Biography of Prince Vasily 2 Vasilyevich Dark
Vasily 2 Vasilyevich (Dark) - (born March 10, 1415 - death March 27, 1462) Son of Vasily 1 Dmitrievich. Grand Duke of Moscow. Under Vasily 2, a long internecine war was waged. He was opposed by a coalition of appanage princes under the command of his uncle, the Galician prince Yuri Dmitrievich and his sons Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka. Along with this, a struggle was waged with Kazan and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The grand princely throne passed several times to the Galician princes (1433–1434), who enjoyed the support of Novgorod and Tver.
Vasily was blinded in 1446 by Dmitry Shemyaka (hence the "Dark"), but ultimately won in the early 50s. 15th century victory.
Vasily the Dark was able to liquidate almost all the small destinies within the Moscow principality, strengthening the grand duke's power. As a result of the campaigns of 1441-1460. the dependence on Moscow of the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod principality, Novgorod the Great, Pskov, Vyatka increased significantly.
By order of Basil 2, the Russian Bishop Jonah was elected metropolitan (1448), which marked the proclamation of the independence of the Russian Church from the Patriarch of Constantinople and contributed to the strengthening of the international position of Rus'.
Biography of Vasily 2 Dark
Origin. Inheritance
1425, February 27 - the Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow Vasily 1 Dmitrievich died, leaving his inheritance, "imaginations" and the grand principality to his only son Vasily, who at that time was not even 10 years old. The beginning of Basil's reign was marked by an epidemic of plague and a severe drought in 1430-1448. The position of the young Grand Duke on the throne was precarious. He had uncles, specific princes Yuri, Andrei, Peter and Konstantin Dmitrievich. The eldest of them, Yuri Dmitrievich, himself claimed the great reign. Prince Yuri believed that the order of inheritance could not be established by Vasily 1, because it was determined by the spiritual father, Dmitry Donskoy. Yuri Dmitrievich believed that, in accordance with this will, after the death of Vasily, it was he, Prince Yuri, who, as the eldest of the family, should have inherited the grand throne.
power struggle
In the struggle for power, Yuri Dmitrievich relied, on the one hand, on the support of his brother-in-law - the Grand Duke of Lithuania Svidrigail Olgerdovich, and on the other hand, on the intercession of his friend, the influential Horde Murza Tegini, before the Khan. However, the Moscow boyars, headed by the talented diplomat Ivan Dmitrievich Vsevolozhsky, were well versed in the current balance of power. Ivan Dmitrievich was able to turn most of the Horde murzas against Tegini, which means he made them supporters of his prince.
Court in the Horde
When, at the trial of the Khan, Yuri Dmitrievich began to substantiate his claims to the great reign referring to the ancient tribal law, the Moscow diplomat was able to achieve the Khan’s decision in his favor with one phrase, saying: “Prince Yuri is looking for a great reign according to the will of his father, and Prince Vasily - by your grace."
The Khan, very pleased with such a manifestation of obedience on the part of the Muscovites, ordered Vasily to issue a label and even ordered Yuri Dmitrievich, as a sign of submission to the Khan's will, to lead the horse with the Grand Duke sitting on it by the bridle.
The beginning of civil strife
The reason for the continuation of the war was such an episode. 1433 - during the wedding of Vasily Vasilyevich, his mother, Sofya Vitovtovna, tore off a precious golden belt from another Vasily - the son of Yuri Dmitrievich. A little earlier, one of the old boyars told Sofya that this belt once belonged to Dmitry Donskoy, and then it was stolen and ended up in the family of Yuri Dmitrievich. The scandal, to be sure, is louder: the prince appeared at the wedding feast in a stolen item! Of course, Vasily Yuryevich and his brother Dmitry Shemyaka immediately left Moscow. Their father, Yuri Dmitrievich, took advantage of this occasion and moved the army against his nephew.
In the battle on the Klyazma, the smaller army of the Grand Duke was defeated by Yuri Dmitrievich, and Vasily himself was captured and sent by Yuri to Kolomna. On Holy Week in 1434, Yuri Dmitrievich entered Moscow, but turned out to be an unwelcome guest. The following year, Yuri again defeated the army of the Grand Duke and once again entered Moscow, which he was forced to leave earlier due to the hostility of the boyars and nobles. The mother and wife of the Moscow prince, who fled to Nizhny Novgorod, were captured. Yuri suddenly died.
Sofia Vitovtovna at the wedding of Grand Duke Vasily 2
Historical portrait of Vasily the Dark
For the most part, historians consider Vasily 2 the Dark to be quite an ordinary person, not distinguished by any talents. The scale of this personality seems incommensurable with the "sea of troubles" that she had to overcome. The tragedy of Vasily's fate is noted by all researchers. Although, in fairness, it should be noted that the Grand Duke suffered a lot of suffering through his own fault. And yet, the victory over numerous rivals - talented and insidious - is difficult to explain only by the reasonableness and experience of advisers and the well-functioning state system. We must pay tribute to the stubbornness of Vasily the Dark, the ability to start the fight again after the defeat and the ability, in modern terms, to "select personnel." In that long-term war that Vasily had a chance to wage with his enemies, the opposing sides did not hesitate in choosing means, acting by cunning and force. It is hardly appropriate to whitewash both Vasily and his opponents.
Civil strife continues
Vasily 2 returned to Moscow, made peace with the sons of the deceased: Vasily, Dmitry Shemyaka and Dmitry Krasny. But the first of them broke his oath by attacking Moscow, but was captured and blinded (which is why he received the nickname Oblique). Shemyaka was detained in Moscow, where he arrived to invite Grand Duke Vasily 2 to his wedding. Later, they were able to try on the Trinity hegumen Zinovy.
