Princess Elena of Moldavia (, also known as Princess Elena of Wallachia, ; full name: Elena Voloshanka Stefanovna; 1464/1466 – 18 January 1505), was a Moldavian Princess, as a daughter of Stephen III, who later became Grand Princess of Moscow as the wife of Ivan the Young.
Biography
Elena was born in 1464/66 ca. Her parents were Stephen III "the Great", Sovereign Prince of Moldavia, and his first (or second) wife Princess Evdochia of Kiev.
Negotiations to marry her to Ivan Ivanovich "the Young", heir to the throne of Moscow, began in the late 1470s. Elena married Ivan the Young on 12 January 1483, giving birth to Prince Dmitry Ivanovich on 10 October 1483. After the death of her spouse in 1490, her son was appointed the next heir to the throne. She actively participated in politics at court to protect her son's interests and rights to succession against Sophia Palaiologina, the stepmother of her late spouse, who wished for her son to be appointed heir.
In 1502, the "Sophia faction" defeated the "Elena faction": Elena was transferred to a prison in Moscow with her son, where she was poisoned and died on 18 January 1505.
References
Мохов Н. А. Молдавия эпохи феодализма. — Кишинёв: Картя Молдовеняскэ, 1964. — С. 196–197.