After the death of Vasily II the Dark in 1462, his second son Ivan III (1440-1505) ascended the Moscow throne. The new Grand Duke of Moscow received an enviable legacy from his father. All Russian princes were in fact at his complete will. The internecine wars subsided, and the threat from the Golden Horde disappeared. All this was the merit of Vasily the Dark, but the son turned out to be no worse than his father.
Here it is necessary to make a small digression and say that the Khan of the Golden Horde Ulug-Muhammad had three sons - Kasim, Yakub and Makhmutek. The latter, wishing to gain independence, killed his father, captured Kazan and created the Kazan Khanate, which separated from the Horde.
Kasim was a friend of Vasily the Dark. He did a lot to ensure that the Grand Duke returned to the Moscow throne in 1447. For such a service, Vasily gave Kasima a lifetime possession of the city on the Oka, which began to be called Kasimov. It was Kasim who undertook to avenge the death of his father and became the main enemy of Makhmutek.
The Crimean Khanate also separated from the Golden Horde, and the once mighty Jochiev Ulus began to include only the territory adjacent to Sarai. Thus, the Golden Horde ceased to pose a serious threat to Russia. However, Moscow could not ignore the Tatar internecine wars, since they were fought near the Russian border and directly affected the interests of the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
In the struggle between Kasim and Makhmutek, the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III took the most active part. In 1467, a conspiracy arose in the Kazan Khanate. Some Murza, dissatisfied with the rule of Ibrahim (son of Makhmutek), offered Kasim to take the Kazan throne. Kasim, with the support of the Russian army, moved to Kazan, but could not achieve success.
Two years later, after the death of Kasim, the second campaign of the Kasimovites and Russians to Kazan took place. This time Ibrahim made peace on the terms proposed by Ivan III. Thus, Kazan ceased to pose a threat, and the great Moscow prince was able to continue his father's policy towards Veliky Novgorod.
Accession of Novgorod
In Novgorod at that time there were 2 parties: the pro-Moscow and the pro-Lithuanian. The first consisted of the boyars, led by the Boretskys. The second batch consisted of common people. But the boyars had the power and the right to make political decisions. Therefore, in 1471 Veliky Novgorod entered into an alliance with the Grand Duke of Lithuania and the Polish king Casimir Jagellon. He sent his governor to the city and promised protection from Moscow.
In addition, the Golden Horde, which at that time was ruled by Khan Akhmat, entered the anti-Moscow coalition. That is, a military alliance was created against Russia, and Ivan III also began to look for allies. He turned his gaze to the Crimean Khanate, headed by Khan Mengli-Girey. In 1473, Moscow signed an agreement with the Crimean Tatars. They promised to fight the Lithuanians, expecting help from the Muscovites in the fight against Akhmat.
The Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III began the war against the hostile coalition with a campaign against Veliky Novgorod in June 1471. This was not accidental, since in the Russian lands there was strong indignation at the alliance of Novgorod with the Golden Horde and the Lithuanians. Ordinary people looked at such an alliance as a betrayal of the all-Russian cause and compared the campaign of the Moscow prince with Dmitry Donskoy's campaign against Mamai.
With the support of the whole people, Muscovites moved a powerful army to the northern lands, and Prince Daniil Kholmsky headed it. Together with the Russian army, the Tatars marched, led by Tsarevich Daniyar of Kasimov. The decisive battle took place on the Sheloni River on July 14, 1471. The Novgorod militia was commanded by Dmitry Boretsky. His soldiers were well armed, but had little military experience. The Novgorodians also expected help from the Lithuanians, but they never showed up.
As a result, the Novgorod militia was defeated, and the results of the battle on Sheloni were sad for Veliky Novgorod. He completely abandoned long-term plans for an alliance with Lithuania and paid Moscow a monetary contribution, which amounted to more than 15 thousand rubles. All this was negotiated in the peace treaty - the Korostynsky peace, which was concluded on August 11, 1471.
Warriors of Ivan III
However, Ivan III, being an intelligent politician, understood that the successes achieved were clearly not enough. There was a strong Lithuanian party in Novgorod, and Lithuania itself was in alliance with the Golden Horde. Therefore, Novgorod's unquestioning fulfillment of obligations raised doubts. The Moscow prince strove for the complete submission of Novgorod and the overthrow of the Golden Horde.
In 1478, the Grand Duke of Moscow presented new demands to Novgorod and set out on a second campaign. Now the Novgorodians were given tough conditions: there should be no veche, no mayor, and unquestioning obedience to Moscow. This time the resistance of Novgorod was short-lived. The Veche Republic obeyed the will of the Grand Duke and accepted all his demands. The veche bell, a symbol of Novgorod liberty, was removed and taken to Moscow, and noble families were sent to other regions as service people.
