ANNA YAROSLAVNA IN THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE LITERATURE (THE SECOND HALF OF THE 15th - 16th CENTURY): BIRTH OF ANNA OF RUSSIA

The article is devoted to the evolution of the image of Anna Yaroslavna in the French historical works of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance epoch: from a princess from an unknown country to a French Queen from the Old Rus, which was identified by the authors of that period as Muscovite Russia. A version is put forward about the interest of French kings in studying the Russian history and the history of relations with Russian monarchs, related to the discovery of family ties between the Rurikids and Valois through Anna Yaroslavna, as well as about support of those historians who wrote about this in line with royal politics. The history of emergence of the coat of arms of Anna Yaroslavna and the historiographical birth of Anna of Russia is also traced.