Meanwhile, an attempt was made to unite the Catholic and Orthodox churches. 1441, March - Metropolitan Isidore returned to Moscow from the Florentine Church Council, where an act was adopted on the unification of Christian churches under the leadership of the Pope. The secular authorities and the clergy made an attempt to persuade him to renounce the union, but, seeing how the metropolitan was stubborn, they imprisoned him in the Chudov Monastery, from where he fled to Tver, and then to Rome.
Captured by the Tatars. Blindness
1445 - Vasily 2 was captured by the Tatar princes Makhmutek and Yakub. Shemyaka asked the Tatars not to let the Grand Duke go, but he was able to free himself by promising a huge ransom. In addition to money, he had to give several areas of his principality "to feed" the princes. But the “towns and volosts” distributed for feeding belonged to Moscow only formally. Prince Vasily managed to put the Kazanians who came with him not only in the wilderness, but also on disputed lands.
1446 - Dmitry captured Moscow and captured both Grand Duchesses. Vasily himself was seized in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery and blinded in Moscow, hence the nickname Dark.
Date of Dmitry Shemyaka and Vasily the Dark
After blinding
He received Vologda as his inheritance, but soon again began to fight in alliance with the Tver prince Boris Alexandrovich, whose daughter, Maria, was married to his son Ivan. 1446, December - Vasily the Dark was able to return the capital and the throne, but the war continued. 1450 - Dmitry Shemyaka arrived in Novgorod, where on July 18, 1453 he was blinded by agents of Vasily 2. If earlier princes captured, overthrew and maimed their relatives, now the Grand Duke decided to kill his cousin, unless, of course, information about poisoning is correct.
1456 - the Moscow army defeated the Novgorodians. The Novgorod Republic was forced to renounce independence in foreign affairs. When in January 1460 the Grand Duke with his sons Yuri and Andrei arrived in Novgorod to bow to local shrines, the question of killing the guests was discussed at the veche, and only Archbishop Jonah managed to dissuade the townspeople from this undertaking.
Death
Vasily 2 Dark was ill with dry disease (tuberculosis). He was treated in the usual way in those days: several times to light tinder on various parts of the body. This, of course, did not help, and gangrene developed in places of many burns. On March 27, Vasily 2 the Dark died, having bequeathed to his eldest son and co-ruler Ivan the Grand Duchy of Vladimir and the most extensive inheritance. Prince Ivan, the future, nicknamed the Great, received at his disposal an efficient corporation, which was completely devoid of internal competition. Very soon it will become the largest state in Europe.
Board results
Centralization of the Grand Duke's power
Subordination to the Moscow principality of small specific principalities
Increasing Moscow's influence on Suzdal, Pskov, Novgorod
Preservation of religious independence
Vasily II Vasilyevich Dark
Years of life: 1415-1462
Years of government: 1432-1446, 1447-1462
From the Rurik dynasty. From the family of the Moscow Grand Dukes. Son of Grand Duke Vasily I Dmitrievich and Princess of Lithuania . Grandson .
Vasily Dark became a Moscow prince at the age of 9, after the death of his father Vasily I Dmitrievich in 1425. The real power was with the widow-princess Sophia Vitovtovna, the boyar I.D. Vsevolozhsky and Metropolitan Photius. However, Vasily's uncles, Yuri, Andrei, Peter and Konstantin Dmitrievich, claimed the board. At the same time, Yuri Zvenigorodsky, according to the will of his father Dmitry Donskoy, was to receive a great reign after the death of his brother, Vasily I Dmitrievich.
Both sides began preparations for an internecine war, but agreed on a temporary truce and in 1428 concluded an agreement according to which the 54-year-old uncle Yuri Zvenigorodsky recognized himself as the "young brother" of the 13-year-old nephew Vasily Vasilyevich. At the same time, Sofya Vitovtovna took advantage of the influence of her father Vitovt, after which it was difficult for Yuri to persist in his desire to take the throne.
Prince Vasily the Dark
The beginning of the reign of Vasily Vasilyevich was marked by an epidemic of plague and a terrible drought in 1430, 1442 and 1448. The reign of Vasily II Vasilyevich spent his whole life in the conditions of a long internecine struggle for power with Prince Yuri Dmitrievich of Zvenigorod, and then with his son.
In 1430, Yuri terminated the peace, taking advantage of the death of the actual head of Metropolitan Photius, as well as the grandfather of Vasily Vasilyevich - Vitovt. Yuri Dmitrievich went to the Horde to sue Vasily. Vasily Vasilyevich hastily also went to the horde with his boyars.
In the spring of 1432, the rivals faced the Tatar princes. Yuri Yuryevich defended his rights according to the law of an ancient tribal custom, referring to the annals and the will of his father Donskoy. From Vasily's side, Ivan Dmitrievich Vsevolozhsky spoke about rights, with skillful flattery he was able to persuade the khan to give a label to Vasily.
Vsevolozhsky hoped that the Grand Duke would marry his daughter. But upon arrival in Moscow, things took a different turn. Sofia Vitovna, the mother of Vasily Vasilyevich, insisted that her son become engaged to Princess Marya Yaroslavna, considering this marriage more advantageous from various points of view. Vsevolzhsky harbored a grudge and left Moscow, and soon went over to the side of Yuri and became his adviser.
