Dynastic War
The reign of the son of Vasily I, Vasily II, who received the nickname Dark in history, is a difficult period in the development of the Moscow principality. This time is, as it were, a transitional stage from the era of Moscow's self-assertion as the head of the Russian lands to the heyday of Moscow's great power under Ivan III and Vasily III. This transition was accompanied by a tragic fracture, expressed, first of all, in a quarter-century internecine war between two families of the Kalita clan. This strife for primacy and power over Russia brought great troubles to the Moscow principality, but it was able to get out of it even stronger and more tempered. At the same time, Tatar activity continues, although the issue of relations between the Horde and Moscow is no longer as acute as before. Nevertheless, the Horde was still quite a formidable force, and Vasily II had to be the last of the Moscow princes to go there for a label. The situation at the beginning of Vasily's reign was also complicated by the fact that by the time of his accession to the grand prince's table, the prince was only 10 years old, and, of course, he was alone, without help. dedicated people could not keep the power in his hands.
Vasily Vasilyevich was born on March 10, 1415, and his birth, according to the chroniclers, was accompanied by remarkable phenomena. On the birthday of her son, Sofya Vitovtovna became so ill that it seemed that she was about to die. Vasily I sent to the monastery of St. John the Baptist, which is beyond the Moscow River, to an old man known for his righteous life, so that he would pray for the health of the princess. The elder replied that Sophia would be healthy and that evening she would give birth to a son, which came true. Immediately after the baby was born in the cell of the Grand Duke's confessor in the Spassky Monastery, someone knocked and said: "Go, give the name to Grand Duke Vasily." Opening the door, the confessor, however, did not find anyone, but decided to go to the Grand Duke's palace anyway. By naming the prince, the holy father tried to find out who had sent for him before, but he could not get an answer from anyone. Thus, as if by God's providence, the name of the newborn was indicated.
After the death of Vasily I, since the new Moscow prince was still a child, real political power was concentrated in the hands of his energetic and power-hungry mother, Sophia Vitovtovna, as well as the active Metropolitan Photius and the boyar Ivan Dmitrievich Vsevolozhsky, who began to play big role at the Moscow court. The situation was complicated by the fact that the young prince had several uncles, among whom Yuri (Georgy) Dmitrievich, the prince of Zvenigorod, who inherited the passionarity of his great father, Dmitry Donskoy, stood out in particular.
From the very first days of the reign of Vasily II, Yuri acted as a contender for the Moscow Grand Duke's table. There were some reasons for this. In his claims, the prince relied on the will of Dmitry Donskoy. The fact is that in this testament, written shortly before the death of the hero of the Battle of Kulikovo, in 1389, there was such a place: “And by sin God will take away my son Prince Vasily, and who will be my son, otherwise my son Prince Vasilyev inheritance, and that inheritance will be divided by my princess. That is, in the event of the death of Vasily I, the Moscow table was to go to the next oldest son of Dmitry Donskoy, which was Yuri. Donskoy's intentions can be easily explained: he wanted the Moscow table to remain in his family, and not pass, for example, to Vladimir the Brave, that is, to another branch of the Kalita family. When the spiritual was compiled, Vasily I was not yet married and had no children. Also, the other sons of Dmitry Donskoy had no descendants. Therefore, Donskoy spoke only about his children, and not about grandchildren who had not yet been born. Vasily I, dying, passed on his legacy to his son. Thus, there was a contradiction between the two documents. When Yuri made a claim to the table, he literally interpreted his father's will, not based on its inner meaning. Vasily II proceeded, on the contrary, from the real state of affairs. It seems that Yuri was aware of the incorrectness of his claims, but decided to "cling" to the letter of the spiritual literacy, which was 35 years old. Yuri Dmitrievich was a man who had already passed the 50-year mark of his life, and had four young, already independent sons aged 20-24 years old, who strove for self-affirmation. In general, this whole family represented great danger for the young Vasily.
Immediately after the death of Vasily I, Metropolitan Photius sent his boyar Akinf Oslebyatev to Zvenigorod. The envoy was supposed to invite Yuri to the capital to take the oath to the new prince. The choice of the ambassador was successful - a relative of the hero of the Battle of Kulikovo, Oslyabi, was supposed to inspire confidence in the son of Dmitry Donskoy. However, Yuri declined the invitation. Fearing, perhaps, a trap, he not only did not go to Moscow, but also left Zvenigorod, going to distant Galich. This was the beginning of the Moscow strife of 1425-1453. Already from Galich, Yuri sent his ambassadors to Moscow to ask for a temporary truce until the end of June, to which he received a positive response. Yuri used this respite to prepare for the implementation of his insidious plans. Troops loyal to Yuri began to gather in Galich to march on Moscow.
But even in Moscow they "did not doze off." With the support of his other uncles, who were then in the capital, Vasily managed to gather a large militia. It moved towards Kostroma, thus wishing to forestall Yuri's actions. Yuri, obviously, was not ready to fight and fled to Nizhny Novgorod, and from there even further - across the Sura River. His younger brother Konstantin Dmitrievich was sent in pursuit of the rebellious prince. But his actions were not successful, he soon returned to Moscow, where the ambassadors of Yuri then arrived, who returned, when the danger had passed, to Galich. The Zvenigorod prince again asked Vasily for a truce for a year.
In June 1425, Metropolitan Photius left for Galich, who was supposed to negotiate peace with Yuri, and not a temporary truce. Yuri Dmitrievich gathered a lot of people from his cities and villages and placed them on a country mountain, along which the metropolitan was passing. Thus, Yuri wanted to show the metropolitan, and at the same time the Moscow prince, that he had significant forces for the war with Moscow. Arriving in Galich, Photius prayed in the cathedral church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, and then, glancing over the crowd of people, turned to Yuri with following words: “... to my son, I don’t see a table of people in sheep’s wool, I’m all byahu in sermyags.” The metropolitan's caustic remark negated the intended effect of the demonstration staged by Yuri. Photius spoke with the prince about peace, while Yuri insisted only on a truce. The prince needed it in order to accumulate strength and start negotiations in the Horde.
It should be noted that Yuri decided in his future policy to try to use the authority of the Horde, which still remained terrible force. According to the Zvenigorod prince, the approval of the great prince of Moscow and Vladimir should have taken place at the behest of the Golden Horde Khan. In this case, Yuri would look like a law-abiding ruler devoted to the khan, and Vasily would look like a rebel and apostate. The negotiations ended in a break. Photius left the city in anger and did not give his blessing to either Yuri or his supporters. At this time, a pestilence suddenly began in Galich. Yuri, attaching great importance to this as a punishment for contradicting the metropolitan, quickly mounted his horse and set off in pursuit. He overtook Photius in the village of Pasynkovo and barely persuaded him to return to the city. This time, the Zvenigorod prince was more compliant. It was possible to approve the peace, according to which Yuri pledged not to seek the grand prince's table personally, at the same time, the controversial issue of succession to the throne was to be resolved in the Horde by the khan. This compromise probably suited both sides. Photius blessed the Galicians, and the pestilence stopped. Again there was a slight respite.
At this time, the restless Lithuanian prince Vitovt became more active, who did not give up hope of seizing power in the northern Russian cities - Pskov and Novgorod. In 1426, Vitovt invaded the lands of the Pskov state and approached Opochka (the Horde also made up a significant force in Vitovt's army). The inhabitants of the city came up with a trick. They built a bridge on the way to Opochka, which was held on thin ropes, and under the bridge they placed a palisade with the sharp ends of the stakes up. When the soldiers of the Lithuanian prince rushed across the bridge to the city, the Russians cut the ropes, and the enemies fell down onto the stakes. Many Lithuanians were taken prisoner and executed. Vitovt retreated to the city of Voronach. But here, too, failures accompanied him. A terrible thunderstorm broke out over the camp of the prince. The hurricane shocked Vytautas so much that this formidable warrior, clinging to the tent pole in fear, screamed incessantly, thinking that the ground under him was about to open up and swallow him up. The people of Pskov, meanwhile, communicated with the Grand Duke, who sent an embassy to his grandfather asking for peace. The people of Pskov added 3,000 rubles to the words. Vitovt, for some reason, taking only 1000 and heeding the petitions of Vasily, concluded peace with Pskov and went home.
Meanwhile, the question of the trip of the princes to the Horde was dragging on. In 1428, the uncle and nephew concluded a new agreement, very beneficial for Yuri, who recognized himself as a "younger brother" in relation to the Moscow prince. Yuri's lot was limited to Galich and Vyatka. At the same time, Vasily pledged to help the Galician prince, which he soon proved in practice. In 1429, the Horde approached Galich. They besieged the city for about a month, but could not take it, ruining only the surroundings. On Epiphany (January 6, 1429), Kostroma and two other small towns were raided. Having captured the prey, the Horde went to the Volga. Vasily sent a chase after them under the leadership of Princes Andrei and Konstantin Dmitrievich and several governors. The campaign was unsuccessful, only separate detachments managed to defeat small groups of enemies and recapture the full. "Tsarevich and Prince" Alibaba never caught up. In the winter of 1430, the ungrateful Yuri "dissolved the world" with Vasily, and the Moscow prince sent Uncle Konstantin to Galich. The situation of 1425 was repeated exactly: Yuri fled to Sura, and Konstantin was unable to cross the river and returned to Moscow. Yuri moved to Nizhny Novgorod, and then returned to Galich.