This is how the history of the last independent principality of Ancient Rus ended. It was included in the Grand Duchy of Moscow and completely lost its independence. Together with it, the stereotypes of the behavior of Veche Rus' disappeared, that is, a big fat cross was put on the Novgorod democracy, and people retained only the memory of past liberties.
Confrontation of Tver
Not everything went smoothly with the unification of the Russian lands under the leadership of Moscow. In 1484, Prince Mikhail Borisovich of Tver signed an agreement with Kazimir, the Grand Duke of Lithuania. Such an act in Moscow was considered a betrayal and a stab in the back. Ivan III declared war on Tver. The prince of Tver hoped for the help of the Lithuanians, but they did not come, and Mikhail Borisovich was forced to ask for peace.
Meanwhile, the Tver boyars began to abandon their prince in whole families and beat the great Moscow prince with their foreheads, asking to be accepted into the service. Mikhail, having lost the support of his closest entourage, again began to ask for help from Casimir, and this policy completely ruined him. Moscow declared him a traitor. An army was sent to Tver and laid siege to the city. Betrayed by all, Mikhail fled to Lithuania, and the confrontation between Tver ended there.
Confrontation of the Golden Horde
It must be said right away that during the period described, the Golden Horde, as such, no longer existed. The Crimean and Kazan Khanates, the Nogai Horde and others separated from it. Therefore, the territory with the center in Sarajevo began to be called the Great Horde. At the same time, the Horde khans themselves considered themselves the rulers of the Golden Horde, not wanting to understand that only miserable remnants remained of their former greatness.
The Horde were especially negative about the growing power of Russia, which refused to pay tribute in 1473. In the summer of 1480, the khan of the Golden Horde, Akhmat, approached the border river Ugra (northern tributary of the Oka) with his army and became a camp, waiting for help from his Lithuanian ally Casimir.
However, Ivan III, being an experienced and far-sighted politician, foresaw a military confrontation with the Golden Horde. Therefore, he involved the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey. He moved his army to Lithuania, and Casimir was forced to defend his lands from the Tatars. As a result, Akhmat found himself without an ally, and the Russian army approached the other bank of the Ugra. However, both troops did not dare to start the battle. Standing on the Ugra continued until late autumn.
The outcome of the conflict was influenced by the raid of a combined detachment consisting of Russians and Tatars. It was commanded by voivode Nozdrevaty and prince Nur-Daulet-Girey. The detachment went to the rear of the possessions of Khan Akhmat. Upon learning of this, the Golden Horde Khan retreated. After that, the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III expelled the khan's ambassadors and refused to renew the payment of the tribute.
It is easy to understand that the standing on the Ugra was just an episode in the long struggle between Russia and the Golden Horde. And it did not at all signify the overthrow of the Horde yoke. Vasily the Dark stopped reckoning with the Horde, and his son only consolidated his father's progressive undertakings aimed at strengthening and uniting Russia. This was done in alliance with the Crimean Tatars, who in their foreign policy were guided by Moscow.
Standing on the Ugra of the Russian and Tatar troops
It was this alliance that became decisive in the confrontation with the Kazan Khanate. When one of the widows of the Kazan king Ibragim married Mengli-Girey, the son of Ibragim Mahmet-Akhmin laid claim to the Kazan throne. For help, he turned to the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III. He supported the applicant with an army led by Daniel Kholmsky. The allied military forces laid siege to Kazan and established the power of a Moscow protege there.
Likewise, in 1491, the Grand Duchy of Moscow supported Mengli-Girey in his struggle against the children of Akhmat. This marked the beginning of the final collapse of the Golden Horde. The Crimean Khan in 1502 achieved complete victory over the last king of the Great Horde, Shikhmat.
War with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
In 1492, the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Casimir died. After that, his son Alexander was elected Grand Duke of Lithuania. But another son, Jan Albrecht, sat on the Polish throne. As a result, the union of Poland and Lithuania collapsed. The great Moscow prince decided to take advantage of this. Taking advantage of the general confusion, he invaded Lithuanian lands.
As a result, the lands in the upper reaches of the Oka that had been seized earlier by Lithuania were transferred to Moscow. And the results of this military campaign were consolidated by the dynastic marriage between the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander and the daughter of Ivan III Elena. True, soon the war in the northern lands broke out with renewed vigor. The victory in it was won by the Moscow army at the Battle of Vedrosha in 1500.
The lands of the Russian state at the end of the reign of Ivan III on the map
Thus, by the beginning of the 16th century, the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III received the right to call himself the sovereign of all Russia. And there were reasons for this. The entire territory of Ancient Rus, with the exception of the lands seized by Poland, became part of the new and unified Russian state. Now this new state formation was to step into a completely different historical time.