Vasily the Dark years of reign
After Vasily received the label, the struggle for power did not stop. In 1433, a battle took place between an uncle and a nephew on the banks of the river. Klyazma near Moscow, and Yuri won.
Yuri exiled Vasily from Moscow in 1433. Vasily II received the title of Prince of Kolomna. The city of Kolomna became the center of the united forces that sympathized with the prince in his policy of "gathering Rus'". Many Muscovites refused to serve Prince Yuri, and came to Kolomna, which for some time became an administrative, economic and political state. Having received support, Vasily Vasilyevich was able to regain the throne in 1434 after the death of Yuri, but during the war he lost it several more times.
In 1436, Yuri's son Vasily Kosoy spoke out against Vasily II Vasilyevich the Dark, but was defeated, captured and blinded.
The refusal of Basil II in 1439 to accept the Florentine union with the Roman Catholic Church was of great importance for the preservation of their own culture and statehood.
On July 7, 1445, in a battle near Suzdal, Vasily II Vasilyevich with the combined Russian troops was defeated by the Kazan troops under the command of the Kazan princes - Mahmud and Yakub (sons of Khan Ulu-Mohammed). After that, Vasily II and his cousin Mikhail Vereisky were taken prisoner, but on October 1, 1445 they were released. A large amount was given for them, and a number of cities were given to the Kazan princes. Under the terms of this enslaving treaty, the Kasimov Khanate was created within Russia, in Meshchera, the 1st khan of which was Tsarevich Kasim, the son of Ulu-Mohammed.
Why Vasily the Dark
In 1446 Vasily II was captured in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and on February 16 at night on behalf of Dmitry Yuryevich Shemyaka, John Mozhaisky and Boris Tverskoy and was blinded, after which he received the nickname "Dark". Then, with his wife, Vasily Vasilyevich was sent to Uglich, and his mother Sofya Vitovtovna was exiled to Chukhloma.
But Vasily II continued the war anyway. In 1447, Vasily received Martinian's blessing for a campaign against Dmitry Shemyaka, who had captured Moscow, visiting the Ferapontov Monastery. With great difficulty, Vasily the Dark regained the throne of Moscow, having won in the early 50s. 15th century victory.
By order of Vasily II, in 1448, the Russian Bishop Jonah was elected metropolitan, which became a sign of the proclamation of the independence of the Russian Church from the Patriarch of Constantinople and strengthened the international position of Rus'.
After the death of Shemyaka in 1453, thanks to successful campaigns against Novgorod, Pskov and Vyatka, Vasily was able to restore the unity of the lands around Moscow, eliminating almost all small destinies within the Moscow principality.
Vasily II Vasilyevich the Dark died of a dry disease - tuberculosis in 1462 on March 27. Before his death, he wanted to take the veil as a monk, but the boyars dissuaded him. Buried in Moscow in the Archangel Cathedral.
During the reign of Vasily the Dark, the city of Kazan was restored, the Kingdom of Kazan was founded and the Crimean Khanate arose.
The only wife of Vasily II since 1433 was Maria Yaroslavna, daughter of the appanage prince Yaroslav Borovsky.
Vasily and Maria had 8 children:
- Yuri the Great (1437 - 1441)
- Ivan III (January 22, 1440 - October 27, 1505) - Grand Duke of Moscow from 1462 to 1505.
- Yuri Molodoy (1441 - 1472) - Prince of Dmitrovsky, Mozhaisk, Serpukhov.
- Andrei Bolshoi (1444-1494) - Prince of Uglich, Zvenigorod, Mozhaisk.
- Simeon (1447-1449).
- Boris (1449-1494) - Prince of Volotsk and Ruz.
- Anna (1451-1501).
- Andrei Menshoi (1452-1481) - Prince of Vologda.
Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow (1425-1462).
Vasily II Vasilyevich was born on March 10, 1415 in the family of the Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow (1371-1425). His mother was Sophia Vitovtovna, daughter of the Grand Duke of Lithuania.
After the death of Vasily I Dmitrievich in 1425, his inheritance passed to the 9-year-old Vasily II Vasilyevich. At the same time, the real power was with the widowed Grand Duchess Sofya Vitovtovna, Metropolitan Photius and boyar Prince I. D. Vsevolozhsky.
For more than a quarter of a century, Vasily II Vasilyevich had to fight the rebellious Zvenigorod-Galician princes: his uncle and cousins Vasily Kosy and. In 1428, the opposing sides entered into an agreement in which the 54-year-old uncle recognized himself as the "young brother" of the 13-year-old nephew. However, after the death of Metropolitan Photius in 1430, Prince Yury Dmitrievich "spoiled the world."
In 1431, Vasily II Vasilyevich and Yuri Dmitrievich traveled to the Horde to resolve the issue of a great reign. The dispute was resolved in favor of Vasily II Vasilyevich, but the struggle for power did not stop.
In 1433, Yuri Dmitrievich defeated Vasily II Vasilyevich in the battle on the Klyazma River, but in 1434 he died, and Vasily II Vasilyevich again took the throne of the Grand Duke.
In 1436, the son of Yuri Dmitrievich Vasily Kosoy spoke out against Vasily II Vasilyevich, but was defeated, captured and blinded. The internecine struggle was complicated by the attack of the Kazan Tatars, who, unable to take, burned down the town's settlement.
