Andrei Kobyla

Andrei Ivanovich Kobyla (Андрей Иванович Кобыла; died after 1347) was a boyar and the earliest-known agnatic ancestor of the Romanov dynasty of Russian tsars and many Russian noble families.

Biography
Andrei Kobyla was documented in contemporary Russian chronicles only once, in 1347, when he was sent by Simeon of Moscow to Tver with the purpose of meeting Simeon's bride, who was a daughter of Aleksandr Mikhailovich of Tver. Neither his pedigree nor exact position at court are known, hence speculation abounds.

Later generations assigned to Kobyla the most illustrious pedigrees. They first claimed that he had arrived in Moscow in 1341 from Prussia, where his father, Glanda Kambila, was a famous Prussian holdout against the conquest of Balts by the Teutonic knights. Teutonic Order records do speak of a rebel named Glande.

In the late 17th century, after the Romanov's elevation to Russia's ruling dynasty, this origin story was replaced by a more grandiose lineage. A fictional line giving Andrei Kobyla's descent from Julius Caesar was published. 16th-century genealogies mention five of Andrei's sons: Simeon Zherebets, Alexander Yolka, Vasily Vantey, Gavrila Gavsha, and Fyodor Koshka.