Controversy. According to an account written in the mid-twelfth century, because Henry forced Eupraxia-Adelaide to take part in orgies, when she became pregnant she was unable to tell who the father of her child was. Eupraxia-Adelaide thus decided to leave Henry. Christian Raffensperger has suggested that there might be some truth to this story, based on a reference to the death of one of Henry’s sons in Donizo’s Vita Mathildis (written c.1115). Since Henry’s children by his first wife Bertha are accounted for, according to Raffensperger this could be a child by Eupraxia-Adelaide (alternatively, it could be a reference to a child by a mistress, or simply a mistake). Later life Eupraxia-Adelaide left Italy for Hungary, where she lived until 1099, when she returned to Kiev. After Henry's death in 1106 she became a nun until her own death in 1109. Notes References G. Vernadsky, Kievan Rus (New Haven, 1976). C. Raffensperger, ‘Evpraksia Vsevolodovna between East and West,’ Russian History/Histoire Russe 30:1–2 (2003), 23-34. C. Raffensperger, 'The Missing Russian Women: The Case of Evpraksia Vsevolodovna,' in Writing Medieval Women's Lives (ed. Goldy, Livingstone) (2012), pp. H. Rüß, ‘Eupraxia-Adelheid. Eine biographische Annäherung,‘ Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas 54 (2006), 481–518 I. S. Robinson, Henry IV of Germany, 1056-1106 (Cambridge, 2003). G. Althoff, Heinrich IV (Darmstadt, 2006). External links Medieval Lands Project Adelaide of Kiev, c.1070-1109 (subscription required) Praxedis-Adelheid von Kiev, Deutsche Deutsche Königin (in German) Women of Ancient Rus (in Russian) 11th-century births 1109 deaths Kievan Rus' princesses Rurik dynasty Christian anti-Gnosticism Salian dynasty Holy Roman Empresses 11th-century Rus' people 11th-century Rus' women 12th-century Rus' people 12th-century Rus' women 11th-century women of the Holy Roman Empire 11th-century German women Remarried royal consorts