In 1445, Vasily II Vasilyevich went to the aid of the besieged Tatars. On the way, to, the Tatars attacked his small army. The prince was captured, from where he was released in 1446 after the promise of a huge ransom of 200 thousand silver rubles. From captivity, the prince was accompanied by Tatar princes and warriors, to whom Vasily II Vasilyevich, hoping to subsequently use them against their own tribesmen, distributed lands, thereby contributing to the formation of the Kasimov kingdom on the Middle Volga.
Taking advantage of the dissatisfaction with the policy of the Grand Duke, the son of Yuri Dmitrievich Dmitry Shemyaka in 1446 treacherously attacked Vasily II Vasilyevich, captured him and blinded him. After this incident, Vasily II Vasilyevich received the nickname "Dark". He was sent to prison in, and then to reign in, but in the same year he regained his great reign. The struggle of Vasily II Vasilyevich with Dmitry Shemyaka continued until the death of the latter in 1453.
Vasily II Vasilyevich rejected the union proclaimed in 1439 by the Florentine Cathedral between the Catholic and Orthodox churches, deposed Metropolitan Isidore of Moscow, who signed this union. On his instructions, in 1448, a council of bishops elected Jonah to the metropolitan throne without further approval by the Patriarch of Constantinople. Thus, the Grand Duke emphasized the independence of the Moscow Metropolis and his disagreement with the policy pursued by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which supported the decisions of the Council of Florence. He rejected the intervention of Pope Pius II in the affairs of the Orthodox Church.
Vasily II Vasilyevich died on March 27, 1462 and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
He was afraid of rivals, especially his brother, prince Yuri Dmitrievich Galitsky. Indeed, this uncle of Vasily II, relying on the custom of seniority and the testament of Dmitry Donskoy, was already gathering an army to fight for Moscow, but he was forced to yield and promise not to seek the grand prince's table personally, but only through the khan.
Later, Yuri had to refuse this as well and sign an agreement, recognizing himself as a younger brother in front of his nephew. But the enmity in the princely family did not subside. In 1431, taking advantage of the death of Vitovt, Yuri again presented his claims to the great reign. The dispute had to be resolved in the Horde, where both princes had well-wishers. Vasily appeared with his clever boyar Ivan Dmitrievich Vsevolozhsky, and while Yuri Dmitrievich exhibited his rights, Vsevolozhsky pointed out to the khan that Vasily relies on the will of the khan and is looking for "the table of the great reign, and your ulus, according to your royal salary." Such a recognition of the unconditional will of the khan persuaded him to decide the case in favor of Vasily, and in 1432 the latter returned from the Horde with Tsarevich Mansyr-Ulan, who planted him in Moscow on a grand reign.
Soon Vsevolozhsky was offended by the preference given to Marya Yaroslavna, granddaughter Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovsky, in front of his daughter, when Sofya Vitovtovna arranged the marriage of her son. This boyar drove off to Yuri. At the wedding feast itself (1433), Sophia insulted the sons of Yuri, Dmitry Shemyaka (born 1420) and Vasily Kosoy(born 1421), tearing off from the last a precious belt that once belonged to the family of the Grand Dukes of Moscow. The brothers fled from the feast and, returning to their father, together with him and his large army moved to Moscow. Vasily II fled to Kostroma, was captured there, but spared by Yuri, who settled in Moscow in the great reign; Vasily received Kolomna as an inheritance.
Sofia Vitovtovna at the wedding of Grand Duke Vasily II. Painting by K. Hun, 1861
However, feeling the precariousness of his position, Yuri soon returned the throne to his nephew, and he retired to Galich, which, after a short time, was burned out by the vengeful Vasily. The strife did not weaken; Yuri once again captured the Moscow table (1434), but soon died. The struggle was continued by his sons. Vasily Kosoy and Vasily II either made peace or violated it, and finally, in 1436, the first treacherously attacked the Moscow prince, but was defeated, captured and blinded. Vasily concluded a peace treaty with Dmitry Shemyaka and allowed him to live freely, but without a break and under supervision, in Kolomna.
In 1438, Khan Ulu-Mahmet, expelled from the Horde by his brother, appeared with the Tatars near the city of Belev; the Grand Duke sent an army against him, which the Tatars defeated. Ulu-Mahmet, having retired to the Volga, next year captured Kazan devastated by the Russians and settled there. So it got a terrible start later Kazan kingdom. Ulu-Mahmet constantly disturbed the Moscow regions, and in 1445 the Tatars managed not only to inflict a serious defeat on the Russians on the banks of the river. Kamenka, near Suzdal, but also to capture the Grand Duke. Vasily was released from captivity only for a huge ransom, which caused displeasure among Muscovites.
Vasily II the Dark
Dmitry Shemyaka, who, even during the captivity of the Grand Duke, communicated with the Tatars, now decided to take advantage of the circumstances; chance helped him. Vasily II went with a small number of close associates to the Trinity Monastery to thank God for deliverance from captivity and to bow to the relics of St. Sergius. In the Trinity Monastery, he was captured by Shemyaka's accomplices, brought to Moscow and blinded, Dmitry seized the grand prince's throne, and Vasily, now nicknamed the Dark One due to his blindness, remained in prison (1446).
But Shemyaka also felt uneasy on the Moscow table, especially in view of the grumbling about the villainy of Vasily's blinding. Persuaded by the Ryazan Bishop Jonah, he released Vasily II, who swore not to look for the grand prince's table, and released him to the granted fatherland - Vologda (1447). But Vasily did not keep his word, and in the same year his followers, who were only waiting for the release of the prince, raised Vasily again to the Moscow table. Shemyaka fled to Galich and was forced to give "cursed letters", according to which, under the threat of a church curse, he renounced his claims to the great reign and swore not to harbor any evil towards the Grand Duke and his family.
