Andrei big Uglitsky. Ivan III and Andrey Uglitsky - Sergey — LiveJournal. Unification of Russia under Ivan III and Vasily III

CHAPTER III HIS BIG HOMELAND

Konstantin Ryzhov - Ivan III

Brockhaus-Efron - Ivan III

S. F. Platonov - Ivan III

V. O. Klyuchevsky - Ivan III

Ivan III and the unification of Russia. Trips to Novgorod. Battle on the Shelon River 1471. Marriage of Ivan III with Sophia Paleolog. Strengthening autocracy. Campaign to Novgorod 1477-1478. Annexation of Novgorod to Moscow. The end of the Novgorod vech. Conspiracy in Novgorod 1479. Resettlement of Novgorodians. Aristotle Fioravanti. Campaign of Khan Akhmat. Standing on the Ugra 1480. Vassian of Rostov. The end of the Horde yoke. Accession of Tver to Moscow 1485. Accession of Vyatka to Moscow 1489. Union of Ivan III with the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray. Wars with Lithuania. The transition of the Verkhovsky and Seversky principalities to Moscow.

Wishing to legitimize the new order of succession to the throne and take away from the hostile princes any pretext for confusion, Vasily II called Ivan the Grand Duke during his lifetime. All letters were written on behalf of the two Grand Dukes. By 1462, when Vasily died, 22-year-old Ivan was already a man who had seen a lot, with a developed character, ready to solve difficult state issues. He had a tough temper and a cold heart, he was distinguished by prudence, lust for power and the ability to steadily move towards the chosen goal.

Ivan III at the Monument "1000th Anniversary of Russia" in Veliky Novgorod

In 1463, under pressure from Moscow, the Yaroslavl princes ceded their fiefdom. Following that, Ivan III began a decisive struggle with Novgorod. Moscow has long been hated here, but it was considered dangerous to go to war with Moscow on your own. Therefore, the Novgorodians resorted to the last resort - they invited the Lithuanian prince Mikhail Olelkovich to reign. At the same time, an agreement was also concluded with King Casimir, according to which Novgorod came under his supreme authority, retreated from Moscow, and Casimir pledged to protect him from the attacks of the Grand Duke. Upon learning of this, Ivan III sent ambassadors to Novgorod with meek but firm speeches. The ambassadors reminded that Novgorod was Ivan's fatherland, and he did not demand from him more than what his ancestors demanded.

The Novgorodians expelled the Moscow ambassadors with dishonor. Thus it was necessary to start a war. On July 13, 1471, on the banks of the Shelon River, the Novgorodians were utterly defeated. Ivan III, who arrived after the battle with the main army, moved to get Novgorod with weapons. Meanwhile, there was no help from Lithuania. The people in Novgorod became agitated and sent their archbishop to ask the Grand Duke for mercy. As if condescending to the increased intercession for the guilty metropolitan, his brothers and boyars, the Grand Duke declared his mercy to the Novgorodians: "I give up my dislike, calm the sword and thunderstorm in the land of Novgorod and let go full without payback." They concluded an agreement: Novgorod renounced communication with the Lithuanian sovereign, ceded part of the Dvina land to the Grand Duke and undertook to pay a “penny” (indemnity). In all other respects, this agreement was a repetition of the one concluded under Basil II.

In 1467, the Grand Duke became a widower, and two years later he began to woo the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, Princess Sophia Fominichna Paleolog. The negotiations dragged on for three years. On November 12, 1472, the bride finally arrived in Moscow. The wedding took place on the same day. The marriage of the Moscow sovereign with the Greek princess was an important event in Russian history. He opened the way for the relations of Muscovite Rus with the West. On the other hand, together with Sophia at the Moscow court, certain orders and customs of the Byzantine court were established. The ceremony became more majestic and solemn. The Grand Duke himself rose in the eyes of his contemporaries. They noticed that Ivan III, after marrying the niece of the Byzantine emperor, appeared as an autocratic sovereign on the Moscow grand-ducal table; he was the first to receive the nickname Terrible, because he was a monarch for the princes of the squad, demanding unquestioning obedience and severely punishing disobedience.

He rose to a regal inaccessible height, before which the boyar, prince and descendant of Rurik and Gediminas had to reverently bow down on a par with the last of the subjects; at the first wave of the formidable Ivan, the heads of seditious princes and boyars lay on the chopping block. It was at that time that Ivan III began to inspire fear with his very appearance. Women, contemporaries say, fainted from his angry look. The courtiers, with fear for their lives, had to amuse him during their leisure hours, and when he, sitting in armchairs, indulged in a nap, they stood motionless around, not daring to cough or make a careless movement so as not to wake him. Contemporaries and immediate descendants attributed this change to the suggestions of Sophia, and we have no right to reject their evidence. Herberstein, who was in Moscow during the reign of Sophia's son, said about her: "She was an unusually cunning woman, at her suggestion, the Grand Duke did a lot."

Sofia Paleolog. Reconstruction from the skull of S. A. Nikitin

First of all, the gathering of the Russian land continued. In 1474, Ivan III bought from the Rostov princes the remaining half of the Rostov principality that they still had. But a much more important event was the final conquest of Novgorod. In 1477, two representatives of the Novgorod veche arrived in Moscow - Nazar from Podvoi and Zakhar, a clerk. In their petition, they called Ivan III and his son sovereigns, while before all Novgorodians called them masters. The Grand Duke seized on this and on April 24 sent his ambassadors to ask: what kind of state does Veliky Novgorod want? The Novgorodians at the veche answered that they did not call the Grand Duke the sovereign and did not send ambassadors to him to talk about some new state, the whole of Novgorod, on the contrary, wants everything to remain unchanged, according to the old days. Ivan III came to the metropolitan with the news of the perjury of the Novgorodians: "I did not want a state with them, they themselves sent it, and now they are locking themselves up and accusing us of lying." He also announced to his mother, brothers, boyars, governors and, with the general blessing and advice, armed himself against the Novgorodians. Moscow detachments were dispersed throughout the Novgorod land from Zavolochye to Narova and were supposed to burn human settlements and exterminate the inhabitants. Novgorodians had neither the material means nor the moral strength to defend their freedom. They sent Vladyka with ambassadors to ask the Grand Duke for peace and truth.

The ambassadors met the Grand Duke in the Sytyn churchyard, near Ilmen. The Grand Duke did not accept them, but ordered his boyars to show them the guilt of Veliky Novgorod. In conclusion, the boyars said: "If Novgorod wants to beat with his forehead, then he knows how to beat him with his forehead." Following this, the Grand Duke crossed the Ilmen and stood three miles from Novgorod. The Novgorodians once again sent their ambassadors to Ivan, but the Moscow boyars, as before, did not allow them to reach the Grand Duke, uttering the same mysterious words: "If Novgorod wants to beat with his forehead, then he knows how to beat him with his forehead." Moscow troops captured the Novgorod monasteries, surrounded the whole city; Novgorod turned out to be closed on all sides. Again the lord went with the ambassadors. The Grand Duke did not allow them this time either, but the boyars now announced him bluntly: “There will be no veche and a bell, there will be no posadnik; Novgorod to his governors". For this, they were encouraged by the fact that the Grand Duke would not take away the land from the boyars and would not withdraw the inhabitants from the Novgorod land.

Six days passed in excitement. The Novgorod boyars, for the sake of preserving their estates, decided to sacrifice their freedom; The people were unable to defend themselves with weapons. Vladyka with ambassadors again came to the camp of the Grand Duke and announced that Novgorod agreed to all conditions. The ambassadors offered to write an agreement and approve it from both sides with a kiss of the cross. But they were told that neither the Grand Duke, nor his boyars, nor the deputies of the cross would kiss. The ambassadors were detained, the siege continued. Finally, in January 1478, when the townspeople began to suffer severely from hunger, Ivan demanded that he be given half of the sovereign and monastery volosts and all Novotorzhsky volosts, no matter whose they were. Novgorod agreed to everything. On January 15, all the townspeople were sworn in full obedience to the Grand Duke. The veche bell was removed and sent to Moscow.

Marfa Posadnitsa (Boretskaya). Destruction of the Novgorod veche. Artist K. Lebedev, 1889

In March 1478, Ivan III returned to Moscow, successfully completing the whole thing. But already in the autumn of 1479, he was given to know that many Novgorodians were sent with Kazimir, calling him to him, and the king promises to come with regiments, and communicates with Akhmat, Khan of the Golden Horde, and calls him to Moscow. Ivan's brothers were involved in the conspiracy. The situation was serious, and, contrary to his custom, Ivan III began to act quickly and decisively. He hid his real intention and started a rumor that he was going to the Germans, who were then attacking Pskov; even his son did not know the true purpose of the campaign. Meanwhile, the Novgorodians, relying on Casimir's help, drove out the grand ducal governors, resumed the veche order, elected the posadnik and the thousandth. The Grand Duke approached the city with the Italian architect and engineer Aristotle Fioravanti, who placed cannons against Novgorod: his cannons fired accurately. Meanwhile, the Grand Duke's army captured the settlements, and Novgorod found itself under siege. Riots broke out in the city. Many realized that there was no hope for protection, and hurried in advance to the camp of the Grand Duke. The leaders of the conspiracy, being unable to defend themselves, sent to Ivan to ask for a "savior", that is, letters for free passage for negotiations. “I saved you,” answered the Grand Duke, “I saved the innocent; I am your sovereign, open the gate, I will go in - I will not offend anyone.” The people opened the gates. Ivan entered the church of St. Sophia, prayed, then settled in the house of the newly elected posadnik Efrem Medvedev.

