingegerd married Jaroslav I Vladimirovitch, Grand Duke of Kiev, son of St. Vladimir I 'the Great, Grand Duke of KIev, and Ragneda Ravalodovna of Polotsk. After winning a civil war with his brothers the same year, Jaroslav became the sole ruler of Kievan Rus'. Jaroslav's realm included most of what later generations would call the Soviet Union west of the Urals.

The marriage of Jaroslav and Ingegerd was very happy and produced at least ten children of whom five sons and three daughters would have progeny. Jaroslav's reign is remembered as a golden age. Determined to turn his capital into a 'Byzantium on the Dnieper', Jaroslav built the new city of Kiev. There were several new churches and many more were built throughout the country. Jaroslav also opened Kievan Rus' to Greek evangelists, and by the end of his reign, Russia's conversion to Christianity was complete.

Ingegerd became an important adviser to Jaroslav and sometimes accompanied him on his military campaigns. She was a well educated woman for her time and drew the first sketches of the structure that would become the greatest monument to her and her husband. Located in Kiev and originally called the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom, it still stands today and is known as the Cathedral of St. Sophia.

Near the end of her life Ingegerd became a nun and entered a convent she had founded in Kiev. She took the new name of Anna and died there on 10 February 1050, four years before her husband. Today, Ingegerd's remains rest together with those of Jaroslav in a large stone sarcophagus in the Cathedral of St. Sophia.

Ingegerd sometimes called St. Anna of Novgorod was the first Swedish woman to be declared a saint.