The years of the reign of Ivan 3 were special for Russia: the son of the blind Tsar Vasily II the Dark managed to start critical process centralization - the unification of Russian land around Moscow.

Unification of principalities or "gathering of lands"

Ivan III began to rule the state even under his father - Vasily II himself appointed his son to reign with him, and even the mint of the Moscow prince minted the inscription "defend all Russia." Moreover, during his lifetime, the old prince made a will, according to which he left the throne and the main part of state lands to his son Ivan, and the rest, more distant from Moscow, to other sons. Ivan Vasilyevich ascended the throne in 1462. The reign of Ivan 3 was marked by the annexation of the Ryazan, Dmitrovsky, Yaroslavl, Tver principalities, and centralization took place peacefully. Only the Novgorod lands aspired to independence and did not want to depend on Moscow. As a result, Ivan III organized a cruel conquest with robberies, violence and fires - so he wanted to frighten Novgorod. But only six years later, in 1477, Novgorod became the territory of the Muscovite state. After that, the Tver and Belozersky principalities and part of the Chernigov, Ryazan, Seversk, Gomel and Bryansk lands joined Moscow.

Strengthening the role of the nobility

The reign of Ivan 3 was aimed at strengthening the role of the nobility and the noble army. To improve the status of landowners, a ban was introduced on the transfer of peasants from one owner to another. Only a week before St. George's Day and a week after this autumn holiday (November 26) gave the peasants the right to change the landowner.

Ivan III and the Golden Horde

One of the most important events of national importance, which marked the reign of Ivan 3, was the refusal to pay tribute to the Khan of the Golden Horde - standing on the Ugra put an end to relations between Russia and the Horde, the Russian lands were freed from oppression. The grateful Russian people immediately gave Ivan III Nickname "Saint".

Legal system reform

The centralization of the lands and gaining independence required reforms in the legal system - the law should be the same for everyone. In 1479, the Sudebnik was introduced, which combined the Russian Truth, the Pskov Judicial Charter, the Statutory Charters of the Belozersk and Dvina lands, as well as decrees and orders of the prince. It is here that the command and local government system is born.

Heresy of the Judaizers

Deeply believing Ivan III sought not only to restore the unity of the Russian lands, but also to return the true Orthodox faith, which had weakened somewhat during the years of the Tatar-Mongol yoke. Many superstitions, signs, conspiracies spread among the people, and witchcraft began to be practiced in medicine. Such a phenomenon as the "heresy of the Judaizers" became a huge stimulus for the revival of theological enlightenment. Its founder is considered to be the Jew Zacharias from Kyiv, who converted several priests to the Jewish faith. The heresy took root so deeply that even the prince of Kyiv appointed Zosima, a hidden heretic, as metropolitan. In 1490, at the Council, about a dozen clerics were cursed and excommunicated from the church. This did not bring results, so 14 years later, in 1504, another Council took place, as a result of which several heretics were executed, while others were sent to closed monasteries. Moreover, every week an anathema was read against the heretics.

Architecture and literature

The construction of the Assumption and Annunciation Cathedrals, the Palace of Facets, the buildings of the Kremlin and other church structures contributed to the strengthening of faith. Fortifications in almost all major cities were restored or rebuilt.

The results of the reign of Ivan 3

Under Ivan III, not only the unification of Russian lands and the strengthening of the Orthodox faith began, but also the formation of a state ideology: a coat of arms appeared - a double-headed eagle - and the title of Grand Duke, listing all the lands ruled by the prince. Historians say that during this period this title is sometimes replaced by the word "king". The reign of Ivan 3 was the beginning for the formation of the state ideology, which has been developing for more than one hundred years, so Ivan III received the nickname "Great" by right.

				"The Russian religious vocation, an exceptional vocation, is associated with the strength and greatness of the Russian state, with the exceptional significance of the Russian Tsar" ON THE. Berdyaev . "Ivan III is one of the most remarkable people whom the Russian people should always remember with gratitude, whom they can justifiably be proud of." 19th century historian N. D. Chechulin. "In the power he exercises over his subjects, he easily surpasses all the monarchs of the whole world." Sigismund von Herberstein
Ivan Vasilievich III. (01/22/1441-10/27/1505)

John III is one of the very few Sovereigns elected by Providence to decide for a long time the fate of peoples: he is a Hero not only of Russia, but also World History. John appeared at the political theater at a time when the new state system together with the new power of sovereigns arose throughout Europe on the ruins of the feudal, or local system. Russia for about three centuries was outside the circle of the European political activity without participating in important changes in the civil life of peoples. Although nothing is done suddenly; although the laudable efforts of the Princes of Moscow, from Kalita to Vasily the Dark, prepared a lot for Autocracy and our inner power: but Russia under John III, as it were, emerged from the twilight of shadows, where it still had neither a solid image, nor the full being of the state.

Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich- Grand Duke of Moscow (1462-1505), sovereign of all Russia,turned out to be in the shadow of his famous grandson Ivan IV, although his merits in the creation of Russian statehood are immeasurably higher compared to the very dubious successes of the first Russian tsar. Ivan III, in fact, created the Russian state, laying down the principles of state administration that were characteristic of Russia in the 16th-20th centuries.

In the second half of the 16th century, after the horrors of the cause, the nickname of the grandfather - Ivan the Terrible - passed to his grandson, so that in the folklore of later times, many deeds of the first were "attributed" to the second.

Historians back in the 19th century appreciated the contribution of each of these sovereigns, but they could not "overcome" the stereotype that had developed by that time.

Grand Duke Ivan III Vasilyevich did not formally proclaim himself "king", but the word "state" was first heard from his lips.

The volume of his "state" power was not at all less than that of the king.

The Moscow sovereign Ivan III Vasilievich received the nickname Great from historians. Karamzin put him even higher than Peter I, for Ivan III did a great state deed without resorting to violence against the people.
This is generally explained simply. The fact is that we all live in a state founded by Ivan III. When in 1462 In the year he ascended the Moscow throne, the Moscow principality was still surrounded by Russian specific possessions from everywhere: 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. So at the end of his reign, in 1505 year, Ivan III had on all the borders of the Muscovite state already only heterodox and foreign neighbors: Swedes, Germans, Lithuania, Tatars.

Ivan Vasilyevich, being one of the many specific princes, even the most powerful, having destroyed or subjugated these possessions, turned into a single sovereign of an entire people.He completed the collection of Russian lands that were in the sphere of influence of the Horde. Under him, the stage of political fragmentation of Russia ended, there was a final liberation from the Horde yoke.

Tsar Ivan the Terrible in his famous messages called his grandfather Ivan III " avenger of lies", recalled"Great Sovereign Ivan Vasilyevich, collector of Russian land and owner of many lands."

We also find a very high assessment of the activities of Ivan III in foreign sources, and they specifically emphasized the foreign policy and military successes of the Grand Duke. Even King Casimir IV, a constant opponent of Ivan III, characterized him as " leader, famous for many victories, possessing a huge treasury ", and warned against "frivolous" speeches against his power. Polish historian of the early 16th century. Matvey Mekhovsky wrote about Grand Duke Ivan III:It was the economic and useful land of his sovereign. He ... by his prudent activity subjugated and forced to pay tribute to those to whom he had previously paid it. He conquered and brought to submission the diverse tribes and multilingual lands of Asiatic Scythia, widely stretching to the east and north.

***

In the middle of the XV century. weakened Lithuania, which found itself under the blows of the Crimean and Horde khans, Hungarians, Livonians, Danes, Russians. The Kingdom of Poland strongly helped Lithuania, but the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, who dreamed of independence, were not always happy with this help. And the Poles themselves did not feel quite comfortable because of the constant onslaught from the west (from the German emperors) and from the south (from the Hungarians and the steppes). In Scandinavia began to emerge new strength- Sweden, while dependent on Denmark, but itself controlled Finland. The time of Sweden will come in 1523, when, under King Gustav I, she will be freed from Denmark. However, already in the time of Ivan III, it influenced the course of affairs in the Baltic region. East of Moscow in the 1440s. the Kazan Khanate was created - not very strong, but young and daring. The Golden Horde now controlled only insignificant territories in the lower reaches of the Don and Volga. Beyond the Black Sea, the Ottoman Turks got stronger. In 1453 they crushed the Byzantine Empire, continued their conquests in the Balkans and other parts of Eurasia. But before of Eastern Europe they will not get there so soon as to prevent Prince Ivan III from playing his diplomatic games here, on the result of which the success of the entire Russian business largely depended.

Harsh childhood

Grand Duke Ivan III Vasilievich, second son of the Grand Duke Moscow Vasily II Vasilyevich Darkborn in Moscow January 22, 1440 year and was the great-grandson of Dmitry Donskoy, the winner in the Battle of Kulikovo. Ivan's mother is Maria Yaroslavna, daughter of Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich Borovsky.An interesting prophetic prediction is associated with Ivan III and free Novgorod, which has always waged a stubborn struggle with Moscow for its political independence. In the 40s. In the 15th century, in the Novgorod monastery on the foothills of the Klopsk tract, blessed Michael labored, known in the paternal calendar under the name of Klopsky. It was in 1400 that the local archbishop Evfimy visited him. The blessed one said to the lord:"And today there is great joy in Moscow. The Grand Duke of Moscow had a son, who was given the name Ivan. He will destroy the customs of the Novgorod land and bring death to our cityand the ruin of the customs of our land will be from him, he will gain a lot of gold and silver, and he will become the ruler of all the Russian land.

Ivan was born in a stormy time of wars, internecine strife and unrest. It was restless on the southern and eastern borders of Russia: numerous khans of the Horde, which had disintegrated by that time, often made devastating raids on Russian lands. Especially dangerous was Ulu-Mohammed, the leader of the Great Horde. On July 7, 1445, in the battle near Suzdal, Grand Duke Vasily Vasilyevich himself was captured by the Tatars. On top of all the troubles, on July 14, Moscow burned to the ground: stone temples and part of the fortress walls collapsed from the fire. Because of this, the Grand Duchesses - the grandmother of our hero Sofya Vitovna and mother Maria Yaroslavna - went to Rostov with their children. Fortunately, the Tatars did not dare to go to the defenseless Russian capital.

October 1 Ulu-Mohammed, appointing a huge ransom,let Vasily Vasilyevich go home. The Grand Duke was accompanied by a large Tatar embassy, ​​which was supposed to follow the collection of ransoms in various Russian cities. Tatars got the right to manage them until they collect the required amount.

This dealt a terrible blow to the prestige of the Grand Duke, which Dmitry Shemyaka did not take advantage of. In February 1446, Vasily Vasilyevich, taking with him his sons Ivan and Yuri the Less, went on a pilgrimage to the Trinity Monastery -"to hit Sergiev's coffin with your forehead", to "patron of the Russian land and intercessor before the Lord God."In his absence, Prince Dmitry, having entered Moscow with an army, arrested the mother and wife of Vasily Vasilyevich, and also

many boyars who sided with the Grand Duke, and he himself was soon taken into custody, the conspirators in a hurry forgot about his sons, and Prince Ivan Ryapolovsky managed to hide the princes Ivan and Yuri in the monastery chambers, after which he took them to Murom.

On the night of February 17-18, on the orders of Dmitry Shemyaka, their father was blinded, after which they were sent to Uglich. Such a cruel punishment was the revenge of the new Grand Duke: in 1436, Vasily Vasilyevich dealt exactly with Vasily Kosy, who was captured by him, the brother of Dmitry Shemyaka. Soon, Ivan and Yuri followed their father to prison in the same Uglich.

Retaining power proved more difficult than winning. By autumn, a power vacuum had emerged. On September 15, 1446, seven months after the reign in Moscow, Dmitry Shemyaka released his blind rival to freedom, giving him a fiefdom in Vologda. This was the beginning of the end: soon all the opponents of the Grand Duke were drawn to the city. The abbot of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, Trifon, freed Vasily the Dark from the cross-kissing of Shemyake, and exactly a year after the blinding, the father of our hero solemnly returned to Moscow.

Dmitry Shemyaka, who fled to his patrimony, continued to fight with Vasily the Dark for several more years. In July 1453, people sent by Vasily the Dark poisoned Shemyaka with arsenic.

father's legacy

We can only guess,what feelings raged in the soul of Prince Ivan Vasilyevich in early childhood. At least three times - in 1445 and twice in 1446 - he was to be gripped by mortal fear: the Tatar captivity of his father and a fire in Moscow, flight to Murom, Uglich imprisonment - all this fell to the lot of a five-six-year-old boy.

Life forced the prince to grow up early.From a very young age hefound himself in the thick of the political struggle,became the assistant of his blind father. Relentlessly was next to him, participated in all his campaigns, and already at the age of six he was engaged to his daughter Prince of Tver, which was supposed to mean the union of two eternal rivals - Moscow and Tver.

Since 1448, Ivan Vasilyevich has been titled in the annals as the Grand Duke, just like his father. Long before accession to the throne, many levers of power are in the hands of Ivan Vasilyevich; he performs important military and political assignments. In 1448 he was in Vladimir with an army that covered the important southern direction from the Tatars, and in 1452 he went on his first military campaign. From the beginning of the 50s. 15th century Ivan Vasilyevich, step by step, mastered the difficult craft of the sovereign, delving into the affairs of his blind father, who returning to the throne, he was not inclined to stand on ceremony not only with enemies, but in general with any potential rivals.

Public mass executions - an event unheard of before in Russia! - the reign of the blind man ended: Vasily Vasilyevich, having learned about the intention of the service people to release Prince Vasily Yaroslavich from imprisonment, "commanded all imati, and execute, and beat with a whip, and cut their hands, and cut their legs, and cut off the heads of others" .On the evening of March 27, 1462 Vasily the Dark, who suffered from dry disease (bone tuberculosis), died, passing the great reign to his eldest son Ivan and endowing each of the other four sons with vast possessions.

With a firm hand

The father gave the young prince a fragile peace with his neighbors. It was restless in Novgorod and Pskov. In the Great Horde, the ambitious Akhmat came to power, dreaming of reviving the power of the Genghisids. Political passions overwhelmed Moscow itself. But Ivan III was ready for decisive action. At twenty-two, he already possessed a strong character, statesmanship, and diplomatic wisdom. Much later, the Venetian ambassador Contarini described it like this:“The Grand Duke looks about 35 years old. He is tall and thin, but with all that handsome man» . Other witnesses of his life noted that Ivan III knew how to subordinate his emotions to the requirements of circumstances, he always carefully calculated all the possible consequences of his actions, was an outstanding politician and diplomat in this regard, since he often acted not so much with a sword as with a word.

Steadfast in pursuit of the intended goal, he knew how to perfectly use the circumstances and act decisively when success was assured. His main goal was to seize Russian lands and permanently annex them to Moscow. In this, he followed in the footsteps of his forefathers and for a long time left an example for his heirs to follow. The unification of the Russian land has been considered an urgent historical task since the time of Yaroslav the Wise. Only by squeezing all the forces into a single fist, it was possible to defend against the steppe nomads, Poland, Lithuania, German knights and Swedes.

How did the Grand Duke begin his reign?

The main task was to ensure the security of the eastern borders. For this it was necessary to establish political control over the Kazan

khanate. The ongoing conflict with Novgorod also demanded its resolution. As early as 1462, the Novgorod ambassadors "for pacification" arrived in Moscow. A preliminary peace was concluded, and Ivan III managed, in the course of a complex diplomatic game, to win over another free city, Pskov, to his side, and thereby put pressure on Novgorod. As a result of this flexible policy, Ivan III began to play the role of an imperious arbiter in disputes between Novgorod and Pskov, whose word is law. And in essence, for the first time he acted as the head of the entire Russian land.In 1463, using the diplomatic gift of the clerk Alexei Poluektov, he annexed to the Moscow State Yaroslavl, concluded peace with the prince of Tver, married the prince of Ryazan to his daughter, recognizing him as an independent prince.

In 1463-1464. Ivan III, "having shown respect for antiquity", gave Pskov the viceroy that the townspeople wanted. But when they wanted to “set aside” from the Novgorod lord and create an independent bishopric, Ivan III showed toughness, did not follow the lead of the Pskovites and ordered, “respecting the old days”, to leave everything as it was. It was not worth giving Pskov too much independence.Here at hand the Livonian Order, Lithuania, Denmark, Hanseatic merchants, Swedes ...

In 1467 The plague again visited Russia. The people met her "with despondency and fear." Tired of people from this villain. It killed more than 250 thousand people. And then the beloved wife of Ivan III suddenly died - grand duchess Maria. Ivan III was looking for a way to stir up people who are not indifferent to life, but crushed by it. In the autumn of 1467 he organized a trip to Kazan. The trip was unsuccessful. Kazan Khan Ibrahim responded in the same way - he sent a detachment to Russia, but Ivan III, having guessed about the course of the Khan, fortified the border cities.

AT 1468 the grand duke equips 3 trip to the east. The squad of Prince Semyon Romanovich passed through the Cheremis land (Vyatka region and part of modern Tatarstan), broke through the forests covered with snow, into the land of the Cheremis and engaged in robbery. The squad of Prince Ivan Striga-Obolensky drove away the Kazanians who invaded the Kostroma land. Prince Daniil Kholmsky defeated the raiders near Murom. Then detachments of Nizhny Novgorod and Murom residents themselves went to the Kazan Khanate to rob.