Wives and children of Ivan III
Sovereign of All Russia Ivan III died on October 27, 1505. His son, from his second wife, Vasily III (1479-1533), ascended the throne. In total, the sovereign had 2 wives: Maria Borisovna Tverskaya (1442-1467) and Sophia Fominichna Paleologue (1455-1503). From the first wife there were 2 children - Alexandra and Ivan. The second wife gave birth to 12 children - 7 daughters and 5 sons. Of these, the eldest son Vasily inherited the throne of his father and went down in history as Vasily III. He was the father of Ivan the Terrible.
In the veins of Sophia Palaeologus the blood of the Byzantine emperors of the Palaeologus flowed. That is, this woman was of the most royal origin. But Maria Borisovna came from the Rurik family. She was engaged to the future sovereign at the age of 5, and went to another world very young. Contemporaries characterized her as an intelligent, educated, kind and humble woman.
Sophia Paleologue, though smart, was not popular with the Russian people. She has been described as overly proud, cunning, insidious, and vindictive. Maybe the negative traits of her character were inherited by the future Tsar Ivan the Terrible? There is no specific answer, since heredity is a rather vague and vague concept.
Alexander Semashko
The family affairs of any ruler always have a great influence on the fate of the country. Let us recall the escape of Tsarevich Alexei from Peter I to Austria, or the dynastic crisis of 1825, when it was unclear who was inheriting the deceased Alexander I - Constantine or Nicholas.
Ivan's first wife - the sister of the Tver prince Mikhail Borisovich - died when Ivan was thirty years old. Solovyov writes: "Her body was so swollen that the cover. Which was previously great, but now could not cover the deceased." It is believed that she was poisoned. The prince began to look for a new wife. They learned about it in the West. In 14869 Russia established relations with the Roman Curia. In 1472, Ivan the Third wooed Sophia Palaeologus, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor. The marriage was contracted.
What were the consequences of marriage? Contemporaries noticed that after marriage Ivan became a formidable sovereign. He was the first to receive the nickname Terrible, because he appeared for the princes as a monarch, demanding strict obedience, strictly punishing. He ascended to a royal unattainable height, although he was not yet a king. Before him, everyone is nobody. Before the throne, everything is nothing. This is negative democracy. Solovyov writes: “At one beck of the Terrible, the heads of the seditious boyars lay on the chopping block. This was all at the suggestion of Sophia. Herberstein writes about Sophia:“ This was an unusually cunning woman. According to her suggestion, the Grand Duke did a lot. "The chroniclers report:" According to the suggestion of Sophia, John finally broke with the Horde.
Since Ivan III had a son from his first marriage, Ivan Ivanovich, and Vasily was born from his second marriage, for a long time it was unclear who would be the heir.
Ivan Ivanovich Molodoy (February 15, 1458 - March 7, 1490) - the son of Ivan III Vasilyevich and his first wife Maria Borisovna, daughter of the Grand Duke of Tver Boris Alexandrovich and sister of Mikhail Borisovich who rules in Tver. As the nephew of Mikhail Tverskoy, who had no sons, he could claim the inheritance of the Tver principality. In 1468 he accompanied Ivan III on his campaigns against the Kazan Khanate. Since 1471 - co-ruler of his father (G.V. Vernadsky indicates 1470). Coins of that time were minted with the names of both Moscow rulers. In 1472 and 1477. during his father's campaign against Veliky Novgorod, he ruled (“in charge”) Moscow. Together with his uncle Andrei Vasilyevich the Lesser, he was one of the leaders of the Russian army during the "Standing on the Ugra River" in 1480. In 1483, Ivan Molodoy married the daughter of the Moldavian ruler Stephen III the Great, Elena, nicknamed "Voloshanka" in Russia, which contributed to the strengthening of the military-political alliance with the Moldavian principality.
Ivan Ivanovich, together with his father, went on a campaign against Tver and after its annexation to Moscow in 1485, when his maternal uncle Mikhail Borisovich, who was looking for an alliance with the Poles, was expelled from Tver, became the prince of Tver. In honor of the reign of Ivan the Young, a coin was issued in Tver, depicting him chopping a snake's tail, personifying the betrayal of Mikhail Borisovich.
In 1490 the prince fell ill with "aching legs." The physician Lebi Zhidovin was summoned from Venice, but he could not determine the causes of the disease from which Ivan the Young died on March 7, 1490. The doctor was executed by order of Ivan III for unsuccessful treatment.
The Moscow boyars and courtiers were divided into 2 groups, one of which (in particular the family of Ivan Yuryevich Patrikeev, Prince Semyon Ryapolovsky, etc.) supported Dmitry and his mother Princess Elena Stefanovna, the other - Tsarevich Vasily and his mother - the wife of Ivan III - Sophia Paleologue. In 1497, the so-called conspiracy of Vladimir Gusev was revealed, the participants of which were credited with the intention to kill the Tsarevich. The confrontation ended with the disgrace of Vasily and Sophia. It is noteworthy that the wedding to the kingdom of Dmitry was first described in detail by chroniclers, with all the curious circumstances.
