Biography
Helena was the daughter of Ivan III, Grand Prince of Moscow, and Sophia Palaiologina, niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos. Helena was a younger sister of Grand Prince of Moscow Vasili III of Russia.
In 1494, Alexander Jagiellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania, sent a delegation to Moscow to negotiate peace in the first Muscovite–Lithuanian War. As part of the peace treaty, Helena was betrothed to Alexander. On February 15, 1495, the marriage ceremony was held in the Cathedral of the Theotokos in Vilnius, in the presence of Macarius, Metropolitan of Kiev.
Her father forbade Helena to convert to Catholicism. As an adherent to the Eastern Orthodox Church beliefs she was ineligible to become Queen of Poland and was never crowned. These religious differences created tension in the court and gave Ivan III an excuse to interfere in Lithuanian affairs accusing Alexander of mistreating Helena and repressing Orthodox believers. This became the pretext to renew the Muscovite–Lithuanian War in 1500. The war ended with a truce in 1503; the Grand Duchy of Lithuania lost about a third of its territory.
Despite political tensions, the marriage was a loving one. Helena had two pregnancies (in 1497 and 1499), but both ended in miscarriages. The second miscarriage left her severely ill and unable to bear children. Alexander died in August 1506. Helena's brother Vasili III attempted to use her influence in an unsuccessful bid to become King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. The war between Lithuania and Moscow resumed. Helena wanted to return to Moscow, but Sigismund I the Old would not allow her. When she attempted to secretly run away to Bryansk, she was arrested and held in Trakai and later Birštonas. Such treatment of the widow angered her brother Vasili III and became a pretext for another war between Lithuania and Moscow. According to a rumor, she was poisoned by Mikołaj Radziwiłł. She was buried in the Cathedral of the Theotokos in Vilnius.
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