These operations were a kind of reconnaissance in force. Ivan III prepared a large army and went to Kazan.

From a passive age-old defense, Russia finally switched to a strategic offensive. The scope of hostilities was impressive, the persistence in achieving the goal was enormous.

The war with the Kazan Khanate ended with a convincing Russian victory in 1469., when the army of Ivan III approached the capital of the Khanate, forced Ibrahim to admit defeat and "make peace at the will of the Sovereign of Moscow". The Russians took a huge ransom and returned to their homeland all the prisoners whom the Kazanians had captured over the previous 40 years.

For some time eastern border Russian land became relatively safe: However, Ivan III understood that a decisive victory over the heirs of the Golden Horde could be achieved only after the unification of all Russian lands. And he again turned his eyes to Novgorod.

THE FIGHT OF PRINCE IVAN III WITH NOVGOROD

Ivan III did not have time to rejoice at the success, as rumors came about the free moods of the Novgorodians. Being an integral part of the Russian land, Novgorod lived for 600 years according to the laws of the veche republic. Novgorodians from time immemorial controlledthe entire north of modern European Russia, up to the Ural Range, and conducted extensive trade with the countries of the West. Traditionally subordinate to the Grand Duke of Vladimir, they retained considerable autonomy, including an independent foreign policy.

In connection with the strengthening of Lithuania in the XIV century, Novgorodians began to invite Lithuanian princes to reign in the Novgorod cities (Koporye, Korela). Influence

Moscow somewhat weakened, so that part of the Novgorod nobility had the idea to "surrender to Lithuania." During the election of the Novgorod archbishopMartha, the widow of the posadnik Isaac Boretsky, took matters into her own hands, possessing oratorical talent and the talent of an organizer. She and her children spoke at the veche with a call to send a new archbishop Theophilus for approval not to Moscow, but to Kyiv, and also to send ambassadors to the Polish king Casimir with a request to take Novgorod under her protection. Her wealth, as well as her stinginess, were legendary.

Gathering the nobility for feasts, she scolded Ivan III, dreamed of a free Novgorod, of a veche, and many agreed with her, not knowing, however, how to resist Moscow. Martha knew. She built diplomatic bridges with Lithuania, wanted to marry a noble Lithuanian, to own Novgorod after its annexation to the Principality of Lithuania,tear off Novgorod from Moscow...

Ivan III showed composure for a long time. Novgorodians grew bolder, “seized many incomes, lands and waters of the Princes; they took an oath from the inhabitants only in the name of Novgorod; they despised John's Vicegerents and Ambassadors... offended the Muscovites." It seemed that it was time to rein in the boyars. But Ivan III said to an official who appeared in Moscow: “Tell the people of Novgorod, my fatherland, that they, having admitted their guilt, correct themselves; they did not intervene in my lands and waters, they kept my name honestly and menacingly in the old days, fulfilling the vow of the cross, if they want patronage and mercy from me; say that patience comes to an end, and that mine will not continue. The freedom-lovers laughed at Ivan III and were proud of the "victory" . They didn't expect a trick. Martha sent her sons to the veche. They showered the Moscow prince with verbal mud, spoke convincingly, ending their speech with an appeal: “We don’t want Ivan! long live Casimir! And in response, like an echo, voices answered: “May Moscow disappear!”

The veche decided to ask Casimir to become the ruler of the Lord of Veliky Novgorod. Master of the Lord!

Ivan III, gathering the troops of the allies, sent Ivan Fedorovich Tovarkov to the city. He read out to the townspeople an appeal, not much different from what the Grand Duke had recently said to an official. This ostentatious slowness is called indecision by some historians. Martha was decisive. It was her determination that killed her. Tovarkov, who returned to Moscow, told the Grand Duke that only "The sword can humble the Novgorodians." Ivan III hesitated, as if he doubted his success. Not! He did not doubt. But knowing that a lot of blood of his compatriots would be shed, he wanted to share the responsibility for the troubles with everyone he relied on: with his mother and metropolitan, brothers and archbishops, with princes and boyars, with governors and even with common people. In the course of a complex diplomatic game, Ivan III managed to win over another free city, Pskov, to his side, and thereby put pressure on Novgorod. As a result of this flexible policy, Ivan III began to play the role of an imperious arbiter in disputes between Novgorod and Pskov, whose word is law. And in essence, for the first time he acted as the head of the entire Russian land. Ivan III sent a letter to Novgorod, where he considered it necessary to emphasize that the power of the Grand Dukes was of an all-Russian character. He urged the people of Novgorod not to deviate "from antiquity", elevating it to Rurik and Vladimir the Holy. "Old" in his eyes meant the unity of the Russian land under the rule of the Grand Duke. This is a fundamentally important point in the new political doctrine of Ivan Vasilyevich: understanding the Russian land as a single whole.The prince gathered the Duma, reported on the betrayal of the Novgorodians, heard unanimously: “Sovereign! Take up arms!"- and after that he did not hesitate. Ivan III acted prudently and cautiously, but, having weighed everything and gathered almost all the princes (even Mikhail of Tver), he announced in the spring 1471 Novgorod Republic war. And a huge army moved to Novgorod. The townspeople did not expect such a turn of affairs. In the Novgorod land, where there are many lakes, swamps, rivers, it is difficult to fight in the summer. The unexpected offensive of the enemy puzzled the supporters of Marfa Boretskaya. The army marched in several columns. The Pskov squad capturedVyshegorod.

Daniil Kholmsky took and burned Russu. Novgorodians started talking about peace, or at least about a truce. But Martha convinced fellow citizens that the indecisive Ivan could be defeated. The war continued. King Casimir never came to the aid of the Novgorodians. Many commoners did not want to fight with Moscow. Daniil Kholmsky defeated an army of Novgorodians that suddenly attacked him near Korostyn, consisting of handicraft people. Many militias were taken prisoner. The winners cut off the unfortunate noses and lips and sent them to Novgorod.The warriors of Kholmsky did not take the weapons and uniforms of the Novgorod traitors!

Ivan III ordered Prince Daniil Kholmsky to approach Sheloni, and on July 14 a decisive battle took place here. With a cry of "Moscow!" the soldiers of the Grand Duke rushed into battle, whose squad was 8-10 times smaller than the rati of Novgorod. As V. O. Klyuchevsky writes, "Novgorod hastily put on horses and moved into the field forty thousand rabble, potters, carpenters and other artisans who had never even been on a horse." There were only four and a half thousand Muscovites. Nevertheless, this military rati was enough to utterly smash the Novgorod crowd, putting up to 12 thousand of the enemy on the spot. The victory was complete and unconditional.The victors dealt ruthlessly with the vanquished. Many boyars were taken prisoner, and the draft treaty on the annexation of Novgorod to Lithuania ended up in the hands of the Muscovites.But with the rest of the prisoners, Ivan III acted gently, realizing that they were only an instrument in the hands of traitors. He did not rob and destroy Novgorod, he resisted the temptation.

The squads of Kholmsky and Vereisky robbed the Novgorod land itself for several more days, Ivan III controlled the fate of the captives. He cut off the head of Dmitry, the son of Martha Boretskaya, put someone in dungeons, let someone go to Novgorod.

Under an agreement dated August 11, Novgorodians were obliged to pay a gigantic indemnity for those times in the amount of 15.5 thousand rubles, to give to Moscow Volok and Vologda and completely stop relations with the Polish-Lithuanian state.Ivan made peace by declaring his mercy: "I give away my dislike, calm the sword and the thunderstorm in the land of Novgorod and let go full without payback." But from that day on, Novgorodians swore allegiance to Ivan III, recognized him as the highest judicial instance, and their city as the patrimony of the Grand Duke of Moscow.

On the same days Moscow army mastered Dvina land, its inhabitants swore allegiance to Ivan III. The victory did not turn the head of the Grand Duke. The treaty did not correspond to the military successes of Moscow. Ivan III did not mention Marfa Boretskaya in it, as if forgiving the woman for her misdeed. In the Treaty of Shelon, Perm was included in the Novgorod land, although the Moscow princes had long dreamed of rich Ural territories. Several months have passed. The people who arrived in Moscow reported that they, the poor fellows, were offended by the inhabitants of Perm. Ivan III immediately sent an army to the offenders. Fedor Motley, who led the squad, defeated the Permian army, raided the surrounding area, captured many governors, and Permian swore allegiance to Ivan III in 1472. In the same year, the Golden Horde Khan Akhmat invaded the Russian land. The Russians did not let him go further than the Oka. Akhmat retreated, but did not change his mind about fighting Russia.

Second marriage

April 22 1467 years Ivan Vasilievich was widowed. His wife, Maria Borisovna, daughter of the Grand Duke of Tver, was apparently poisoned: her body was terribly swollen after her death. The Grand Duke found the wife of the clerk Alexei Poluetovich guilty of witchcraft and removed him from his post.

Now he had to get a new wife. In 1469, an embassy came from Rome with a marriage proposal to Ivan III: would the Grand Duke wish to marry a Greek princess?Sophia (Zoya) Paleolog? Sophia was the niece of the latter Byzantine emperor, killed by the Turks on the walls of Constantinople in 1453. Her father Thomas Palaiologos, ruler of the Morea, with his family, retinue, jewelry and the last riches of the empire, as well as with the shrines of the Orthodox Church, appeared to Pope Sixtus IV, received a monthly salary, lived comfortably, died in Rome, leaving sons Andrew and Manuel and daughter Sophia in the care of the new Pope, Paul II. Sons, receiving a stable salary, lived like careless, rich heirs.

Only Sophia grieved in Rome. She could not find a worthy spouse in Europe. The bride was stubborn. She did not marry the king of France, she refused the Duke of Milan, showing hostility towards Catholics, surprising for her position.

Finally, it was decided to try their luck at the court of the Moscow prince. The assignment was undertaken by a certain "Greek Yuri", in whom one can recognize Yuri Trakhaniot, a confidant of the Paleologus family. Arriving in Moscow, the Greek praised Ivan III the nobility of the bride. her commitment to Orthodoxy and unwillingness to go into "Latinism". Negotiations about the Moscow marriage lasted three years.

In June 1472, in St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, Ivan Fryazin became engaged to Sophia on behalf of the Moscow sovereign, after which the bride, accompanied by a magnificent retinue, went to Russia.In October of the same year, Moscow met its future empress. A wedding ceremony took place in the still unfinished Assumption Cathedral. The Greek princess became the Grand Duchess of Moscow, Vladimir and Novgorod. A reflection of the thousand-year-old glory of the once mighty empire lit up young Moscow.

In Italy, they hoped that the marriage of Sophia Palaiologos would ensure the conclusion of an alliance with Russia for the war with the Turks, who threatened Europe with new conquests,Italian diplomats formulated the idea that Moscow should become the successor of Constantinople.This alliance strengthened Russia's ties with the West, but above all demonstrated to the whole world that Princess Sophia was transferring the hereditary sovereign rights of Byzantium to Moscow, to the new Constantinople.For Russians, Byzantium was for a long time the only Orthodox kingdom, a stronghold of the true faith, and, having become related to the dynasty of its last "basileus" - emperors, Russia, as it were, claimed its rights to the heritage of Byzantium, to a majestic spiritual role, religious and political vocation.

After the wedding, Ivan III commanded the Moscow coat of arms depicting George the Victorious, striking a snake, combined with a double-headed eagle - the ancient coat of arms of Byzantium.

St. George was a model of class honor: in Byzantium - for the military nobility, in Western Europe- for chivalry, in Slavic countries - for princes.

In the XI century, he came to Kievan Rus, primarily as the patron of the princes, who began to consider him their heavenly intercessor, especially in military affairs. One of the first Christian princes, Yaroslav Vladimirovich the Wise (in baptism, George), did a lot to glorify his patron saint: in Kyiv he built a chapel in his honor in the church of St. The face of St. George also adorned silver coins issued in Novgorod - srebreniki ("Yaroslavl's silver").

George the warrior was always depicted with a weapon: with a shield and a spear, sometimes with a sword.

So, Moscow becomes the heir of the Byzantine Empire, and Ivan III himself, as it were, became the heir to the Byzantine basils - emperors. Ivan III, following the model of Byzantium, introduced for himself, as the supreme ruler of Russia, a new title: "John, by the grace of God sovereign of all Russia and the Grand Duke of Vladimir, and Moscow, and Novgorod, and Pskov, and Tver, and Ugra, and Perm, and Bulgarian, and others.

Attributes royal power at the ceremony of crowning the kingdom, Monomakh's hat with barm became (church wedding with the sacrament of chrismation was also first introduced by Ivan III).

In the course of diplomatic relations with Livonia and German cities, Ivan III called himself "the king of all Russia", and the Danish king called him "emperor". Later, Ivan III in one of the letters called his son Vasily "the autocrat of all Russia."

The idea that originated in Russia at that time about the global role of "Moscow - the third Rome" led to the fact that Ivan III was considered by many educated people as "the king of all Orthodoxy", and the Russian Orthodox Church as the successor of the Greek Church.This idea was established and strengthened under Ivan III, although the monk Philotheus first expressed it two decades before his birth: "Like two Romes are fallen, and the third is standing, and the fourth will not happen". What did his words mean? The First Rome, corroded by heresy, fell in the 5th-6th centuries, giving way to the Second Rome - the Byzantine city of Constantinople, or Constantinople. This city became the guardian of the Orthodox faith and experienced many clashes with Mohammedanism and paganism. But its spiritual end came in the middle of the 15th century, when it was conquered by the Turks. And after the death of Byzantium, it is Moscow - the capital of Russia - that becomes the center of Orthodoxy - the Third Rome.

Liberation of Russia from Tatar yoke, the unification of scattered small destinies into a large Muscovite state, the marriage of Grand Duke Ivan III to Sophia Paleolog, the conquest of the kingdoms of Kazan and Astrakhan - all this justified in the eyes of contemporaries the idea that Moscow had the right to such a role.

The "Great Greek" Sophia Paleolog, put a lot of effort into this dynastic marriage to strengthen Muscovy, contributing to its conversion to the Third Rome,

contrary to the aspirations of the Vatican, to turn the Moscow sovereign through his young wife to the Union of Florence. She not only brought with her Byzantine regalia and ideas about the power of power, not only advised to invite Italian architects in order to make Moscow equal in beauty and majesty European capitals, but insisted that Ivan III stop paying tribute to the Horde Khan and free himself from his power, encouragedGrand Duke for a decisive struggle against the Tatars and the overthrow of the Horde yoke.

She was the first to change the attitude towards women in Russia. The Byzantine princess, brought up in Europe, did not want to look at the world from the window.
The Grand Duke allowed her to have her own council of members of the retinue and arrange diplomatic receptions in her half, where she received foreign ambassadors and led the conversation. For Russia, this unheard-of innovation was the first in a long series that would end with the assemblies of Peter I, and the new status of the Russian empress, and then serious changes in the position of women in Russia.

August 12, 1479 in Moscow was consecrated new cathedral in the name of the Assumption of the Mother of God, conceived and built as an architectural image of a single Russian state. “But that church was wonderful in grand majesty and height, lordship and sonority and space, such as it had never happened before in Russia, other than (besides) the Vladimir church ...”- exclaimed the chronicler. Celebrations on the occasion of the consecration of the cathedral, which is the creation of Aristotle Fiorovanti, lasted until the end of August. Tall, slightly stooping Ivan III stood out in the smart crowd of his relatives and courtiers. Only his brothers Boris and Andrey were not with him. However, less than a month had passed since the beginning of the festivities, as a formidable omen of future troubles shook the capital. On September 9, Moscow suddenly caught fire. The fire quickly spread, approaching the walls of the Kremlin. Everyone who could, went out to fight the fire. Even the Grand Duke and his son Ivan the Young put out the flames. Many who were timid, seeing their great princes in the scarlet reflections of the fire, also took up extinguishing the fire. By morning, the storm had been brought to a halt.Did the tired Grand Duke then think that in the glow of the fire the most difficult period of his reign began, which would last about a year?

massacre

It is then that everything that has been achieved over decades of painstaking government work will be put at stake. Moscow heard rumors of a brewing conspiracy in Novgorod. Ivan III again went there "in peace". On the banks of the Volkhov, he spent the rest of the autumn and most of the winter.

One from the results of his stay in Novgorod was the arrest of the archbishop of Novgorod Theophilus. In January 1480, the disgraced bishop was sent under escort to Moscow.The rebellious nobility locked themselves in Novgorod. Ivan III did not destroy the city, realizing that the famine would complete the work. He made demands: "We, the Grand Dukes, want our state, as we are in Moscow, so we want to be in our fatherland, Veliky Novgorod." As a result, he took the oath of all the townspeople, and also received half of all the monastic lands. Since then, the Novgorod veche no longer met. Ivan III returned to Moscow, carrying with him the veche Novgorod bell. This age-old symbol of the boyar republic was erected on the Kremlin Square, in the heart of the Russian land, and henceforth, together with other bells, beat off a new historical time - the time of the Russian state.