However, later on, the “party” supporting Tsarevich Vasily and Grand Duchess Sophia Paleologue prevailed, and some of the supporters of Dmitry and Elena Stefanovna were executed, the Patrikeevs were tonsured as monks.
Ivan III called Vasily the sovereign, the grand duke of Novgorod and Pskov, but for some time Dmitry was still called the grand prince of Vladimir and Moscow.
In 1502, after Ivan III transferred the inheritance rights to his son Vasily, Dmitry and his mother Elena Stefanovna fell into final disgrace, were imprisoned and their names were forbidden to be mentioned during divine services. Already under Vasily III in 1505, Dmitry was bound in "iron", in close confinement. He died in 1509 and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
Although his son, Ivan the Terrible, is remembered more often, it was Vasily III who largely determined both the vectors of state policy and the psychology of the Russian government, ready to do anything to preserve itself.
Spare king
Vasily III was on the throne thanks to the successful struggle for power, which was carried out by his mother, Sophia Paleologus. Vasily's father, Ivan III, announced his eldest son from his first marriage, Ivan the Young, back in 1470 as his co-ruler. In 1490, Ivan Molodoy suddenly died of illness and two parties began to fight for power: one supported the son of Ivan Molodoy, Dmitry Ivanovich, the other - Vasily Ivanovich. Sofia and Vasily overdid it. Their conspiracy against Dmitry Ivanovich was discovered and they even fell into disgrace, but this did not stop Sofia. She continued to influence the government. There were rumors that she even cast a fortune against Ivan III. Thanks to rumors spread by Sophia, the closest associates of Dmitry Ivanovich fell out of favor with Ivan III. Dmitry began to lose power and also fell into disgrace, and after the death of his grandfather he was shackled and died 4 years later. So Vasily III, the son of a Greek princess, became the Russian tsar.
Solomonia
Vasily III chose his first wife as a result of a show (1,500 brides) during his father's lifetime. She became Solomoniya Saburova, the daughter of a boyar scribe. For the first time in Russian history, the ruling monarch took as his wife not a representative of the princely aristocracy or a foreign princess, but a woman from the upper stratum of "service people". The marriage was fruitless for 20 years and Vasily III went to extreme, unprecedented measures: he was the first of the Russian tsars to exile his wife to a monastery. With regard to children and the inheritance of power, Vasily, accustomed to fight for power in all possible ways, had a "fad". So, fearing that the possible sons of the brothers would become contenders for the throne, Vasily forbade his brothers to marry until he had a son. The son was never born. Who is to blame? Wife. Wife - to the monastery. You have to understand that this was a very controversial decision. Vassian Patrikeev, Metropolitan Barlaam and the Monk Maxim the Greek, who opposed the dissolution of the marriage, were exiled, and for the first time in Russian history the metropolitan was defrocked.
Kudeyar
There is a legend that during the tonsure Solomonia was pregnant, gave birth to a son, George, whom she handed over to “safe hands,” and announced to everyone that the newborn had died. After that, this child became the famous robber Kudeyar, who, with his gang, robbed rich carts. Ivan the Terrible was very interested in this legend. The hypothetical Kudeyar was his older half-brother, which means he could claim power. This story is most likely a folk fiction. The desire to "ennoble the robber", as well as to allow oneself to believe in the illegitimacy of power (and therefore the possibility of its overthrow) is characteristic of the Russian tradition. With us, whatever the chieftain is a legitimate king. As for Kudeyar, a semi-mythical character, there are so many versions of his origin that would be enough for half a dozen chieftains.
Lithuanian
By his second marriage, Vasily III married a Lithuanian, young Elena Glinskaya. "All in a father," he married a foreign woman. Only four years later, Elena gave birth to her first child - Ivan Vasilyevich. According to legend, at the hour of the baby's birth, a terrible thunderstorm seemed to break out. Thunder struck from the clear sky and shook the earth to its foundations. The Kazan khansha, having learned about the birth of the tsar, announced to the Moscow messengers: "A tsar was born to you, and he has two teeth: he will eat us (Tatars) with some, and you with others." This legend is among many, written about the birth of Ivan IV. There were rumors that Ivan was an illegitimate son, but this is unlikely: an examination of the remains of Elena Glinskaya showed that she had red hair. As you know, Ivan was also red. Elena Glinskaya was like the mother of Vasily III, Sophia Palaeologus, with power she ruled no less confidently and passionately. After the death of her husband in December 1533, she became the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Moscow (for this she removed the regents appointed by her husband). Thus, she became the first after the Grand Duchess Olga (except for Sofia Vitovtovna, whose power in many Russian lands outside the Moscow principality was formal) ruler of the Russian state.
Italianomania
Vasily III inherited from his father not only love for strong-willed overseas women, but also love for everything Italian. Italian architects hired by Vasily III built churches and monasteries, kremlins and bell towers in Russia. Vasily Ivanovich's bodyguards also consisted entirely of foreigners, including Italians. They lived in Nalivka, a "German" settlement in the area of modern Yakimanka.