In 1430, Vasily went to Vitovt for a feast in Troki on the occasion of his proposed coronation. There, in addition to the Moscow prince and Metropolitan Photius, came the princes of Tver, Ryazan, representatives of the Horde, ambassadors of Byzantium, the Wallachian ruler who was in exile, King Jagiello of Poland, the Grand Master of Prussia, the Livonian Land Marshal and some other, smaller rulers. But the coronation was upset due to the active opposition of the Polish magnates, and Vitovt was left without a crown. This failure, apparently, undermined his strength so much that in the same year he died, and another Gediminovich, Jagiello's brother, Svidrigailo, became the Lithuanian prince. With the death of Vitovt, an entire era in the history of Lithuania and Russian-Lithuanian relations went into oblivion. The following year, on July 2, Metropolitan Photius also died. The departure from the political arena of such major figures untied the hands of Yuri, who decided that now he could succeed in the Horde. Both princes began preparations for their departure.
In August, after lengthy prayers and distribution of alms to the monasteries, having dined in a meadow opposite the Simonov Monastery, Vasily II went to the Horde to the court of Khan Ulu-Mukhammed, accompanied by the cunning and dexterous boyar Ivan Dmitrievich Vsevolozhsky, a descendant of the Smolensk specific princes who served in Moscow. A little later, in mid-September of the same 1431, Yuri hurried to the Horde, returning the treaty of 1428 to the Grand Duke with "folding together." Both applicants went to the khan with rich gifts, without which, as usual, no business was decided. In the Horde, Vasily found an influential patron - a certain nobleman Minbulat, who rendered the Moscow prince "great honor." He kept Yuri “in languor”, that is, simply in captivity. But the patron stood up for Yuri - the noble Horde Tegin from known kind Shirinov. He "by force" took the Galician prince from Minbulat and went with him to the Crimea, where they spent the whole winter. Teginya promised Yuri support, but the Muscovites did not sit idly by. Boyar Vsevolozhsky carried out a great "work" among the Horde aristocracy in favor of Vasily. Prince Aidar enjoyed particular influence here, whom Vsevolozhsky managed to inspire with the idea that if the label was transferred to Yuri, influence at the court of Tegini would also increase, threatening Aidar and other princes with serious complications (“what will happen to you then?”). In addition, Yuri was the "brother" of Svidrigailo, with whom the Horde nobles had a difficult relationship.
The power of the khan in the Horde became more and more dependent on the influence of certain strengthened nobles, it was no longer the former autocracy, so the voices of Aidar and other Horde members reached their goal. Ulu-Muhammed decided to hand over the table to Vasily and ordered him to be killed as soon as Teginya appeared. In the spring of 1432, Teginya and Yuri arrived from the Crimea. They were warned loyal people about the decision of the khan, but Yuri decided to go to the end. The dispute between the princes broke out, each presented his own arguments, but the outcome of the case was decided by the same Vsevolozhsky. He made a speech to the khan, in which he noted that Yuri wants to become a prince not by the will of the khan, but by “the dead letter of his father”, Vasily, on the contrary, seeks, first of all, the khan’s label, since he recognizes himself as a vassal of the Horde, and Russia is its ulus. In addition, the cunning courtier, as if by chance, noticed that Vasily had been sitting on the throne for many years, regularly serving "you, your sovereign." These words decided the outcome of the proceedings: Ulu-Muhammed gave the label to Vasily, but, fearing Tegini, he attached the escheated Dmitrov to Yuri's possessions. Yuri had to lead his horse under Vasily as a sign of obedience, but the magnanimous Grand Duke freed his uncle from such humiliation. Upon returning to Russia, Vasily was placed in Moscow on the grand prince's table by the Horde ambassador, Tsarevich Mansyr-Ulan on October 5, 1432. Yuri went to his place in Galich, Dmitrov Vasily soon annexed to his possessions. But calm in Russia again turned out to be only temporary.
Further struggle for Moscow flared up on the initiative of the same boyar Vsevolozhsky.
The Moscow prince came of age, it was necessary to think about the future of the throne. Therefore, in the autumn of 1432, Vasily was betrothed to the sister of Prince Vasily Yaroslavich of Serpukhov and Borovsky, Maria. This event threw Vsevolozhsky into confusion. The cunning adventurer aspired to a leading position in the political life of Russia. Pursuing a skillful matrimonial policy, he wanted to subordinate almost all major principalities to his influence. Vsevolozhsky himself was married to the granddaughter of Vasily Velyaminov, a Moscow thousand, one of the daughters of Ivan Dmitrievich was the wife of the son of Vladimir the Brave, Andrei of Radonezh. Their daughter, in turn, became engaged to Vasily Yurievich, the son of Yuri Zvenigorod and Galician. Another daughter of Vsevolozhsky married the Grand Duke of Tver. Vsevolozhsky also dreamed of kinship with Vasily, intending to marry off some of his relatives to him. And now the plans of the intriguer collapsed. Wanting to achieve revenge, Vsevolozhsky went to Uglich to Konstantin Dmitrievich, then to Tver, but not finding support either there or there, finally arrived in Galich to Yuri.
Meanwhile, on February 8, 1433, the wedding of Vasily II with Maria Borovskaya took place in Moscow. Yuri was not present at the wedding, but his two sons were invited - Vasily and Dmitry Shemyaka (Shemyaka's nickname comes from the Tatar word "chimek" - outfit; in addition to Dmitry Yuryevich, two more princes from Rurikovich wore this nickname - Prince Ivan Vasilyevich Pronsky, a descendant of Ryazan princes, who lived in the 16th century, and Prince Dmitry Danilovich Gagarin, from the family of the Starodub princes, who served as governor in Sviyazhsk in 1571). During the feast, Grand Duchess Sofya Vitovtovna saw on Vasily Yuryevich a precious belt that once belonged to Dmitry Donskoy. According to legend, this belt was Evdokia's dowry, but at Donskoy's wedding Vasily Velyaminov allegedly replaced it. Then the belt passed to the son of Velyaminov - Mikula, from him to his daughter, who became the wife of Ivan Vsevolozhsky, and then, through family ties, ended up in the hands of Vasily Yuryevich. Sophia, in anger, tore off the belt from Vasily right at the feast, and the offended Yurievichs left Moscow for their father. (This historical moment later served as the plot for famous painting P. P. Chistyakov, kept in the Russian Museum to this day.) According to some reports, the belt on Vasily was identified by the boyar Zakariy Ivanovich Koshkin, the ancestor of the Romanovs, who was the cousin uncle of Maria Yaroslavna.
Passions flared up, a long-standing enmity flared up with new force. Yuri gathered an army and marched on Moscow. The Grand Duke found out about the actions of his uncle when he was already in Pereyaslavl. Vasily II hastily sent an embassy to Yuri, which arrived at the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. The offer of peace was rejected mainly thanks to the same restless Vsevolozhsky. The boyar did not give the ambassadors "to say a word about the world", as a result of which between the boyars "there was great swearing and words incomparable." The ambassadors of the Grand Duke returned to Moscow "idle", that is, having achieved nothing. Vasily II, having gathered as many soldiers as he could, went on a campaign and met his uncle on the banks of the Klyazma, 20 versts from Moscow. The disorganized regiments of Vasily II could not stand the battle, while the Moscow militia generally showed itself from the worst side, the Muscovites did not show any real help: "Much more from them, drink biakha, and bring honey with you to drink more." Arriving in Moscow, Vasily took his wife and mother and rushed to Tver, and from there to Kostroma. Yuri went after him and captured the Grand Duke. Vasily II had to brow the new Moscow prince. Yuri gave Kolomna to his nephew and after the feast let him go there along with all the boyars. The former Zvenigorod prince himself finally achieved the desired goal: he took the Moscow grand-ducal table.
Under Yuri, the leading position in government was taken by his favorite boyar Semyon Morozov. It was through Morozov that Vasily II secured Kolomna for himself. This aroused the displeasure of many boyars, who were determined to fight Vasily II. Having gained a foothold in Kolomna, Vasily "began to call people from everywhere to him." Prominent boyars, devoted to Vasily, began to leave Moscow. The dissatisfaction with Morozov also intensified, which contributed to the flight from the city and part of the boyars of Yuri. All this made Yuri's power fragile, and his position precarious.
Morozov caused displeasure and the sons of Yuri - Vasily and Dmitry Shemyaka. In the hallway of the Kremlin Palace, a stormy scene flared up between them, as a result of which the brothers killed Morozov, and themselves, fearing the wrath of their father, fled to Kostroma. Yuri, apparently realizing that he would not be able to retain power, himself turned to Vasily with a proposal for peace. Arriving in Moscow, Vasily concluded an agreement with his uncle, according to which Yuri refused for himself and for his youngest son Dmitry the Red not to accept and support his older sons, returned to Vasily II all his possessions, including Dmitrov, as well as everything captured in Moscow and captives . After that, Yuri left for Zvenigorod, and then for Galich. Boyar Vsevolozhsky, a traitor and traitor, was captured and blinded, and all his property was transferred to the treasury.
In the same 1433, Vasily II sent an army under the leadership of his governor, Prince Yuri Patrikeevich (this is the ancestor of the princes Khovansky, Golitsyn and Kurakin) to Kostroma against the Yurievichs. A battle took place on the Kusi River, in which the army of the Grand Duke was defeated (September 28, 1433). Yuri Dmitrievich, apparently, violated his agreement, since his regiments also fought on the side of the Yurievichs. In response, Vasily II approached Galich with a large army and burned it. Yuri fled to Beloozero, and then returned to the devastated Galich, from where he called on his sons to unite in the fight against Vasily II. In the spring of 1434, Yuri's army met with the army of Vasily II in the Rostov region. The Moscow prince was defeated and fled to Novgorod. On March 31, 1434, Yuri easily captured Moscow, captured both Grand Duchesses and sent them to Zvenigorod. So Yuri became the Moscow prince for the second time.