But Shemyaka did not let up; several times the Moscow army had to oppose him, until Dmitry was defeated near Galich. He fled to Novgorod, which gave him shelter. The Galician volost was annexed to Moscow and grand princely governors were appointed there (1450). In this struggle, Vasily was especially helped by the clergy with their authority and exhortations addressed both to Shemyaka and to his adherents and harborers. At the head of the clergy was Metropolitan Jonah, who replaced the one who fled for the adoption of the Union of Florence Isidore. Jonah excommunicated Shemyaka from the church. In 1452, Dmitry made another unsuccessful attempt to establish himself in Ustyug, again fled to Novgorod and soon died (1453), most likely poisoned. Shemyaka's allies fled to Lithuania or, having made all sorts of concessions, reconciled with Vasily the Dark.
The Grand Duke, who had long been at odds with the Novgorodians, decided to turn his forces against them. First, he imposed a tribute of up to 8000 rubles on Novgorod, then in 1456 he moved the army. Novgorodians near Rusa were broken Prince Striga Obolensky and Fyodor Basenko. In Yazhelbitsy, where the prince himself stood, an agreement was concluded on difficult terms; in addition to the promise not to accept the enemies of the Grand Duke, the payment of 10,000 rubles to him alone, they put: “there will be no veche letters” and “the seal to be great princes.” After 1460, the freedoms of Pskov were also limited, governors were sent there from Moscow.
Vasily the Dark died on March 27, 1462 from wounds received during the treatment of "dry disease" by cauterization of the body. He had eight children from his wife, Marya Yaroslavna, of whom the second, Ivan, after the death of the eldest, was declared co-ruler from 1450, and then took his father's table.
July 7, 1445 Perhaps one of the most curious events of the Russian Middle Ages took place. In a small battle near Suzdal, the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily II Vasilyevich, who later received the nickname Dark, was captured by the Tatars. According to the data included in the chronicle sources, on July 6, 1445, Russian troops, sent to help Nizhny Novgorod, besieged by the Tatars, went to the Kamenka River and stopped at the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery, in the immediate vicinity of Suzdal. This army numbered "as if not with a thousand" people. "Flash" rose on the same day. The troops "put their armor on themselves and, raising their banners, march out into the field." The alarm, however, turned out to be false. The governors with the Grand Duke returned "to their camps", and Vasily II "dined at his place with all the brethren and from the Bolars and wrote long nights."
In the early morning of July 7, when the Grand Duke wanted to “quiet again” with a drink, the news came that the Tatars were crossing the Nerl River. Putting on armor, Vasily II ordered to speak. The battle took place in the field, on the left side of the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery. At first, victory tended in favor of the Russians. The Tatars retreated, Russian soldiers rushed in pursuit of them, but among them were those who “robbed the beaten Tatars”. Soon the Tatars stopped and went on the offensive. Many specific princes - participants in the battle - managed to escape, and Grand Duke Vasily, obviously, was so carried away by the chase and deepened into the ranks of the Tatars that he himself did not notice how he was captured.
His return from the Horde took place only after the payment of a ransom of two hundred thousand rubles. In order to imagine the enormity of this amount in terms of the scale of that time, let us recall that the same Vasily the Dark, having defeated Novgorod, imposed a tribute of ten (!) Thousand rubles on it, and after the Time of Troubles (a hundred and fifty years later), Moscow, according to the Stolbovsky Peace, paid Sweden an indemnity of everything only twenty thousand. Two hundred thousand was an absolutely unheard-of sum. However, Muscovites collected it and paid. It would seem, why? We got rid of the “despot” prince, and besides, drunkards - and glory to Thee, Lord. Moreover, at that time Moscow did not experience a shortage of applicants for the Grand Duke's throne. What is the reason for such love of subjects for their sovereign?
Let's try to figure it out.
There are cases in history when kings and rulers of the powerful powers of Europe and Asia were captured, and then returned safely and continued their activities at the head of the state. So, King Richard the Lionheart languished for two years in the dungeon of the Austrian Duke Leopold, and Charles V of Habsburg captured French King Francis I under Pavia. But in Russia it just so happened that the removal of the first person from power necessarily entails irreversible consequences, which over the centuries have influenced its historical development. Let us recall the dynastic crisis at the beginning of the 17th century, which led to the Great Troubles; the situation after the death of Peter I, which marked a whole era of the so-called "palace coups". The situation at the beginning of the 20th century also falls under this statement, when “the lower classes did not want to, but the upper classes could not” ...
As the well-known Soviet historian A.A. Zimin in his book “The Knight at the Crossroads”, the 15th century in the history of the Russian state was just the time when the fate of not just the Grand Duchy of Moscow was being decided, but “when the Russian Knight, standing at the crossroads, had to choose his Fate. He still had to bow his helmeted head before the Khan of the Horde, but he already remembered the clanging of swords on the Kulikovo field. He had not yet met ambassadors or merchants from the West, but he had already seen the huge Latin cross carried in Moscow in front of Metropolitan Isidore, who was returning from the Florentine Cathedral. He was not burdened with the burden of science, but he vaguely understood that the stellar moment had come when the fate of his descendants depended on the choice of the path ... "
Then, in the first third of the 15th century, no one could predict or foresee that in a century Moscow was destined to become the “third Rome”, that a powerful state would arise on the expanses of land-poor principalities plowed up by convenient borders. Today, we can say with confidence that the alternative to such a course of events was quite real. At that very “starry moment”, the chances of Rus' to be influenced by the West or choose its own path, calling for help from the East, are estimated by modern historians as “fifty-fifty”. And such a seemingly insignificant event as the curious capture of the Grand Duke by the Tatars on July 7, 1445, in the situation of Russia choosing its historical path, could well play a decisive role ...