Brave fighter
Vasily III was the first Russian monarch to free himself from chin hair. According to legend, he cut his beard to look younger in the eyes of Elena Glinskaya. It did not last long in a beardless state, but it almost cost Russia independence. While the Grand Duke flaunted his smooth-shaven youth, the Crimean Khan Islyam I Giray, complete with armed, rare-bearded fellow countrymen, came to visit. The case threatened to turn into a new Tatar yoke. But God saved. Immediately after the victory, Vasily again let go of his beard. In order not to wake the dashing.
Fighting non-possessors
The reign of Basil III was marked by the struggle between the "non-possessors" and the "Josephites". For a very short time, Vasily III was close to the "non-possessors", but in 1522, instead of the disgraced Barlaam, a disciple of Joseph Volotskiy and the head of the Josephites, Daniel, was appointed to the metropolitan throne, becoming an ardent supporter of strengthening the grand-ducal power. Vasily III strove to substantiate the divine origin of the grand ducal power, relying on the authority of Joseph Volotskiy, who in his works acted as the ideologist of strong state power and "drevlago piety". This was also facilitated by the increased authority of the Grand Duke in Western Europe. In a treaty (1514) with the emperor of the "Holy Roman Empire" Maximilian, Basil III was even named tsar. Vasily III was cruel to his opponents: in 1525 and 1531. Maxim the Greek was twice condemned, who was imprisoned in a monastery.
Sophia Palaeologus (? -1503), wife (from 1472) of Grand Duke Ivan III, niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI Palaeologus. Arrived in Moscow on November 12, 1472; on the same day, her wedding to Ivan III took place in the Assumption Cathedral. The marriage with Sophia Palaeologus helped to strengthen the prestige of the Russian state in international relations and the authority of the grand ducal power within the country. For Sophia Palaeologus, special mansions and a courtyard were built in Moscow. Under Sophia Palaeologus, the grand ducal court was distinguished by its special splendor. Architects were invited from Italy to Moscow to decorate the palace and the capital. The walls and towers of the Kremlin, the Assumption and Annunciation Cathedrals, the Faceted Chamber, the Terem Palace were erected. Sophia Paleologue brought a rich library to Moscow. The dynastic marriage of Ivan III to Sophia Paleologue owes its appearance to the rite of wedding to the kingdom. The arrival of Sophia Palaeologus is associated with the appearance of an ivory throne in the dynastic regalia, on the back of which was placed the image of a unicorn, which has become one of the most widespread emblems of Russian state power. Around 1490, the first image of a crowned two-headed eagle appeared on the front portal of the Faceted Chamber. The Byzantine concept of the sacredness of the imperial power directly influenced the introduction by Ivan III of "theology" ("God's grace") in the title and in the preamble of state letters.
KURBSKY TO GROZNY ABOUT HIS BABKA
But the abundance of your majesty's malice is such that it destroys not only friends, but together with your guardsmen the entire Russian holy land, a plunderer of houses and a murderer of sons! May God save you from this and the Lord, the king of centuries, will not allow it to be! After all, even then everything is walking along the edge of a knife, because if not sons, then you killed half-brothers and brothers close by birth, overwhelming the measure of bloodsuckers - your father and your mother and grandfather. After all, your father and mother - everyone knows how much they killed. Likewise, your grandfather, with your grandmother, a Greek woman, renouncing and forgetting love and kinship, killed his wonderful son Ivan, courageous and glorified in heroic enterprises, born of his first wife Saint Mary, Princess of Tver, as well as his God-wedded grandson born from him Tsar Demetrius, together with his mother, Saint Helena, - the first with deadly poison, and the second with many years of imprisonment, and then strangulation. But he was not satisfied with this! ..
MARRIAGE OF IVAN III AND SOFIA PALEOLOGIST
On May 29, 1453, the legendary Constantinople, besieged by the Turkish army, fell. The last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI Palaeologus died in battle defending Constantinople. His younger brother Thomas Palaeologus, the ruler of the small appanage state of Morea on the Peloponnese, fled with his family to Corfu and then to Rome. After all, Byzantium, hoping to receive military assistance from Europe in the struggle against the Turks, signed the Florentine Union in 1439 on the unification of the Churches, and now its rulers could ask for asylum at the papal throne. Thomas Palaeologus was able to take out the greatest shrines of the Christian world, including the head of the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called. In gratitude for this, he received a home in Rome and a good boarding school from the papal throne.