Vasily II, meanwhile, moved to Nizhny Novgorod, where Yuri sent an army led by his sons to capture the former Moscow prince. But on the way, the Yurievichs learned about the sudden death of their father on June 5, 1434. Vasily Yuryevich occupied the Moscow table, but did not stay on it for more than a month. His brothers Dmitry Shemyaka and Dmitry Krasny did not support him and invited Vasily II to Moscow. Vasily Yuryevich fled to Kostroma, Vasily II again became the prince of Moscow, and Shemyaka received Uglich and Rzhev. Vasily Yuryevich tried to take revenge and went from Kostroma to Moscow, but on January 6, 1435, in the battle on the Kotorosl River, between Rostov and Yaroslavl, he was defeated and fled back. Vasily II moved to Kostroma, but it did not come to a battle, Vasily Yuryevich recognized himself as the “younger brother” of the Moscow prince and was content with Dmitrov.
And again, the finish was short-lived. After staying in Dmitrov for only a month, Vasily Yuryevich sent “cutting letters” to the Moscow prince, and he himself left for Kostroma. In the winter of 1435/36, he captured Galich and Ustyug. Meanwhile, Dmitry Shemyaka came to Moscow to invite Vasily II to his wedding in Uglich. The Moscow prince ordered to seize him. This caused the displeasure of Shemyaka's supporters, and his entire court went over to the side of Vasily Yuryevich. The war has begun again. The troops of the two Vasilys met in a battle on the Cherekha River (Rostov land) on May 14, 1436. The army of Vasily Yuryevich was utterly defeated, and the unlucky adventurer himself was captured. He was brought to Moscow and taken into custody. On May 21, 1436, Vasily Yuryevich was blinded by order of Vasily II and thus became “Slanting”, going down in history under this nickname. Another opponent of Vasily II was defeated. Oblique lived after that for 12 years (obviously in prison) and died in 1448. After the victory over Kosy, Vasily II summoned Shemyaka, who had previously been taken to live in Kolomna, and Dmitry Yuryevich arrived in Moscow in fear. The Grand Duke concluded an agreement with his cousin and let him go to his inheritance (Uglich and Rzhev). However, Shemyaka harbored a grudge against the Moscow prince, which later became the cause of another round of the great Moscow strife.
Meanwhile, changes of a political nature also occurred in the Horde. Here, one of the sons of Tokhtamysh, Seid-Ahmed, expelled Ulu-Muhammed, and he came with a small detachment to the area of the city of Belev on the Russian border, set up a town there and decided to spend the winter (1437). This, of course, could not please Vasily II. The prince of Moscow sent an army against the former khan, led by Dmitry Shemyaka and Dmitry Krasny. Until recently, Vasily went to Ulu-Mohammed to bow, and now the khan himself was forced to seek salvation in the Russian lands. On the way to Belev, the Yuryevich brothers behaved like real robbers: “they plundered everything from their own Orthodox Christianity, and tortured people from the booty, and beat the beast, sent back to themselves, all robbing and unlike and nasty deahu.” Initially, success accompanied the Moscow army, the Horde were defeated and driven back to the city. The Khan sent an embassy to the Yuryevichs, offering his son as a hostage and promising (in the event of the occupation of the Khan's throne) all kinds of assistance to Moscow and the rejection of Russian tribute. The former ruler of the Golden Horde, thus, almost found himself in the position of a prisoner. The governors of Basil rejected all the proposals of the khan and decided to finish off the Horde. On December 5, 1437, a new battle took place, in which, thanks to the betrayal of the Mtsensk governor Grigory Protasyev, Ulu-Muhammed managed to defeat the Russian regiments. Subsequently, Protasiev was "caught" and blinded by order of Vasily. From under Belev, Ulu-Muhammed retreated to the Volga, where the Kazan Khanate was formed. The former Khan of the Golden Horde became the ruler of this state.
Encouraged by the success of the Belevshchina, on July 3, 1439, Ulu-Mohammed suddenly approached the walls of Moscow with great forces. The actions of Vasily II were not original. Not having time, of course, to prepare for the rebuff of the enemy, he left Moscow for the Volga. The defense of the city was headed by the governor Yuri Patrikeevich. The Horde stood near Moscow for 10 days, they failed to take the city, but they burned the settlement and captured a large full. On the way back, the khan burned down Kolomna "and captured many people, and killed others." After the departure of Ulu-Muhammed, Vasily sent Dmitry Krasny to Moscow as the governor, and he himself lived all winter in Pereyaslavl and Rostov, "because the settlements were burnt from the Tatars, and the people were cut, and the stench was great from them." During the siege of Moscow, Shemyaka did not send his regiments to the aid of the Grand Duke.
Hostile relations between cousins soon resulted in another conflict. In the autumn of 1441, Vasily unexpectedly went to Uglich. For Shemyaka, this was a complete surprise, and he could have been captured if not for the warning of the clerk Kuludar Irezhsky. Subsequently, the clerk was stripped of his rank and punished by order of Vasily with a whip. Prince Dmitry fled to Bezhetsky Verkh, from where he sent to Novgorod to ask the people of Novgorod to accept him. The answer of the townspeople was evasive: “You like it, prince, and you will go to us; but you don’t want to, otherwise you like it. ” Shemyaka, apparently, decided that for the time being it was not worth messing with the Novgorodians, and, having gathered an army, he moved on Vasily. Prince Alexander Czartorysky, a descendant of Gediminas, who recently killed together with his brother Ivan, the great Lithuanian prince Sigismund, also joined Yuryevich.
Under the Trinity Monastery, hegumen Zinovy reconciled the enemies. Vasily and Dmitry drew up an agreement, according to which Galich, Ruza, Vyshgorod, Uglich and Rzhev were included in Shemyaka's inheritance.
The Horde continued to raid Russian lands. In the winter of 1443, Prince Mustafa went to the Ryazan land, set fire to the villages and took away a large full. Then he sold the captives to the Ryazan people themselves. The winter turned out to be fierce, there were bitter frosts, and Mustafa returned to Ryazan again, but now not as an invader, but for the winter. Upon learning of this, the Grand Duke sent an army to Mustafa under the leadership of the governor of the princes Vasily Obolensky and Andrei Fedorovich Goltyaev. They were joined by Mordovians on skis. The battle took place on the Listani River. The Horde could not shoot from icy bows, but fought desperately, not wanting to surrender. The Tatar army was defeated, and Mustafa was among the dead.
Kazan Khan Ulu-Muhammed also continued to disturb the Russian borders. In the winter of 1444, he entered Nizhny Novgorod, and then captured Murom. In Nizhny, a small handful of residents locked themselves in a fortress built by Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich and withstood the Horde siege. Vasily II managed to drive the Tatars out of Murom, but in the spring news came to Moscow that Ulu-Mohammed had sent his sons Mamutyak and Yakub to the Grand Duke. Having gathered an army, Vasily set out on a campaign and was soon in Yuryev. Nizhny Novgorod governors also came running here. Driven to the extreme by hunger and unable to withstand a long siege, they set fire to the fortress at night and fled. Vasily's campaign was poorly organized. Shemyaka did not come to the rescue at all. On July 6, 1445, the Russian army reached the Kamenka River and stopped at the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery not far from Suzdal. In the early morning of July 7, Vasily received news that the Horde had crossed the Nerl River. The battle at the monastery turned out to be a tragedy for the Russians. The Grand Duke of Moscow was taken prisoner.
The Horde, who stopped at the Euthymiev Monastery, sent one of their own to Moscow with news to the Grand Duchesses about the capture of Vasily II. As evidence, the Horde carried the pectoral cross of the Moscow prince. Upon learning of what had happened, the Muscovites were alarmed. The situation was aggravated by a terrible fire on July 14, during which the city was badly damaged, 2,000 people were burned in the fire. Panic broke out in Moscow. Everyone was waiting for the arrival of Ulu-Mohammed. The Grand Duchesses left for Rostov, many citizens also began to leave Moscow. However, the panic subsided when the Muscovites themselves organized themselves: they began to strengthen the city gates, and those who wanted to escape were seized and forged in chains. Power in the city passed to Dmitry Shemyaka, who returned Sofya Vitovtovna by force back. Ulu-Muhammed sent his ambassador Begich to Shemyaka, he was received by the new prince and released "with honor" along with the clerk Fyodor Dubensky, through whom Shemyaka asked the khan not to release Vasily from captivity.
But events took a different turn. For a long time without hearing from Begich, Ulu-Muhammed decided that he was killed by Shemyaka, and on October 1 he released Vasily II and other captives to Russia with a ransom condition. Together with Vasily, a large Horde detachment moved to Moscow. Begich's embassy was intercepted, and Murza himself died. Shemyaka fled in horror to Uglich. On November 17, Vasily drove up to Moscow and stopped in Vagankovo, at his mother's house, and then moved to the house of Prince Yuri Patrikeevich, since the city had not yet been rebuilt after the fire.
Dmitry Yuryevich, however, was not at all going to put up with his position and decided to use the anti-Horde sentiments of Russian society to create a coalition against Vasily. Appealing, first of all, to the fact that Vasily brought the Tatars to Russia and wants to give them all the Russian lands, and to sit in Tver himself, Shemyaka managed to win over Prince Ivan Andreevich of Mozhaisky, Prince Boris Alexandrovich of Tver, many boyars, governor , even the monks of the Trinity Monastery. The conspirators waited only for an opportunity to carry out their plans. In early February 1446, Vasily went on a pilgrimage to the Trinity Monastery to venerate the relics of St. Sergius. Taking advantage of this, Shemyaka and Ivan Andreevich suddenly took Moscow on the night of February 12. They seized both grand duchesses and the entire grand duchess' treasury. Shemyaka sent the prince of Mozhaisk to the Trinity Monastery in order to capture Vasily. The Moscow prince was warned of the danger, but limited himself to setting up a "watchman" on the mountain near Radonezh.