Vasily II
Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily II Vasilyevich Dark (1415 - 1462) is one of the most tragic figures in Russian history. The son of Grand Duke Vasily I Dmitrievich and Princess Sofya Vitovtovna, he was also the grandson of Dmitry Donskoy and Grand Duke Vitovt of Lithuania. Vasily I Dmitrievich died when Vasily II Vasilyevich was only ten years old. The young prince remained under the care of his grandfather Vitovt, who at first turned out to be the only guarantor of the security of the Moscow throne. Already on the day of his father's death, serious rivals were not slow to appear at the prince: his uncles Yuri and Konstantin, as well as the heirs of Prince Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovsky (cousin of Dmitry Donskoy). The brother of Vasily I, Yuri Dmitrievich Galitsky, did not come to Moscow for his funeral, but began to gather an army in his Galich. Vitovt and the boyars of the Grand Duke hurried to take retaliatory measures: they moved the regiments to Kostroma. Yuri fled to Nizhny Novgorod, from where he later returned to Galich and offered peace to the Grand Duke. Metropolitan Photius went to Galich for negotiations. Yuri promised not to seek the Grand Duke's table by force, but to rely on the Khan's decision.
In 1430, Vitovt died, but a year later the young prince Vasily won the dispute over the label for the great reign in the Horde, who arrived for negotiations with his boyar Ivan Dmitrievich Vsevolozhsky. The diplomatic art of Vsevolozhsky, and his flattering speech touched Khan Ulug-Mohammed. Khan, probably, did not forget that it was Vitovt who put him on the throne, having overthrown Khan Sarai together with his grandfather Timur in 1411. Therefore, he not only handed the label to the grandson of the Lithuanian prince, but even ordered Yuri, as a sign of humility, to lead the horse on which Vasily was sitting. However, the seventeen-year-old prince did not want to dishonor his almost sixty-year-old uncle and refused this humiliating ritual.
It would seem that the issue was resolved, but the main strife was yet to come.
Feudal War (1433-1445)
In February 1433, at the wedding of Vasily Vasilyevich with Maria Yaroslavna, the granddaughter of Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovsky, there was an episode that was later called by historians the beginning of the era of "feudal wars" in Rus' in the 15th century. At the wedding feast, Vasily's mother Sofya Vitovtovna tore off the precious belt from Prince Vasily, the son of Yuri Dmitrievich (later he would become known under the nickname Kosoy). This belt once belonged to Dmitry Donskoy - he received it as a dowry for Princess Evdokia - then it was stolen or replaced and ended up in Yuri's family. Insulted, Vasily Yuryevich and his brother Dmitry Shemyaka hastily left Moscow. Of course, this quarrel was only a pretext that fueled the old enmity: the speed with which Yuri Dmitrievich gathered an army and moved him to Moscow suggests that he was preparing for war. In April 1433, a battle took place on the banks of the Klyazma. Vasily’s squad was small, “but from a Muscovite,” according to the chronicler, “there was no help, I’ll take a piano from them, and I’ll take honey with me to drink more.” Vasily was defeated, fled, but was captured in Kostroma. Yuri sent him to Kolomna, which he granted as an inheritance to the deposed Grand Duke, and he himself entered Moscow. But many Moscow service princes, boyars and nobles were drawn from Moscow to Kolomna, to Vasily. Kolomna gradually acquired the status of the capital: with the sovereign's court, squad, state institutions. Feeling the precariousness of his position, Yuri was forced to reconcile with his nephew and leave the deserted Moscow.
The following year, Yuri again defeated Vasily. The Grand Duke fled to Nizhny Novgorod, and the troops of the Galician prince entered Moscow. This time Vasily's mother and wife were captured. The position of the Grand Duke became critical. However, Yuri suddenly dies. Vasily returned to Moscow and reconciled with the sons of Yuri Dmitrievich.
One of them - Vasily Yurievich - soon broke his oath, spoke out against the Grand Duke and was defeated, captured. He was sent to Moscow, where Vasily was blinded, having since received the nickname Oblique.
According to A.A. Zimin, the Galician-Zvenigorod princes (Yuri, Vasily, Dmitry) relied in their policy exclusively on the northern and northwestern Russian lands, which traditionally gravitated towards Lithuania. Being opponents of the rapprochement between Moscow and the Horde, they sought, first of all, to oppose the Western influence on Rus' to the influence of the Tatars on the development of the eastern lands, i.e. to reorient the "Russian Knight" standing at the crossroads from East to West. The princes of Moscow, in particular Vasily II, following the long tradition of the "Kalita's nest", found allies in the person of the Tatar khans. Tatars have long been considered "their own" in Rus'. It turned out to be easier to negotiate with them than to continue the endless princely strife. The grandson of Vitovt did not immediately decide to resort to the effective help of the Horde in a family conflict.