In 1465 Thomas died, leaving three children - the sons of Andrew and Manuel and the youngest daughter Zoya. The exact date of her birth is unknown. It is believed that she was born in 1443 or 1449 in the possession of her father in the Peloponnese, where she received an initial education. The Vatican took over the education of the royal orphans, entrusting them to Cardinal Vissarion of Nicea. Greek by birth, a former archbishop of Nicea, he was an ardent supporter of the signing of the Union of Florence, after which he became a cardinal in Rome. He raised Zoe Palaeologus in the European Catholic traditions and especially instructed her to humbly follow the principles of Catholicism in everything, calling her "the beloved daughter of the Roman Church." Only in this case, he suggested to the pupil, fate will grant you everything. However, everything turned out quite the opposite.
In February 1469, the ambassador of Cardinal Vissarion arrived in Moscow with a letter to the Grand Duke, in which he proposed to marry the daughter of the Morey despot. The letter, incidentally, mentioned that Sophia (the name Zoya was diplomatically replaced by the Orthodox Sophia) had already refused to two crowned suitors who were wooing her - the French king and the Duke of Mediolana, not wanting to marry a Catholic ruler.
According to the ideas of that time, Sophia was already considered a middle-aged woman, but she was very attractive, with amazingly beautiful, expressive eyes and delicate matte skin, which in Russia was considered a sign of excellent health. And most importantly, she was distinguished by a sharp mind and an article worthy of a Byzantine princess.
The Moscow sovereign accepted the offer. He sent his ambassador to Rome, the Italian Gian Battista della Volpe (he was nicknamed Ivan Fryazin in Moscow), to woo. The messenger returned a few months later, in November, bringing with him a portrait of the bride. This portrait, which seems to have begun the era of Sophia Palaeologus in Moscow, is considered the first secular image in Russia. At least, they were so amazed that the chronicler called the portrait "an icon", not finding another word: "And bring the princess on the icon."
However, the matchmaking dragged on, because the Moscow Metropolitan Philip had long objected to the marriage of the sovereign with a Uniate woman, who was also a pupil of the papal throne, fearing the spread of Catholic influence in Russia. Only in January 1472, having received the consent of the hierarch, Ivan III sent an embassy to Rome for a bride. Already on June 1, at the insistence of Cardinal Vissarion, a symbolic engagement took place in Rome - the engagement of Princess Sophia and the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan, represented by the Russian ambassador Ivan Fryazin. In the same June, Sophia set off with the honorary retinue and the papal legate Anthony, who soon had to see firsthand the futility of Rome's hopes for this marriage. According to the Catholic tradition, a Latin cross was carried in front of the procession, which caused great confusion and excitement among the inhabitants of Russia. Upon learning of this, Metropolitan Philip threatened the Grand Duke: "If you are allowed in noble Moscow to carry the cross in front of the Latin bishop, he will enter the single gates, and I, your father, will leave the city differently." Ivan III immediately sent the boyar out to meet the procession with the order to remove the cross in the sleigh, and the legate had to obey with great displeasure. The princess herself behaved, as befits the future ruler of Russia. Having entered the Pskov land, she first visited an Orthodox church, where she venerated the icons. The legate had to obey here too: follow her to the church, and there he bowed to the holy icons and venerated the image of the Mother of God on the orders of the despina (from the Greek despot- "ruler"). And then Sophia promised the admired people of Pskov her protection before the Grand Duke.
Ivan III did not intend either to fight for the "inheritance" with the Turks, much less to accept the Union of Florence. And Sophia was not at all going to catholicize Russia. On the contrary, she showed herself to be an active Orthodox. Some historians believe that she didn't care what faith she professed. Others suggest that Sophia, apparently brought up in childhood by the Athonite elders, opponents of the Union of Florence, was deeply Orthodox at heart. She skillfully hid her faith from the powerful Roman "patrons" who did not help her homeland, betraying her to devastation and destruction to the Gentiles. One way or another, this marriage only strengthened Muscovy, contributing to its conversion to the great Third Rome.
In the early morning of November 12, 1472, Sophia Palaeologus arrived in Moscow, where everything was ready for a wedding celebration timed to coincide with the name day of the Grand Duke - the day of memory of St. John Chrysostom. On the same day in the Kremlin, in a temporary wooden church, erected near the Assumption Cathedral under construction, so as not to stop divine services, the sovereign married her. The Byzantine princess saw her husband for the first time. The Grand Duke was young - only 32 years old, handsome, tall and stately. Especially remarkable were his eyes, "formidable eyes": when he was angry, women fainted from his terrible gaze. And before he was distinguished by a tough character, and now, having become related to the Byzantine monarchs, he has turned into a formidable and powerful sovereign. This was not a small merit of his young wife.
A wedding in a wooden church made a strong impression on Sophia Palaeologus. The Byzantine princess, brought up in Europe, differed in many ways from Russian women. Sophia brought with her her ideas about the court and the power of the authorities, and many of the Moscow orders did not suit her. She did not like that her sovereign husband remained a tributary of the Tatar khan, that the boyar entourage behaved too freely with their sovereign. That the Russian capital, built entirely of wood, stands with patched up walls and dilapidated stone churches. That even the sovereign's mansions in the Kremlin are wooden and that Russian women are looking at the world from the window of the fire-lights. Sophia Paleologue not only made changes at court. Some Moscow monuments owe their appearance to her.