Ivan Andreevich used a trick. A convoy of sledges approached Radonezh, in the sleigh two warriors hid under the matting, and the third walked behind the sleigh, as if a cab with an ordinary cart. When the convoy passed the guards, Ivan's soldiers jumped out of the sleigh and captured all of Vasily's guards. Then Shemyaka's supporters broke into the Trinity Monastery and captured the Moscow prince. On the night of February 13-14, Vasily II was brought to Moscow and blinded. Since then, he has become "Dark", under this nickname he went down in history. The unfortunate prince, who experienced the horror of this execution, which he himself had repeatedly used earlier, was sent to Uglich, Sofya Vitovtovna was exiled to Chukhloma. Vasily's children managed to escape even from the Trinity Monastery, they took refuge in Murom. A new Moscow reign began, Dmitry Shemyaka became the head of state.
But the usurper prince did not stay on the table for long. His position was precarious. Basil's supporters made up strong conspiracy with the aim of freeing the former Grand Duke.
Trying to somehow neutralize the enemies, Shemyaka convened in Moscow something like a church council, which was also attended by prominent boyars. He turned to the audience with a request for advice on how to proceed. The hierarchs spoke in favor of negotiations with Vasily. Together with the members of the council, Shemyaka went to Uglich, where he met with the Grand Duke. Vasily II publicly repented of his sins, namely, the violation of the kiss of the cross, the murders of many people, etc. In everything, he laid the blame on himself and even said that he was worthy death penalty and only by the grace of Shemyaki is alive. Basil's words had an effect. Shemyaka reconciled with him, on September 15, 1446, he released him from prison and gave Vologda as inheritance. Now Vologda, and later Tver, where Vasily moved, became the center of opposition to Shemyaka. In Tver, the betrothal of the son of Vasily - Ivan, the future III, with the daughter of Prince Boris - Maria took place.
Shemyaka and Ivan Mozhaisky set out from Moscow to meet their enemies and stopped at Volokolamsk. Meanwhile, a detachment of Vasily's supporters on Christmas (December 25, 1446) suddenly captured Moscow. Then the widow of Prince Vasily Vladimirovich (this is the son of Vladimir the Brave) Ulyana left the capital, and on this occasion the city gates were opened. Having captured Moscow, the governors of Vasily swore the inhabitants to the oath and began to strengthen the city. The main forces of Vasily from Tver went to Volok. Upon learning of the capture of Moscow, Shemyaka and Ivan Andreevich, whose army was disintegrating and melting every day, hastily fled to Galich, then to Chukhloma, and then to Kargopol.
Vasily entered Moscow on February 17, 1447, and soon obtained the release of Shemyaka and Sophia Vitovtovna from Shemyaka. In 1448, the cousins made peace, which was broken the next year. In 1449, Ivan Mozhaisky went over to the side of the Grand Duke. Finally, in January 1450, the army of the Moscow prince approached Galich. In the battle on January 27, Shemyaka suffered a crushing defeat and barely escaped. Yuryevich "dug in" in Novgorod, from where he once again tried to change the state of things, trying to capture Ustyug. But Vasily, with the help of the Horde detachments, stopped this attempt.
The end of the long-term enmity of the princes was put only on July 18, 1453, when Shemyaka died suddenly in Novgorod, poisoned by the "agents" of Sophia Vitovtovna. The clerk Beda, who brought the news of Shemyaka's death to Moscow (July 23), was granted a clerkship.
Thus ended the Great Moscow strife. Vasily II won it and moved on along the path of strengthening the Muscovite state. Horde dependence has gone into oblivion, from the enemies of the Tatars more and more often began to turn into allies of the Grand Duke. True, in 1451, the son of Khan Seyid-Ahmed, Tsarevich Mazovsha, made a trip to Moscow. Not having time to gather strength, Vasily went out to meet the enemy, but turned back. Leaving Sofya Vitovtovna, Metropolitan Jonah, son Yuri and the boyars in Moscow, the prince and his son Ivan went to the Volga, and sent his wife with young children to Uglich. On July 2, the Horde approached Moscow and set fire to the settlement. It was very hot, the fire spread very quickly, spread to the Kremlin, churches were burning, and nothing could be seen from the smoke ... Finally, the fire subsided, and the smoke dissipated. Muscovites began to make sorties outside the city gates. A strange phenomenon contributed to the liberation of Moscow. One night, the Horde heard a terrible noise in the city: thinking that it was Vasily who came with the army, they abandoned all the booty and fled in a hurry from under the walls of the city. Having received the news of the retreat of the Tatars, the Grand Duke returned to the capital.
The attempt of another son of Seyid-Ahmed Saltan to succeed in the Russian lands did not lead to the revenge of the Horde (1455). The subsequent invasions of the Tatars into Russian borders (1459 and 1460, the second time the Tatars were led by Khan Akhmat, the future opponent of Ivan III on the Ugra River) were also unsuccessful. At the end of his life, Vasily went on a campaign against Kazan, but the matter was limited to peace with the new khanate.
Having dealt with Shemyaka, Vasily tried to establish his influence in other Russian principalities. In 1456, he held three "events": he went on a campaign against Novgorod, defeated his army, took a ransom of 1000 rubles and concluded an agreement with the city in Yazhelbitsy. Then he ordered to seize the prince of Serpukhov-Borovsk Vasily Yaroslavich, who had always served him faithfully. Vasily, who was also the brother of the wife of the Grand Duke, was sent to prison, where he died in 1483. And finally Ryazan prince Ivan Fedorovich gave the Dark One both his land and his son-heir to custody. Vasily II, however, did not dare to annex Ryazan to his possessions and limited himself to establishing control over it. Thus, Novgorod was again subjugated, the Serpukhov-Borovsk inheritance and the dynasty of the descendants of Vladimir the Brave were liquidated, and Ryazan was almost deprived of independence.
In 1462, the nobles of Vasily Yaroslavich plotted to free their prince. However, their plan was revealed, and Vasily II ordered them to be executed by a terrible death: the unfortunate were beaten with a whip, their hands were cut off, their nostrils were pulled out and their heads were cut off.
Soon after the executions, the Grand Duke fell ill. The disease progressed, and Vasily wanted to take the tonsure, but his family kept him from doing so. On March 27, 1462, Vasily the Dark died and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin. He divided his principality among his sons. His eldest son Ivan (01/22/1440 - 10/27/1505) became the heir to the great reign of Moscow and Vladimir; Yuri (1441 - 1473) received Dmitrov, Mozhaisk, Serpukhov and some other cities; Andrei the Elder (1446 - 1494) - also a number of cities, including Uglich, Ustyuzhna, Bezhetsky Verkh, Zvenigorod; Boris (1449 - 1494) - Rzhev, Volok and Ruza; Andrei the Lesser (1452 - 1481) - Vologda with Kubena and Zaozerye and some Kostroma volosts; widow Maria Yaroslavna got, among other things, Rostov and Nerekhta.
The reign of Vasily II was marked not only by wars, but also by other important events. As a result monetary reform, for example, a single mint was created in Moscow and a single weight of coins was established, which contributed to the unity of Russia. There have been changes in church life. From the end of the 1430s, the Byzantine emperors, wanting to protect themselves from the threat of Turkish conquest, entered into negotiations with the pope about the possibility of a union, that is, the unification of the Orthodox and Catholic churches. On this occasion, in 1438-1439, a church council was held in Ferrara and Florence, which on July 5, 1439 proclaimed a union, that is, in fact, the unification of both branches of Christianity under the rule of the pope. The Unia was also signed by Metropolitan Isidore of Moscow, a well-educated Greek humanist who came to the council at the request of the aged Patriarch of Constantinople Joseph II. In March 1441, Isidore returned to Moscow and, during a liturgy in the Assumption Cathedral, solemnly proclaimed the bull of Pope Eugene IV on the reunification of the churches. This aroused the indignation of the prince, and the clergy, and the laity. On the fourth day upon arrival, Isidore was arrested and imprisoned in the Miracle Monastery. A church council was urgently convened, in which the Bishop of Suzdal Abraham played an important role, signing the union with Isidore, and then renouncing it. The Council unanimously condemned the "Latinism" of Isidore. In September 1441, Isidore fled from custody, first to Tver, from there to Lithuania and then to Rome. The Moscow authorities sent a message to Patriarch Mitrofan of Constantinople with a request for de facto autocephaly of the Russian Church. The solution of the issue was delayed, and only on December 15, 1448, the Ryazan Bishop Jonah, who took an active part in the events of the strife, became the Russian metropolitan (he was even an unwitting accomplice of Shemyaka for some time). From now on, the election of a metropolitan became a matter for the Russian primatial council, and not the prerogative of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the Russian Church, in fact, became independent.
In 1453, Constantinople fell, the Byzantine Empire ceased to exist, and from that moment Russia became the main pillar of Orthodoxy. The awareness of this, expressed in the concept of Moscow - the Third Rome, took shape already in the time of Vasily III.
An important result of the reign of Vasily II was not only the strengthening of the unity of the Muscovite state, but also the actual elimination of the Horde yoke. Vasily was the last of the Russian princes to travel to the Horde. Under him, the Kasimov Khanate was created on the Volga, a vassal from Russia and a kind of buffer on the border with the Great Horde. Moscow emerged from the turbulent time of bloody strife and revolts strengthened and hardened. Now nothing prevented the final formation of a strong state, freeing ourselves from the Horde, eliminating the remnants of specific Russia and stand on a par with other great European powers. To carry out all this fell to the lot of Vasily's successor - the Sovereign of All Russia, Ivan the Great.
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One of the sad pages of our history is the fragmentation of Ancient Russia in the Middle Ages. But civil war is not the prerogative of the ancient Russian principalities. All of Europe was engulfed in interfeudal wars, in France alone there were 14 large feudal majorates, between which there were continuous bloody clashes. internecine war - salient feature Middle Ages.