Meanwhile, informers presented Ivan with a list of the main conspirators. According to this list, he ordered to seize and torture fifty people. Under torture, they testified that Vladyka was in collusion with them, and Vladyka was seized on January 19, 1480, and taken to Moscow without a church trial, where he was imprisoned in the Miracle Monastery. The archbishop's treasury went to the sovereign. The accused said nothing else, and so another hundred people were captured. They were tortured and then they were all executed. The property of the executed was described to the sovereign. Following that, more than a thousand families of merchants and boyar children were sent and settled in Pereyaslavl, Vladimir, Yuryev, Murom, Rostov, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod. A few days later, the Moscow army drove more than seven thousand families from Novgorod to Moscow land. All immovable and movable property of the resettled became the property of the Grand Duke. Many of the exiles died on the way, as they were driven out in the winter, not allowing them to pack up; the survivors were settled in different settlements and cities: Novgorod boyar children were given estates, and Muscovites were settled in the Novgorod land instead. In the same way, instead of the merchants exiled to the Moscow land, others were sent from Moscow to Novgorod.

N. Shustov. Ivan III tramples the khan's basma

Having dealt with Novgorod, Ivan III hastened to Moscow; news came that the khan of the Great Horde, Akhmat, was moving towards him. In fact, Russia was independent from the Horde for many years, but formally the supreme power belonged to the Horde khans. Russia grew stronger - the Horde weakened, but continued to be a formidable force. In 1480, Khan Akhmat, having learned about the uprising of the brothers of the Grand Duke and agreeing to act in concert with Kazimir of Lithuania, marched on Moscow. Having received news of the movement of Akhmat, Ivan III sent regiments to the Oka, and he himself went to Kolomna. But the khan, seeing that strong regiments were stationed along the Oka, took a direction to the west, to the Lithuanian land, in order to penetrate into the Moscow possessions through the Ugra; then Ivan ordered his son Ivan and brother Andrei the Lesser to hurry to the Ugra; the princes carried out the order, came to the river before the Tatars, occupied fords and ferries. Ivan, a man far from being brave, was in great confusion. This is evident from his orders and behavior. He immediately sent his wife, along with the treasury, to Beloozero, giving the order to run further to the sea if the khan took Moscow. He himself was very tempted to follow, but was held back by his entourage, especially Vassian, Archbishop of Rostov. After spending some time on the Oka, Ivan III ordered to burn Kashira and went to Moscow, ostensibly for advice with the metropolitan and the boyars. He ordered Prince Daniil Kholmsky, on the first dispatch from him from Moscow, to go there together with the young Grand Duke Ivan. On September 30, when the Muscovites were moving from the settlements to the Kremlin to the siege seat, they suddenly saw the Grand Duke, who was entering the city. The people thought that it was all over, that the Tatars were following in the footsteps of Ivan; Complaints were heard in the crowds: "When you, sovereign Grand Duke, reign over us in meekness and quietness, then you rob us in vain, and now you yourself have angered the king, without paying him an exit, but you betray us to the king and the Tatars." Ivan had to endure this insolence. He drove to the Kremlin and was met there by the formidable Vassian of Rostov. “All Christian blood will fall on you because, having betrayed Christianity, you run away, not putting up a battle with the Tatars and not fighting with them,” he said. “Why are you afraid of death? You are not an immortal person, mortal; neither a man, nor a bird, nor a call; give me, an old man, an army in my hands, you will see if I bow my face before the Tatars! Ashamed, Ivan did not go to his Kremlin courtyard, but settled in Krasnoye Selo. From here he sent an order to his son to go to Moscow, but he decided the best. incur a father's wrath than ride from the shore. “I’ll die here, but I won’t go to my father,” he said to Prince Kholmsky, who persuaded him to leave the army. He guarded the movement of the Tatars, who wanted to secretly cross the Ugra and suddenly rush to Moscow: the Tatars were beaten off the coast with great damage.

Meanwhile, Ivan III, having lived for two weeks near Moscow, somewhat recovered from fear, surrendered to the persuasion of the clergy and decided to go to the army. But he did not reach the Ugra, but stopped in Kremenets on the Luzha River. Here again fear began to overcome him, and he completely decided to end the matter amicably and sent Ivan Tovarkov to Khan with a petition and gifts, asking for a salary, so that he would retreat away. The Khan answered: "They favor Ivan; let him come to beat with his forehead, as his fathers went to the Horde to our fathers." But the Grand Duke did not go.

Standing on the river Ugra 1480

Akhmat, who was not allowed to cross the Ugra by the Moscow regiments, boasted all summer: "God give you winter: when all the rivers stop, there will be many roads to Russia." Fearing the fulfillment of this threat, Ivan, as soon as the Ugra became, on October 26, ordered his son and brother Andrei with all the regiments to retreat to Kremenets in order to fight with united forces. But even now Ivan III did not know peace - he gave the order to retreat further to Borovsk, promising to fight there. But Akhmat did not think of taking advantage of the retreat of the Russian troops. He stood on the Ugra until November 11, apparently waiting for the promised Lithuanian assistance. But then severe frosts began, so that it was impossible to endure; the Tatars were naked, barefoot, skinned, in the words of the chronicler. The Lithuanians never came, distracted by the Crimean attack, and Akhmat did not dare to pursue the Russians further north. He turned back and went back to the steppes. Contemporaries and descendants perceived standing on the Ugra as a visible end to the Horde yoke. The power of the Grand Duke increased, and at the same time the cruelty of his character increased markedly. He became intolerant and quick to punish. The further, the more consistently, bolder than before, Ivan III expanded his state and strengthened his autocracy.

In 1483, the prince of Vereya bequeathed his principality to Moscow. Then came the turn of Moscow's longtime rival, Tver. In 1484, Moscow learned that Prince Mikhail Borisovich of Tverskoy had struck up a friendship with Kazimir of Lithuania and married the latter's granddaughter. Ivan III declared war on Mikhail. Muscovites occupied the Tver volost, took and burned the city. Lithuanian assistance did not appear, and Mikhail was forced to ask for peace. Ivan gave peace. Mikhail promised not to have any relationship with Casimir and the Horde. But in the same 1485, Michael's messenger was intercepted in Lithuania. This time the reprisal was faster and harsher. On September 8, the Moscow army surrounded Tver, on the 10th the settlements were lit, and on the 11th, the Tver boyars, having abandoned their prince, came to the camp to Ivan and beat him with their foreheads, asking for service. Mikhail Borisovich fled to Lithuania at night. Tver swore allegiance to Ivan, who planted his son in it.

In 1489, Vyatka was finally annexed. The Moscow army took Khlynov almost without resistance. The leaders of the Vyatchans were beaten with a whip and executed, the rest of the inhabitants were taken out of the Vyatka land to Borovsk, Aleksin, Kremenets, and the landlords of the Moscow land were sent in their place.

Ivan III was just as lucky in the wars with Lithuania. On the southern and western borders, petty Orthodox princes with their estates passed under the authority of Moscow every now and then. The princes Odoevsky were the first to be transferred, then Vorotynsky and Belevsky. These petty princes constantly entered into quarrels with their Lithuanian neighbors - in fact, the war did not stop on the southern borders, but in Moscow and Vilna they maintained a semblance of peace for a long time. In 1492, Casimir of Lithuania died, the throne passed to his son Alexander. Ivan III, together with Mengli Giray, immediately began a war against him. Things went happily for Moscow. The governors took Meshchovsk, Serpeisk, Vyazma; Vyazemsky, Mezetsky, Novosilsky princes and other Lithuanian owners, willy-nilly, transferred to the service of the Moscow sovereign. Alexander realized that it would be difficult for him to fight at once with Moscow and with Mengli Giray; he planned to marry Ivan's daughter, Elena, and thus arrange a lasting peace between the two rival states. Negotiations proceeded sluggishly until January 1494. Finally, a peace was concluded, according to which Alexander ceded to Ivan the volosts of the princes who had passed to him. Then Ivan III agreed to marry his daughter to Alexander, but this marriage did not bring the expected results. In 1500, the strained relationship between the father-in-law and the son-in-law turned into a clear enmity over new transitions to the side of Moscow of the princes, henchmen of Lithuania. Ivan sent a charter to his son-in-law and then sent an army to Lithuania. The Crimeans, according to custom, helped the Russian rati. Many Ukrainian princes, in order to avoid ruin, hastened to be transferred under the authority of Moscow. In 1503, a truce was concluded, according to which Ivan III retained all the conquered lands. Soon after, Ivan III died. He was buried in Moscow in the Church of Michael the Archangel.