She brought a generous dowry to Russia. After the wedding, Ivan III adopted the Byzantine double-headed eagle, a symbol of royal power, into the coat of arms, and placed it on his seal. The two heads of the eagle are turned to the West and East, Europe and Asia, symbolizing their unity, as well as the unity ("symphony") of spiritual and secular power. Sophia's actual dowry was the legendary "Liberia" - a library allegedly brought on 70 carts (better known as "the library of Ivan the Terrible"). It included Greek parchments, Latin chronographs, ancient Eastern manuscripts, among which were the poems of Homer unknown to us, the works of Aristotle and Plato, and even surviving books from the famous Alexandrian library. Seeing wooden Moscow, burnt down after a fire in 1470, Sophia was frightened for the fate of the treasure and for the first time hid the books in the basement of the stone church of the Nativity of the Virgin on Seny - the home church of the Moscow Grand Duchesses, built by order of Saint Eudokia, the widow. And, according to Moscow custom, she put her own treasury into the underground of the Kremlin Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist - the very first church in Moscow, which stood until 1847.
According to legend, she brought a “bone throne” with her as a gift to her husband: its wooden frame was covered with plates of ivory and walrus with biblical subjects carved on them. This throne is known to us as the throne of Ivan the Terrible: the tsar is depicted on it by the sculptor M. Antokolsky. In 1896, the throne was installed in the Assumption Cathedral for the coronation of Nicholas II. But the sovereign ordered to put it on for Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (according to other sources - for his mother, Empress Dowager Maria Feodorovna), and he himself wished to be crowned on the throne of the first Romanov. And now the throne of Ivan the Terrible is the oldest in the Kremlin collection.
Sophia also brought with her several Orthodox icons, including, as it is assumed, a rare icon of the Mother of God "Blessed Sky" ... And even after the wedding of Ivan III, an image of the Byzantine Emperor Michael III, the founder of the Paleologus dynasty, with which the Moscow rulers. Thus, the continuity of Moscow with the Byzantine Empire was affirmed, and the Moscow sovereigns were presented as the heirs of the Byzantine emperors.
The Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow, the sovereign of all Russia, who ruled from 1505 to 1533. In a treaty with the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, for the first time in the history of Russia, he was named the Emperor of the Rus. He continued his father's policy of strengthening and centralizing the Russian state, and fought against the feudal opposition. Father .
Under Vasily III, the last semi-independent estates and principalities joined Moscow. The Grand Duke limited the privileges of the princely-boyar aristocracy. He became famous for the victorious war against Lithuania.
Childhood and youth
The future emperor of the Rus was born in the spring of 1479. They named the grand-ducal offspring in honor of Basil the Confessor, at baptism they gave the Christian name Gabriel. Vasily III is the first son born to her husband Sophia Palaeologus, and the second in seniority. At the time of his birth, his half-brother was 21 years old. Later, Sophia gave birth to her wife four more sons.
The path of Vasily III to the throne was thorny: Ivan the Young was considered the main heir and successor of the sovereign. The second rival to the throne was the son of Ivan the Young - Dmitry, who was favored by his august grandfather.
In 1490, the eldest son of Ivan III died, but the boyars did not want to see Vasily on the throne and sided with Dmitry and his mother Elena Voloshanka. The second wife of Ivan III, Sophia Palaeologus, and her son were supported by the clerks and boyar children who led the orders. Basil's supporters pushed him to a conspiracy, advising the prince to kill Dmitry Vnuk and, having seized the treasury, flee from Moscow.
The people of the sovereign uncovered the conspiracy, those involved were executed, and Ivan III put the rebellious son into custody. Suspecting his wife Sophia Palaeologus of bad intentions, the Grand Duke of Moscow began to be wary of her. Having learned that the witch doctors are coming to his wife, the emperor ordered to seize the "dashing women" and drown them under cover of night in the Moscow River.
In February 1498, Dmitry was crowned to reign, but a year later the pendulum swung in the opposite direction: the sovereign's mercy left his grandson. Vasily, at the behest of his father, took Novgorod and Pskov into reign. In the spring of 1502, Ivan III imprisoned his daughter-in-law Elena Voloshanka and grandson Dmitry, and blessed Vasily for the great reign and declared all Russia an autocrat.
Governing body
In domestic politics, Vasily III was an adherent of harsh rule and believed that power should not be limited to anything. He immediately dealt with the disaffected boyars and relied on the church in opposition to the opposition. But in 1521, Metropolitan Barlaam came under the hot hand of the Grand Duke of Moscow: for his unwillingness to take the side of the autocrat in the struggle against the appanage prince Vasily Shemyakin, the priest was exiled.