Weak power of Kiev and ladder law
The main reason for the emergence of civil strife was the weak centralization of power. From time to time, strong leaders appeared, such as Vladimir Monomakh or Yaroslav the Wise, who cared about the unity of the state, but, as a rule, after their death, the sons began to strife again.
And there were always many children, and each branch of the family, coming from the common grandfather Rurik, tried to secure supremacy for itself. The specificity of succession to the throne was aggravated by the ladder right, when power was transferred not by direct inheritance to the eldest son, but to the eldest in the family. Russia was wracked by internecine wars until the death of the Moscow prince Vasily II the Dark, that is, until the second half of the 15th century.
disunity
In the early stages of the development of the state, some kind of alliances were periodically formed between several princes, and wars were fought in blocs, or for a while the entire Kievan Rus united to repel the raids of the steppe peoples.
But all this was of a temporary nature, and the princes again locked themselves in their destinies, each of which individually did not have either the strength or the resources to unite all of Russia under his command.
Very weak federation
internecine war is civil war. This is a bloody major confrontation between the inhabitants of one country, united in certain groups. Despite the fact that in those distant times our country represented several independent states, it remained in history as Kievan Rus, and its unity, albeit inactive, was still felt. It was such a weak federation, whose inhabitants called representatives of neighboring principalities non-residents, and foreigners - strangers.
Explicit and secret causes of civil strife
It should be noted that the decision to go to war against his brother was made not only by the prince, but also by the townspeople, the merchants, and the church. The princely power was severely limited by both the Boyar Duma and the city Veche. The causes of internecine wars lie much deeper.
And if the principalities fought among themselves, then there were strong and numerous motives for this, including ethnic, economic, and trade ones. Ethnic because new states were formed on the outskirts of Russia, the population of which began to speak their dialects and had their own traditions and way of life. For example, Belarus and Ukraine. The desire of the princes to transfer power by direct inheritance also led to the isolation of the principalities. The struggle between them was carried out because of dissatisfaction with the distribution of territories, for the throne of Kiev, for independence from Kiev.
The disunity of the brothers
The internecine war in Russia began as early as the 9th century, and petty skirmishes between the princes, in fact, never stopped. But there were also major feuds. The first strife arose at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th centuries, after the death of Svyatoslav. His three sons, Yaropolk, Vladimir and Oleg, had different mothers.
Grandmother, Grand Duchess Olga, who was able to unite them, died in 969, and 3 years later, her father also died. exact dates early birth Kiev princes and there are few heirs of them, but there are suggestions that by the time the Svyatoslavichs were orphaned, the elder Yaropolk was only 15 years old, and each of them already had his own allotment left by Svyatoslav. All this did not contribute to the emergence of strong fraternal ties.
First major civil strife
The beginning of the internecine war falls at the time of the growing up of the brothers - they have already gained strength, had squads and watched over their estates. The specific reason was the moment when Oleg discovered the hunters of Yaropolk in his forests, led by the son of the voivode Sveneld Lyut. After a skirmish, Lut was killed, and, according to some reports, his father Svenald strongly incited Yaropolk to attack and in every possible way fueled hatred for the brothers, who supposedly dream of the throne of Kiev.
One way or another, but in 977 Yaropolk kills his brother Oleg. Having heard about the murder of his younger brother, Vladimir, who was sitting in Veliky Novgorod, fled to Sweden, from which he returned with a strong army of mercenaries led by his governor Dobrynya. Vladimir immediately moved to Kiev. Taking the recalcitrant Polotsk, he laid siege to the capital city. After some time, Yaropolk agreed to a meeting with his brother, but did not have time to reach the headquarters, as he was killed by two mercenaries. Vladimir reigned on the throne of Kiev only 7 years after the death of his father. Yaropolk in history, oddly enough, remained a meek ruler, and it is believed that very young brothers became victims of intrigues led by experienced and cunning associates, such as Sveneld and Blud. Vladimir reigned in Kiev for 35 years and received the nickname Red Sun.
Second and third internecine wars of Kievan Rus
The second internecine war of the princes begins after the death of Vladimir, between his sons, of whom he had 12. But the main struggle unfolded between Svyatopolk and Yaroslav.
In this strife, Boris and Gleb, who became the first Russian saints, perish. In the end, Yaroslav wins, later nicknamed the Wise. He ascended the throne of Kiev in 1016 and ruled until 1054, in which he died.
Naturally, the third major civil strife began after his death between his seven sons. Although Yaroslav during his lifetime clearly defined the patrimonies of his sons, and bequeathed the throne of Kiev to Izyaslav, as a result of fratricidal wars, he reigned on it only in 1069.
Ages of fragmentation and dependence on the Golden Horde
The subsequent period of time up to the end is considered a period political fragmentation. Independent principalities began to form, and the process of fragmentation and the emergence of new destinies became irreversible. If in the XII century there were 12 principalities on the territory of Russia, then already in the XIII century there were 50 of them, and in the XIV - 250.
In science, this process was called Even the conquest of Russia by the Tatar-Mongols in 1240 failed to stop the crushing process. Only being under the yoke of the Golden Horde for the 2.5th century began to persuade the Kiev princes to create a centralized strong state.
Negative and positive aspects of fragmentation
Internecine wars in Russia destroyed and bled the country, preventing it from developing properly. But, as noted above, civil strife and fragmentation were not only shortcomings of Russia. The patchwork quilt was reminiscent of France, Germany, and England. Oddly enough, but at some stage of development, fragmentation also played a positive role. Within the framework of one state, individual lands began to actively develop, turning into large estates, new cities were built and flourished, churches were built, large squads were created and equipped. The political, economic and cultural development of the peripheral principalities with a weak political power Kiev contributed to the growth of their autonomy and independence. And in some way the emergence of democracy.
However, feuds in Russia were always skillfully used by her enemies, of whom there were plenty. So the growth of peripheral estates was put to an end by the attack on Russia by the Golden Horde. The process of centralization of Russian lands began slowly in the 13th century and went on until the 15th. But then there were internecine clashes.
Duality of the Rules of Succession
The beginning of the internecine war in the Moscow principality deserves separate words. After the death of Vasily I, power passes into the hands of his son Vasily II the Dark, all the years of whose reign were marked by civil strife. Immediately after the death of Vasily I in 1425, until 1433, the war was fought between Vasily the Dark and his uncle Yuri Dmitrievich. The fact is that in Kievan Rus until the 13th century the rules of succession to the throne were determined by ladder law. According to him, power was transferred to the eldest in the family, and Dmitry Donskoy in 1389 appointed his youngest son Yuri as heir to the throne in the event of the death of his eldest son Vasily. Vasily I died with his heirs, in particular his son Vasily, who also had rights to the Moscow throne, because from the 13th century power was increasingly transferred from father to eldest son.
In general, Mstislav I the Great, who ruled from 1125 to 1132, was the first to violate this right. Then, thanks to the authority of Monomakh, the will of Mstislav, the support of the boyars, the rest of the princes were silent. And Yuri disputed the rights of Vasily, and some of the relatives supported him.
strong ruler
The beginning of the internecine war in the Moscow principality was accompanied by the destruction of small destinies and the strengthening royal power. Vasily the Dark fought for the unification of all Russian lands. Throughout his reign, which lasted intermittently from 1425 to 1453, Vasily the Dark repeatedly lost the throne in a fight, first with his uncle, and then with his sons and other people eager for the Moscow throne, but always returned it. In 1446, he went on a pilgrimage to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where he was captured and blinded, which is why he received the nickname Dark. Power in Moscow at that time was seized. But, even being blinded, Vasily the Dark continued a tough fight against the Tatar raids and internal enemies, tearing Russia to pieces.
The internecine war in the Moscow principality ceased after his death. The result of his reign was a significant increase in the territory of the Moscow principality (he annexed Pskov and Novgorod), a significant weakening and loss of the sovereignty of other princes who were forced to obey Moscow.
Chapter 8. Dynastic war in the Moscow principality in the second quarter of the 15th century. (Feudal, or Internecine War)
The nomination of Moscow to a key role in North-Eastern Russia was largely due to the cohesion of the princely power and the absence of serious contradictions within the principality. This, combined with the successful anti-Horde struggle, allowed the Moscow princes to secure the great reign of Vladimir as their fiefdom. The first intra-Moscow strife was the Dynastic (feudal) war of 1425–1453. The cause of the conflict is the struggle for supreme power in the main political center Great Russia between the descendants of Dmitry Donskoy. The reason for the start of the conflict was the violation by Vasily I of one of the most important conditions of the will of Dmitry Donskoy - on the transfer of power from Vasily to the eldest after him in the Moscow princely family, Prince Yuri Dmitrievich Zvenigorodsky (Galitsky). Vasily I bequeathed the great reign to his ten-year-old son Vasily II, appointing the guardian of the heir of his father-in-law, the Lithuanian prince Vitovt.
This is the history of the war. In 1389, according to the will of Dmitry Ivanovich, his eldest son Vasily Dmitrievich (Vasily I) became the Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow. But the will contained an entry that became the cause of the future great contention. In the event of the death of Vasily's eldest son, his younger brother Yuri Dmitrievich was to become the new Grand Duke, to whom the city of Galich was allocated for the time being.
This circumstance is explained not only by the fact that in the year of his father's death Vasily was not yet married (he married only in 1391), but also by the preservation in some part of the old ladder of inheritance of princely power.
The paradox was that it was Yuri Dmitrievich who was undoubtedly the most prominent of the sons of Dmitry Donskoy, famous for his military leadership and military luck, under him the Galician region flourished and became prosperous.