Konstantin Ryzhov. All the monarchs of the world. Russia

Grand Duke of Moscow, son of Vasily Vasilyevich the Dark and Maria Yaroslavovna, b. Jan 22 1440, was co-ruler of his father in the last years of his life, ascended the grand prince's throne until the death of Vasily, in 1462. Having become an independent ruler, he continued the policy of his predecessors, striving for the unification of Russia under the leadership of Moscow and for this purpose destroying the specific principalities and the independence of the veche regions, as well as entering into a stubborn struggle with Lithuania because of the Russian lands that joined it. The actions of Ivan III were not distinguished by particular decisiveness and courage: cautious and prudent, who did not have personal courage, he did not like to take risks and preferred to achieve his intended goal with slow steps, taking advantage of favorable occasions and favorable circumstances. By this time, Moscow's strength had already reached a very significant development, while its rivals had noticeably weakened; this gave a wide scope to the cautious policy of Ivan III and led it to major results. Separate Russian principalities were too weak to fight the Grand Duke; there were not enough funds for this struggle and led. the principality of Lithuania, and the unification of these forces was hindered by the consciousness of their unity already established in the mass of the Russian population and the hostile attitude of the Russians towards Catholicism, which was taking root in Lithuania. Novgorodians, seeing the growth of Moscow's power and fearing for their independence, decided to seek protection from Lithuania, although in Novgorod itself a strong party was against this decision. Ivan III at first did not take any decisive action, limiting himself to exhortations. But the latter did not act: the Lithuanian party, led by the Boretsky family (see the corresponding article), finally gained the upper hand. First, one of the serving Lithuanian princes, Mikhail Olelkovich (Alexandrovich), was invited to Novgorod (1470), and then, when Mikhail, having learned about the death of his brother Semyon, the former governor of Kyiv, went to Kyiv, an agreement was concluded with the Polish king and led. book. Lithuanian Casimir, Novgorod surrendered under his rule, with the condition that Novgorod customs and privileges be preserved. This gave the Moscow chroniclers a reason to call the Novgorodians "non-pagans and apostates of Orthodoxy." Then Ivan III set out on a campaign, gathering a large army, in which, in addition to the rati, he actually led. prince, there were auxiliary detachments of his three brothers, Tver and Pskov. Casimir did not help the Novgorodians, and their troops, on July 14, 1471, suffered a decisive defeat in the battle near the river. Sheloni from the Governor Ivan, Prince. Dan. Dm. Kholmsky; a little later, another Novgorod army was defeated on the Dvina by Prince. You. Shuisky. Novgorod asked for peace and received it, under the condition of payment led. prince 15,500 rubles, the cession of part of Zavolochye and the obligation not to enter into an alliance with Lithuania. After that, however, the gradual restriction of Novgorod liberties began. In 1475, Ivan III visited Novgorod and judged the court here in the old way, but then the complaints of the Novgorodians began to be accepted in Moscow, where they were tried, calling the accused for the Moscow bailiffs, contrary to the privileges of Novgorod. The people of Novgorod tolerated these violations of their rights without giving any pretext for their complete destruction. In 1477, however, Ivan came up with such a pretext: the Novgorod ambassadors, Nazar from Podvoi and the veche clerk Zakhar, introducing themselves to Ivan, called him not “master”, as usual, but “Sovereign”. An inquiry was immediately sent to the people of Novgorod, which state they want. In vain were the answers of the Novgorod vech that it did not give its envoys such a commission; Ivan accused the Novgorodians of denial and inflicting dishonor on him, and in October he set out on a campaign against Novgorod. Encountering no resistance and rejecting all requests for peace and pardon, he reached Novgorod itself and laid siege to it. Only here the Novgorod ambassadors found out the conditions under which he led. the prince agreed to pardon his fatherland: they consisted in the complete destruction of independence and veche government in Novgorod. Surrounded on all sides by the Grand Duke's troops, Novgorod had to agree to these conditions, as well as to the return to. to the prince of all Novotorzhsky volosts, half of the lords and half of the monasteries, having only managed to bargain for small concessions in the interests of the poor monasteries. On January 15, 1478, the Novgorodians swore an oath to Ivan on new terms, after which he entered the city and, having captured the leaders of the party hostile to him, sent them to Moscow prisons. Novgorod did not immediately come to terms with its fate: the following year, an uprising took place in it, supported by the suggestions of Casimir and Ivan's brothers - Andrei Bolshoi and Boris. Ivan III forced Novgorod to submit, executed many of the perpetrators of the uprising, imprisoned Bishop Theophilus and evicted more than 1,000 merchant families and boyar children from the city to the Moscow regions, resettling new residents from Moscow in their place. New conspiracies and unrest in Novgorod led only to new repressive measures. Ivan III applied the system of evictions to Novgorod especially widely: in 1488 alone, more than 7,000 living people were deported to Moscow. Through such measures, the freedom-loving population of Novgorod was finally broken. Following the fall of Novgorod independence, Vyatka also fell, in 1489 forced by the governors of Ivan III to complete obedience. Of the veche cities, only Pskov still retained its old structure, achieving this by complete obedience to the will of Ivan, who, however, gradually changed the Pskov order: thus, the governors elected by the veche were replaced here by exclusively appointed leaders. prince; the decrees of the veche on smerds were canceled, and the people of Pskov were forced to agree to this. One after another, the specific principalities fell before Ivan. In 1463, Yaroslavl was annexed by the local princes ceding their rights; in 1474, the princes of Rostov sold to Ivan the half of the city that still belonged to them. Then the turn came to Tver. Book. Mikhail Borisovich, fearing the growing power of Moscow, married the granddaughter of the Lithuanian prince. Casimir and concluded with him, in 1484, an alliance treaty. Ivan III started a war with Tver and fought it successfully, but at the request of Michael he gave him peace, on the condition of renouncing independent relations with Lithuania and the Tatars. Having retained its independence, Tver, like Novgorod before, was subjected to a number of oppressions; especially in border disputes, the Tverites could not get justice for the Muscovites who seized their lands, as a result of which an increasing number of boyars and boyar children moved from Tver to Moscow, led to the service. prince. Out of patience, Michael started relations with Lithuania, but they were open, and Ivan, not listening to requests and apologies, in September 1485 approached Tver with an army; most of the boyars were transferred to his side, Mikhail fled to Kazimir and Tver was attached to the led. principality of Moscow. In the same year, Ivan received Vereya according to the will of the local prince Mikhail Andreevich, whose son, Vasily, even earlier, frightened of Ivan's disgrace, fled to Lithuania (see the corresponding article).

Within the Moscow principality, appanages were also destroyed and the importance of appanage princes fell before the power of Ivan. In 1472 Ivan's brother died, prince. Dmitrovsky Yuri, or Georgy (see the corresponding article); Ivan III took all his inheritance for himself and did not give anything to the other brothers, violating the old order, according to which the escheat inheritance was to be divided between the brothers. The brothers quarreled with Ivan, but reconciled when he gave them some volosts. A new clash occurred in 1479. Having conquered Novgorod with the help of his brothers, Ivan did not give them participation in the Novgorod volost. Dissatisfied with this already, the brothers of the Grand Duke were even more offended when he ordered one of his deputies to seize the prince who had left him. Boris boyar (Prince Iv. Obolensky-Lyko). The princes of Volotsk and Uglitsky, Boris (see the corresponding article) and Andrei Bolshoi (see the corresponding article) Vasilyevich, having communicated with each other, entered into relations with the discontented Novgorodians and Lithuania and, having gathered troops, entered the Novgorod and Pskov volosts. But Ivan III managed to suppress the Novgorod uprising. Casimir did not give help to his brothers. Prince, they alone did not dare to attack Moscow and remained on the Lithuanian border until 1480, when the invasion of Khan Akhmat gave them an opportunity to reconcile with their brother profitably. Needing their help, Ivan agreed to make peace with them and gave them new volosts, and Andrei Bolshoi received Mozhaisk, which previously belonged to Yuri. In 1481 Andrei Menshoi, younger brother Ivan, died; owed him 30,000 rubles. during his lifetime, he left him his inheritance by will, in which the other brothers did not receive participation. Ten years later, Ivan III arrested Andrei the Great in Moscow, who a few months earlier had not sent his army to the Tatars on his orders, and put him in close imprisonment, in which he died, in 1494; all his inheritance was taken. prince over himself. The inheritance of Boris Vasilyevich, after his death, was inherited by his two sons, of whom one died in 1503, leaving his part to Ivan. Thus, the number of destinies created by Ivan's father was greatly reduced by the end of Ivan's reign. At the same time, a new beginning was firmly established in the relationship of specific princes to the great ones: the will of Ivan III formulated the rule that he himself followed and according to which the escheated destinies were to be transferred to led. prince. This rule eliminated the possibility of concentrating inheritances in someone else's hands past the led. prince and, consequently, the significance of specific princes was undermined to the root.

The expansion of Moscow's possessions at the expense of Lithuania was facilitated by the internal unrest that took place in Great Britain. principality of Lithuania. Already in the first decades of the reign of Ivan III, many service princes of Lithuania passed to him, retaining their estates. The most prominent of them were the princes Iv. Mich. Vorotynsky and Iv. You. Belsky. After the death of Casimir, when Poland elected Jan-Albrecht as king, and Alexander took the throne of Lithuania, Ivan III began an open war with the latter. Made by Lithuanian led. prince, an attempt to stop the struggle by a family alliance with the Moscow dynasty did not lead to the expected result: Ivan III did not agree to the marriage of his daughter Elena with Alexander before, as by making peace, according to which Alexander recognized for him the title of sovereign of all Russia and all acquired by Moscow in land war time. Later, the most kindred union became for John only an extra pretext for interfering in the internal affairs of Lithuania and demanding an end to the oppression of the Orthodox (see the corresponding article). Ivan III himself, through the mouths of ambassadors sent to the Crimea, explained his policy towards Lithuania in the following way: “There is no lasting peace with our Grand Duke with Lithuanian; him of his fatherland, of all the Russian land." These mutual claims already in 1499 caused a new war between Alexander and Ivan, successful for the latter; by the way, on July 14, 1500, Russian troops won a big victory over the Lithuanians near the river. Buckets, at which the hetman of the Lithuanian prince was taken prisoner. Konstantin Ostrozhsky. The peace concluded in 1503 secured for Moscow its new acquisitions, including Chernigov, Starodub, Novgorod-Seversk, Putivl, Rylsk and 14 other cities.