July 7, 1445 Vasily Vasilyevich, as you know, was captured by the Tatars. The Tatar governors sent the pectoral cross removed from Vasily to Moscow in order to convince his mother and wife of the captivity of the prince. And on July 14, in a terrible fire, all of Moscow "burned out", so that, according to the chronicler, not only were there no wooden buildings left in the city, "but also the stone churches fell apart, and the walls of the city stone collapsed in many places." The city turned out to be defenseless against a possible attack of the Tatars. The Grand Duchesses hastened to leave for Rostov. Dmitry Shemyaka, who, after the capture of the Grand Duke, automatically received the Grand Duke's throne, sent the clerk Fyodor Dubensky to the Horde, instructing him to convince the Tatars not to release Vasily from captivity in any case. But the Grand Duke managed to gain freedom at the cost of a huge ransom - 200 thousand silver rubles.
According to some sources, Vasily did not pay the ransom, according to others, he paid only a part (25 or 50 thousand). But the prince did not return from captivity alone. Vasily was accompanied, and then five hundred Tatar people sent by the Khan began to rule in Moscow - “Tatar princes with many people” (see M. Khudyakov, “Essays on the History of the Kazan Khanate”, p. 27). Ulu-Muhammed, who in the best years of his career gave out labels to rule on behalf of the highest authority, continued to consider Muscovy "his" land. However, Vasily did not think so, because he knew that Ulu-Muhammed had already been removed from his position of power, and submitted only under the pressure of force, i.e. those same "princes of the Tatars." The Horde experienced a period of feudal fragmentation. Rus', on the contrary, sought to concentrate its lands around large principalities - Moscow, Tver, Galicia-Zvenigorod. According to A.A. Zimin, the Galician princes could well create their own, much more powerful state formation from the northern and northwestern lands. But the sons of Yuri Dmitrievich, like Chekhov's sisters, for some reason rushed "to Moscow, to Moscow!" Vasily, for his part, sought to keep the throne of the Grand Duke of Moscow at any cost. And he made his choice.
The Tatars, who came to Russia with the Grand Duke Vasily, began to settle down as they wished. They began to build mosques in Russian cities, where they settled, took the best lands and entire cities “for feeding”, opened trade. Due to the “exit” of part of the capital from Muscovy to Kazan, this city began to develop rapidly, quickly turning into a first-class center of international trade. Meanwhile, the people in Muscovy grumbled: as before there was the dominance of the Lithuanians, so now there is the dominance of the Tatars ...
Simultaneously with the appearance of Kazanians in Moscow, the Kasimov kingdom was founded in the Meshchera land on the Oka. The younger son of Ulu-Mohammed, Qasim, has been ruling in Meshchera since 1446. The tribute of the Russian government in favor of the Kasimov khans is mentioned in the will of John III, as well as in the agreement between his sons of June 16, 1504. She was paid even under John IV. After the conquest of Kazan, “exit to Tsarevich’s town” (Kasimov) was mentioned among Moscow’s obligations, along with “exits” (payments) to the Crimea and Astrakhan. Russian historians, not without surprise, ascertained this fact that Russian sovereigns paid tribute to the Kasimov khans, who are usually represented as miserable assistants of Moscow and weak-willed executors of its orders. What is this, if not the gratitude of the princes of Moscow for the service once rendered?
Simultaneously with the return of Vasily from captivity, the role of the Grand Duke's Court increases significantly. In Pereslavl, he was met by "all his princes and boyars, and boyar children, and many of his court from all cities." The essence of the restructuring of the old Court, as a military-economic organization, during the events of 1446 was to separate the Palace from it - an economic-administrative organization and the formation of a new Court - a military-administrative corporation of service people. Church hierarchs took the side of Vasily, who preferred to be friends with the more tolerant Tatars than with their eternal enemies - the "Westernizers"-Latins and Lithuania. The majority of the population, crushed by the oppression of the specific rulers, Lithuanian and Tatar princelings, also had high hopes for a strong grand ducal power.
Second stage of the feudal wars (1446-1453)
But the "Westerners" led by Dmitry Shemyaka did not give up.
Already in the winter of 1446, Shemyaka, taking advantage of the departure of the Grand Duke with a small retinue on a pilgrimage to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, captured Moscow, captured both princesses and the Grand Duke's children. Then Dmitry's soldiers found Vasily II in the monastery, brought him to Moscow and blinded him. Hence his nickname - Vasily the Dark.
According to N.M. Karamzin, the main accusation brought against Vasily by the supporters of Dmitry Shemyaka was his accusation of sympathy for the Tatars: “Why do you love the Tatars and give them Russian cities to feed? Why do you shower unbelievers with Christian silver and gold? Why are you harassing the people with taxes? Why did you blind our brother, Vasily Kosoy?
In those days, the infliction of some significant injury to the ruler or pretender to the throne meant the actual removal of his figure from the political arena. The crippled prince could not command the army during the battle, and, therefore, was not perceived as a leader even by his squad - the main driving force of medieval "palace coups". In addition, a person who had a physical defect was considered unworthy of the "divine" princely power. But the story of Vasily Vasilyevich Tyomny shattered all these outdated ideas.
In the spring and summer of 1446, a number of specific princes openly opposed Dmitry Shemyaka. With the support of the Tatars from the "sovereign's court", they intended to release Vasily from his imprisonment in Uglich, deposing Shemyaka, who was objectionable to them, from the grand prince's throne. The conspiracy, among others, involved the princes Ryapolovsky, Ivan Vasilievich Striga Obolensky, representatives of the influential Moscow boyar family Morozov "and many other children of the boyar courts of the Grand Duke." Near the Mologa River, a squad of the Ryapolovsky princes clashed with one of the detachments loyal to Shemyaka. The conspirators won. Under the circumstances, Dmitry Yuryevich decided to convene a church meeting, which insisted on "reconciliation" with Vasily the Dark. The official "reconciliation" ceremony took place in September 1446. Vasily "kissed the cross" for loyalty to Dmitry, and was soon released by him and his family to Vologda. Only Vasily did not go there. He went to the Kirillov Monastery, where the hegumen of the monastery Tryphon “liberated” Vasily the Dark from the kiss of the cross to Grand Duke Dmitry, declaring: “that sin is on me and on my brother’s heads that you kissed Prince Dmitry and gave the fortress” (“be that sin on us, hedgehog kissed involuntarily").