The Novgorod opposition was dealt a tangible blow, but the clouds over the Grand Duke continued to thicken. For the first time in many years, the Livonian Order attacked the lands of Pskov with large forces. Vague news came from the Horde about the preparations for a new invasion of Russia. At the very beginning of February, another bad news came - Ivan's brothers III princes Boris Volotsky and Andrei Bolshoy decided on an open rebellion and got out of obedience. It was not difficult to guess that they would look for allies in the person of the Grand Duke of Lithuania and the King of Poland, Casimir, and perhaps even Khan Akhmat, the enemy from whom the most terrible danger to the Russian lands came. Under the circumstances, Moscow's assistance to Pskov became impossible. Ivan III hastily left Novgorod and went to Moscow. The state, torn apart by internal unrest, was doomed in the face of external aggression. Ivan III could not but understand this, and therefore his first movement was the desire to settle the conflict with his brothers. Their dissatisfaction was caused by the systematic attack of the Moscow sovereign on the appanage rights of semi-independent rulers that belonged to them, rooted in times of political fragmentation. The Grand Duke was ready to make big concessions, but he could not cross the line beyond which the revival of the former appanage system began, which had brought so many disasters to Russia in the past. The negotiations that began with the brothers came to a standstill. Princes Boris and Andrei chose Velikiye Luki, a city on the border with Lithuania, as their headquarters and negotiated with Casimir IV. On joint actions against Moscow agreed with Kazimir and Akhmat.

In the spring of 1480 it became clear that no agreement could be reached with the brothers. Besidesthe boyar elite of the Muscovite state split into two groups: one advised Ivan III to flee; the other advocated the need to fight the Horde. Perhaps the behavior of Ivan III was influenced by the position of the Muscovites, who demanded decisive action from the Grand Duke.In the same days, terrible news came - the khan of the Great Horde, at the head of a huge army, began a slow advance to Russia. “The same summer,” the chronicle narrates, “the evil-named Tsar Akhmat ... went to Orthodox Christianity, to Russia, to the holy churches and to the Grand Duke, boasting of destroying the holy churches and capturing all Orthodoxy and the Grand Duke himself, as if under Batu Besh (It was)" . It was not in vain that the chronicler remembered Batu here. An experienced warrior and an ambitious politician, Akhmat dreamed of a complete restoration of Horde domination over Russia.In a series of bad news, one that came from the Crimea was encouraging. There, at the direction of the Grand Duke, Ivan Ivanovich Zvenets Zvenigorodsky went, who was supposed to conclude an alliance treaty with the militant Crimean Khan Mengli Giray at any cost. The ambassador was given the task of obtaining a promise from the khan that, in the event of Akhmat’s invasion of the Russian borders, he would hit him in the rear or on at least will attack the lands of Lithuania, diverting the forces of the king. The purpose of the embassy was achieved. The agreement concluded in Crimea was an important achievement of Moscow diplomacy. A gap was made in the ring of external enemies of the Muscovite state. The approach of Akhmat presented the Grand Duke with a choice. It was possible to lock oneself in Moscow and wait for the enemy, hoping for the strength of its walls. In this case, a huge territory would have been in the power of Akhmat, and nothing could have prevented the connection of his forces with the Lithuanian ones. There was another option - to move the Russian regiments towards the enemy. This is exactly what Dmitry Donskoy did in 1380. Ivan III followed the example of his great-grandfather.The situation was becoming critical.

Standing on the river Ugra. The end of the Horde yoke.

At the beginning of the summer, large forces were sent south under the command of Ivan the Young and brother Andrei the Less, loyal to the Grand Duke. Russian regiments deployed along the banks of the Oka, thereby creating a powerful barrier on the way to Moscow. On June 23, Ivan III himself set out on a campaign. On the same day, the miraculous icon of the Vladimir Mother of God was brought from Vladimir to Moscow, with whose intercession the salvation of Russia from the troops of the formidable Tamerlane in 1395 was associated. During August and September, Akhmat searched for weakness in Russian defense. When it became clear to him that the Oka was tightly guarded, he undertook a roundabout maneuver and led his troops to the Lithuanian border.Akhmat's troops moved freely across Lithuanian territory and, accompanied by Lithuanian guides, through Mtsensk, Odoev and Lubutsk to Vorotynsk. Here the khan expected help from Casimir IV, but did not wait for it. The Crimean Tatars, allies of Ivan III, diverted the Lithuanian troops by attacking Podolia. Knowing that Russians are waiting for him on the Okaregiments, Akhmat decided, having passed through the Lithuanian lands, to invade Russian territory through the Ugra River. Ivan III, having received information about such intentions, sent his son Ivan and brother Andrei the Less to Kaluga and to the banks of the Ugra.Ivan III urgently left for Moscow "for advice and thought" with the Metropolitan and

boyars. A council took place in the Kremlin. Metropolitan Gerontius, the mother of the Grand Duke, many of the boyars and the higher clergy spoke in favor of decisive action against Akhmat. It was decided to prepare the city for a possible siege.Ivan III sent his family and treasury to Beloozero.Moscow suburbs were burned, and their inhabitants were resettled inside the fortress walls. No matter how difficult this measure was, experience suggested that it was necessary: ​​in the event of a siege, wooden buildings located next to the walls could serve as fortifications for the enemy or material for the construction of siege engines. On the same days, ambassadors from Andrei the Great and Boris Volotsky came to Ivan III, who announced the end of the rebellion. The Grand Duke granted forgiveness to the brothers and ordered them to move with their regiments to the Oka. Then he again left Moscow. Meanwhile, on October 8, Akhmat tried to force the Ugra, but his attack was repulsed by the forces of Ivan the Young.For several days, the battles for the crossings continued, which also did not bring success to the Horde. Soon the opponents took up defensive positions on opposite banks of the river.Skirmishes broke out every now and then, but neither side dared to launch a serious attack. In this situation, negotiations began, as a result of which the Russian sovereign found out that the khan was not at all confident in his abilities. But he himself did not want bloodshed, because, as the true owner of the Russian land, he was its builder, and any war leads to devastation.

Mengli Giray, fulfilling his promise, attacked the southern lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. On the same days, Ivan III received a fiery message from the Archbishop of Rostov, Vassian Rylo. Vassian urged the Grand Duke not to listen to the crafty advisers who "they don't stop whispering in your ear... deceitful words and advise... not to oppose adversaries", but to follow the example of former princes,"who not only defended the Russian land from the filthy (i.e., not Christians), but also subordinated other countries." “Just take heart and be strong, my spiritual son,” the archbishop wrote, “like a good warrior of Christ, according to the great word of our Lord in the Gospel: “You are the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep...”

The cold was coming. Ugra froze and every day more and more turned from a water barrier into a strong ice bridge connecting the warring

sides. Both the Russians and the Horde governors began to noticeably get nervous, fearing that the enemy would be the first to decide on a surprise attack. The preservation of the army became the main concern of Ivan III. The cost of reckless risk was too great. In the event of the death of the Russian regiments, Akhmat opened the road to the very heart of Russia, and King Casimir IV would not fail to seize the opportunity and enter the war. There was no certainty that the brothers and the recently subordinate Novgorod would remain loyal. And the Crimean Khan, seeing the defeat of Moscow, could quickly forget about his allied promises. Having weighed all the circumstances, Ivan III in early November ordered the withdrawal of Russian forces from the Ugra to Borovsk, which in winter conditions was a more advantageous defensive position. And then the unexpected happened! Akhmat, deciding that Ivan III was giving him the coast for a decisive battle, began a hasty retreat, similar to a flight. Small Russian forces were sent in pursuit of the retreating Horde.Khan Akhmat without visible reasons suddenly turned back and went into the steppe,having plundered Kozelsk, which belonged to Lithuania, on the way back.What frightened or stopped him?For those who watched from the sidelines how both armies turned back almost simultaneously (within two days), without bringing things to a battle, this event seemed either strange, mystical, or received a simplified explanation: the opponents were afraid of each other, were afraid to accept battle. Contemporaries attributed this to the miraculous intercession of the Mother of God, who saved the Russian land from ruin.

The Russians later named the river Ugra "the belt of the Virgin", believing that, through her prayers, the Lord delivered Russia from the Tatars. And there are legends that Akhmat once saw a huge angelic army led by the Virgin Mary on the other side of the sky - this is what shocked him so much that he made the horses turn back.Ivan III with his son and the whole army returned to Moscow, "And all the people rejoiced, and rejoiced with great joy."
On January 6, 1481, Akhmat was killed as a result of a sudden attack by the Tyumen Khan Ibak on the steppe headquarters, in which Akhmat retired from Sarai, probably fearing assassination attempts,sharing the fate of another unfortunate conqueror of Russia - Mamai.Civil strife began in the Great Horde.

It actually broke up into parts already at the end of the 15th century into several completely independent khanates - Kazan, Crimean, Astrakhan, Siberian, Nogai Horde.

This was the end of the Horde yoke. Moscow welcomed the returned sovereign as its savior: ".. The great prince Ivan Vasilievich came to Moscow ... and all the people rejoiced with joy, great big." But here we must take into account not only the military success of Ivan III, but also his diplomatic strategy, which was part of the general plan of the defensive campaign. Standing on the Ugra can be recognized as an exemplary plan for victory, which both the military and diplomatic history of our country can be proud of.. The strategic plan for the defense of Russian lands in 1480 was well thought out and clearly implemented. The diplomatic efforts of the Grand Duke prevented Poland and Lithuania from entering the war. The Pskovites also contributed to the salvation of Russia, stopping the German offensive by autumn. Yes, and Russia itself was no longer the same as in the 13th century, during the invasion of Batu, and even in the 14th century. - in the face of the hordes of Mamai. In place of semi-independent principalities at war with each other, a strong, although not yet completely strengthened internally Muscovite state, came. Then, in 1480, it was difficult to assess the significance of what had happened. Many recalled the stories of their grandfathers about how, just two years after glorious victory Dmitry Donskoy on the Kulikovo field Moscow was burned by the troops of Tokhtamysh. However, history, which loves repetition, this time took a different path. The yoke that weighed over Russia for two and a half centuries is over.“From now on, our History accepts the dignity of a truly state, describing no longer senseless princely fights, but the deeds of the Kingdom, acquiring independence and greatness. The disagreement disappears along with our citizenship to the Tatars; a strong power is formed, as if new to Europe and Asia, which, seeing it with surprise, they offer her famous place in their political system, - wrote N. M. Karamzin.

During the celebration of the 500th anniversary of standing on the Ugra River in 1980, a monument was unveiled on the banks of the legendary river in honor of the significant event Russian history, which occurred in 1480 within the Kaluga region.

Conqueror

In early February 1481, Ivan Vasilievich sent a 20,000-strong army to help the Pskovites, who had been fighting with their own forces for a long time.

Livonia. In a severe frost, the Russians "captured and burned the whole German land from Yuryev to Riga" and, according to the Pskov chronicler, "revenge by the German for his own in twenty or more." On September 1 of the same year, Ivan III, on behalf of the Novgorodians and Pskovians, concluded a 10-year peace with Livonia, which for some time brought peace in the Baltics.

Later, in the summer of 1492, on the right bank of the Narva, Ivan III began the construction of the Ivangorod fortress opposite German city Rugodiva (Narva). The purpose of the construction of the fortress was to protect the Novgorod land from its western neighbors.

In the spring of 1483, the Russian army, led by Ivan Saltyk Travin, set off on a big campaign to the east - against the Voguli (Mansi). Reaching with battles first to Irtysh, the Russians plunged into the ships and moved to Obi, and then along this mighty river - up to its lower reaches. Having subjugated the local Khanty (Ugra), they managed to safely return to their homeland by the onset of winter.

Conquest of Tver and Vyatka

Five years after "standing on the Ugra", Ivan III took another step towards the final unification of the Russian lands: Tver Principality. Long gone are the days when the proud and brave princes of Tver argued with those of Moscow about which of them should collect Russia. History resolved their dispute in favor of Moscow. However, Tver remained one of the largest Russian cities for a long time, and its princes were among the most powerful.

Lithuania became the last hope of Mikhail Tverskoy. In 1484, he concluded an agreement with Casimir that violated the points of the agreement reached earlier with Moscow. The spearhead of the new Lithuanian-Tver union was unambiguously directed towards Moscow. In response to this, in 1485 Ivan III declared war on Tver. Moscow troops invaded the Tver lands. Casimir was in no hurry to help his new ally. Unable to resist alone, Mikhail vowed that he would no longer have any relationship with the enemy of Moscow. However, soon after the conclusion of peace, he broke his oath. Upon learning of this, the Grand Duke in the same year gathered a new army. Moscow regiments approached the walls of Tver. Michael secretly fled the city. The Tverichi, led by their boyars, opened the gates to the Grand Duke and swore allegiance to him. The independent Grand Duchy of Tver ceased to exist. In 1489, Vyatka was annexed to the Russian state- a remote and largely mysterious land beyond the Volga for modern historians. With the annexation of Vyatka, the collection of Russian lands that were not part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was completed. Formally, only Pskov and the Grand Duchy of Ryazan remained independent. However, they were dependent on Moscow. Located on the dangerous frontiers of Russia, these lands often needed military assistance from the Grand Duke of Moscow. The authorities of Pskov have not dared to argue with Ivan III for a long time. In Ryazan, the young prince Ivan ruled, who was the grand nephew of the Grand Duke and was obedient to him in everything.

Successes in the foreign policy of Ivan III

The Grand Duke led an active foreign policy. His important achievement was the establishment of allied relations with the German emperors - first with Frederick II, and then with his son Maximilian.Extensive ties with European countries helped Ivan III develop court ceremonial and National emblem Russia.

By the end of the 80s. Ivan finally accepted the title of "Grand Duke of All Russia". The named title has been known in Moscow since the 14th century, but it was during these years that it became official and turned from a political dream into reality. Two terrible disasters - political fragmentation and the Mongol-Tatar yoke - are a thing of the past. Achieving the territorial unity of the Russian lands was the most important result of the activities of Ivan III. However, he understood that he could not stop there. The young state needed to be strengthened from within. It was necessary to ensure the security of its borders.

In 1487, the grand ducal rati made a campaign against Kazan Khanate- one of the fragments of the disintegrated Golden Horde. Kazan Khan recognized himself as a vassal of the Muscovite state. Thus, for almost twenty years, calm was ensured on the eastern borders of the Russian lands.

The children of Akhmat, who owned the Great Horde, could no longer gather an army under their banners comparable in number to the army of their father. Crimean Khan Mengli Giray remained an ally of Moscow, he fettered the forces of both the Great Horde and the Polish-Lithuanian state, and friendly relations with him were even stronger after in 1491, during the campaign of Akhmat's children to the Crimea, Ivan III sent Russian regiments to help Mengli. The relative calm in the east and south allowed the Grand Duke to turn to solving foreign policy problems in the west and northwest.

The central problem here remained relations with Catholic Lithuania,which from time to time increased the pressure on its Orthodox subjects, infringed on the rights of the Orthodox and planted catholic faith. As a result of two Russian-Lithuanian wars (1492-1494 and 1500-1503), dozens of ancient Russian cities were included in the Moscow state, among which were such large ones as Vyazma, Chernigov, Starodub, Putivl, Rylsk, Novgorod-Seversky, Gomel, Bryansk, Dorogobuzh, etc. Title "Grand Duke of All Russia "was filled in these years with new content. Ivan III proclaimed himself sovereign not only of the lands subject to him, but of the entire Russian Orthodox population, who lived on the lands that were once part of Kievan Rus. It is no coincidence that Lithuania refused to recognize the legitimacy of this new title for many decades.

By the beginning of the 90s. 15th century Russia has established diplomatic relations with many states of Europe and Asia. And with the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and with the Sultan of Turkey, the Grand Duke of Moscow agreed to talk only as an equal. The Muscovite state, the existence of which few people in Europe knew a few decades ago, quickly received international recognition. Note that in the reign of Ivan III, a merchant from Tver, Afanasy Nikitin, made and described his Journey beyond the three seas.

Internal conversions

Inside the state, the remnants of political fragmentation gradually died out. The princes and boyars, who until recently had enormous power, were losing it. Many families of the old Novgorod and Vyatka boyars were forcibly resettled to new lands. In the last decades of the great reign of Ivan III, the specific principalities finally disappeared. After the death of Andrei the Lesser (1481) and the great uncle of the Grand Duke Mikhail Andreevich (1486), the Vologda and Vereysko-Belozersky appanages ceased to exist. Sad was the fate of Andrei the Great, the appanage prince of Uglich. In 1491 he was arrested and charged with treason. The elder brother remembered him both the rebellion in 1480, which was difficult for the country, and his other "non-corrections". There is evidence that Ivan III subsequently repented of how cruelly he treated his brother. But it was too late to change anything - after two years of imprisonment, Andrei died. In 1494, the last brother of Ivan III, Boris, died. He left his Volotsk inheritance to his sons Fedor and Ivan. According to the will drawn up by the latter, most of the paternal inheritance due to him in 1503 passed to the Grand Duke. After the death of Ivan III, the specific system in its former meaning was never revived. And although he endowed his younger sons Yuri, Dmitry, Semyon and Andrei with lands, they no longer had real power in them. The destruction of the old appanage-princely system required the creation of a new order of government. At the end of the XV century. organs began to form in Moscow central control - "orders", which were the direct predecessors of Peter's "collegia" and ministries of the 19th century.