Under Ivan, Muscovite Russia, strengthened and united, finally threw off the Tatar yoke. Back in 1472, Khan of the Golden Horde Akhmat undertook, at the suggestion of the Polish king Casimir, a campaign against Moscow, but he took only Aleksin and could not cross the Oka, behind which Ivan's strong army had gathered. In 1476, Ivan, as they say - as a result of the admonitions of his second wife, led. Princess Sophia, refused to pay further tribute to Akhmat, and in 1480 the latter again attacked Russia, but at the river. The Ugry was stopped by the army led. prince. Ivan himself, however, even now hesitated for a long time, and only the insistent demands of the clergy, especially the Rostov Bishop Vassian (see the corresponding article), prompted him to personally go to the army and then interrupt the negotiations that had already begun with Akhmat. All autumn, Russian and Tatar troops stood one against the other on different sides of the river. eels; finally, when it was already winter and severe frosts began to disturb the poorly dressed Tatars of Akhmat, he, without waiting for help from Casimir, retreated, on November 11; the following year, he was killed by the Nogai prince Ivak, and the power of the Golden Horde over Russia collapsed completely.

Memorial in honor of standing / piya on the river Ugra. Kaluga region

Following that, Ivan undertook us, that is, letters for free passage for negotiations. stupid actions in relation to another Tatar kingdom - Kazan. In the first years of the reign of Ivan III, his hostile attitude towards Kazan was expressed in a number of raids carried out on both sides, but did not lead to anything decisive and was interrupted at times by peace treaties. The troubles that began in Kazan, after the death of Khan Ibrahim, between his sons, Ali Khan and Mohammed Amin, gave Ivan the opportunity to subordinate Kazan to his influence. In 1487, Muhammad-Amin, expelled by his brother, came to Ivan, asking for help, and after that he led the army. the prince besieged Kazan and forced Ali Khan to surrender; in his place was planted Mohammed-Amin, who actually became a vassal to Ivan. In 1496, Muhammad-Amin was overthrown by the Kazanians, who called the Nogai prince. Mamuka; not getting along with him, the Kazanians again turned to Ivan for the tsar, asking only not to send Mohammed-Amin to them, and Ivan III sent the Crimean prince Abdyl-Letif, who had come to his service shortly before, to them. The latter, however, already in 1502 was deposed by Ivan III and imprisoned at Belo-ozero for disobedience, and Kazan received again Mohammed-Amin, who in 1505 seceded from Moscow and started a war with her, attacking Nizhny Novgorod. Death did not allow Ivan to restore the lost power over Kazan. With two other Muslim powers - the Crimea and Turkey - Ivan III maintained peaceful relations. The Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey, himself threatened by the Golden Horde, was a loyal ally of Ivan III both against it and against Lithuania; with Turkey, not only was trade profitable for the Russians on the Kafa market, but from 1492 diplomatic relations were also established, through Mengli Giray.

A. Vasnetsov. Moscow Kremlin under Ivan III

The nature of the power of the Moscow sovereign under Ivan underwent significant changes, which depended not only on its actual strengthening, with the fall of appanages, but also on the appearance of new concepts on the ground prepared by such strengthening. With the fall of Constantinople, Russian scribes began to transfer to the Moscow Prince. then the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe king - the head of Orthodoxy. Christianity, which was previously associated with the name of the Byzantine emperor. This transfer was also facilitated by the family environment of Ivan III. By his first marriage, he was married to Maria Borisovna of Tverskaya, from whom he had a son, John, nicknamed Young (see the corresponding article); this son Ivan III called led. prince, seeking to consolidate the throne for him. Marya Borisovna d. in 1467, and in 1469, Pope Paul II offered Ivan the hand of Zoe, or, as she became known in Russia, Sophia Fominishna Paleolog, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor. The ambassador led book. - Ivan Fryazin, as the Russian chronicles call him, or Jean-Battista della Volpe, as his real name was (see the corresponding article), - finally arranged this matter, and on November 12, 1472, Sophia entered Moscow and married Ivan. Along with this marriage, the customs of the Moscow court also changed greatly: the Byzantine princess informed her husband of higher ideas about his power, outwardly expressed in an increase in splendor, in the adoption of the Byzantine coat of arms, in the introduction of complex court ceremonies, and distant led. book. from the boyars.

Moscow coat of arms at the end of the 15th century

The latter were hostile, therefore, to Sophia, and after the birth of her son Vasily in 1479 and the death of Ivan the Young in 1490, the cat. there was a son Dimitri (see the corresponding article), two parties clearly formed at the court of Ivan III, of which one, consisting of the most noble boyars, including the Patrikeyevs and Ryapolovskys, defended the rights to the throne of Dimitri, and the other - mostly ignoble children boyars and clerks - stood for Vasily. This family strife, on the basis of which hostile political parties clashed, was also intertwined with the question of church politics - about measures against the Judaizers (see the corresponding article); Demetrius' mother, Elena, tended to heresy and refrained Ivan III from taking harsh measures against her, while Sophia, on the contrary, stood for the persecution of heretics. At first, the victory seemed to be on the side of Demetrius and the boyars. In December 1497, a conspiracy by Basil's followers on the life of Demetrius was discovered; Ivan III arrested his son, executed the conspirators and began to beware of his wife, who was caught in relations with the fortune tellers. 4 Feb. 1498 Demetrius was crowned king. But already in the following year, disgrace befell his supporters: Sem. Ryapolovsky was executed, Iv. Patrikeyev and his son were tonsured monks; soon Ivan, not yet taking away his grandson's lead. reign, announced the son led. prince of Novgorod and Pskov; finally, 11 Apr. 1502 Ivan clearly put Elena and Dimitri in disgrace, putting them in custody, and on April 14 he blessed Vasily with a great reign. Under Ivan, deacon Gusev compiled the first Sudebnik (see). Ivan III tried to raise Russian industry and the arts, and for this purpose he called in masters from abroad, of whom the most famous was Aristotle Fioravanti, the builder of the Moscow Assumption Cathedral. Ivan III mind. in 1505

Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Built under Ivan III

The opinions of our historians about the personality of Ivan III differ greatly: Karamzin called him great and even opposed him to Peter I, as an example of a cautious reformer; Solovyov saw in him mainly "the happy descendant of a number of intelligent, industrious, thrifty ancestors"; Bestuzhev-Ryumin, combining both of these views, was more inclined towards Karamzin; Kostomarov drew attention to the complete absence of moral greatness in the figure of Ivan.

The main sources for the time of Ivan III: "Full collection. Ross. Letop." (II-VIII); Nikonovskaya, Lvovskaya, Arkhangelsk annals and the continuation of Nestorovskaya; "Coll. G. Gr. and Dog."; "Acts Arch. Exp." (vol. I); "Acts ist." (vol. I); "Additional to historical acts" (vol. I); "Acts of Western Russia" (vol. I); "Memorial. diplomatic relations" (vol. I). Literature: Karamzin (vol. VI); Solovyov (vol. V); Artsybashev, "The Narrative of Russia" (vol. II); Bestuzhev-Ryumin (vol. II); Kostomarov, "Russian history in biographies" (vol. I); R. Pierliug, "La Russie et l" Orient. Mariage d "un Tsar au Vatican. Ivan III et Sophie Paléologue" (there is a Russian translation, St. Petersburg, 1892), and his own, "Papes et Tsars".

V. Mn.

Encyclopedia Brockhaus-Efron

Importance of Ivan III

The successor of Vasily the Dark was his eldest son Ivan Vasilyevich. Historians look at it differently. Solovyov says that only the happy position of Ivan III, after a number of clever predecessors, gave him the opportunity to boldly conduct extensive enterprises. Kostomarov judges Ivan even more severely - he denies in him any political abilities in Ivan, denies in him human dignity. Karamzin, on the other hand, evaluates the activities of Ivan III in a completely different way: not sympathizing with the violent nature of Peter's transformations, he puts Ivan III above even Peter the Great. Bestuzhev-Ryumin treats Ivan III much more fairly and calmly. He says that although much was done by Ivan's predecessors and that therefore it was easier for Ivan to work, nevertheless he is great because he was able to complete old tasks and set new ones.

The blind father made Ivan his escort and, during his lifetime, gave him the title of Grand Duke. Growing up in a difficult time of civil strife and unrest, Ivan early acquired worldly experience and a habit of business. Gifted with a great mind and strong will, he brilliantly conducted his affairs and, one might say, completed the collection of Great Russian lands under the rule of Moscow, forming a single Great Russian state from his possessions. When he began to reign, his principality was surrounded almost everywhere by Russian possessions: the lord of Veliky Novgorod, the princes of Tver, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Ryazan. Ivan Vasilyevich subjugated all these lands either by force or by peace agreements. At the end of his reign, he had only heterodox and foreign neighbors: Swedes, Germans, Lithuanians, Tatars. This circumstance alone was to change his policy. Earlier, surrounded by the same as himself, the rulers, Ivan was one of the many specific princes, albeit the most powerful; now, having destroyed these princes, he has become a single sovereign of an entire nation. At the beginning of his reign, he dreamed of inventions, as his specific ancestors dreamed of them; in the end, he had to think about protecting the whole people from his infidel and foreign enemies. In short, at first his policy was specific, and then this politics became national.