Prince Yuri became famous for his campaigns against the Tatars, especially the campaign of 1399/1400, when his troops managed to ravage the Horde cities on the Kama and Volga: Bulgar, Zhukotin, Kazan and Kremenchuk. In all contracts of that time, his name was invariably placed next to the name of Vasily Dmitrievich's elder brother.
But Vasily Dmitrievich did not have such pronounced merits. He found himself in the shadow of a very strong nature - his wife Sofya Vitovtovna, whom he married "by promise" in 1391. Her father, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vitovt, invariably used this.
The only success of Vasily I was the acquisition in the Horde in 1392 of a label for Nizhny Novgorod, Murom, Gorodets, Tarusa and Meshchera, which he simply bought this label. But Vasily I did not dare to enter into open confrontation with the enemies. When in 1402 Tatar army Emir Yedigei raided Moscow land, the prince preferred to hide behind the strong walls of the capital, leaving the district to be ruined by the enemy. At that time, the Tatars left, having received a ransom of 3 thousand rubles from Vasily Dmitrievich.
In the West, taking advantage of Moscow's compliance, Vitovt in 1404 finally subjugated Smolensk, and then the so-called Verkhovsky principalities - small possessions located in the upper reaches of the Oka: Novosilskoye, Belevskoye, Vorotynskoye, Odoevskoye, Przemyslskoye and Mezetskoye. It was in those years that Vitovt's possessions in the south reached the Black Sea.
After the death of Vasily I, who died on February 27, 1425, real power in Moscow passed into the hands of his three executors: "the power-hungry widow-princess Sophia Vitovtovna, the strong-willed Metropolitan Photius and the active boyar Ivan Dmitrievich Vsevolozhsky."
The heir to the Moscow throne, Vasily Vasilyevich, was 9 years and 11 months old on the day of his father's death (born March 27, 1415).
After a little resistance, Yuri Dmitrievich was forced to conclude an agreement with the Moscow authorities, according to which he pledged "not to seek" a great reign under Vasily II, relying on the will of the Horde. Yuri had to agree to this, since the force was on the side of his nephew, behind whom stood the formidable Vitovt.
The death of 80-year-old Vitovt, who died on October 27, 1430, radically changed the situation both in Lithuania and in Russia. Yuri Dmitrievich's brother-in-law Svidrigailo Olgerdovich became the new Grand Duke of Lithuania.
In 1431, both Yuri Zvenigorodsky (in September) and Vasily Vasilyevich (in August) went to the Horde to see Khan Ulug-Mukhammed with a request to resolve the dispute between their uncle and nephew.
From the Moscow side, the boyar Ivan Dmitrievich Vsevolozhsky took over the negotiations with the khan and his entourage. This is how S. M. Solovyov draws him: “cunning, dexterous, resourceful, a worthy successor to those Moscow boyars who, under Vasily’s father, grandfather and great-grandfather, were able to keep Moscow primacy and give it power.”
Boyar Vsevolozhsky cited a deadly argument that played a decisive role in the eyes of the Tatars: “Prince Yuri is looking for a great reign according to the will of his father, and Prince Vasily - by your khan's mercy; you gave your Russian ulus to his father Vasily Dmitrievich, he handed it over to his son, who has been reigning for so many years and has not been overthrown, which means he rules by your grace. The dispute was resolved in favor of Vasily II, but this award had to be paid for by the heavy Horde “exit”.
The possible normalization of the situation after the Khan's decision was prevented by two unexpected circumstances.
Firstly, the boyar Vsevolozhsky was offended in Moscow. For his efforts in the Horde, he was promised to marry the grown-up Grand Duke to one of the younger daughters of Ivan Dmitrievich. But, having achieved her goal, Sofya Vitovtovna changed her plans and married the Serpukhov Princess Maria Yaroslavna, the granddaughter of Vladimir Andreevich the Brave, to her son. Ivan Vsevolozhsky went to Galich to Prince Yuri.
Secondly, the already fragile world was destroyed at the wedding feast at Vasily II, where the eldest sons of Yuri Zvenigorodsky, Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka, were present. The scandal erupted because of the belt "for a cap with stones", removed by order of the Grand Duchess Sofya Vitovtovna from Vasily Kosoy. This belt was allegedly stolen from the Moscow treasury by the boyar Velyaminov, although, judging by the later research of historians, there were two belts donated by the Suzdal prince Dmitry Konstantinovich as a wedding gift to his sons-in-law - Evdokia's husband Dmitry Donskoy and Maria's husband Mikula (Nikolay) Velyaminov. The daughter of Mikula and Maria Velyaminov was married to the boyar Ivan Vsevolozhsky, who also received this belt as a dowry and subsequently presented it to Vasily Kosoy.
The offended Yurievichs left Moscow and went to their father, plundering Yaroslavl along the way. The Zvenigorod prince went on a campaign very quickly and moved swiftly towards Moscow. There, they did not know about this campaign and realized it only when the regiments of Yuri Dmitrievich approached Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. With this news, the governor of Rostov, Peter Konstantinovich Dobrynsky, galloped to Moscow. The Grand Duke tried to start peace negotiations, but they were rejected by an angry Yuri. Then, having gathered what troops he could, Vasily II set out to meet his angry uncle.
On April 25, 1433, in the battle on the Klyazma River (20 versts from Moscow), the Zvenigorod prince defeated the hastily assembled regiments of his nephew and took the grand prince's throne. Vasily II with his mother and young wife fled first to Tver, and then to Kostroma.
Having achieved the reign of Moscow, Yuri Dmitrievich did not begin to destroy his nephew, but, having made peace with him, gave him Kolomna as an inheritance. The kindness of the winner was perceived as weakness, and the Moscow boyars with their courts began to "move off" to Vasily. One of the first to arrive in Kolomna was the boyar Ivan Dmitrievich Vsevolozhsky.
Feeling the fragility of his position, which was clearly manifested in the dissatisfaction of the Muscovites demonstrated to him, Yuri Dmitrievich voluntarily returned the reign to Vasily Vasilyevich and left for Galich, recognizing his nephew as "the elder brother."
Having returned the throne, Vasily II began to think not about peace, but about revenge. First of all, he ordered the boyar Ivan Vsevolozhsky to be blinded, taking "on himself" (confiscating) all his villages. But neither Vasily Kosoy nor Dmitry Shemyaka recognized the agreement between their father and their cousin and, having fortified themselves in Kostroma, continued the war. In September 1433, they again defeated the army of Vasily II, but Yuri Zvenigorodsky, true to his ideas about princely honor, refused to take the Moscow table in violation of his oath. However, soon the rati of the Moscow prince, contrary to the agreement, attacked Galich and burned the towns around it. Then, gathering a large army and calling on the militant Vyatchans, Yuri Dmitrievich spoke out against his treacherous nephew. On March 20, 1434, in the decisive battle in the Rostov land (near St. Nicholas on the Hill), the grand ducal regiments were defeated and fled. Vasily II himself tried to take refuge in Novgorod, then sought help from the Tver prince Boris Alexandrovich, then left for Nizhny Novgorod, hoping to find refuge in the Horde.
Meanwhile, Yuri laid siege to Moscow. The siege lasted only a week. On March 31, Muscovites opened the gates to the Zvenigorod prince, recognizing him as their sovereign. But soon after this victory, on June 5, 1434, Yuri Dmitrievich died. His short reign was marked by the beginning of minting on Moscow coins of the image of a rider, with a spear striking a serpent, since George the Victorious was Yuri Dmitrievich's heavenly patron.
After the death of his father, both of his eldest sons, who no longer had any rights to the throne, joined the strife with all their activity. At first, success was accompanied by Vasily II, who managed to capture and blind Vasily Kosoy (hence the nickname of the prince). The Horde took advantage of internal troubles in Russia. In 1445, Khan Ulu-Mohammed attacked Russia, defeated the army of Vasily II, capturing the most "useless" commander among the descendants of Dmitry Donskoy. At the time of Vasily's captivity, Dmitry Shemyaka became the eldest in the family of Moscow princes - it was he who occupied Moscow.
Meanwhile, for a significant ransom, Vasily was released from captivity and returned to Russia. Shemyaka had to leave, but, as it turned out, not for long. Forced to collect a ransom for the Horde for himself, Vasily II quickly lost the support of the townspeople and service people. In February 1446, with the full connivance of his servants, Vasily was captured on a pilgrimage in the Trinity Monastery by Dmitry Shemyaka, brought to Moscow, blinded in revenge for Vasily Kosoy and exiled to Vologda.
But Shemyaka did not show himself on the Moscow throne as a far-sighted politician: the continued collection of money to pay the Tatars, the restoration of the independence of the Nizhny Novgorod principality, subordinated to Vasily I, the promise of protecting the independence of Novgorod the Great - all this was extremely negatively perceived by the Moscow service environment, and in particular by the well-born Moscow boyars . The process of “departure” of all those dissatisfied with Shemyaka was resumed to the court of Vasily the Dark (he received this nickname after being blinded: “dark” = “blind”), this time to Vologda. Now, Boris Alexandrovich of Tverskoy took the side of Vasily II (their union was sealed by the betrothal of Vasily's six-year-old son Ivan with the four-year-old daughter of the Prince of Tver) and most of clergy.
The support of the church played a special role for the disgraced prince, because in 1439 he expelled the Greek metropolitan Isidore, who, according to custom, was placed in the Russian metropolis in Constantinople and signed the Florentine Union of Orthodox and Catholic hierarchs in this rank. After that, the Council of Russian Bishops in 1441, without the consent of the Patriarch of Constantinople, elected Bishop Jonah Metropolitan, which was an important step towards establishing the independence of the Russian Church. In these difficult conditions for Vasily II, the abbot of the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery Tryphon removed from the prince the sin of violating the oath given to Shemyaka in public that he would no longer strive for a great reign.