In the province leading role governors appointed by the Grand Duke himself began to play. The army also underwent a change. Regiments consisting of landowners came to the place of the princely squads. The landowners received from the state for the duration of their service populated lands, which brought them income. These lands were called "estates". Guilt or early termination of service meant the loss of the estate. Thanks to this, the landowners were interested in honest and long service to the Moscow sovereign. In 1497 Sudebnik was published- the first national code of laws since the time of Kievan Rus. Sudebnik introduced uniform legal norms for the whole country, which was an important step towards strengthening the unity of the Russian lands.

In 1490, at the age of 32, the son and co-ruler of the Grand Duke, a talented commander, died Ivan Ivanovich Young. His death led to long dynastic crisis, which overshadowed the last years of the life of Ivan III. After Ivan Ivanovich, the young son Dmitry remained, representing the senior line of the descendants of the Grand Duke. Another contender for the throne was the son of Ivan III from his second marriage, the future sovereign of all Russia. Vasily III(1505-1533). Behind both applicants stood dexterous and powerful women- widow of Ivan the Young Wallachian princess Elena Stefanovna and the second wife of Ivan III, the Byzantine princess Sophia Paleolog. The choice between a son and a grandson turned out to be extremely difficult for Ivan III, and he changed his mind several times, trying to find an option that would not lead to a new series of civil strife after his death. At first, the “party” of supporters of Dmitry the grandson took over, and in 1498 he was crowned according to the previously unknown rank of grand ducal wedding, somewhat reminiscent of the wedding ceremony for the kingdom of Byzantine emperors. Young Dmitry was proclaimed co-ruler of his grandfather. Royal "barmas" (wide mantles with precious stones) were placed on his shoulders, and a golden "hat" was put on his head. However, the triumph of "Grand Duke of All Russia Dmitry Ivanovich" did not last long. The very next year, he and his mother Elena fell into disgrace. Three years later, the heavy doors of the dungeon closed behind them.

Prince Vasily became the new heir to the throne. Ivan III, like many other great politicians of the Middle Ages, once again had to sacrifice his own interests to state needs. kindred feelings and the fate of their loved ones. Meanwhile, old age was creeping up on the Grand Duke. He managed to complete the work bequeathed by his father, grandfather, great-grandfather and their predecessors, the work, in the sanctity of which Ivan Kalita believed, - " collecting "Rus.

His state

Summer 1503 The Grand Duke had a stroke. It's time to think about the soul. Ivan III, who often dealt harshly with the clergy, was nevertheless deeply pious. The sick sovereign went on a pilgrimage to the monasteries. Having visited Trinity, Rostov, Yaroslavl, the Grand Duke returned to Moscow.

There was no longer the ardor and daring of the first Moscow princes in him, but behind his prudent pragmatism the lofty goal of life was clearly guessed. He was formidable and often terrified those around him, but he never showed thoughtless cruelty and, as one of his contemporaries testified, he was "kind to people", did not get angry at a wise word spoken to him in reproach.

October 27, 1505 Ivan III, "by the grace of God Sovereign of All Russia and Grand Duke Volodymyrsky, and Moscow, and Novgorod, and Pskov, and Tver, and Yugorsky, and Vyatka, and Perm, and Bulgarian, and others "diedin Moscow, 65 years old and was buried in the tomb of the great Moscow princes and tsars, the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

The reign of Ivan III lasted 47 years. Sophia Paleolog has been married to him for 30 years. She bore him five sons, the eldest of whom soon became the Grand Duke of Moscow. Basil IV and four daughters.

By the end of his life, Grand Duke Ivan Vasilievich had the opportunity to visually see the fruits of his labors. Over the four decades of his reign, half-fragmented Russia turned into powerful state which instilled fear in the neighbors.

The territory of the state expanded rapidly, military victories followed one after another, relations with distant countries were established. The old dilapidated Kremlin with small cathedrals already seemed cramped, and on the site of the dismantled ancient fortifications rose powerful walls and red brick towers. Vast cathedrals rose within the walls. The new princely towers shone with the whiteness of the stone. The Grand Duke himself, who took the proud title of "Sovereign of All Russia", dressed in gold-woven robes, and solemnly laid on his heir richly embroidered shoulders - "barmas" - and a precious "hat", similar to a crown. But, in order for everyone - be he a Russian or a foreigner, a peasant or a sovereign of a neighboring country - to realize the increased importance of the Muscovite state, external splendor alone was not enough. It was necessary to find new concepts - ideas, which would reflect the antiquity of the Russian land, and its independence, and the strength of its sovereigns, and the truth of its faith. This search was undertaken by Russian diplomats and chroniclers, princes and monks. Collected together, their ideas constituted what in the language of science is called ideology. The beginning of the formation of the ideology of a unified Moscow state refers to the period of the reign of Grand Duke Ivan III and his son Vasily (1505-1533). It was at this time that two main ideas were formulated that remained unchanged for several centuries - ideas of God's chosenness and independence of the Muscovite state. Now everyone had to learn that a new and strong state had appeared in the east of Europe - Russia. Ivan III and his entourage put forward a new foreign policy task - to annex the western and southwestern Russian lands that were under the rule of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In politics, far from everything is decided by military force alone. The rapid rise of the power of the Grand Duke of Moscow led him to the idea of ​​the need to look for worthy justifications for his actions.

It was necessary, finally, to force Lithuania to admit that it owns the ancient Russian lands "not in truth", illegally.

That golden key, which the creators of the ideology of a unified Russian state picked up to several political "locks" at once, was the doctrine of the ancient origin of the power of the Grand Duke. This was thought about before, but it was under Ivan III that Moscow loudly declared from the pages of annals and through the mouths of ambassadors that the Grand Duke received his power from God himself and from his Kyiv forefathers, who ruled in the 10th-11th centuries. throughout the Russian land. Just as the metropolitans who led the Russian Church lived first in Kyiv, then in Vladimir, and later in Moscow, so the Kyiv, Vladimir and, finally, Moscow grand dukes were placed by God himself at the head of all Russian lands as hereditary and sovereign Christian sovereigns. . This is what Ivan III referred to when addressing the recalcitrant Novgorodians in 1472: "This is my patrimony, people of Novgorod, from the beginning: from grandfathers, from our great-grandfathers, from the Grand Duke Vladimir, who baptized the Russian land, from the great-grandson of Rurik, the first Grand Duke in your land. And from that Rurik to today you knew the only family of those grand dukes, first of Kyiv, and up to the very Grand Duke Dmitry-Vsevolod Yuryevich of Vladimir (Vsevolod the Big Nest, Prince of Vladimir in 1176-1212), and from that Grand Duke to me ... we own you ... " Thirty years later, during peace negotiations with the Lithuanians after the successful war of 1500-1503 for Russia, the embassy clerks of Ivan III emphasized: "The Russian land from our ancestors, from antiquity, our fatherland ... we want to stand for our fatherland, how God will help us: God is our helper and our truth!""Old" clerks remembered not by chance. In those days, this concept was very important.

That is why it was very important for the Grand Duke to declare the antiquity of his kind, to show that he was not an upstart, but the ruler of the Russian land according to "old times" and "truth". No less important was the idea that the source of grand ducal power is the will of the Lord himself. This raised the Grand Duke even more above his under

Ivan III Vasilyevich (also known as Ivan the Great in later sources). Born January 22, 1440 - died October 27, 1505. Grand Duke of Moscow from 1462 to 1505, son of the Moscow Grand Duke Vasily II the Dark.

During the reign of Ivan Vasilievich, a significant part of the Russian lands around Moscow was united and it became the center of a single Russian state. The final liberation of the country from the rule of the Horde khans was achieved; the Code of Laws was adopted - a code of laws of the state, the current brick Moscow Kremlin was erected and a number of reforms were carried out that laid the foundations of the local land tenure system.

Ivan III was born on January 22, 1440 in the family of the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily II Vasilyevich. Ivan's mother was Maria Yaroslavna, the daughter of the appanage prince Yaroslav Borovsky, the Russian princess of the Serpukhov branch of the house of Daniel (the Danilovich family) and a distant relative of his father. He was born on the day of memory of the Apostle Timothy, and in his honor received his "direct name" - Timothy. The closest church holiday was the day of the transfer of the relics of the saint, in honor of which the prince received the name by which he is best known.

Reliable data on the early childhood of Ivan III has not been preserved; most likely, he was brought up at the court of his father. However, further events dramatically changed the fate of the heir to the throne: on July 7, 1445, near Suzdal, the army of Grand Duke Vasily II suffered a crushing defeat from the army under the command of the Tatar princes Mamutyak and Yakub (sons of Khan Ulu-Mohammed). The wounded Grand Duke was captured, and power in the state temporarily passed to the eldest in the family of the descendants of Ivan Kalita - Prince Dmitry Yuryevich Shemyaka. The capture of the prince and the expectation of the Tatar invasion led to the growth of confusion in the principality; The situation was exacerbated by a fire in Moscow.

In autumn, the Grand Duke returned from captivity. Moscow had to pay a ransom for its prince - about several tens of thousands of rubles. Under these conditions, a conspiracy matured among the supporters of Dmitry Shemyaka, and when in February 1446 Vasily II went to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery with his children, a rebellion began in Moscow. The Grand Duke was captured, transported to Moscow, and on the night of February 13-14, blinded by order of Dmitry Shemyaka (which earned him the nickname "Dark"). According to the Novgorod chronicle, the Grand Duke was accused of "bringing the Tatars to the Russian land" and giving them "for feeding" Moscow cities and volosts.

The six-year-old prince Ivan did not fall into the hands of Shemyaka: the children of Vasily, together with the faithful boyars, managed to escape to Murom, which was under the rule of a supporter of the Grand Duke. After some time, Ryazan Bishop Jonah arrived in Murom, announcing the consent of Dmitry Shemyaka to allocate an inheritance to the deposed Vasily; relying on his promise, Basil's supporters agreed to hand over the children to the new authorities. On May 6, 1446, Prince Ivan arrived in Moscow. However, Shemyaka did not keep his word: three days later, Vasily's children were sent to Uglich to their father, to imprisonment.

After several months, Shemyaka nevertheless decided to grant the former Grand Duke an inheritance - Vologda. Vasily's children followed him. But the deposed prince was not at all going to admit his defeat, and left for Tver to ask for help from the Grand Duke of Tver Boris. The formalization of this union was the engagement of the six-year-old Ivan Vasilyevich with the daughter of the Tver prince Maria Borisovna. Soon Vasily's troops occupied Moscow. The power of Dmitry Shemyaka fell, he himself fled, Vasily II reasserted himself on the grand prince's throne. However, Shemyaka, who had entrenched himself in the northern lands (the recently taken city of Ustyug became his base), was not at all going to surrender, and the internecine war continued.

This period (approximately the end of 1448 - the middle of 1449) is the first mention of the heir to the throne, Ivan, as the "Grand Duke". In 1452, he was already sent as a nominal head of the army on a campaign against the Ustyug fortress of Kokshenga. The heir to the throne successfully fulfilled the assignment he received, cutting off Ustyug from the Novgorod lands (there was a danger of Novgorod entering the war on the side of Shemyaka) and brutally ruining the Kokshenga volost. Returning from a campaign with a victory, on June 4, 1452, Prince Ivan married his bride, Maria Borisovna. Soon, Dmitry Shemyaka, who suffered a final defeat, was poisoned, and the bloody civil strife that had lasted a quarter of a century began to wane.

In later years Prince Ivan becomes co-ruler of his father - Vasily II. The inscription appears on the coins of the Moscow State "Challenge all Russia", he himself, like his father, Vasily, bears the title "Grand Duke". For two years, Ivan, as a specific prince, rules Pereslavl-Zalessky, one of the key cities of the Muscovite state. An important role in the upbringing of the heir to the throne is played by military campaigns, where he is a nominal commander. So, in 1455, Ivan, together with the experienced governor Fyodor Basenko, made a victorious campaign against the Tatars invading Russia. In August 1460, he led the army of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, blocking the way to Moscow for the Tatars of Khan Akhmat, who invaded the borders of Russia and laid siege to Pereyaslavl-Ryazan.

In March 1462, Ivan's father, Grand Duke Vasily, fell seriously ill. Shortly before that, he made a will, according to which he divided the grand-ducal lands among his sons. As the eldest son, Ivan received not only the great reign, but also the main part of the territory of the state - 16 main cities (not counting Moscow, which he was supposed to own together with his brothers). The rest of Vasily's children were bequeathed only 12 cities; while most of the former capitals specific principalities(in particular, Galich - the former capital of Dmitry Shemyaka) went to the new Grand Duke. When Vasily died on March 27, 1462, Ivan became the new Grand Duke without any problems and fulfilled the will of his father, endowing the brothers with lands according to the will.

Throughout the reign of Ivan III, the main goal of the country's foreign policy was the unification of northeastern Russia into a single state. It should be noted that this policy proved to be extremely successful. At the beginning of Ivan's reign, the Principality of Moscow was surrounded by the lands of other Russian principalities; dying, he handed over to his son Vasily the country that united most of these principalities. Only Pskov, Ryazan, Volokolamsk and Novgorod-Seversky retained relative (not too wide) independence.

Beginning since the reign of Ivan III, relations with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania have become especially acute. Moscow's desire to unite the Russian lands was clearly in conflict with Lithuanian interests, and constant border skirmishes and the transition of border princes and boyars between states did not contribute to reconciliation. Meanwhile, success in the expansion of the country contributed to the growth international relations with European countries.

During the reign of Ivan III, finalization independence of the Russian state. The already fairly nominal dependence on the Horde ceases. The government of Ivan III strongly supports the opponents of the Horde among the Tatars; in particular, an alliance was concluded with the Crimean Khanate. The eastern direction of foreign policy was also successful: combining diplomacy and military force, Ivan III introduces the Kazan Khanate into the fairway of Moscow politics.

Having become the Grand Duke, Ivan III began his foreign policy activities with the confirmation of previous agreements with neighboring princes and a general strengthening of positions. So, agreements were concluded with the Tver and Belozersky principalities; Prince Vasily Ivanovich, married to the sister of Ivan III, was placed on the throne of the Ryazan principality.

Beginning in the 1470s, activities aimed at annexing the rest of the Russian principalities sharply intensified. The first becomes Yaroslavl principality, which finally loses the remnants of independence in 1471, after the death of Prince Alexander Fedorovich. The heir of the last Yaroslavl prince, Prince Daniil Penko, entered the service of Ivan III and later received the rank of boyar. In 1472, Prince Yuri Vasilyevich Dmitrovsky, Ivan's brother, died. The principality of Dmitrov passed to the Grand Duke; however, this was opposed by the rest of the brothers of the deceased Prince Yuri. The brewing conflict was hushed up not without the help of Vasily's widow, Maria Yaroslavna, who did everything to extinguish the quarrel between the children. As a result, the younger brothers also received part of Yuri's lands.

In 1474, the turn of the Rostov principality came. In fact, it was part of the Moscow principality before: the Grand Duke was a co-owner of Rostov. Now the princes of Rostov have sold "their half" of the principality to the treasury, thus finally turning into the service nobility. The Grand Duke transferred what he received to the inheritance of his mother.

Otherwise, the situation developed Novgorod, which is explained by the difference in the nature of the statehood of the specific principalities and the commercial and aristocratic Novgorod state. A clear threat to independence from the Grand Duke of Moscow led to the formation of an influential anti-Moscow party. It was headed by the energetic widow of the posadnik Martha Boretskaya and her sons.

The clear superiority of Moscow forced the supporters of independence to search for allies, primarily in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. However, in the conditions of enmity between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, the appeal to the Catholic Casimir, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, was perceived extremely ambiguously by the veche, and the Orthodox prince Mikhail Olelkovich, the son of the Kyiv prince and cousin of Ivan III, who arrived on November 8, 1470, was invited to defend the city. However, due to the death of the Novgorod archbishop Jonah, who invited Mikhail, and the ensuing aggravation of the internal political struggle, the prince did not stay in Novgorod land for long, and already on March 15, 1471 he left the city. The anti-Moscow party managed to win a major success in the internal political struggle: an embassy was sent to Lithuania, after the return of which a draft treaty was drawn up with Grand Duke Casimir. According to this agreement, Novgorod, recognizing the power of the great Lithuanian prince, nevertheless, kept intact its state structure; Lithuania also pledged to help in the fight against the Moscow principality. A clash with Ivan III became inevitable.

On June 6, 1471, a ten-thousandth detachment of Moscow troops under the command of Danila Kholmsky set out from the capital in the direction of Novgorod land, a week later the army of Obolensky's Striga set out on a campaign, and on June 20, 1471, Ivan III himself began the campaign from Moscow. The advance of Moscow troops through the lands of Novgorod was accompanied by robberies and violence, designed to intimidate the enemy.