Having acquired such significance, Ivan III could not, of course, share his power with other princes of the Moscow house. Destroying other people's destinies (in Tver, Yaroslavl, Rostov), ​​he could not leave specific orders in his own family. To study these orders, we have a large number of spiritual testaments of the Moscow princes of the XIV and XV centuries. and from them we see that there were no permanent rules that would establish a uniform order of ownership and inheritance; all this was determined each time by the will of the prince, who could transfer his possessions to whomever he wanted. So, for example, Prince Semyon, the son of Ivan Kalita, dying childless, bequeathed his personal inheritance to his wife, in addition to his brothers. The princes looked at their land holdings as articles of their economy, and they divided movable property, private land holdings, and state territory in exactly the same way. The latter was usually divided into counties and volosts according to their economic significance or historical origin. Each heir received his share in these lands, just as he received his share in each article of movable property. The very form of the spiritual letters of the princes was the same as the form of the spiritual testaments of persons; in the same way, letters were made in the presence of witnesses and with the blessing of the spiritual fathers. According to wills, one can well trace the relationship of princes to each other. Each specific prince owned his own inheritance independently; the younger specific princes had to obey the elder, like a father, and the elder had to take care of the younger ones; but these were moral rather than political duties. The significance of the elder brother was determined by purely material quantitative predominance, and not by an excess of rights and power. So, for example, Dmitry Donskoy gave the eldest of five sons a third of all property, and Vasily the Dark - half. Ivan III no longer wanted to be content with an excess of material resources alone and desired complete dominance over his brothers. At the first opportunity, he took the inheritance from his brothers and limited their old rights. He demanded from them obedience to himself, as to the sovereign from his subjects. Drawing up his will, he severely deprived his younger sons in favor of their elder brother, Grand Duke Vasily, and, in addition, deprived them of all sovereign rights, subordinating them to the Grand Duke as simple service princes. In a word, everywhere and in everything, Ivan looked at the Grand Duke as an autocratic and autocratic monarch, to whom both his service princes and simple servants were equally subordinate. The new idea of ​​a people's sovereign sovereign led to changes in palace life, to the establishment of court etiquette ("rank"), to greater splendor and solemnity of customs, to the assimilation of various emblems and signs that expressed the concept of the high dignity of grand ducal power. So, together with the unification of northern Russia, a transformation took place Moscow appanage prince to the sovereign-autocrat of all Russia.

Finally, having become a national sovereign, Ivan III learned to himself a new direction in the foreign relations of Russia. He threw off the last remnants of dependence on the Golden Horde Khan. He began offensive operations against Lithuania, from which Moscow until then had only defended itself. He even claimed all those Russian regions that the Lithuanian princes had owned since the time of Gediminas: calling himself the sovereign of "All Russia", by these words he meant not only northern, but also southern, and western Russia. Ivan III also pursued a firm offensive policy with respect to the Livonian Order. He skillfully and decisively used the forces and means that his ancestors had accumulated and which he himself created in the united state. This is the important historical significance of the reign of Ivan III. The unification of northern Russia around Moscow began a long time ago: under Dmitry Donskoy, its first signs were discovered; it happened under Ivan III. With full right, therefore, Ivan III can be called the creator of the Muscovite state.

Conquest of Novgorod.

We know that during the last period of independent Novgorod life in Novgorod there was a constant enmity between the better and the lesser people. Often turning into open strife, this enmity weakened Novgorod and made it easy prey for strong neighbors - Moscow and Lithuania. All the great Moscow princes tried to take Novgorod under their own hand and keep their service princes there as Moscow governors. More than once, for the disobedience of the Novgorodians to the Grand Dukes, the Muscovites went to war against Novgorod, took a payback (indemnity) from it and obliged the Novgorodians to obedience. After defeating Shemyaka, who hid in Novgorod, Vasily the Dark defeated the Novgorodians, took 10,000 rubles from them and forced them to swear that Novgorod would obey him and would not accept any of the princes hostile to him. Moscow's claims to Novgorod forced the Novgorodians to seek alliance and protection from the Lithuanian grand dukes; and those, for their part, tried at every opportunity to subjugate the Novgorodians and took from them the same payoffs as Moscow, but in general did not help well against Moscow. Placed between two terrible enemies, the Novgorodians came to the conclusion that they themselves could not protect and maintain their independence and that only a permanent alliance with one of their neighbors could prolong the existence of the Novgorod state. Two parties were formed in Novgorod: one for an agreement with Moscow, the other for an agreement with Lithuania. For Moscow, the common people stood for the most part, for Lithuania - the boyars. Ordinary Novgorodians saw the Moscow prince as an Orthodox and Russian sovereign, and the Lithuanian prince as a Catholic and a stranger. To be transferred from subordination to Moscow to subordination to Lithuania would mean for them to change their faith and nationality. The Novgorod boyars, headed by the Boretsky family, expected from Moscow the complete destruction of the old Novgorod system and dreamed of keeping it in alliance with Lithuania. After the defeat of Novgorod under Vasily the Dark, the Lithuanian party in Novgorod gained the upper hand and began to prepare for liberation from the Moscow dependence established under the Dark, by passing under the patronage of the Lithuanian prince. In 1471, Novgorod, led by the Boretsky party, concluded an alliance treaty with the Lithuanian Grand Duke and King of Poland, Kazimir Yagailovich (otherwise: Jagiellonchik), according to which the king undertook to defend Novgorod from Moscow, give the Novgorodians his governor and observe all the liberties of Novgorod and the old days.

When Moscow learned about the transition of Novgorod to Lithuania, they looked at it as a betrayal not only of the Grand Duke, but also of the faith and the Russian people. In this sense, Grand Duke Ivan wrote to Novgorod, urging the people of Novgorod to lag behind Lithuania and the Catholic king. The Grand Duke gathered a large council of his military leaders and officials, together with the clergy, announced at the council all the Novgorod lies and treason, and asked the council for opinions on whether to immediately start a war with Novgorod or wait for winter when the Novgorod rivers, lakes and swamps freeze . It was decided to fight immediately. The campaign against the Novgorodians was given the appearance of a campaign for the faith against the apostates: just as Dmitry Donskoy armed himself against the godless Mamai, so, according to the chronicler, the faithful Grand Duke John went against these apostates from Orthodoxy to Latinism. The Moscow army entered Novgorod land by different roads. Under the command of Prince Daniel Kholmsky, she soon defeated the Novgorodians: first, one Moscow detachment on the southern banks of the Ilmen defeated the Novgorod army, and then in a new battle on the river. Shelon, the main forces of the Novgorodians suffered a terrible defeat. Posadnik Boretsky was captured and executed. The road to Novgorod was open, but Lithuania did not help Novgorod. Novgorodians had to humble themselves before Ivan and ask for mercy. They renounced all relations with Lithuania and pledged to be persistent with Moscow; in addition, they paid the Grand Duke a huge payback of 15.5 thousand rubles. Ivan returned to Moscow, and internal unrest resumed in Novgorod. Offended by their rapists, the Novgorodians complained to the Grand Duke about the offenders, and Ivan personally went to Novgorod in 1475 for trial and justice. The justice of the Moscow prince, who did not spare the strong boyars at his trial, led to the fact that the Novgorodians, who suffered insults at home, began to travel from year to year to Moscow to ask Ivan for court. During one of these visits, two Novgorod officials titled the Grand Duke "sovereign", while earlier the Novgorodians called the Moscow prince "master". The difference was great: the word "sovereign" at that time meant the same thing as the word "master" now means; Sovereign then called their master slaves and servants. For the free Novgorodians, the prince was not a "sovereign", and they called him the honorary title "master", just as they called their free city "master Veliky Novgorod". Naturally, Ivan could seize on this occasion in order to put an end to Novgorod liberty. His ambassadors asked in Novgorod: on what basis did the Novgorodians call him a sovereign and what kind of state do they want? When the Novgorodians renounced the new title and said that no one was authorized to call Ivan the sovereign, Ivan went on a campaign against Novgorod for their lies and denial. Novgorod did not have the strength to fight Moscow, Ivan laid siege to the city and began negotiations with the Novgorod lord Theophilus and the boyars. He demanded unconditional obedience and announced that he wanted the same state in Novgorod as in Moscow: I will never be, there will not be a posadnik, but be a Moscow custom, just as sovereigns, grand dukes keep their state in their Moscow land. Novgorodians thought for a long time and finally reconciled: in January 1478 they agreed to the demand of the Grand Duke and kissed his cross. The Novgorod state ceased to exist; the veche bell was taken to Moscow. The family of the boyars Boretsky was also sent there, headed by the widow of the mayor Martha (she was considered the leader of the anti-Moscow party in Novgorod). Following Veliky Novgorod, all Novgorod lands were subordinated to Moscow. Of these, Vyatka offered some resistance. In 1489, Moscow troops (under the command of Prince Daniel Shchenyaty) conquered Vyatka by force.

In the first year after the subjugation of Novgorod, Grand Duke Ivan did not impose his disgrace on the Novgorodians "and did not take drastic measures against them. When in Novgorod they tried to rise up and return to the old days - just a year after surrendering to the Grand Duke - then Ivan began with the Novgorodians The lord of Novgorod Theophilus was taken and sent to Moscow, and in return Archbishop Sergius was sent to Novgorod. and their lands were taken over by the sovereign and distributed to Moscow servants, whom the Grand Duke settled in large numbers in the Novgorod pyatiny. Thus, the Novgorod nobility completely disappeared, and with it the memory of Novgorod liberty disappeared. Smaller Novgorod people, smerds and ladles, were spared from the boyar oppression, of which peasant tax communities were formed on the Moscow model.In general, their situation improved b, and they had no motivation to regret the Novgorod antiquity. With the destruction of the Novgorod nobility, Novgorod trade with the West also fell, especially since Ivan III evicted German merchants from Novgorod. So the independence of Veliky Novgorod was destroyed. Pskov has so far retained its self-government, in no way departing from the will of the Grand Duke.