Vasily III considered criticism unacceptable. In 1525, he executed the diplomat Ivan Bersen-Beklemishev: the statesman did not accept the Greek innovations introduced into the life of Russia by the mother of the sovereign Sophia.
Over the years, the despotism of Vasily III intensified: the sovereign, increasing the number of land nobility, limited the privileges of the boyars. The son and grandson continued the centralization of Russia begun by Father Ivan III and grandfather Vasily the Dark.
In church policy, the new sovereign sided with the Josephites, who defended the monasteries' right to own land and property. Their non-covetous opponents were executed or imprisoned in monastic cells. During the reign of Father Ivan the Terrible, a new Code of Laws appeared, which has not survived to this day.
In the era of Vasily III Ivanovich, a construction boom fell, which was initiated by his father. The Archangel Cathedral appeared in the Moscow Kremlin, and the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Kolomenskoye.
The two-storey traveling palace of the tsar, one of the oldest monuments of civil architecture in the Russian capital, has also survived to this day. There were many such small palaces ("putinks"), in which Vasily III and the entourage accompanying the tsar rested before entering the Kremlin, but only the palace on Staraya Basmannaya has survived.
Opposite the "putinka" there is another architectural monument - the temple of Nikita the Martyr. It appeared in 1518 at the behest of Vasily III and was originally made of wood. In 1685, a stone church was built in its place. They prayed under the arches of the ancient temple, Fedor Rokotov,.
In foreign policy, Vasily III was noted as a collector of Russian lands. At the beginning of his reign, the Pskovites were asked to join them to the Moscow principality. The tsar dealt with them, as Ivan III had done with Novgorodians earlier: he resettled 3 hundred noble families from Pskov to Moscow, giving their estates to servicemen.
After the third siege in 1514, Smolensk was taken, for the conquest of which Vasily III used artillery. The annexation of Smolensk was the Tsar's largest military success.
In 1517, the tsar put into custody the last prince of Ryazan, Ivan Ivanovich, who had conspired with the Crimean Khan. Soon he was tonsured a monk, and his inheritance was "extended" to the Moscow principality. Then Starodubskoe and Novgorod-Severskoe princedoms surrendered.
At the beginning of his reign, Vasily III made peace with Kazan, and after breaking the agreement, he set out on a campaign against the khanate. The war with Lithuania was crowned with success. The result of the reign of the sovereign of all Russia Vasily Ivanovich was the strengthening of the country, they learned about it beyond the distant borders. Relations were established with France and India.
Personal life
Ivan III married his son a year before his death. It was not possible to find a noble spouse: Solomonia Saburova, a girl of a non-boyar family, was chosen as Vasily's wife.
At the age of 46, Vasily III was seriously concerned that his wife did not give him an heir. The boyars advised the tsar to divorce the barren Solomonia. Metropolitan Daniel approved the divorce. In November 1525, the Grand Duke parted with his wife, who was tonsured as a nun at the Nativity Convent.
After the tonsure, rumors flared up that the ex-wife imprisoned in the monastery gave birth to a son, Georgy Vasilyevich, but there is no convincing evidence of this. According to popular rumor, the grown-up son of Saburova and Vasily Ivanovich became a robber Kudeyar, sung in Nekrasov's "Song of the Twelve Thieves".
A year after the divorce, the nobleman opted for the daughter of the late Prince Glinsky. The girl conquered the king with her education and beauty. For the sake of the prince even shaved off his beard, which was contrary to Orthodox traditions.
4 years passed, and the second wife did not give the long-awaited heir to the king. The Emperor and his wife went to the Russian monasteries. It is believed that the prayers of Vasily Ivanovich and his wife were heard by the Monk Paphnutius Borovsky. In August 1530, Elena gave birth to her first child, Ivan, the future Ivan the Terrible. A year later, a second boy appeared - Yuri Vasilievich.
Death
The tsar did not enjoy fatherhood for long: when the first-born was 3 years old, the sovereign fell ill. On the way from the Trinity Monastery to Volokolamsk, Vasily III discovered an abscess on his thigh.
After the treatment, there was a short relief, but after a couple of months the doctor made a verdict that only a miracle could save Vasily: the patient began to get blood poisoning.
Tomb of Vasily III (right) In December, the king died, blessing the firstborn to the throne. The remains are buried in the Moscow Archangel Cathedral.
Researchers assume that Vasily III died of cancer in the last stage, but in the 16th century, doctors did not know about such a disease.
Memory
- During the reign of Vasily III, a new Code of Law was created, the Archangel Cathedral, the Church of the Ascension of the Lord were built.
- In 2007, Alexey Shishov published his research "Vasily III: The Last Collector of the Russian Land."
- In 2009, the premiere of the series "Ivan the Terrible" by the director took place, in which the role of Vasily III went to the actor.
- In 2013, Alexander Melnik's book "The Moscow Grand Duke Vasily III and the Cults of Russian Saints" was published.