Novgorod also did not sit idly by. A militia was formed from the townspeople, the command was taken by the posadniks Dmitry Boretsky and Vasily Kazimir. The number of this army reached forty thousand people, but its combat effectiveness, due to the haste of the formation of citizens not trained in military affairs, remained low. In July 1471, the Novgorod army advanced in the direction of Pskov, in order to prevent the Pskov army, allied to the Moscow prince, from joining the main forces of Novgorod's opponents. On the Shelon River, Novgorodians unexpectedly encountered Kholmsky's detachment. On July 14, a battle began between the opponents.

During battles on Sheloni The Novgorod army was utterly defeated. The losses of the Novgorodians amounted to 12 thousand people, about two thousand people were captured; Dmitry Boretsky and three other boyars were executed. The city was under siege, among the Novgorodians themselves, the pro-Moscow party took over, which began negotiations with Ivan III. On August 11, 1471, a peace treaty was concluded - the Korostyn peace, according to which Novgorod was obliged to pay an indemnity of 16,000 rubles, retained its state structure, but could not "surrender" under the rule of the Lithuanian Grand Duke; a significant part of the vast Dvina land was ceded to the Grand Duke of Moscow. One of the key issues in relations between Novgorod and Moscow was the question of the judiciary. In the autumn of 1475, the Grand Duke arrived in Novgorod, where he personally dealt with a number of cases of unrest; some figures of the anti-Moscow opposition were declared guilty. In fact, during this period, judicial dual power was taking shape in Novgorod: a number of complainants went directly to Moscow, where they presented their claims. It was this situation that led to the emergence of a pretext for a new war, which ended with the fall of Novgorod.

In the spring of 1477, a number of complainants from Novgorod gathered in Moscow. Among these people were two minor officials - Nazar from Podvoi and clerk Zakhary. Outlining their case, they called the Grand Duke “sovereign” instead of the traditional address “lord”, which suggested the equality of “lord of the great prince” and “lord of the great Novgorod”. Moscow immediately seized on this pretext; ambassadors were sent to Novgorod demanding official recognition the title of sovereign, the final transfer of the court into the hands of the Grand Duke, as well as the device in the city of the Grand Duke's residence. Veche, after listening to the ambassadors, refused to accept the ultimatum and began preparations for war.

On October 9, 1477, the Grand Duke's army set out on a campaign against Novgorod. It was joined by the troops of the allies - Tver and Pskov. The beginning of the siege of the city revealed deep divisions among the defenders: supporters of Moscow insisted on peace negotiations with the Grand Duke. One of the supporters of the conclusion of peace was the Archbishop of Novgorod Theophilus, which gave the opponents of the war a certain advantage, expressed in sending an embassy to the Grand Duke with the archbishop at the head. But an attempt to negotiate on the same terms was not successful: on behalf of the Grand Duke, the ambassadors were given strict demands (“I’ll ring the bell in our fatherland in Novgorod, don’t be a posadnik, but keep our state”), which actually meant the end of Novgorod independence. Such a clearly expressed ultimatum led to new unrest in the city; from behind the city walls, high-ranking boyars began to move to the headquarters of Ivan III, including the military leader of the Novgorodians, Prince Vasily Grebenka-Shuisky. As a result, it was decided to give in to the demands of Moscow, and on January 15, 1478, Novgorod surrendered, veche orders were abolished and veche bell and the city archive were sent to Moscow.

Relations with the Horde, already tense, by the beginning of the 1470s, finally deteriorated. The Horde continued to disintegrate; on the territory of the former Golden Horde, in addition to the immediate successor (“Great Horde”), the Astrakhan, Kazan, Crimean, Nogai and Siberian Hordes were also formed. In 1472, Khan of the Great Horde Akhmat began a campaign against Russia. At Tarusa, the Tatars met a large Russian army. All attempts of the Horde to cross the Oka were repulsed. The Horde army managed to burn the city of Aleksin, but the campaign as a whole ended in failure. Soon (in the same 1472 or in 1476) Ivan III stopped paying tribute to the Khan of the Great Horde, which inevitably led to a new collision. However, until 1480, Akhmat was busy fighting the Crimean Khanate.

According to the "Kazan History" (a literary monument not earlier than 1564), the immediate reason for the start of the war was the execution of the Horde embassy sent by Akhmat to Ivan III for tribute. According to this news, the Grand Duke, refusing to pay money to the Khan, took "the basma of his face" and trampled it; after that, all the Horde ambassadors, except for one, were executed. However, the messages of the Kazan History, which contain, among other things, a number of factual errors, are frankly legendary in nature and, as a rule, are not taken seriously by modern historians.

Anyway, in the summer of 1480, Khan Akhmat moved to Russia. The situation for the Muscovite state was complicated by the deterioration of relations with its Western neighbors. The Lithuanian Grand Duke Casimir entered into an alliance with Akhmat and could attack at any moment, and the Lithuanian army could overcome the distance from Vyazma, which belonged to Lithuania, to Moscow in a few days. The troops of the Livonian Order attacked Pskov. Another blow for the Grand Duke Ivan was the rebellion of his brothers: the appanage princes Boris and Andrei Bolshoi, dissatisfied with the oppression of the Grand Duke (for example, in violation of customs, after the death of his brother Yuri, Ivan III took all his inheritance for himself, did not share with the brothers the rich booty taken in Novgorod, and also violated the ancient right of departure of the nobles, ordering to seize Prince Obolensky, who had left the Grand Duke for his brother Boris), together with his entire court and squads, drove off to the Lithuanian border and entered into negotiations with Kazimir. And although, as a result of active negotiations with the brothers, as a result of bargaining and promises, Ivan III managed to prevent their action against him, the threat of a repeat of the civil war did not leave the Grand Duchy of Moscow.

Having found out that Khan Akhmat was moving towards the border of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, Ivan III, having gathered troops, also headed south, to the Oka River. The troops of the Grand Duke of Tver also came to the aid of the Grand Duke's army. For two months, the army, ready for battle, was waiting for the enemy, but Khan Akhmat, also ready for battle, did not start offensive operations. Finally, in September 1480, Khan Akhmat crossed the Oka south of Kaluga and headed through Lithuanian territory to the Ugra River - the border between Moscow and Lithuanian possessions.

On September 30, Ivan III left the troops and left for Moscow, instructing the troops under the formal command of the heir, Ivan the Young, who also included his uncle, specific prince Andrei Vasilyevich Menshoi, to move in the direction of the Ugra River. At the same time, the prince ordered to burn Kashira. Sources mention the hesitation of the Grand Duke; in one of the chronicles it is even noted that Ivan panicked: “the horror was found on n, and you want to run away from the shore, and your Grand Duchess Roman and the treasury with her were sent to Beloozero.”

Subsequent events are interpreted in the sources ambiguously. The author of an independent Moscow collection of the 1480s writes that the appearance of the Grand Duke in Moscow made a painful impression on the townspeople, among whom a murmur arose: “When you, sovereign, great prince, reign over us in meekness and quietness, then you sell us a lot in nonsense (you exact a lot of what you shouldn’t). And now, having angered the tsar himself, without paying him a way out, you betray us to the tsar and the Tatars ”. After that, the annals report that Bishop Vassian of Rostov, who met the prince together with the metropolitan, directly accused him of cowardice; after that, Ivan, fearing for his life, left for Krasnoye Sel'tso, north of the capital. Grand Duchess Sophia, with her entourage and the sovereign's treasury, was sent to a safe place, to Beloozero, to the court of the appanage prince Mikhail Vereisky. The Grand Duke's mother refused to leave Moscow. According to this chronicle, the Grand Duke repeatedly tried to summon his son Ivan the Young from his army, sending him letters, which he ignored; then Ivan ordered Prince Kholmsky to bring his son to him by force. Kholmsky did not comply with this order, trying to persuade the prince, to which, according to this chronicle, he replied: “It is fitting for me to die here, and not to go to my father”. Also, as one of the measures to prepare for the invasion of the Tatars, the Grand Duke ordered the Moscow Posad to be burned.

As R. G. Skrynnikov notes, the story of this chronicle is in clear contradiction with a number of other sources. So, in particular, the image of the Rostov Bishop Vassian as the worst accuser of the Grand Duke does not find confirmation; judging by the "Message" and the facts of his biography, Vassian was completely loyal to the Grand Duke. The researcher connects the creation of this vault with the environment of the heir to the throne, Ivan the Young and the dynastic struggle in the grand-ducal family. This, in his opinion, explains both the condemnation of Sophia's actions and the praise addressed to the heir - as opposed to the indecisive (turned into cowardly under the chronicler's pen) actions of the Grand Duke.

At the same time, the very fact of Ivan III's departure to Moscow is recorded in almost all sources; the difference in chronicle stories refers only to the duration of this trip. The grand ducal chroniclers reduced this trip to only three days (September 30 - October 3, 1480). The fact of fluctuations in the grand ducal environment is also obvious; the grand-ducal code of the first half of the 1490s mentions Grigory Mamon as an opponent of resistance to the Tatars; hostile to Ivan III, an independent code of the 1480s, in addition to Grigory Mamon, also mentions Ivan Oshchera, and the Rostov chronicle - the equestrian Vasily Tuchko. Meanwhile, in Moscow, the Grand Duke held a meeting with his boyars, and ordered about the preparation of the capital for a possible siege. Through the mediation of the mother, active negotiations were held with the rebellious brothers, which ended in the restoration of relations.

On October 3, the Grand Duke left Moscow to join the troops, however, before reaching them, he settled in the town of Kremenets, 60 versts from the mouth of the Ugra, where he waited for the troops of the brothers who stopped the rebellion, Andrei Bolshoi and Boris Volotsky, to approach. Meanwhile, fierce clashes began on the Ugra. The attempts of the Horde to cross the river were successfully repulsed by Russian troops. Soon Ivan III sent the ambassador Ivan Tovarkov to the khan with rich gifts, asking him to retreat away and not to ruin the "ulus". Khan demanded the personal presence of the prince, but he refused to go to him; the prince also refused the khan's offer to send him his son, brother, or Nikifor Basenkov, an ambassador known for his generosity (who had previously often traveled to the Horde).

On October 26, 1480, the Ugra River froze over. The Russian army, gathered together, withdrew to the city of Kremenets, then to Borovsk. On November 11, Khan Akhmat gave the order to retreat. A small Tatar detachment managed to destroy a number of Russian volosts near Aleksin, but after Russian troops were sent in its direction, they also retreated to the steppe. Akhmat's refusal to pursue the Russian troops is explained by the unpreparedness of the khan's army for waging war in the conditions of a harsh winter - as the chronicle says, "because the Tatars were naked and barefoot, they were skinned." In addition, it became quite clear that King Casimir was not going to fulfill his allied obligations towards Akhmat. In addition to repulsing the attack of the Crimean troops allied to Ivan III, Lithuania was busy solving internal problems. "Standing on the Ugra" ended with the actual victory of the Russian state, which received the desired independence. Khan Akhmat was soon killed; after his death, civil strife broke out in the Horde.

After the annexation of Novgorod, the policy of "gathering lands" was continued. At the same time, the actions of the Grand Duke were more active. In 1481, after the death of the childless brother of Ivan III, the specific Vologda prince Andrei the Less, all of his allotment passed to the Grand Duke. On April 4, 1482, the Vereisk prince Mikhail Andreevich concluded an agreement with Ivan, according to which, after his death, Beloozero passed to the Grand Duke, which clearly violated the rights of Mikhail's heir, his son Vasily. After the flight of Vasily Mikhailovich to Lithuania, on December 12, 1483, Mikhail concluded a new agreement with Ivan III, according to which, after the death of the Vereisk prince, the entire inheritance of Mikhail Andreevich departed to the Grand Duke (Prince Mikhail died on April 9, 1486). On June 4, 1485, after the death of the mother of the Grand Duke, Princess Maria (in monasticism Martha), her inheritance, including half of Rostov, became part of the Grand Duke's possessions.

Relations with Tver remained a serious problem. Sandwiched between Moscow and Lithuania, the Grand Duchy of Tver was going through hard times. It also included specific principalities; from the 60s of the XV century, the transition of the Tver nobility to the Moscow service began. Sources also preserved references to the spread of various heresies in Tver. The relations between the Muscovites-patrimonials, who owned land in the Tver Principality, and the Tverites did not improve relations either.

In 1483, the hostility turned into an armed confrontation. The formal reason for it was an attempt by Prince Mikhail Borisovich of Tver to strengthen his ties with Lithuania through dynastic marriage and union treaty. Moscow reacted to this by breaking off relations and sending troops to the Tver lands; Prince of Tver admitted his defeat and in October-December 1484 concluded a peace treaty with Ivan III. According to him, Mikhail recognized himself as the "little brother" of the Grand Duke of Moscow, which in political terminology that time meant the actual transformation of Tver into a specific principality; the treaty of alliance with Lithuania, of course, was broken.

In 1485, using as an excuse the capture of a messenger from Mikhail of Tver to the Lithuanian Grand Duke Casimir, Moscow again severed relations with the Tver principality and began fighting. In September 1485, Russian troops began the siege of Tver. A significant part of the Tver boyars and specific princes transferred to the Moscow service, and Prince Mikhail Borisovich himself, having seized the treasury, fled to Lithuania. On September 15, 1485, Ivan III, together with the heir to the throne, Prince Ivan the Young, entered Tver. The Tver principality was transferred to the heir to the throne; in addition, a Moscow governor was appointed here.

In 1486, Ivan III concluded new agreements with his brothers, appanage princes - Boris and Andrei. In addition to recognizing the Grand Duke as the "eldest" brother, the new treaties also recognized him as "master", and used the title "Grand Duke of All Russia". Nevertheless, the position of the brothers of the Grand Duke remained extremely precarious. In 1488, Prince Andrei was informed that the Grand Duke was ready to arrest him. An attempt to explain himself led Ivan III to swear by “God and the earth and the mighty God, the creator of all creation” that he was not going to persecute his brother. As noted by R. G. Skrynnikov and A. A. Zimin, the form of this oath was very unusual for an Orthodox sovereign.

In 1491, a denouement came in the relationship between Ivan and Andrei the Great. On September 20, the Uglich prince was arrested and thrown into prison; his children, princes Ivan and Dmitry, also went to prison. Two years later, Prince Andrei Vasilyevich Bolshoy died, and four years later, the Grand Duke, having gathered the highest clergy, publicly repented that “he had killed him with his sin, carelessness.” Nevertheless, Ivan's repentance did not change anything in the fate of Andrey's children: the Grand Duke's nephews spent the rest of their lives in captivity.

During the arrest of Andrei the Great, another brother of Prince Ivan, Boris, Prince Volotsky, also turned out to be under suspicion. However, he managed to justify himself before the Grand Duke and remain at large. After his death in 1494, the principality was divided among the children of Boris: Ivan Borisovich received Ruza, and Fedor - Volokolamsk; in 1503, Prince Ivan Borisovich died childless, leaving possessions to Ivan III.

A serious struggle between supporters of independence and adherents of Moscow unfolded in the early 1480s in a city that retained significant autonomy. Vyatka. Initially, success accompanied the anti-Moscow party; in 1485, the Vyatchans refused to participate in the campaign against Kazan. The return campaign of the Moscow troops was not crowned with success, moreover, the Moscow governor was expelled from Vyatka; the most prominent supporters of the grand princely power were forced to flee. Only in 1489 did the Moscow troops under the command of Daniil Schenya achieve the capitulation of the city and finally annexed Vyatka to the Russian state.

Practically lost its independence and the Ryazan principality. After the death of Prince Vasily in 1483, his son, Ivan Vasilyevich, ascended the Ryazan throne. Another son of Vasily, Fedor, received Perevitesk (he died in 1503 childless, leaving possessions to Ivan III). The widow of Vasily, Anna, the sister of Ivan III, became the actual ruler of the principality. In 1500, the Ryazan prince Ivan Vasilyevich died; the guardian of the young prince Ivan Ivanovich was first his grandmother Anna, and after her death in 1501, his mother Agrafena. In 1520, with the capture by Muscovites of the Ryazan prince Ivan Ivanovich, in fact, the Ryazan principality finally turns into a specific principality within the Russian state.

Relations with the Pskov land, which remained at the end of the reign of Ivan III, practically the only Russian principality independent of Moscow, also took place in line with the gradual restriction of statehood. Thus, the people of Pskov are losing their last opportunity to influence the choice of princes-grand-princely governors. In 1483-1486, a conflict broke out in the city between, on the one hand, the Pskov posadniks and "black people", and, on the other hand, the Grand Duke's governor Prince Yaroslav Obolensky and the peasants ("smerds"). In this conflict, Ivan III supported his governor; in the end, the Pskov elite capitulated, having fulfilled the requirements of the Grand Duke.

The next conflict between the Grand Duke and Pskov broke out at the beginning of 1499. The fact is that Ivan III decided to welcome his son, Vasily Ivanovich, Novgorod and Pskov reign. The people of Pskov regarded the decision of the Grand Duke as a violation of "old times"; the attempts of the posadniks during the negotiations in Moscow to change the situation only led to their arrest. Only by September of the same year, after Ivan's promise to observe the "old days", the conflict was resolved.