Dmitry Shemyaka decided not to resist such an extensive coalition and in 1446 left Moscow himself. Vasily II took the Moscow throne and never left it until his death. Neither Shemyaka nor Vasily II took any more active military actions, but a state of ominous uncertainty persisted until the mysterious death of Shemyaka in Novgorod in 1453. Historians believe that the Galician prince was poisoned by a cook bribed by Moscow "agents".
Feudal War severely ruined the country. Clarification of relations between the princes resulted in dozens of devastated cities, hundreds of burnt villages. Against the backdrop of internal turmoil in Russia, the influence of the Horde again increased. The main result of this long strife was the approval of the principle of inheritance of power in a straight line. downlink from father to son. Vasily II, who survived an almost thirty-year war from beginning to end (a rare period for rulers), managed to draw the right conclusions from its results: in order to avoid further strife, he allocated to his eldest son Ivan III, along with the title of Grand Duke, a larger share of the inheritance, thus providing the most superiority over younger brothers.
During the internecine war of 1425-53. Between Vasily II and his uncle Yuri Dmitrievich, and then the sons of the latter, Vasily Kosy and Dmitry Shemyaka, Moscow changed hands several times. During the wedding of Vasily II with the Serpukhov Princess Maria Yaroslavna in February 1433, a quarrel between Vasily II and the Galician princes broke out; the army of Basil II was defeated in the battle on the river. Klyazma (April 25, 1433), Vasily II fled from Moscow, which was occupied by Prince Yuri Dmitrievich. Dissatisfaction with the policy of Yuri Dmitrievich led to the departure of many service people from the city to Vasily II, who was in Kolomna. Soon Yuri Dmitrievich was forced to leave Moscow. After a new defeat of Vasily II in the battle on March 20, 1434 and a week-long siege of Moscow on March 31, the city was again occupied by supporters of Prince Yuri Dmitrievich, but after his imminent death (June 5, 1434), Vasily Kosoy declared himself heir to the Moscow throne. A month later, "having taken gold and silver, his father's treasury and the whole city reserve," Vasily Kosoy went to Kostroma. Vasily II again entered Moscow and in January 1435 defeated the army of Vasily Kosoy. In 1436, on the orders of Vasily II, Dmitry Shemyaka, who arrived in Moscow, was captured, and the army of Vasily Kosoy was defeated on the river. Cherekhe, Vasily Kosoy himself was brought to Moscow and blinded on May 21, 1436. In 1439, when the army of Khan Ulu-Mukhammed appeared “unknown” under the walls of Moscow, Vasily II left the city, leaving Yuri Patrikeev as governor, and went to the Volga; Ulu-Muhammed burned the Moscow settlements and after a ten-day siege of the city retreated, taking full. During the campaign against Kazan in July 1445, the wounded Vasily II was taken prisoner; power in Moscow passed to Dmitry Shemyaka. Soon after, a fire broke out in the city, destroying almost all the wooden buildings; about 2 thousand people died, the unrest of the townspeople began. In October 1445, Vasily II was released from captivity and arrived in Moscow, accompanied by the Tatars; Dmitry Shemyaka fled to Uglich, where he gathered an army, and on February 12, 1446 captured Moscow; Vasily II was captured in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, taken to Moscow, blinded (hence the nickname Dark) and exiled to Uglich. But already in December 1446, Vasily II again occupied Moscow, and at the beginning of 1450 he inflicted a decisive defeat on Dmitry Shemyaka.
THE TRAGEDY "VASILY II"
If we were writing not another chapter of a popular study of Russian PR, but a tragedy in the spirit of Shakespeare - under a completely Shakespearean name - then we should start it with the characters ...
Vasily II the Dark - Grand Duke of Moscow (1425-1462, intermittently). He lost his throne several times, and then was blinded by Shemyaka (1446). After that, he was called the Dark One. This nickname is tragic and respectful. The people saw him as a legitimate sovereign.
Sofya Vitovtovna is his mother. Lithuanian by nationality. Determined woman.
Yuri Galitsky - Grand Duke of Moscow (1433-1434), uncle of Vasily II.
Vasily Kosoy - Grand Duke of Moscow (1434, one month), son of Yuri Galitsky, respectively, cousin of Vasily II. Was blinded by Vasily II (1436), for which he received his unsympathetic nickname. The people did not like him.
Dmitry Shemyaka - Grand Duke of Moscow (1446-1447), also the son of Yuri Galitsky. Blinded in retaliation for the brother of Vasily II himself. Was poisoned.
The circle is closed. Blinding, poisoning. Quite gloomy. But it all started with a somewhat comical episode. Shakespeare liked to insert such interludes into his tragedies. Unfortunately, Russian history was not familiar to him, otherwise, instead of King Lear, we would now go to Vasily II.
Medinsky V. R. Features of national PR. True history of Russia from Rurik to Peter. M., 2010
TEXTBOOK EPISODE
But while Ivan Dimitrievich was inciting Yuri to renew his old claims, in Moscow Yuri's sons - Vasily Kosoy and Dimitri Shemyaka - were feasting at the wedding of the Grand Duke. Vasily Kosoy arrived in a rich golden belt studded with precious stones. The old boyar Pyotr Konstantinovich told the story of this belt to the mother of the Grand Duke, Sofya Vitovtovna, a curious story: this belt was given by the Suzdal prince Dimitri Konstantinovich as a dowry for his daughter Evdokia, who was going to marry Dimitri Donskoy; the last thousand Vasily Velyaminov, who was of great importance at the prince's wedding, replaced this belt with another, of a lower price, and gave the real one to his son Nikolai, behind whom was another daughter of Prince Dimitri of Suzdal, Marya. Nikolai Velyaminov also gave the belt as a dowry for his daughter, who married our boyar, Ivan Dimitrievich; Ivan gave it as a dowry for his daughter to Prince Andrei, the son of Vladimir Andreevich, and after the death of Andreeva, having betrothed his daughter, and his granddaughter to Vasily Kosoy, presented the groom with a belt in which he appeared at the wedding of the Grand Duke. Sofya Vitovtovna, having learned that he was wearing Kosoy by the belt, removed it from the prince in front of everyone as the property of her family, which illegally passed into someone else's. The Yurievichs, offended by such a disgrace, immediately left Moscow, and this served as a pretext for war.
SHEMYAKIN COURT
Shemyakin court (treacherous court, dishonest).
This is Sidorova's truth and Shemyakin's judgment.
Wed The case of these martyrs was raised, reviewed; Shemyakin's sentences were annulled and the good name and honor of these innocent victims of falsehood ... were restored ...
N. Makarov. Memories. Preface.
Dmitry Shemyaka (1446) blinded Vasily the Dark and seized the throne (overthrown in 1450).
Wed From this time on, in great Russia, every judge and admirer in reproach has been nicknamed Shemyakin's court.
Collection of figurative words and parables. 1904
THE RETURN OF THE STATE
On July 7, 1445, in the battle near Suzdal with the sons of Ulug-Muhammad, the Grand Duke suffered an unexpected defeat, was wounded and captured. Oct 1 In 1445, he was released from captivity with the obligation to pay a huge ransom, along with him, Horde tribute collectors arrived in North-Eastern Russia.
The incident dealt a strong blow to the authority of Vasily Vasilyevich. Part of Russian society - representatives of the nobility, Moscow merchants and even some monks of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery - began to lean towards the fact that Dmitry Shemyaka could become the best bearer of the grand duke's dignity. The organizers of the conspiracy against the Grand Duke were Dmitry Shemyaka and John Mozhaisky. During a pilgrimage trip to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, Vasily Vasilyevich was captured by conspirators and on February 16, 1446, he was blinded (hence his nickname - Dark) in Moscow, in the Shemyaki courtyard in the Kremlin. The Grand Duke's table was occupied by Dmitry Shemyaka, the former Grand Duke was imprisoned in Uglich.
Faced with considerable resistance and ecclesiastical disapproval of his actions, Shemyaka was forced to release Vasily Vasilyevich and his family from prison. At the Council of the Clergy, which met in the autumn of 1446, the reconciliation of the princes took place. Soon, however, the abbot of the Cyril Monastery Tryphon released Vasily Vasilyevich from the oath. After that, the Grand Duke began to patronize the disciples of the Monk Kirill Belozersky.
From Vologda, not wanting to obey Shemyaka, Vasily Vasilyevich went to Tver to the Grand Duke Boris Alexandrovich, who offered him help. The union was sealed by the marriage of the daughter of the Prince of Tver Maria and the eldest son of Vasily Vasilyevich - John III Vasilyevich. Boyars and boyar children who refused to serve Shemyaka began to come to Tver. Vasily Vasilyevich was offered his services by the Horde princes Kasim and Yakub, the sons of Ulug-Muhammad, expelled by their brother. On the night of Christmas 1446, the Moscow-Tver army under the command of the Moscow boyar M. B. Pleshcheev captured Moscow with a sudden arrival. A new war has begun. In order to attract the appanage princes to his side, the Grand Duke made them new awards: the brother of the wife of the Grand Duke Vasily Yaroslavich Serpukhovskoy received Dmitrov, John Mozhaisky - Bezhetsky Verkh and half of the Zaozerye, the other half of the Zaozerye was received by his younger brother Mikhail Andreevich Vereisky.
After the return of Vasily Vasilyevich to Moscow, the Russian clergy actively contributed to strengthening the power of the Grand Duke for the speedy end of the feudal war. An important step in this direction was a letter sent on December 29, 1447 to Dmitry Shemyaka by Russian bishops and abbots of monasteries. Shemyaka was given an ultimatum: to “correct” before the Grand Duke in a short time, otherwise he would be excommunicated from the Church. At the beginning of 1448, Shemyaka and his ally John of Mozhaisky were forced to give the Grand Duke "cursed letters", which indicated that on those who violated their obligations of loyalty to the Grand Duke "do not awaken the mercy of God and His Most Pure Mother of God, and the prayers of the great miracle workers our land”, and “blessings of all the Bishop of the land of Russia”.