Subordination of appanage principalities by Ivan III

Under Ivan III, the subjugation and annexation of specific lands continued actively. Those of the petty princes of Yaroslavl and Rostov who, before Ivan III, still retained their independence, under Ivan all transferred their lands to Moscow and beat the Grand Duke with their foreheads so that he would accept them into his service. Becoming Moscow servants and turning into boyars of the Moscow prince, these princes retained their ancestral lands, but not as destinies, but as simple estates. They were their private property, and the Grand Duke of Moscow was already revered as the "sovereign" of their lands. Thus, all small destinies were collected by Moscow; only Tver and Ryazan remained. These "great principalities", once at war with Moscow, were now weak and retained only a shadow of their independence. The last Ryazan princes, two brothers - Ivan and Fedor, were the nephews of Ivan III (the sons of his sister Anna). Both their mother and they themselves did not leave Ivan's will, and the Grand Duke, one might say, himself ruled Ryazan for them. One of the brothers (Prince Fedor) died childless and bequeathed his inheritance to his uncle the Grand Duke, thus giving half of Ryazan to Moscow voluntarily. Another brother (Ivan) also died young, leaving a baby son named Ivan, for whom his grandmother and her brother Ivan III ruled. Ryazan was in the complete power of Moscow. Obedient to Ivan III and Prince of Tver Mikhail Borisovich. The Tver nobility even went with the Muscovites to conquer Novgorod. But later, in 1484-1485, relations deteriorated. The prince of Tver made friends with Lithuania, thinking of getting help from the Grand Duke of Lithuania against Moscow. Ivan III, having learned about this, started a war with Tver and, of course, won. Mikhail Borisovich fled to Lithuania, and Tver was annexed to Moscow (1485). So the final unification of northern Russia took place.

Moreover, the unifying national policy of Moscow attracted to the Moscow sovereign such service princes who did not belong to northern Russia, but to the Lithuanian-Russian principality. The princes of Vyazemsky, Odoevsky, Novosilsky, Vorotynsky and many others, who were sitting on the eastern outskirts of the Lithuanian state, abandoned their Grand Duke and transferred to the service of Moscow, subordinating their lands to the Moscow prince. It was the transition of the old Russian princes from the Catholic sovereign of Lithuania to the Orthodox prince of northern Russia that gave the Moscow princes a reason to consider themselves sovereigns of the entire Russian land, even the one that was under Lithuanian rule and although not yet united with Moscow, but should, in their opinion, , to unite in the unity of faith, nationality and the old dynasty of St. Vladimir.

Family and court affairs of Ivan III

The unusually rapid success of the Grand Duke Ivan III in collecting Russian lands was accompanied by significant changes in Moscow court life. The first wife of Ivan III, Princess Maria Borisovna of Tver, died early, in 1467, when Ivan was not even 30 years old. After her, Ivan left a son - Prince Ivan Ivanovich "Young", as he was usually called. At that time, relations between Moscow and Western countries were already being established. For various reasons, the pope was interested in establishing relations with Moscow and subordinating it to his influence. It was from the pope that the suggestion was made to arrange the marriage of the young Moscow prince with the niece of the last Constantino-Polish emperor, Zoya-Sophia Paleolog. After the capture of Constantinople by the Turks (1453), the brother of the murdered Emperor Constantine Palaiologos, named Thomas, fled with his family to Italy and died there, leaving the children in the care of the pope. The children were brought up in the spirit of the Union of Florence, and the pope had reason to hope that by marrying Sophia to the Moscow prince, he would be able to introduce the union into Moscow. Ivan III agreed to start courtship and sent ambassadors to Italy for the bride. In 1472 she came to Moscow and the marriage took place. However, the pope's hopes were not destined to come true: the papal legate who accompanied Sophia had no success in Moscow; Sophia herself did nothing to contribute to the triumph of the union, and thus the marriage of the Moscow prince did not entail any visible consequences for Europe and Catholicism [* The role of Sophia Palaiologos was thoroughly studied by prof. V. I. Savvoy ("Moscow Tsars and Byzantine Basils", 1901).].

But it had some consequences for the Moscow court. Firstly, he contributed to the revival and strengthening of Moscow's relations with the West, which began in that era, with Italy in particular. Together with Sophia, Greeks and Italians arrived in Moscow; they came later. The Grand Duke kept them as "masters", entrusting them with the construction of fortresses, churches and chambers, the casting of cannons, and the minting of coins. Sometimes diplomatic affairs were entrusted to these masters, and they traveled to Italy with instructions from the Grand Duke. Traveling Italians in Moscow were called by the common name "fryazin" (from "friag", "franc"); Ivan Fryazin, Mark Fryazin, Antony Fryazin, etc., acted in this way in Moscow. Of the Italian masters, Aristotle Fioaventi was especially famous, having built the famous Assumption Cathedral and the Palace of Facets in the Moscow Kremlin. In general, under Ivan III, the Kremlin was built and decorated anew by the labors of the Italians. Next to the "Fryazh" masters, Ivan III also worked with German ones, although in his time they did not play the first role; only "German" doctors were issued. In addition to the masters, foreign guests appeared in Moscow (for example, the Greek relatives of Sophia) and ambassadors from Western European sovereigns. (By the way, the embassy from the Roman emperor offered Ivan III the title of king, which Ivan refused). For the reception of guests and ambassadors at the Moscow court, a certain "rite" (ceremonial) was developed, completely different from the rank that was observed before at the receptions of the Tatar embassies. And in general, the order of court life under the new circumstances has changed, it has become more complicated and ceremonious.

Secondly, Moscow people attributed to the appearance of Sophia in Moscow great changes in the character of Ivan III and confusion in the princely family. They said that, as Sophia came with the Greeks, the earth became confused, and great disturbances came. The Grand Duke changed his treatment of those around him: he began to behave not as simply and accessible as before, demanded signs of attention to himself, became exacting and easily scorched (imposed disfavor) on the boyars. He began to discover a new, unusually lofty idea of ​​his power. Having married a Greek princess, he seemed to consider himself the successor of the disappeared Greek emperors and hinted at this succession by adopting the Byzantine coat of arms - the double-headed eagle. In a word, after his marriage to Sophia, Ivan III showed great lust for power, which the Grand Duchess herself later experienced. At the end of his life, Ivan completely quarreled with Sophia and alienated her from himself. Their quarrel took place over the issue of succession to the throne. The son of Ivan III from his first marriage, Ivan Molodoy, died in 1490, leaving the Grand Duke a small grandson Dmitry. But the Grand Duke had another son from his marriage to Sophia - Vasily. Who was to inherit the throne of Moscow: grandson Dmitry or son Vasily? First, Ivan III decided the case in favor of Dmitry and at the same time imposed his disgrace on Sophia and Vasily. During his lifetime, he crowned Dmitry to the kingdom (namely, to the kingdom, and not to the great reign). But a year later, relations changed: Dmitry was removed, and Sophia and Vasily again entered mercy. Vasily received the title of Grand Duke and became co-ruler with his father. During these changes, the courtiers of Ivan III endured: with disgrace to Sophia, her entourage fell into disfavor, and several people were even executed by death; with disgrace against Dmitry, the Grand Duke also raised a persecution of some boyars and executed one of them.

Remembering everything that happened at the court of Ivan III after his marriage to Sophia, the people of Moscow condemned Sophia and considered her influence on her husband more harmful than useful. They attributed to her the fall of old customs and various novelties in Moscow life, as well as the damage to the character of her husband and son, who became powerful and formidable monarchs. However, one should not exaggerate the significance of Sophia's personality: if she had not been at the Moscow court at all, the Moscow Grand Duke would still have realized his strength and sovereignty, and relations with the West would still have begun. The whole course of Muscovite history led to this, by virtue of which the Grand Duke of Moscow became the sole sovereign of the mighty Great Russian people and a neighbor of several European states.

Foreign policy of Ivan III.

During the time of Ivan III, there were already three independent Tatar hordes within the boundaries of present-day Russia. The Golden Horde, exhausted by strife, lived out its days. Next to her in the XV century. the Crimean Horde was formed in the Black Sea region, in which the dynasty of the Gireys (descendants of Azi-Girey) was established. In Kazan, the Golden Horde natives founded, also in the middle of the 15th century, a special horde, uniting Finnish foreigners under the Tatar rule: Mordovians, Cheremis, Votyaks. Taking advantage of disagreements and constant civil strife among the Tatars, Ivan III gradually succeeded in bringing Kazan under his influence and making the Kazan Khan or "Tsar" his assistant (at that time Muscovites called khans tsars). Ivan III formed a strong friendship with the Crimean Tsar, since both of them had a common enemy - the Golden Horde, against which they acted together. As for the Golden Horde, Ivan III stopped all relations dependent on it: he did not give tribute, did not go to the Horde, did not show respect to the khan. It was said that once Ivan III even threw to the ground and trampled the Khan's "basma" with his foot, i.e. that sign (in all likelihood, a golden plate, a "token" with an inscription), which the khan handed over to his ambassadors to Ivan, as proof of their authority and power. The weak Golden Horde Khan Akhmat tried to act against Moscow in alliance with Lithuania; but since Lithuania did not give him reliable assistance, he limited himself to raids on the Moscow borders. In 1472, he came to the banks of the Oka and, having plundered, went back, not daring to go to Moscow itself. In 1480 he repeated his raid. Leaving the headwaters of the Oka to his right, Akhmat came to the river. Ugra, in the border areas between Moscow and Lithuania. But even here he did not receive any help from Lithuania, and Moscow met him with a strong host. On the Ugra, Akhmat and Ivan III began to face each other - both in indecision to start a direct battle. Ivan III ordered to prepare the capital for a siege, sent his wife Sophia from Moscow to the north and himself came from the Ugra to Moscow, fearing both the Tatars and his own brothers (this is perfectly shown in the article by A. E. Presnyakov "Ivan III on the Ugra" ). They were at odds with him and inspired him with suspicion that they would betray him at the decisive moment. The prudence of Ivan and his slowness seemed cowardly to the people, and ordinary people, preparing for a siege in Moscow, openly resented Ivan. The spiritual father of the Grand Duke, Archbishop Vassian of Rostov, exhorted Ivan not to be a "runner", but to stand bravely against the enemy, both in word and in a written "message". However, Ivan did not dare to attack the Tatars. In turn, Akhmat, standing on the Ugra from summer to November, waited for snow and frost and had to go home. He himself was soon killed in strife, and his sons died in the fight against the Crimean Horde, and the Golden Horde itself finally disintegrated (1502). Thus ended the "Tatar yoke" for Moscow, which gradually subsided and in its last days was nominal. But the troubles from the Tatars did not end for Russia. Both Crimeans and Kazanians, and Nagai, and all the small nomadic Tatar hordes close to the Russian borders and "ukrainians" constantly attacked these ukrainians, burned, ravaged dwellings and property, took away people and cattle with them. With this constant Tatar robbery, the Russian people had to fight for about three more centuries.