However, despite these disagreements, Pskov remained a true ally of Moscow. Pskov aid played an important role in the campaign against Novgorod in 1477-1478; Pskovians made a significant contribution to the victory of Russian troops over the forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In turn, the Moscow regiments took a feasible part in repelling the blows of the Livonians and the Swedes.

While developing Northern Pomorie, the Principality of Moscow, on the one hand, faced opposition from Novgorod, which considered these lands to be its own, and, on the other hand, with the opportunity to start moving north and northeast, beyond the Ural Mountains, to the Ob River, in the lower reaches of which Ugra, known to Novgorodians, was located. In 1465, by order of Ivan III campaign the inhabitants of Ustyug committed to Yugra under the leadership of the grand-ducal governor Timofey (Vasily) Skryaba. The campaign was quite successful: having subjugated a number of small Ugra princes, the army returned with a victory. In 1467, not a very successful campaign against the independent Voguli (Mansi) was carried out by the Vyatchans and Komi-Permyaks.

Having received part of the Dvina land under an agreement in 1471 with Novgorod (moreover, Zavolochye, Pechora and Yugra continued to be considered Novgorod), the Moscow principality continued to move north. In 1472, using insults to Moscow merchants as a pretext, Ivan III sent Prince Fyodor Pyostroy to the newly baptized Great Perm with an army, subordinating the region to the Moscow principality. Prince Mikhail of Perm remained the nominal ruler of the region, while the real rulers of the country, both spiritually and civilly, were the bishops of Perm.

In 1481, Perm the Great had to defend itself against the Vogulichi, who were led by Prince Asyka. With the help of the Ustyugians, Perm managed to fight back, and already in 1483 a campaign was made against the recalcitrant Vogulians. The expedition was organized on a grand scale: under the command of the grand-ducal governor Prince Fyodor Kurbsky Cherny and Ivan Saltyk-Travin, forces were gathered from all the northern counties of the country. The campaign turned out to be successful, as a result of which the princes of a vast region, populated mainly by Tatars, Vogulichs (Mansi) and Ostyaks (Khanty), submitted to the authorities of the Moscow State.

The next, which became the most large-scale, campaign of Russian troops to Yugra was undertaken in 1499-1500. In total, according to archival data, 4041 people took part in this expedition, divided into three detachments. They were commanded by Moscow governors: Prince Semyon Kurbsky (commanding one of the detachments, he was also the head of the entire campaign), Prince Peter Ushaty and Vasily Gavrilov Brazhnik. During this campaign, various local tribes were conquered, and the Pechora and upper Vychegda basins became part of the Muscovy. Interestingly, information about this campaign, received by S. Herberstein from Prince Semyon Kurbsky, was included by him in his Notes on Muscovy. Fur tribute was imposed on the lands subjugated during these expeditions.

Significant changes took place during the reign of Ivan III in the relations of the Muscovite state with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Initially friendly (the Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir was even appointed, according to the will of Vasily II, the guardian of the children of the Grand Duke of Moscow), they gradually deteriorated. Moscow's desire to subjugate all Russian lands constantly ran into opposition from Lithuania, which had the same goal. The attempt of the Novgorodians to pass under the rule of Casimir did not contribute to the friendship of the two states, and the union of Lithuania and the Horde in 1480, during the "standing on the Ugra", heated relations to the limit. It was to this time that the formation of the union of the Russian state and the Crimean Khanate dates back.

Beginning in the 1480s, the aggravation of the situation brought the matter to border skirmishes. In 1481, a conspiracy of princes Ivan Yuryevich Golshansky, Mikhail Olelkovich and Fyodor Ivanovich Belsky, who were preparing an assassination attempt on Casimir and who wanted to transfer their possessions to the Grand Duke of Moscow, was uncovered in Lithuania; Ivan Golshansky and Mikhail Olelkovich were executed, Prince Belsky managed to escape to Moscow, where he received control of a number of regions on the Lithuanian border. In 1482 Prince Ivan Glinsky fled to Moscow. In the same year, the Lithuanian ambassador Bogdan Sakovich demanded that the Moscow prince recognize the rights of Lithuania to Rzhev and Velikie Luki, and their volosts.

In the context of the confrontation with Lithuania, the alliance with the Crimea acquired particular importance. Following the agreements reached, in the fall of 1482, the Crimean Khan made a devastating raid on Lithuanian Ukraine. As the Nikon Chronicle reported, “September 1, according to the word of the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan Vasilyevich of All Russia, Mengli-Girey, the king of the Crimean Perekop Horde, came with all his might to the queen power and the city of Kyiv, taking and burning with fire, and seized the governor of the Kyiv pan Ivashka Khotkovich , and it is full of countless taking; and the land of Kyiv is empty." According to the Pskov Chronicle, 11 cities fell as a result of the campaign, the entire district was devastated. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was seriously weakened.

Border disputes between the two states did not subside throughout the 1480s. A number of volosts, which were originally in joint Moscow-Lithuanian (or Novgorod-Lithuanian) possession, were actually occupied by the troops of Ivan III (this primarily concerns Rzheva, Toropets and Velikiye Luki). From time to time, skirmishes arose between the Vyazma princes who served Kazimir and the Russian specific princes, as well as between the Mezetsky princes (supporters of Lithuania) and the princes Odoevsky and Vorotynsky who had gone over to the side of Moscow. In the spring of 1489, it came to open armed clashes between the Lithuanian and Russian troops, and in December 1489 he went over to the side of Ivan III whole line border princes. Protests and a mutual exchange of embassies produced no result, and the undeclared war continued.

On June 7, 1492, Casimir, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, Russia and Samogitian, died. After him, his second son, Alexander, was elected to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The eldest son of Casimir, Jan Olbracht, became the king of Poland. The inevitable confusion associated with the change of the Grand Duke of Lithuania weakened the principality, which Ivan III did not fail to take advantage of. In August 1492 troops were sent against Lithuania. They were headed by Prince Fyodor Telepnya Obolensky. The cities of Mtsensk, Lubutsk, Mosalsk, Serpeisk, Khlepen, Rogachev, Odoev, Kozelsk, Przemysl and Serensk were taken. A number of local princes went over to the side of Moscow, which strengthened the positions of the Russian troops. So quick successes troops of Ivan III forced the new Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander to start peace negotiations. One of the means of settling the conflict proposed by the Lithuanians was Alexander's marriage to Ivan's daughter; the Grand Duke of Moscow reacted to this proposal with interest, but demanded that all disputed issues be resolved first, which led to the failure of the negotiations.

At the end of 1492, the Lithuanian army entered the theater of military operations with Prince Semyon Ivanovich Mozhaisky. At the beginning of 1493, the Lithuanians managed to briefly capture the cities of Serpeisk and Mezetsk, but during the retaliatory counterattack of the Moscow troops, they were repulsed; in addition, the Moscow army managed to take Vyazma and a number of other cities.

In June-July 1493, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander sent an embassy with a proposal to make peace. As a result of lengthy negotiations On February 5, 1494, a peace treaty was finally concluded. According to him, most of the lands conquered by Russian troops were part of the Russian state. Apart from other cities, became Russian and located not far from Moscow, the strategically important fortress of Vyazma. The cities of Lubutsk, Mezetsk, Mtsensk and some others were returned to the Grand Duke of Lithuania. Also, the consent of the Moscow sovereign was obtained for the marriage of his daughter Elena with Alexander.

Diplomatic relations between the Moscow State and the Crimean Khanate during the reign of Ivan III remained friendly. The first exchange of letters between countries took place in 1462, and in 1472 an agreement on mutual friendship was concluded. In 1474, an alliance treaty was concluded between Khan Mengli Giray and Ivan III., which, however, remained on paper, since the Crimean Khan soon had no time for joint actions: during the war with the Ottoman Empire, Crimea lost its independence, and Mengli Giray himself was captured, and only in 1478 again ascended the throne ( now as a Turkish vassal). However, in 1480, the union treaty between Moscow and the Crimea was concluded again, while the treaty directly named the enemies against whom the parties had to act together - Khan of the Great Horde Akhmat and the Grand Duke of Lithuania. In the same year, the Crimeans made a campaign against Podolia, which did not allow King Casimir to help Akhmat during his “standing on the Ugra”.

In March 1482, in connection with the deteriorating relations with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Moscow embassy again went to Khan Mengli Giray. In the autumn of 1482, the troops of the Crimean Khanate made a devastating raid on the southern lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Among other cities, Kyiv was taken, all southern Russia was devastated. From his booty, the khan sent Ivan a chalice and diskos from the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, robbed by the Crimeans. The devastation of the lands seriously affected the combat capability of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

In later years Russian-Crimean Union has shown its effectiveness. In 1485, Russian troops already made a trip to the Horde lands at the request of the Crimean Khanate, which was attacked by the Horde. In 1491, in connection with new Crimean-Horde skirmishes, these campaigns were repeated again. Russian support played an important role in the victory of the Crimean troops over the Great Horde. An attempt by Lithuania in 1492 to lure the Crimea to its side failed: from 1492, Mengli Giray began annual campaigns on the lands belonging to Lithuania and Poland. During the Russo-Lithuanian War of 1500-1503, Crimea remained an ally of Russia.

In 1500, Mengli Giray twice devastated the lands of southern Russia belonging to Lithuania, reaching Brest. The actions of the allied Lithuania of the Great Horde were again neutralized by the actions of both the Crimean and Russian troops. In 1502, having finally defeated the Khan of the Great Horde, the Crimean Khan made a new raid, devastating part of the Right-Bank Ukraine and Poland. However, after the end of the war, which was successful for the Moscow state, there was a deterioration in relations. Firstly, the common enemy disappeared - the Great Horde, against which the Russian-Crimean alliance was directed to a large extent. Secondly, now Russia is becoming a direct neighbor of the Crimean Khanate, which means that now the Crimean raids could be made not only on Lithuanian, but also on Russian territory. And finally, thirdly, Russian-Crimean relations deteriorated due to the Kazan problem; the fact is that Khan Mengli-Girey did not approve of the imprisonment of the deposed Kazan Khan Abdul-Latif in Vologda. Nonetheless, during the reign of Ivan III, the Crimean Khanate remained an ally of the Muscovite state, waging joint wars against common enemies - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Great Horde, and only after the death of the Grand Duke do the constant raids of the Crimeans on the lands belonging to the Russian state begin.

Relations with the Kazan Khanate remained an extremely important area of ​​Russia's foreign policy. The first years of the reign of Ivan III, they remained peaceful. After the death of the active Khan Mahmud, his son Khalil ascended the throne, and soon the deceased Khalil, in turn, was succeeded in 1467 by another son of Mahmud, Ibrahim. However, the brother of Khan Mahmud was still alive - the elderly Kasim, who ruled the Kasimov Khanate, which depended on Moscow; a group of conspirators led by Prince Abdul-Mumin tried to invite him to the Kazan throne. These intentions were supported by Ivan III, and in September 1467, the soldiers of the Kasimov Khan, together with the Moscow troops under the command of Prince Ivan Striga-Obolensky, launched an attack on Kazan. However, the campaign was unsuccessful: having met a strong army of Ibrahim, the Moscow troops did not dare to cross the Volga, and retreated. In the winter of the same year, Kazan detachments made a trip to the Russian border lands, devastating the environs of Galich Mersky. In response, Russian troops launched a punitive raid on the Cheremis lands that were part of the Kazan Khanate. In 1468, border skirmishes continued; a major success of Kazan was the capture of the capital of the Vyatka land - Khlynov.

The spring of 1469 was marked by a new campaign of Moscow troops against Kazan. In May, Russian troops began to lay siege to the city. Nevertheless, the active actions of the Kazanians made it possible to first stop the offensive of the two Moscow armies, and then to defeat them one by one; Russian troops were forced to retreat. In August 1469, having received replenishment, the troops of the Grand Duke began a new campaign against Kazan, however, due to the deterioration of relations with Lithuania and the Horde, Ivan III agreed to make peace with Khan Ibrahim; according to its terms, Kazanians handed over all previously captured prisoners. For eight years after that, relations between the parties remained peaceful. However, in early 1478, relations again heated up. The reason for this time was the campaign of Kazan against Khlynov. Russian troops marched on Kazan, but did not achieve any significant results, and a new peace treaty was concluded on the same terms as in 1469.

Khan Ibrahim died in 1479. The new ruler of Kazan was Ilham (Alegam), the son of Ibragim, a protege of a party oriented towards the East (primarily the Nogai Horde). The candidate from the pro-Russian party, another son of Ibrahim, 10-year-old Tsarevich Mohammed-Emin, was sent to the Moscow principality. This gave Russia a pretext for interfering in Kazan affairs. In 1482, Ivan III began preparations for a new campaign; an army was assembled, which also included artillery under the leadership of Aristotle Fioravanti, but the active diplomatic opposition of the Kazanians and their willingness to make concessions made it possible to maintain peace. In 1484, the Moscow army, approaching Kazan, contributed to the overthrow of Khan Ilham. The protege of the pro-Moscow party, 16-year-old Mohammed-Emin, ascended the throne. In late 1485 - early 1486, Ilkham again ascended the Kazan throne (also not without the support of Moscow), and soon the Russian troops made another campaign against Kazan. On July 9, 1487, the city surrendered. Prominent figures of the anti-Moscow party were executed, Muhammad-Emin was again placed on the throne, and Khan Ilham and his family were sent to prison in Russia. As a result of this victory Ivan III took the title of "Prince of Bulgaria"; Russia's influence on the Kazan Khanate increased significantly.

The next aggravation of relations occurred in the mid-1490s. Among the Kazan nobility, dissatisfied with the policy of Khan Mohammed-Emin, an opposition was formed with the princes Kel-Akhmet (Kalimet), Urak, Sadyr and Agish at the head. She invited the Siberian prince Mamuk to the throne, who in the middle of 1495 arrived in Kazan with an army. Mohammed-Emin and his family fled to Russia. However, after some time, Mamuk came into conflict with some princes who invited him. While Mamuk was on the campaign, a coup took place in the city under the leadership of Prince Kel-Ahmet. Abdul-Latif, the brother of Mohammed-Emin, who lived in the Russian state, was invited to the throne, who became the next Khan of Kazan. An attempt by Kazan emigrants led by Prince Urak in 1499 to place Agalak, the brother of the deposed Khan Mamuk, on the throne was unsuccessful. With the help of Russian troops, Abdul-Latif managed to repulse the attack.

In 1502, Abdul-Latif, who began to pursue an independent policy, was deposed with the participation of the Russian embassy and Prince Kel-Ahmet. Muhammad-Amin was again (for the third time) elevated to the Kazan throne. But now he began to pursue a much more independent policy aimed at ending dependence on Moscow. The leader of the pro-Russian party, Prince Kel-Ahmet, was arrested; opponents of the influence of the Russian state came to power. On June 24, 1505, on the day of the fair, a pogrom took place in Kazan; Russian subjects who were in the city were killed or enslaved, and their property was plundered. The war has begun. However, on October 27, 1505, Ivan III died, and Ivan's heir, Vasily III, had to lead it.

The annexation of Novgorod shifted the borders of the Muscovite state to the northwest, as a result of which Livonia became a direct neighbor in this direction. The continued deterioration of Pskov-Livonian relations eventually resulted in an open clash, and in August 1480, the Livonians besieged Pskov- however, unsuccessfully. In February of the following year, 1481, the initiative passed to the Russian troops: the grand-ducal forces sent to help the Pskovites made a campaign crowned with a number of victories in the Livonian lands. On September 1, 1481, the parties signed a truce for a period of 10 years. In the next few years, relations with Livonia, primarily trade, developed quite peacefully. Nevertheless, the government of Ivan III took a number of measures to strengthen the defensive structures of the north-west of the country. The most significant event of this plan was the construction in 1492 of the Ivangorod stone fortress on the Narova River, opposite the Livonian Narva.

In addition to Livonia, another rival of the Grand Duchy of Moscow on northwest direction was Sweden. According to the Orekhovets Treaty of 1323, the Novgorodians ceded a number of territories to the Swedes; now, according to Ivan III, the moment has come to return them. On November 8, 1493, the Grand Duchy of Moscow concluded an allied treaty with the Danish king Hans (Johann), a rival of the Swedish ruler Sten Sture. open conflict broke out in 1495; in August, the Russian army began the siege of Vyborg. However, this siege was unsuccessful, Vyborg withstood, and the grand ducal troops were forced to return home. In the winter and spring of 1496, Russian troops made a number of raids on the territory of Swedish Finland. In August 1496, the Swedes struck back: an army on 70 ships, descending near Narova, landed near Ivangorod. The viceroy of the Grand Duke, Prince Yuri Babich, fled, and on August 26 the Swedes took the fortress by storm and burned it down. however after some time Swedish troops left Ivangorod, and he was in short term restored and even expanded. In March 1497, a truce was concluded in Novgorod for 6 years, which ended the Russian-Swedish war.