When this agreement was violated, the clergy of the Moscow Metropolis began to consider Shemyaka as an excommunicated from the Church, with whom Christians were forbidden to communicate. In the campaign against Galich, the specific capital of Shemyaki, undertaken by Vasily Vasilyevich in the spring of 1449, the Grand Duke was accompanied by the recently installed Metropolitan Jonah and the bishops. In January next year Vasily Vasilyevich's troops took the city, Shemyaka fled to Veliky Novgorod, where he found help and support, military operations moved to the lands of the Russian North. Captured by Shemyaka, Bishop of Perm, St. Pitirim refused to lift his excommunication. When the inhabitants of Vyatka, together with the Galich prince, began to attack the lands of Vasily Vasilyevich, Metropolitan. Jonah threatened to excommunicate them from the Church, and promised the priests to deprive them of their dignity if they did not stop acting together “with the excommunicated Church of God with Prince Dmitry Shemyaka.” At the same time, the saint sent a message to the Archbishop of Novgorod Euthymius II and the residents of Veliky Novgorod demanding not only to refuse support to Shemyaka, but also “neither eat nor drink” with him, since he “excommunicated himself from Christianity by his fratricide, their betrayals." After the death of Dmitry Shemyaka, who was poisoned in 1453 on the orders of Vasily Vasilyevich in Veliky Novgorod, Metropolitan Jonah forbade the memory of the Galich prince at funeral services.
Chistyakov P.P. At the wedding of Grand Duke Vasily Vasilyevich the Dark, Grand Duchess Sofya Vitovtovna takes from Prince Vasily Kosoy, Shemyaka's brother, a belt with precious stones that once belonged to which the Yurievichs took possession of incorrectly (fragment). 1861
The collapse of the Golden Horde
1304-1368 – Second empire– federation Mongolian states led by Emperor Yuan.
1359-1380 – Great zamyatnya in the Golden Horde - more than 25 kings were replaced on the throne. Mamai - beklarbek and temnik (1361-1380).
1370-1405 - the reign of the great emir of Maverannahr Timur (Tamerlane) – empire of Tamerlane.
1380-1387 - the unification of the Golden Horde by Tokhtamysh, the restoration of Tengrism.
1391-1395 - the defeat of Tokhtamysh by Tamerlane.
1428-1598 - The Uzbek kingdom - the capitals of Chingi-Tur (until 1446), Sygnak (1446-1468), Kazhi-Tarkhan (1468-1501), Samarkand (1501-1560), Bukhara (since 1560).
1433-1502 - Large horde - the capital Saray.
1438-1552 - Kazan kingdom - the capital of Kazan.
1440-1556 - Nogai Horde - the capital of Saraichik.
1441-1783 - Crimean kingdom - the capital of Bakhchisarai.
1459-1556 - Astrakhan kingdom - the capital of Astrakhan.
1465-1729 - Cossack kingdom - the capitals of Sozak (until 1469, 1511-1521), Sygnak (1469-1511, 1521-1599), Turkestan (1599-1729).
1468-1495 - the Tyumen kingdom - the capital of Tyumen.
1495-1598 - Siberian kingdom - the capital of Siberia.
Feudal War- armed struggle between Vasily Vasilyevich the Dark and the union of his uncle, the Zvenigorod-Galician prince Georgy Dmitrievich Zvenigorodsky, and his sons, Vasily Kosy, Dmitry Shemyaka and Dmitry Krasny, for the Great Moscow reign.
The main reasons for the war were the intensification of contradictions in the grand ducal elite in connection with the choice of which of the princes to be the Grand Duke of Moscow and how relations between the Grand Duke of Moscow and the appanage princes should be built.
Back in 1389, Dmitry Donskoy made a will, according to which, in the event of the death of his eldest son Vasily Dmitrievich, his youngest son Georgy Zvenigorodsky was appointed heir to the throne. Vasily Dmitrievich died in 1425, passing the throne to his 10-year-old son Vasily the Dark, who until 1432 was under the care of his mother, Sophia Vitovtovna of Lithuania.
Georgy Zvenigorodsky, began to challenge his right to the throne. Metropolitan Photius urged George not to claim the throne, and in 1428 he agreed, recognizing his nephew as his "elder brother."
Nevertheless, in 1431, George Zvenigorodsky began to fight for power again, deciding to receive a label for a great reign in the Golden Horde, since Vasily the Dark ascended the throne only according to his father's will, without the Golden Horde label. However, the label, according to the decision of the Golden Horde king, was retained by Vasily the Dark, and he had to allocate Georgy Zvenigorodsky to Dmitrov, which, however, was not done.
In 1433, at the wedding of Vasily the Dark, Sofya Vitovtovna publicly tore off the precious belt from the son of George Zvenigorodsky Vasily Kosoy, which, according to her, was allegedly previously intended for Dmitry Donskoy and replaced. The offended Yurievichs immediately went to their father in Galich; along the way, they plundered Yaroslavl, whose prince supported Vasily the Dark. In the same year, Georgy Zvenigorodsky defeated Vasily the Dark on the banks of the Klyazma, occupied Moscow and became the Grand Duke, giving Kostroma to his nephew.
But the Moscow boyars and service people did not want to "be under the Galician princes." Therefore, George returned the throne to Basil, and the princes swore to help each other. However, the subsequent persecution of former opponents by Vasily led to a speech in 1434 against him, first by the Yurievichs, who defeated the Muscovites in the battle on the Kus River, and, after the defeat of Galich by the Muscovites, by himself. Vasily was defeated near Veliky Rostov, on the Ustye River, George again occupied Moscow, but died soon after, bequeathing the throne to his nephew.
Despite this, his son Vasily Kosoy declared himself the Grand Duke, but his younger brothers did not support him, making peace with Vasily the Dark, according to which Dmitry Shemyaka received Uglich and Rzhev, and Dmitry Krasny - Galich and Bezhetsk. When the united princes approached Moscow, Vasily Kosoy fled Veliky Novgorod. From there, he, through Zavolochye and Kostroma, went on a campaign against Moscow. He was defeated in 1435 on the banks of the Korotorosl River near Yaroslavl, fled to Vologda, from where he appeared with new troops and went to Great Rostov, taking Nerekhta along the way. In 1436, near Veliky Rostov, Vasily Kosoy was taken prisoner, blinded by Vasily the Dark, and died in 1448.
In 1440, Dmitry the Red died, and all his possessions, by order of Vasily the Dark, were attached to the possessions of Dmitry Shemyaka.
In 1445, in the battle of Suzdal, the Kazanians defeated Moscow, and Vasily the Dark was captured by them. The great reign passed to Dmitry Shemyaka. But Vasily the Dark, having promised the Kazan Tsar a ransom, received an army from him and returned to Moscow, and Shemyaka was forced to leave the capital and retire to Uglich.
However, many boyars, priests and merchants, outraged by the "Horde commandery" of the Dark One, went over to the side of the latter, and in 1446, with their support, Dmitry Shemyaka became the Grand Duke of Moscow. Then he captured Vasily the Dark in the Holy Trinity Lavra, blinded him and sent him to Uglich, and then to Vologda. But again, dissatisfied with Dmitry Shemyaka began to come to Vasily the Dark.
In 1447, the Dark One triumphantly entered Moscow, which had been occupied the day before by his troops. Shemyaka went to Galich, and then to Chukhloma.
In 1449, the Dark concluded a peace treaty with Poland and Lithuania, confirming the Moscow-Lithuanian borders and a promise not to support the internal political opponents of the other side, as well as Lithuania's renunciation of claims to Veliky Novgorod.
In 1450, Shemyaka, in alliance with the Novgorodians, wanted to take Galich, but was defeated. In the same year, Vasily the Dark appointed his son John the Great as co-ruler. In 1452, Shemyaka was surrounded by the Dark under Veliky Ustyug, defeated and fled to Veliky Novgorod, where he died in 1453.
In 1462, Vasily the Dark also died.
1472 Marriage of Ivan the Great to the niece of the last Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos, Sophia Palaiologos.
1456 – I Moscow-Novgorod war – Yazhelbitsky treaty between the Grand Duchy of Moscow and Veliky Novgorod, according to which the Novgorodians recognized the vassalage of Moscow.
1471 – II Moscow-Novgorod war - because of the connection of Novgorodians with Lithuania, Battle of Shelon.
In 1471, the pro-Lithuanian part of the Novgorod aristocracy, headed by Martha Boretskaya, concluded an agreement with the Lithuanian prince Casimir IV: Veliky Novgorod recognized Casimir IV as its prince, accepted his governor, and the king promised help to Novgorod in the fight against the Grand Duke of Moscow. Ivan the Great organized a well-planned campaign against Novgorod. The main battle took place on the Shelon River. And although the Novgorodians had a huge superiority in forces (about 40,000 against 5,000), they suffered a crushing defeat. The pro-Lithuanian party in Veliky Novgorod was defeated: some were executed, others were sent to Moscow and Kaluga and imprisoned.
1477-1478 – III Moscow-Novgorod War - because of the connection of Novgorodians with Lithuania.
In 1477 Veliky Novgorod was blocked from all sides. The negotiations lasted a whole month and ended with the capitulation of Veliky Novgorod.
1478 - the annexation of Veliky Novgorod to the Moscow Grand Duchy, the abolition of the Novgorod veche, the mutual resettlement of Moscow and Novgorod feudal lords.
1472 - annexation of the Perm land.
1474 - annexation of the Rostov principality.
1476 The Grand Duchy of Moscow stopped paying tribute to the Great Horde.
1480 – standing on the Ugra. Defeat of the Great Horde.