The relations of Ivan III to Lithuania under Grand Duke Kazimir Yagailovich were not peaceful. Not wanting to strengthen Moscow, Lithuania sought to support Veliky Novgorod and Tver against Moscow, raised the Tatars against Ivan III. But Casimir did not have enough strength to wage an open war with Moscow. After Vytautas, internal complications in Lithuania weakened her. The strengthening of Polish influence and Catholic propaganda created many discontented princes in Lithuania; they, as we know, went into Moscow citizenship with their estates. This further diminished the Lithuanian forces and made it very risky for Lithuania (vol. I); nym open clash with Moscow. However, it became inevitable after the death of Casimir (1492), when Lithuania elected a Grand Duke separately from Poland. While the son of Casimir, Jan Albrecht, became the king of Poland, his brother Alexander Kazimirovich reigned in Lithuania. Taking advantage of this division, Ivan III started a war against Alexander and ensured that Lithuania formally ceded to him the lands of the princes who had moved to Moscow (Vyazemsky, Novosilsky, Odoevsky, Vorotynsky, Belevsky), and in addition, recognized him as the title of "sovereign of all Russia" . The conclusion of peace was secured by the fact that Ivan III gave his daughter Elena in marriage to Alexander Kazimirovich. Alexander himself was a Catholic, but he promised not to force his Orthodox wife to become Catholic. However, it was difficult for him to keep this promise because of the suggestions of his Catholic advisers. The fate of the Grand Duchess Elena Ivanovna was very sad, and her father demanded in vain that Alexander treat her better. On the other hand, Alexander was offended by the Moscow Grand Duke. Orthodox princes from Lithuania continued to ask for Ivan III to serve, explaining their unwillingness to remain under the rule of Lithuania by the persecution of their faith. So, Ivan III received the prince of Belsky and the princes of Novgorod-Seversky and Chernigov with huge estates along the Dnieper and Desna. War between Moscow and Lithuania became inevitable. It went from 1500 to 1503, and the Livonian Order took the side of Lithuania, and the Crimean Khan took the side of Moscow. The case ended with a truce, according to which Ivan III retained all the principalities he had acquired. It was obvious that Moscow at that moment was stronger than Lithuania, just as it was stronger than the Order. The Order, despite some military successes, also concluded a not particularly honorable truce with Moscow. Before Ivan III, under pressure from the west, the Moscow principality yielded and lost; now the Moscow Grand Duke himself begins to attack his neighbors and, increasing his possessions from the west, openly claims to annex to Moscow all Russian lands in general.

Fighting with his Western neighbors, Ivan III sought friendship and alliances in Europe. Under him, Moscow entered into diplomatic relations with Denmark, with the emperor, with Hungary, with Venice, with Turkey. The strengthened Russian state gradually entered the circle of European international relations and began its communication with the cultural countries of the West.

S. F. Platonov. Full course of lectures on Russian history

Unification of Russia under Ivan III and Vasily III

These are the new phenomena that are noticed in the territorial gathering of Russia by Moscow from the middle of the 15th century. The local societies themselves are beginning to openly turn to Moscow, dragging their governments with them or being carried away by them. Thanks to this gravitation, the Moscow gathering of Russia acquired a different character and an accelerated course. Now it has ceased to be a matter of conquest or private agreement, but has become a national-religious movement. A short list of the territorial acquisitions made by Moscow under Ivan III and his son Vasily III is enough to see how this political unification of Russia accelerated.

From the middle of the 15th century and free cities with their regions, and principalities quickly become part of the Moscow territory. In 1463, all the princes of Yaroslavl, the great prince with appanage, beat Ivan III with a brow about accepting them into the Moscow service and renounced their independence. In the 1470s, Novgorod the Great with its vast area in Northern Russia was conquered. In 1472, the Perm land was brought under the hand of the Moscow sovereign, in part of which (along the Vychegda River) the beginning of Russian colonization was laid back in the 14th century, during the time of St. Stephen of Perm. In 1474, the princes of Rostov sold to Moscow the half of the Rostov principality that remained behind them; the other half had been acquired by Moscow even earlier. This deal was accompanied by the entry of the princes of Rostov into the Moscow boyars. In 1485, Tver, besieged by him, swore allegiance to Ivan III without a fight. In 1489, Vyatka was finally conquered. In the 1490s, the princes Vyazemsky and a number of petty princes of the Chernigov line - Odoevsky, Novosilsky, Vorotynsky, Mezetsky, as well as the now mentioned sons of Moscow fugitives, the princes of Chernigov and Seversk, all with their own possessions, seizing the eastern strip of Smolensk and most of Chernigov and Seversky lands, recognized over themselves, as already mentioned, the supreme power of the Moscow sovereign. In the reign of Ivanov's successor [Vasily III], Pskov with its region was annexed to Moscow in 1510, in 1514 - the Smolensk principality, captured by Lithuania at the beginning of the 15th century, in 1517 - the principality of Ryazan; finally, in 1517 - 1523. the principalities of Chernigov and Seversk were included in the number of direct possessions of Moscow, when the Seversky Shemyachich expelled his Chernigov neighbor and exile comrade from his possessions, and then he himself ended up in a Moscow prison. We will not list the territorial acquisitions made by Moscow in the reign of Ivan IV outside the then Great Russia, along the Middle and Lower Volga and in the steppes along the Don and its tributaries. It is enough what was acquired by the father and grandfather of the tsar [Vasily III and Ivan III] in order to see how much the territory of the Moscow principality expanded.

Apart from the shaky, unfortified Trans-Ural possessions in Yugra and the land of the Vogulis, Moscow ruled from the Pechora and the mountains of the Northern Urals to the mouths of the Neva and Narova and from Vasilsursk on the Volga to Lyubech on the Dnieper. At the ascension of Ivan III to the Grand Duke's table, the Moscow territory hardly contained more than 15 thousand square miles. The acquisitions of Ivan III and his son [Vasily III] increased this territory by at least 40 thousand square miles.

Ivan III and Sophia Paleolog

Ivan III was married twice. His first wife was the sister of his neighbor, the Grand Duke of Tver, Marya Borisovna. After her death (1467), Ivan III began to look for another wife, farther and more important. Then the orphan niece of the last Byzantine emperor Sophia Fominichna Paleolog lived in Rome. Despite the fact that the Greeks, since the time of the Florentine union, have greatly lowered themselves in Russian Orthodox eyes, despite the fact that Sophia lived so close to the hated pope, in such a suspicious church society, Ivan III, having overcome religious disgust in himself, ordered the princess from Italy and married her in 1472.

This princess, then known in Europe for her rare fullness, brought to Moscow a very subtle mind and acquired a very important significance here. Boyars of the 16th century they attributed to her all the innovations that were unpleasant to them, which since that time have appeared at the Moscow court. An attentive observer of Moscow life, Baron Herberstein, who twice came to Moscow as the ambassador of the German emperor under Ivanov's successor, after hearing a lot of boyar talk, notices about Sophia in his notes that she was an unusually cunning woman, who had a great influence on the Grand Duke, who, at her suggestion, did a lot . Even the determination of Ivan III to throw off the Tatar yoke was attributed to her influence. In boyar tales and judgments about the princess, it is not easy to separate observation from suspicion or exaggeration, guided by hostility. Sophia could only inspire what she herself valued and what was understood and appreciated in Moscow. She could bring here the traditions and customs of the Byzantine court, pride in her origin, annoyance that she was marrying a Tatar tributary. In Moscow, she hardly liked the simplicity of the situation and the arrogance of relations at court, where Ivan III himself had to listen, in the words of his grandson, "many reproachful and reproachful words" from obstinate boyars. But in Moscow, and without her, not only Ivan III had a desire to change all these old orders, which were so inconsistent with the new position of the Moscow sovereign, and Sophia, with the Greeks she brought, who had seen both Byzantine and Roman views, could give valuable instructions on how and by what means samples to introduce the desired changes. She cannot be denied influence on the decorative setting and backstage life of the Moscow court, on court intrigues and personal relationships; but she could act on political affairs only by suggestions that echoed the secret or vague thoughts of Ivan III himself. The idea that she, the princess, by her Moscow marriage makes the Moscow sovereigns the successors of the Byzantine emperors with all the interests of the Orthodox East that held on to these emperors, could be especially understandably perceived. Therefore, Sophia was valued in Moscow and valued herself not so much as the Grand Duchess of Moscow, but as a Byzantine princess. In the Trinity Sergius Monastery, a silk veil is kept, sewn by the hands of this Grand Duchess, who embroidered her name on it. This veil was embroidered in 1498. At the age of 26, Sophia, it seems, was time to forget about her girlhood and her former Byzantine title; however, in the signature on the veil, she still calls herself the “Tsarina of Tsaregorodskaya”, and not the Grand Duchess of Moscow, and this was not without reason: Sophia, as a princess, enjoyed the right to receive foreign embassies in Moscow.

Thus, the marriage of Ivan III and Sophia acquired the significance of a political demonstration, which declared to the whole world that the princess, as the heiress of the fallen Byzantine house, transferred his sovereign rights to Moscow as to the new Constantinople, where she shares them with her husband.