Meanwhile, relations with Livonia deteriorated significantly. Given the inevitability of a new Russian-Lithuanian war, in 1500 an embassy was sent to the Grand Master of the Livonian Order Plettenberg from the Lithuanian Grand Duke Alexander, with a proposal for an alliance. Mindful of Lithuania's previous attempts to subdue the Teutonic Order, Plettenberg did not give his consent immediately, but only in 1501, when the issue of war with Russia was finally resolved. The treaty, signed at Wenden on June 21, 1501, completed the formalization of the union.

The reason for the outbreak of hostilities was the arrest in Dorpat of about 150 Russian merchants. In August, both sides sent significant military forces against each other, and on August 27, 1501, Russian and Livonian troops met in a battle on the Seritsa River (10 km from Izborsk). The battle ended with the victory of the Livonians; they failed to take Izborsk, but on September 7 the Pskov fortress Ostrov fell. In October, the troops of the Grand Duchy of Moscow (which also included units of serving Tatars) made a retaliatory raid into Livonia.

In the campaign of 1502, the initiative was on the side of the Livonians. It began with an invasion from Narva; in March, Moscow governor Ivan Loban-Kolychev died near Ivangorod; Livonian troops struck in the direction of Pskov, trying to take the Red Town. In September, Plettenberg's troops struck again, again besieging Izborsk and Pskov. In the battle near Lake Smolina, the Livonians managed to defeat the Russian army, but they could not achieve greater success, and peace negotiations were held the following year. On April 2, 1503, the Livonian Order and the Russian state signed a truce for a period of six years. that restored relations on the terms of the status quo.

Despite the settlement of border disputes that led to the undeclared war of 1487-1494, relations with Lithuania continued to be tense. The border between the states continued to be very indistinct, which in the future was fraught with a new aggravation of relations. A religious problem has been added to the traditional border disputes. In May 1499, Moscow received information from the governor of Vyazma about the oppression of Orthodoxy in Smolensk. In addition, the Grand Duke learned about an attempt to impose the Catholic faith on his daughter Elena, wife of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander. All this did not contribute to the preservation of peace between countries.

The strengthening of the international position of the Grand Duchy of Moscow in the 1480s led to the fact that the princes of the disputed Verkhovsky principalities began to massively switch to the service of the Moscow prince. The attempt of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to prevent this ended in failure, and as a result of the Russian-Lithuanian war of 1487-1494, most of the Verkhovsky principalities were part of the Muscovite state.

In late 1499 - early 1500, Prince Semyon Belsky moved to the Moscow principality with his estates. The reason for his "departure" Semyon Ivanovich called the loss of grand ducal mercy and "affection", as well as the desire of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander to translate him into "Roman law", which was not the case under the previous grand dukes. Alexander sent ambassadors to Moscow with a protest, categorically rejecting the accusations of inciting him to convert to Catholicism and calling Prince Belsky "health", that is, a traitor. According to some historians, the real reason for Semyon Ivanovich's transfer to the Muscovite service was religious persecution, while, according to others, the religious factor was used by Ivan III only as a pretext.

Soon, the cities of Serpeisk and Mtsensk went over to the side of Moscow. In April 1500, princes Semyon Ivanovich Starodubsky and Vasily Ivanovich Shemyachich Novgorod-Seversky came to the service of Ivan III, and an embassy was sent to Lithuania with a declaration of war. Fighting broke out along the entire border. As a result of the first blow of the Russian troops, Bryansk was taken, the cities of Radogoshch, Gomel, Novgorod-Seversky surrendered, Dorogobuzh fell; the princes Trubetskoy and Mosalsky passed to the service of Ivan III. The main efforts of the Moscow troops were concentrated on the Smolensk direction, where the Lithuanian Grand Duke Alexander sent an army under the command of the great Lithuanian hetman Konstantin Ostrozhsky. Having received the news that Moscow troops were standing on the Vedrosha River, the hetman went there as well. On July 14, 1500, during the battle of Vedrosha, the Lithuanian troops suffered a crushing defeat; more than 8,000 Lithuanian soldiers died; Hetman Ostrozhsky was taken prisoner. On August 6, 1500, Putivl fell under the blow of Russian troops, and on August 9, Pskov troops allied with Ivan III took Toropets. The defeat at Vedrosha dealt a severe blow to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The situation was aggravated by the raids of the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray, who was allied with Moscow.

The campaign of 1501 did not bring decisive success to either side. The fighting between Russian and Lithuanian troops was limited to small skirmishes; in the fall of 1501, Moscow troops defeated Lithuanian army in the battle of Mstislavl, however, they could not take Mstislavl itself. A major success of Lithuanian diplomacy was the neutralization of the Crimean threat with the help of the Great Horde. Another factor that acted against the Russian state was a serious deterioration in relations with Livonia, which led to a full-scale war in August 1501. In addition, after the death of Jan Olbracht (June 17, 1501), his younger brother, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander, also became the king of Poland.

In the spring of 1502, the fighting was inactive. The situation changed in June, after the Crimean Khan finally managed to defeat the Khan of the Great Horde, Shikh-Ahmed, which made it possible to make a new devastating raid already in August. The Moscow troops also struck their blow: on July 14, 1502, the army under the command of Dmitry Zhilka, the son of Ivan III, set out near Smolensk. However, a number of miscalculations during its siege (lack of artillery and low discipline of the assembled troops), as well as the stubborn defense of the defenders, did not allow the city to be taken. In addition, the Lithuanian Grand Duke Alexander managed to form a mercenary army, which also marched in the direction of Smolensk. As a result, on October 23, 1502, the Russian army lifted the siege of Smolensk and retreated.

At the beginning of 1503, peace negotiations began between the states. However, both the Lithuanian and Moscow ambassadors put forward deliberately unacceptable peace conditions; as a result of the compromise, it was decided to sign not a peace treaty, but a truce for a period of 6 years. According to him, in the possession of the Russian state remained (formally - for the period of the truce) 19 cities with volosts, which before the war accounted for about a third of the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; so, in particular, the Russian state included: Chernigov, Novgorod-Seversky, Starodub, Gomel, Bryansk, Toropets, Mtsensk, Dorogobuzh. The truce known as Blagoveshchensky(on the feast of the Annunciation), was signed on March 25, 1503.

Sudebnik of Ivan III:

The unification of the previously fragmented Russian lands into a single state urgently required, in addition to political unity, to create also the unity of the legal system. In September 1497, the Sudebnik, a unified legislative code, was put into effect.

As to who could be the compiler of the Sudebnik, there is no exact data. The opinion that prevailed for a long time that Vladimir Gusev (dating back to Karamzin) was its author is considered in modern historiography as a consequence of an erroneous interpretation of the corrupted chronicle text. According to Ya. S. Lurie and L. V. Cherepnin, here we are dealing with a mixture in the text of two different news - about the introduction of the Sudebnik and the execution of Gusev.

The sources of the norms of law reflected in the Code of Laws known to us are usually referred to as the following monuments of ancient Russian legislation:

Russian Truth
Statutory letters (Dvina and Belozerskaya)
Pskov Judicial Charter
A number of decrees and orders of the Moscow princes.

At the same time, part of the text of the Code of Laws is made up of norms that have no analogues in previous legislation.

The range of issues reflected in this first generalizing legislative act for a long time is very wide: this is the establishment of uniform norms of legal proceedings for the whole country, and the norms of criminal law, and the establishment of civil law. One of the most important articles of the Sudebnik was Article 57 - “On Christian Refusal”, which introduced a single period for the entire Russian state for the transition of peasants from one landowner to another - a week before and a week after St. George's Day (autumn) (November 26). A number of articles dealt with issues of land ownership. A significant part of the text of the monument was occupied by articles on the legal status of serfs.

The creation in 1497 of the all-Russian Sudebnik became important event in the history of Russian legislation. It should be noted that such a unified code did not exist even in some European countries (in particular, in England and France). The translation of a number of articles was included by S. Herberstein in his work Notes on Muscovy. The publication of the Sudebnik was an important measure to strengthen the political unity of the country through the unification of legislation.

The most notable incarnations of the emerging ideology of a united country in historical literature are considered to be the new coat of arms - the double-headed eagle, and the new title of Grand Duke. In addition, it is noted that it was in the era of Ivan III that those ideas were born that a little later would form the official ideology of the Russian state.

Changes in the position of the great Moscow prince, who had turned from the ruler of one of the Russian principalities into the ruler of a vast state, could not but lead to changes in the title.

Like his predecessors, Ivan III used (for example, in June 1485) the title of "Grand Duke of All Russia", which potentially also meant claims to lands that were under the rule of the Grand Duke of Lithuania (also called, among other things, the “Grand Duke of Russia”). In 1494, the Grand Duke of Lithuania expressed his readiness to recognize this title.

The full title of Ivan III also included the names of the lands that became part of Russia; now he sounded like "the sovereign of all Russia and the Grand Duke of Vladimir, and Moscow, and Novgorod, and Pskov, and Tver, and Perm, and Yugra, and Bulgarian, and others."

Another innovation in the title was the appearance of the title "autocrat", which was a tracing paper of the Byzantine title "autocrat" (Greek αυτοκράτορ).

The era of Ivan III also includes the first cases of the Grand Duke using the title "Tsar" (or "Caesar") in diplomatic correspondence - so far only in relations with petty German princes and the Livonian Order; royal title begins to be widely used in literary works. This fact is extremely indicative: from the time of the beginning of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, the “king” was called the Khan of the Horde; to Russian princes who do not have state independence, such a title was almost never applied. The transformation of the country from a tributary of the Horde into a powerful independent state did not go unnoticed abroad: in 1489, the ambassador of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Nikolai Poppel, on behalf of his overlord, offered Ivan III royal title. The Grand Duke refused, pointing out that “By the grace of God, we are sovereigns on our land from the beginning, from our first forefathers, and we have the appointment from God, like our forefathers, so do we ... and we didn’t want the appointment from anyone before, and now we don’t want it”.

The appearance of the double-headed eagle as the state symbol of the Russian state was recorded at the end of the 15th century: it is depicted on the seal of one of the letters issued in 1497 by Ivan III. Somewhat earlier, a similar symbol appeared on the coins of the Tver principality (even before joining Moscow); a number of Novgorod coins minted already under the rule of the Grand Duke also bear this sign. There are different opinions regarding the origin of the double-headed eagle in the historical literature: for example, the most traditional view of its appearance as a state symbol is that the eagle was borrowed from Byzantium, and the niece of the last Byzantine emperor and wife of Ivan III, Sophia Palaiologos, brought it with her. ; This opinion goes back to Karamzin.

As noted in modern studies, in addition to obvious strengths, this version also has drawbacks: in particular, Sophia came from the Morea - from the outskirts of the Byzantine Empire; the eagle appeared in state practice almost two decades after the marriage of the Grand Duke with the Byzantine princess; and, finally, it is not known about any claims of Ivan III to the Byzantine throne. As a modification of the Byzantine theory of the origin of the eagle, the South Slavic theory associated with the significant use of double-headed eagles on the outskirts of the Byzantine world gained some fame. At the same time, traces of such interaction have not yet been found, and the very appearance of the double-headed eagle of Ivan III differs from its supposed South Slavic prototypes. Another theory of the origin of the eagle can be considered an opinion about the borrowing of the eagle from the Holy Roman Empire, which has used this symbol since 1442 - in this case, the emblem symbolizes the equality of the ranks of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the Grand Duke of Moscow. It is also noted that one of the symbols depicted on the coins of the Novgorod Republic was a single-headed eagle; in this version, the appearance of a double-headed eagle on the seal of the Grand Duke looks like a development of local traditions. It is worth noting that at the moment there is no unambiguous opinion about which of the theories describes reality more accurately.

In addition to the adoption of new titles and symbols, the ideas that appeared during the reign of Ivan III, which formed the ideology of state power, also deserve attention. First of all, it is worth noting the idea of ​​the succession of grand ducal power from the Byzantine emperors; for the first time this concept appears in 1492, in the work of Metropolitan Zosima "Exposition of Paschalia". According to the author of this work, God placed Ivan III, as well as "the new Tsar Constantine, to the new city of Konstantin - Moscow and the whole Russian land and many other lands of the sovereign." A little bit later similar comparison will gain harmony in the concept of "Moscow - the third Rome", finally formulated by the monk of the Pskov Elizarov Monastery Philotheus already under Vasily III. Another idea that ideologically substantiated the grand ducal power was the legend of Monomakh's regalia and the origin of Russian princes from the Roman emperor Augustus. Reflected in the somewhat later "Tale of the Princes of Vladimir", it will become an important element of the state ideology under Vasily III and Ivan IV. It is curious that, as researchers note, the original text of the legend put forward not Moscow, but Tver grand dukes as descendants of Augustus.

At the same time, it is worth noting that such ideas during the reign of Ivan III did not receive any wide circulation; for example, it is significant that the newly built Assumption Cathedral was compared not with the Constantinople Hagia Sophia, but with the Vladimir Assumption Cathedral; the idea of ​​the origin of the Moscow princes from Augustus up to the middle of the 16th century is reflected only in non-annalistic sources. In general, although the era of Ivan III is the period of the birth of a significant part of the state ideology of the 16th century, one cannot speak of any state support these ideas. Chronicles of this time are scarce in ideological content; they do not trace any single ideological concept; the emergence of such ideas is a matter of the next era.

The family of Ivan III and the issue of succession to the throne:

The first wife of Grand Duke Ivan was Maria Borisovna, daughter of Prince Boris Alexandrovich of Tver. On February 15, 1458, the son Ivan was born in the family of the Grand Duke. The Grand Duchess, who had a meek character, died on April 22, 1467, before reaching the age of thirty. According to rumors that appeared in the capital, Maria Borisovna was poisoned; clerk Alexei Poluektov, whose wife Natalya, again according to rumors, was somehow involved in the story of the poisoning and turned to fortune-tellers, fell into disgrace. The Grand Duchess was buried in the Kremlin, in the Ascension Convent. Ivan, who was at that time in Kolomna, did not come to his wife's funeral.

Two years after the death of his first wife, the Grand Duke decided to marry again. After a consultation with his mother, as well as with the boyars and the metropolitan, he decided to agree to the recently received proposal from the Pope to marry the Byzantine princess Sophia (Zoya), the niece of the last emperor of Byzantium, Constantine XI, who died in 1453 during the capture of Constantinople by the Turks . Sophia's father, Thomas Palaiologos, the last ruler of the Despotate of Morea, fled from the advancing Turks to Italy with his family; his children enjoyed papal protection. Negotiations continued for three years, ended, ultimately, with the arrival of Sophia.

On November 12, 1472, the Grand Duke married her in the Kremlin Assumption Cathedral. It is worth noting that the attempts of the papal court to influence Ivan through Sophia, and to convince him of the need to recognize the union, completely failed.

Over time, the second marriage of the Grand Duke became one of the sources of tension at court. Soon enough, two groups of court nobility formed, one of which supported the heir to the throne, Ivan Ivanovich the Young, and the second, the new Grand Duchess Sophia Paleolog. In 1476, the Venetian diplomat A. Contarini noted that the heir "is in disfavor with his father, because he behaves badly with Despina" (Sofia), but since 1477 Ivan Ivanovich has been mentioned as a co-ruler of his father; in 1480 he played an important role during the clash with the Horde and "standing on the Ugra". In subsequent years, the grand ducal family increased significantly: Sophia gave birth to a total of nine children to the grand duke - five sons and four daughters.

Meanwhile, in January 1483, the heir to the throne, Ivan Ivanovich Molodoy, also married. His wife was the daughter of the sovereign of Moldavia, Stephen the Great, Elena. On October 10, 1483, their son Dmitry was born. After the annexation of Tver in 1485, Ivan Molodoy was appointed prince of Tver as his father; in one of the sources of this period, Ivan III and Ivan Molodoy are called "autocrats of the Russian land." Thus, during all the 1480s, the position of Ivan Ivanovich as the legitimate heir was quite strong. The position of the supporters of Sophia Palaiologos was much less advantageous. So, in particular, the Grand Duchess failed to get government posts for her relatives; her brother Andrey left Moscow with nothing, and her niece Maria, the wife of Prince Vasily Vereisky (the heir to the Vereisko-Belozersky principality), was forced to flee to Lithuania with her husband, which also affected Sophia's position.

By 1490, however, new circumstances came into play. The son of the Grand Duke, heir to the throne, Ivan Ivanovich, fell ill with "kamchugo in the legs" (gout). Sophia ordered a doctor from Venice - "Mistro Leon", who presumptuously promised Ivan III to cure the heir to the throne; nevertheless, all the efforts of the doctor were powerless, and on March 7, 1490, Ivan the Young died. The doctor was executed, and rumors spread around Moscow about the poisoning of the heir; a hundred years later, these rumors, already as indisputable facts, were recorded by Andrei Kurbsky. Modern historians regard the hypothesis of the poisoning of Ivan the Young as unverifiable due to a lack of sources.

After the death of Ivan the Young, his son, the grandson of Ivan III, Dmitry, became the heir to the throne. Over the next few years, the struggle continued between his supporters and followers of Vasily Ivanovich; by 1497 this struggle had seriously escalated. This aggravation was facilitated by the decision of the Grand Duke to crown his grandson, giving him the title of Grand Duke and thus resolving the issue of succession to the throne. Of course, the actions of Ivan III categorically did not suit Vasily's supporters.