From the monastery, Vasily went to Tver, where an agreement was reached between him and the Tver prince Boris Alexandrovich on a joint struggle with Dmitry. Supporters of Vasily the Dark continued to arrive in Tver from among the Moscow service people from the grand duke's court, "princes and boyars." From Lithuania, the forces of Prince Vasily Yaroslavich, Ivan Vasilyevich Striga Obolensky, the princes Ryapolovsky, Fyodor Vasilyevich Basyonok set out for Russia, uniting in Yelnya with the detachments of the Tatar princes Yakub and Kasym.
Shemyaka, with the northern princes loyal to him, for some time still tried to gather opposition to fight the Moscow prince, but in this he received neither the support of the church, nor the majority of the specific principalities. We will not dwell on the methods of his struggle, which included both the stick and the carrot. Ultimately, the barbaric methods of Dmitry's opponents were not much different from the methods of the overthrown, but not defeated ruler. Both sides used both generous promises and incitement of hostility, repressions and robberies of entire cities, hostage taking of the next of kin, dirty intrigues.
Ultimately, in 1451, only Veliky Novgorod recognized Dmitry Shemyaka as the Grand Duke. At the same time, the Novgorod authorities did not object to the great reign of Vasily II the Dark. It seems that the Novgorodians did not care at all who would be considered the Grand Duke in distant Moscow. Little did they worry about the fate of Shemyaka himself, who by that time no longer had any real military force behind him. In July 1453, on the orders of Vasily the Dark, Dmitry Yuryevich was poisoned in Novgorod. The feudal war is over.
Results
As A.A. Zimin wrote, “during the years of Shemyakin’s turmoil, the unfortunate peasants crushed by need and predatory robbers from the Sovereign’s court won. Welded together by the unity of selfish goals, these princes, boyars and boyar children were not much different from their eastern neighbors ("Scythians ... we, with slanting and greedy eyes"), and from the warlike Lithuanians who enslaved the rich cities of Ukraine and Belarus. Like a pack of hungry dogs with strong teeth, they tormented the flowering lands of Rus'. Unless the groans for the dead were muffled by the mournful sounds of the funeral ringing of bells ... "
The further reign of Vasily II proceeded without new upheavals. On the contrary, he sought to consolidate his power in every possible way. In 1456, Prince Vasily Yaroslavich of Serpukhov-Borovsky was arrested, and his inheritance was liquidated. Mikhail Andreevich Vereisky (son of Andrei Dmitrievich, grandson of Dmitry Donskoy) was completely dependent on the Grand Duke. After his death (in 1486), the Vereisk inheritance became the property of the Grand Duke (at that time already Ivan III).
In 1456, after Vasily's victorious campaign against Novgorod, the rights of the Novgorod land were significantly curtailed. Novgorod undertook to pay the Grand Duke a black forest in his volosts and court penalties; in addition, Novgorod abolished the eternal (veche) letters and pledged to write letters on behalf of the Grand Duke of Moscow.
Ivan Fedorovich, the Grand Duke of Ryazan, first sought help from the Grand Duke of Lithuania, and then, dying, gave his son, Vasily, into the hands of the Grand Duke of Moscow. Vasily II took the young Ryazan prince to Moscow, and sent his deputies to the Ryazan cities.
In the reign of Vasily the Dark, the dependence of the Russian Church on the Patriarch of Constantinople was put to an end: the Greek Metropolitan Isidore, who signed the Florentine Union, had to flee from Moscow, as a result of which the Council of Russian Bishops, without the consent of the Patriarch, named the Moscow Metropolitans of Ryazan Archbishop Jonah in 1448.
Thus, the freedom-loving North, which found support in the Western civilization untouched by the Mongol-Tatar invasion, was, in the end, subdued by the pro-Tatar Center. Serf-owning, peasant and monastic Moscow was opposed by the northern freemen of trade people (salt workers, hunters, fishermen) and free peasants. The death of the freedom of Galich led to the fall of Tver and Novgorod, and then the bloody glow of the oprichnina.
So, the blind, not the most wise and talented ruler regained his throne. His opponents were thrown into the dust. The unity of the lands around Moscow was restored. But at what cost? "Kalita's Nest" was liquidated. Only the brother-in-law of the Grand Duke Mikhail Andreevich retained his inheritance on Beloozero. The rest either died (Prince Yuri Dmitrievich and Vasily Kosoy), or perished (Dmitry Shemyaka), or were in “mindfulness” (Vasily Yaroslavich), or ended up abroad (Ivan Andreevich, Ivan Dmitrievich Shemyachich and Vasily Yaroslavich’s son Ivan). The “nest of Kalita” was replaced by the family of the Grand Duke, and there was already only a step and up to one autocrat like Ivan IV Vasilyevich. A means of dealing with disobedient people, so rare in the previous time, appeared - mass executions. They became the final chord of the reign of Vasily II ...
Elena Shirokova
According to materials:
Zimin A.A. Knight at the Crossroads: Feudal War in Russia in the 15th century. - M.: Thought, 1991