New titles of Ivan III

Feeling himself in a new position and still close to such a noble wife, the heiress of the Byzantine emperors, Ivan III found the old Kremlin environment cramped and ugly, in which his undemanding ancestors lived. Following the princess, craftsmen were sent from Italy, who built a new Assumption Cathedral for Ivan III. A faceted chamber and a new stone palace in place of the former wooden choirs. At the same time, in the Kremlin, at the court, that complex and strict ceremonial began to start, which communicated such stiffness and stiffness of Moscow court life. In the same way as at home, in the Kremlin, among his court servants, Ivan III began to act with a more solemn step in external relations, especially since then, by itself, without a fight, with the Tatar assistance, the Horde fell from the shoulders yoke that weighed over northeastern Russia for two and a half centuries (1238 - 1480). Since that time, in Moscow government, especially diplomatic, papers, a new, more solemn language has appeared, magnificent terminology is being formed, unfamiliar to Moscow clerks of specific centuries.

By the way, for political concepts and tendencies barely perceived, they were not slow to find a suitable expression in new titles, which appear in acts with the name of the Moscow sovereign. This is a whole political program that characterizes not so much the real as the desired situation. It is based on the same two ideas, extracted by the Moscow government minds from the events that took place, and both of these ideas are political claims: this is the idea of ​​the Moscow sovereign as a national ruler all Russian land and the idea of ​​him as a political and ecclesiastical successor of the Byzantine emperors.

A lot of Russia remained with Lithuania and Poland, and, however, in relations with Western courts, not excluding Lithuanian, Ivan III for the first time dared to show the European political world the pretentious title of sovereign all Russia, previously used only in household use, in acts of internal administration, and in the contract of 1494 even forced the Lithuanian government to formally recognize this title.

After the Tatar yoke fell from Moscow, in relations with unimportant foreign rulers, for example, with the Livonian master, Ivan III titles himself king all Russia. This term, as you know, is an abbreviated South Slavic and Russian form of the Latin word Caesar, or according to the old spelling tssar, as from the same word in a different pronunciation, kesar came from the German Kaiser. The title of the tsar in acts of internal administration under Ivan III was sometimes, under Ivan IV, usually combined with a title similar in meaning autocrat is a Slavic translation of the Byzantine imperial title αυτοκρατωρ. Both terms in Ancient Russia did not mean what they began to mean later, they expressed the concept not of a sovereign with unlimited internal power, but of a ruler who was not dependent on any third-party external power, who did not pay tribute to anyone. In the then political language, both of these terms were opposed to what we mean by the word vassal. Monuments of Russian writing before the Tatar yoke are sometimes called tsars, giving them this title as a sign of respect, not in the sense of a political term. Tsars for the most part Ancient Russia until the middle of the 15th century. called the Byzantine emperors and khans of the Golden Horde, the independent rulers most known to her, and Ivan III could take this title only by ceasing to be a tributary of the khan. The overthrow of the yoke eliminated the political obstacle to this, and marriage to Sophia provided a historical justification for this: Ivan III could now consider himself the only Orthodox and independent sovereign left in the world, as the Byzantine emperors were, and the supreme ruler of Russia, which was under the rule of the Horde khans.

Having acquired these new pompous titles, Ivan III found that now it would not be more convenient for him to be called in government acts simply in Russian Ivan, the Sovereign Grand Duke, but began to be written in church book form: "John, by the grace of God, sovereign of all Russia." To this title, as a historical justification, is attached a long series of geographical epithets denoting the new limits of the Muscovite state: "The Sovereign of All Russia and the Grand Duke of Vladimir, and Moscow, and Novgorod, and Pskov, and Tver, and Perm, and Yugorsky, and Bulgarian, and others", i.e. lands. Feeling himself both in political power, and in Orthodox Christianity, and finally, and in marriage relationship, the successor of the fallen house of the Byzantine emperors, the Moscow sovereign also found a clear expression of his dynastic connection with them: from the end of the 15th century. Byzantine coat of arms appears on his seals - a double-headed eagle.

V. O. Klyuchevsky. Russian history. Full course of lectures. Excerpts from lectures 25 and 26

ANDREY VASILIEVICH VOLOGODSKY (ANDREI THE SMALLER) (1452-1481)

Vologda specific prince (1461-1481), participant in the campaigns of Grand Duke Ivan III, patron of the Spaso-Kamenny Monastery

Prince Andrey Vasilyevich is the youngest of the seven sons of Grand Duke Vasily II Vasilyevich the Dark from Princess Maria Yaroslavna Borovskaya. Born August 8, 1452. He had the nickname Lesser to distinguish him from his older brother, Prince Andrei Vasilyevich the Great of Uglich ("Hot"),

According to the spiritual diploma of his father (1461), Prince Andrei Menshoi received Vologda with Kubenoya and Zaozerye and part of other Vologda volosts (Iledam and Obnora on the Vologda-Kostroma border, Komela, Lezhsky Volok, Avnega, Shilenga, Pelshma, Bokhtyug, Ukhtyug, Syama, Toshna , Yangosar). Due to Andrei's infancy, Vologda and separate Vologda volosts until 1466-1467 were ruled by Ivan III, Grand Duchess Maria Yaroslavna and clerk Fyodor Ivanovich Myachkov. Then, as they say in the annalistic edition of the genealogical books, “Grand Duchess Martha let go of her younger son Ondrey to an inheritance in Vologda, and with him sent her boyars Semyon Fedorovich Peshka Saburov and Fyodor Beznos.” The earliest precisely dated charter of Prince Andrei the Less - February 22, 1467 - was issued to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery for the Vologda courtyard (Andrey himself was still in Moscow at that time). Under Prince Andrei Mensh, apparently, the first land-description work began in the vicinity of Vologda. Governor Semyon Peshek-Saburov led the Vologda residents in the campaign against Kazan in 1469 and Kokshenga in 1471.

As for the policy pursued by Prince Andrei the Lesser in Vologda, his will mentions some increase in customs duties compared to the time of Vasily II. In this regard, Prince Andrei asked Ivan III after his death to "do everything in the old way." In one letter from Prince Andrei the Lesser to the Kirillov Monastery dated December 19, 1471, we find the earliest documentary evidence of the existence of a “city” (Kremlin) and a settlement in Vologda.

The administrative-judicial apparatus of the specific prince included the “boyar introduced” as the second court after him, governors, volostels, tiuns, righteous men, closers, and various “duties”. The maintenance of the listed officials was carried out on the basis of the feeding system. Judicial immunity of large monasteries was limited in favor of the princely apparatus for the most serious criminal offenses - murder, robbery and red-handed tatba. "Yangosarsky, Maslyansky and Govorovsky" villages were inherited by Prince Andrei from his grandmother and mother, Grand Duchess Sofya Vitovtovna and Maria Yaroslavna, and after 1472 also from his brother, Prince Yuri Vasilyevich Dmitrovsky. Special "slobodschiki" were engaged in attracting a new population to the free princely lands.

Andrei the Lesser also had his own service princes (from the Yaroslavl branch of the Shakhovskys), boyars, boyar children and "court people". Behind the serving princes, boyars and boyar children of Prince Andrei the Lesser were princely villages and villages.

The system of taxation of the Vologda Principality under Andrei the Lesser included the following taxes, duties and duties - tribute, writing squirrel, pits, carts, sentry, “my service”, the duty of the black draft population to “make the city”. Of great importance for Vologda, which occupied a key position on the Sukhono-Dvinsk route, were various customs duties that went into the prince's treasury - myt, tamga, bones, cutting, vosmnichee, living room, revealed, stained. In the first half of the 1470s, for the privileged Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, Prince Andrei established a more relaxed quitrent status - an annual payment from his Vologda possessions of six rubles "after Epiphany".

In 1477-1478, as part of the advanced regiment, Prince Andrei participated in the all-Russian campaign against Novgorod the Great. During the war with the Horde Khan Akhmat in 1480, Prince Andrei, together with the eldest son of Ivan III, Ivan Ivanovich Molody, held the defense along the Oka, from Kaluga to the Ugra River. When the river Ugra was covered with ice, Prince Andrei Menshoi and Grand Duke Ivan the Young came to the headquarters of Ivan III in Kremenets.

The documentary heritage of Prince Andrei the Less is small. 18 of his charters have come down to us, of which 11 were issued to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. Most of the Cyrillic letters - eight - were issued by Prince Andrei on the same day - December 6, 1471, when he was in Vologda. The will (spiritual letter) of the prince dates back to no later than March 1481. In his spiritual letter, Prince Andrei calls the Spaso-Stone Monastery, which he clearly patronized, “his own”. At the expense of Prince Andrei, the first stone Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral in Vologda was built on an island in the Kubenskoye Lake.

In the will of Prince Andrei the Lesser, his large debts of 30 thousand rubles to Ivan III appear, “what he gave for me to the Horde and to Kazan and to the Tsarevich Gorodok and what he had for himself.” Consequently, until 1481, tribute (“exit”) was paid from the Vologda inheritance to the Horde, which Prince Andrei could not collect on his own. As a private individual, Prince Andrei Menshoi had debts to many merchants listed in his will (Ivan Fryazin, Ivan Syrkov, Tavrilo Salarev, and others).

Prince Andrei Menshoi was noted as seriously ill in the annals in August 1479, during the consecration of the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. The prince died on July 5, 1481, before reaching the full age of 29, and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. The Vologda inheritance as an escheat (Andrey had no wife and no offspring left) passed to his older brother, Grand Duke Ivan III. The Vologda specific principality forever ceased its short existence.

Set out according to: Cherkasova M. Andrey Vasilyevich Vologodsky // Vologda in the past millennium: A man in the history of the city. – Vologda, 2007