In December 1497, a serious conspiracy was uncovered, aiming at the rebellion of Prince Vasily against his father. In addition to the "departure" of Vasily and the reprisals against Dmitry, the conspirators also intended to seize the grand ducal treasury (located on Beloozero). It is worth noting that the conspiracy did not find support among the higher boyars; the conspirators, although they came from fairly noble families, nevertheless, were not included in the immediate circle of the Grand Duke. The result of the conspiracy was Sophia's disgrace, which, as the investigation found out, was visited by sorceresses and soothsayers; Prince Vasily was placed under house arrest. The main conspirators from among the boyar children (Afanasy Eropkin, Shchavei Skryabin son Travin, Vladimir Gusev), as well as the “dashing women” associated with Sophia, were executed, some conspirators were imprisoned.

On February 4, 1498, the coronation of Prince Dmitry took place in the Assumption Cathedral in an atmosphere of great splendor. In the presence of the metropolitan and the highest hierarchs of the church, the boyars and members of the grand ducal family (with the exception of Sophia and Vasily Ivanovich, who were not invited to the ceremony), Ivan III “blessed and granted” his grandson a great reign. Barmas and the Hat of Monomakh were assigned to Dmitry, and after the coronation, a “great feast” was given in his honor. Already in the second half of 1498, the new title of Dmitry ("Grand Duke") was used in official documents. The coronation of Dmitry the grandson left a noticeable mark on the ceremonial of the Moscow court (thus, in particular, “The wedding ceremony of Dmitry the grandson”, describing the ceremony, influenced the wedding ceremony, developed in 1547 for the coronation of Ivan IV), and was also reflected in a number of non-annalistic monuments (primarily in the "Tale of the princes of Vladimir", which ideologically substantiated the rights of Moscow sovereigns to Russian lands).

The coronation of Dmitry the grandson did not bring him victory in the struggle for power, although it strengthened his position. However, the struggle between the parties of the two heirs continued; Dmitry received neither inheritance nor real power. Meanwhile, the internal political situation in the country worsened: in January 1499, on the orders of Ivan III, a number of boyars were arrested and sentenced to death - Prince Ivan Yurievich Patrikeev, his children, Princes Vasily and Ivan, and his son-in-law, Prince Semyon Ryapolovsky. All of the above were part of the boyar elite; I.Yu.Patrikeev was a cousin of the Grand Duke, he held the boyar rank for 40 years and at the time of his arrest he headed the Boyar Duma. The arrest was followed by the execution of Ryapolovsky; the life of the Patrikeyevs was saved by the intercession of Metropolitan Simon - Semyon Ivanovich and Vasily were allowed to take the veil as monks, and Ivan was imprisoned "for bailiffs" (under house arrest). A month later, Prince Vasily Romodanovsky was arrested and executed. The sources do not indicate the reasons for the disgrace of the boyars; it is also not entirely clear whether it was associated with any disagreements on foreign or domestic policy, or with dynastic struggles in the grand ducal family; in historiography there are also very different opinions on this matter.

By 1499, Vasily Ivanovich apparently managed to partially regain his father’s trust: at the beginning of this year, Ivan III announced to the Pskov posadniks that “I, the great prince Ivan, bestowed my son on Grand Duke Vasily, gave him Novgorod and Pskov.” However, these actions did not find understanding among the people of Pskov; the conflict was resolved only by September.

In 1500 another Russian-Lithuanian war began. On July 14, 1500, at Vedrosha, Russian troops inflicted a serious defeat on the forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It is to this period that the annalistic news about the departure of Vasily Ivanovich to Vyazma and about serious changes in the attitude of the Grand Duke to the heirs belongs. There is no consensus in historiography on how to interpret this message; in particular, both assumptions are made about Vasily's "departure" from his father and an attempt by the Lithuanians to capture him, and opinions about Vasily's readiness to go over to the side of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In any case, the year 1500 was a period of growing Basil's influence; in September, he was already called the Grand Duke of "All Russia", and by March 1501, the leadership of the court on Beloozero was transferred to him.

Finally, On April 11, 1502, the dynastic struggle came to its logical conclusion.. According to the chronicle, Ivan III “placed disgrace on the grandson of his Grand Duke Dmitry and on his mother, the Grand Duchess Elena, and from that day on he did not order them to be remembered in litanies and litias, nor called the Grand Duke, and plant them for bailiffs.” A few days later, Vasily Ivanovich was granted a great reign; soon Dmitry the grandson and his mother Elena Voloshanka were transferred from house arrest to imprisonment. Thus, the struggle within the grand-ducal family ended in the victory of Prince Vasily; he became the co-ruler of his father and the rightful heir to a huge power. The fall of Dmitry the grandson and his mother also predetermined the fate of the Moscow-Novgorod heresy: the Church Council of 1503 finally defeated it; a number of heretics were executed. As for the fate of those who lost the dynastic struggle, it was sad: on January 18, 1505, Elena Stefanovna died in captivity, and in 1509 Dmitry himself died “in need, in prison”. “Some believe that he died from hunger and cold, others that he suffocated from smoke,” Herberstein reported about his death.

In the summer of 1503, Ivan III fell seriously ill. Shortly before this (April 7, 1503), his wife, Sophia Palaiologos, died. Leaving business, the Grand Duke went on a trip to the monasteries, starting with the Trinity-Sergius. However, his condition continued to deteriorate: he became blind in one eye; partial paralysis of one arm and one leg. On October 27, 1505, Grand Duke Ivan III died. According to V. N. Tatishchev (however, it is unclear how reliable), the Grand Duke, having called before his death to his bedside confessor and metropolitan, nevertheless, refused to be tonsured as a monk. As the chronicle noted, “the sovereign of all Russia was in the state of the Grand Duchess ... 43 years and 7 months, and all the years of his stomach 65 and 9 months.” After the death of Ivan III, a traditional amnesty was held. The Grand Duke was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

According to spiritual knowledge, Grand Duke's throne passed to Vasily Ivanovich, other sons of Ivan received specific cities. However, although the specific system was actually restored, it differed significantly from the previous period: the new Grand Duke received much more land, rights and advantages than his brothers; the contrast with what Ivan himself received at one time is especially noticeable. V. O. Klyuchevsky noted the following advantages of the Grand Duke's share:

The Grand Duke now owned the capital alone, giving the brothers 100 rubles each from his income (previously, the heirs owned the capital jointly)
The right of court in Moscow and the Moscow region now belonged only to the Grand Duke (previously, each of the princes had such a right in his part of the villages near Moscow)
Now only the Grand Duke had the right to mint a coin
Now the possessions of the specific prince who died childless passed directly to the Grand Duke (previously such lands were divided among the remaining brothers at the discretion of the mother).

Thus, the restored appanage system differed markedly from the appanage system of former times: in addition to increasing the grand ducal share during the division of the country (Vasily received more than 60 cities, and four of his brothers got no more than 30), the grand duke also concentrated political advantages in his hands.

Ivan 3 Vasilyevich
Predecessor:	Vasily II the Dark
Successor:	Vasily III
Religion:	Orthodoxy
Birth:
Buried:	Archangel Cathedral in Moscow
Dynasty:	Rurikovichi
	Vasily II the Dark
	Maria Yaroslavna, daughter of Prince Yaroslav Borovsky
	1) Maria Borisovna 2) Sofia Fominichna Paleolog
	Sons: Ivan, Vasily, Yuri, Dmitry, Semyon, Andrey daughters: Elena, Feodosia, Elena and Evdokia

Childhood and youth

Foreign policy

"Gathering the Lands"

Annexation of Novgorod

Union with the Crimean Khanate

Trips to Perm and Yugra

Domestic politics

Introduction to the Law Code

Architecture

Literature

Church politics

First conflicts

Struggle of heirs

The death of the Grand Duke

Character and appearance

Board results

Ivan III Vasilievich(also known as Ivan the Great; January 22, 1440 - October 27, 1505) - the Grand Duke of Moscow from 1462 to 1505, the son of the Moscow Grand Duke Vasily II Vasilyevich the Dark.

During the reign of Ivan Vasilyevich, a significant part of the Russian lands around Moscow was united and it became the center of the all-Russian state. The final liberation of the country from the rule of the Horde khans was achieved; the Code of Laws was adopted - a set of laws of the state, and a number of reforms were carried out that laid the foundations for the local system of land tenure.

Childhood and youth

Ivan III was born on January 22, 1440 in the family of the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily Vasilyevich. Ivan's mother was Maria Yaroslavna, the daughter of the appanage prince Yaroslav Borovsky, the Russian princess of the Serpukhov branch of the house of Daniel (the Danilovich family) and a distant relative of his father. He was born on the day of memory of the Apostle Timothy, and in his honor received his "direct name" - Timothy. The next church holiday was the day of the transfer of the relics of St. John Chrysostom, in honor of which the prince received the name by which he is best known.

Reliable data on the early childhood of Ivan III has not been preserved; most likely, he was brought up at the court of his father. However, further events dramatically changed the fate of the heir to the throne: on July 7, 1445, near Suzdal, the army of Grand Duke Vasily II suffered a crushing defeat from the army under the command of the Tatar princes Mamutyak and Yakub (sons of Khan Ulu-Mohammed). The wounded Grand Duke was captured, and power in the state temporarily passed to the eldest in the family of the descendants of Ivan Kalita - Prince Dmitry Yuryevich Shemyaka. The capture of the prince and the expectation of the Tatar invasion led to the growth of confusion in the principality; The situation was exacerbated by a fire in Moscow.

In autumn, the Grand Duke returned from captivity. Moscow had to pay a ransom for its prince - about several tens of thousands of rubles. Under these conditions, a conspiracy matured among the supporters of Dmitry Shemyaka, and when in February 1446 Vasily II went to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery with his children, a rebellion began in Moscow. The Grand Duke was captured, transported to Moscow, and on the night of February 13-14, blinded by order of Dmitry Shemyaka (which earned him the nickname "Dark"). According to Novgorod sources, the Grand Duke was accused of "bringing the Tatars to the Russian land" and giving them Moscow lands "for feeding".

The six-year-old prince Ivan did not fall into the hands of Shemyaka: the children of Vasily, together with the faithful boyars, managed to escape to Murom, which was under the rule of a supporter of the Grand Duke. After some time, Ryazan Bishop Jonah arrived in Murom, announcing the consent of Dmitry Shemyaka to allocate an inheritance to the deposed Vasily; relying on his promise, Basil's supporters agreed to hand over the children to the new authorities. On May 6, 1446, Prince Ivan arrived in Moscow. However, Shemyaka did not keep his word: three days later, Vasily's children were sent to Uglich to their father, to imprisonment.

After several months, Shemyaka nevertheless decided to grant the former Grand Duke an inheritance - Vologda. Vasily's children followed him. But the deposed prince was not at all going to admit his defeat, and left for Tver to ask for help from the Grand Duke of Tver Boris. The formalization of this union was the engagement of the six-year-old Ivan Vasilyevich with the daughter of the Tver prince Maria Borisovna. Soon Vasily's troops occupied Moscow. The power of Dmitry Shemyaka fell, he himself fled, Vasily II reasserted himself on the grand prince's throne. However, Shemyaka, who had entrenched himself in the northern lands (the recently taken city of Ustyug became his base), was not at all going to surrender, and the internecine war continued.

This period (approximately the end of 1448 - the middle of 1449) is the first mention of the heir to the throne, Ivan, as the "Grand Duke". In 1452, he was already sent as a nominal head of the army on a campaign against the Ustyug fortress of Kokshenga. The heir to the throne successfully fulfilled the assignment he received, cutting off Ustyug from the Novgorod lands (there was a danger of Novgorod entering the war on the side of Shemyaka) and brutally ruining the Kokshenga volost. Returning from a campaign with a victory, Prince Ivan married his bride, Maria Borisovna (June 4, 1452). Soon, Dmitry Shemyaka, who suffered a final defeat, was poisoned, and the bloody civil strife that had lasted a quarter of a century began to wane.

Accession to the throne

In subsequent years, Prince Ivan becomes co-ruler with his father. On the coins of the Muscovite state, the inscription “defend all Russia” appears, he himself, like his father, Vasily, bears the title “Grand Duke”. For two years, the prince, as a specific prince, rules Pereslavl-Zalessky, one of the key cities of the Moscow state. An important role in the upbringing of the heir to the throne is played by military campaigns, where he is a nominal commander. So, in 1455, Ivan, together with the experienced governor Fyodor Basenko, made a victorious campaign against the Tatars invading Russia. In August 1460, he led the Russian army, blocking the way to Moscow for the Tatars of Khan Akhmat, who invaded Russia and laid siege to Pereyaslavl-Ryazan.

In March 1462, Ivan's father, Grand Duke Vasily, fell seriously ill. Shortly before that, he made a will, according to which he divided the grand-ducal lands among his sons. As the eldest son, Ivan received not only the great reign, but also the main part of the territory of the state - 16 main cities (not counting Moscow, which he was supposed to own together with his brothers). The rest of Vasily's children were bequeathed only 12 cities; while most of the former capitals of the specific principalities (in particular, Galich - the former capital of Dmitry Shemyaka) went to the new Grand Duke. When Vasily died on March 27, 1462, Ivan became the new Grand Duke without any problems and fulfilled the will of his father, endowing the brothers with lands according to the will.

The Grand Duke, who ascended the throne, marked the beginning of his reign by issuing gold coins, on which the names of Grand Duke Ivan III and his son, heir to the throne, Ivan the Young, were minted. The issue of coins did not last long, and was discontinued after a short time.

Foreign policy

During the entire reign of Ivan III, the main goal of the country's foreign policy was the unification of northeastern Russia into a single Muscovite state. It should be noted that this policy proved to be extremely successful. At the beginning of Ivan's reign, the Principality of Moscow was surrounded by the lands of other Russian principalities; dying, he handed over to his son Vasily the country that united most of these principalities. Only Pskov, Ryazan, Volokolamsk and Novgorod-Seversky retained relative (not too wide) independence.

Beginning with the reign of Ivan III, relations with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania took on a special urgency. Moscow's desire to unite the Russian lands was clearly in conflict with Lithuanian interests, and constant border skirmishes and the transition of border princes and boyars between states did not contribute to reconciliation. Meanwhile, success in expanding the country also contributed to the growth of international relations with European countries.

In the reign of Ivan III, the final formalization of the independence of the Russian state takes place. The already fairly nominal dependence on the Horde ceases. The government of Ivan III strongly supports the opponents of the Horde among the Tatars; in particular, an alliance was concluded with the Crimean Khanate. The eastern direction of foreign policy also turned out to be successful: combining diplomacy and military force, Ivan III introduces the Kazan Khanate into the channel of Moscow politics.

"Gathering the Lands"

Having become the Grand Duke, Ivan III began his foreign policy activities with the confirmation of previous agreements with neighboring princes and a general strengthening of positions. So, agreements were concluded with the Tver and Belozersky principalities; Prince Vasily Ivanovich, married to the sister of Ivan III, was placed on the throne of the Ryazan principality.

Beginning in the 1470s, activities aimed at annexing the rest of the Russian principalities sharply intensified. The first is the Yaroslavl principality, which finally loses the remnants of independence in 1471, after the death of Prince Alexander Fedorovich. The heir of the last Yaroslavl prince, Prince Daniil Penko, entered the service of Ivan III and later received the rank of boyar. In 1472, Prince Yuri Vasilyevich Dmitrovsky, Ivan's brother, died. The Dmitrov principality passed to the Grand Duke; however, this was opposed by the rest of the brothers of the deceased Prince Yuri. The brewing conflict was hushed up not without the help of Vasily's widow, Maria Yaroslavna, who did everything to extinguish the quarrel between the children. As a result, the younger brothers also received part of Yuri's lands.

In 1474, the turn of the Rostov principality came. In fact, it was part of the Muscovite state before: the Grand Duke was a co-owner of Rostov. Now the princes of Rostov have sold "their half" of the principality to the treasury, thus finally turning into the service nobility. The Grand Duke transferred what he received to the inheritance of his mother.

Annexation of Novgorod

The situation with Novgorod developed differently, which is explained by the difference in the nature of the statehood of the specific principalities and the commercial and aristocratic Novgorod state. A clear threat to independence from the Grand Duke of Moscow led to the formation of an influential anti-Moscow party. It was headed by the energetic widow of the posadnik Martha Boretskaya and her sons. The clear superiority of Moscow forced the supporters of independence to search for allies, primarily in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. However, in the conditions of the religious struggle between Orthodoxy and Uniatism, the appeal to the Catholic Casimir, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, was perceived extremely ambiguously by the veche, and the Orthodox prince Mikhail Olelkovich, the son of the Kyiv prince and cousin of Ivan III, who arrived on November 8, 1470, was invited to defend the city. However, due to the death of the Novgorod archbishop Jonah, who invited Mikhail, and the ensuing aggravation of the internal political struggle, the prince did not stay in Novgorod land for long, and already on March 15, 1471 he left the city. The anti-Moscow party managed to win a major success in the internal political struggle: an embassy was sent to Lithuania, after the return of which a draft treaty was drawn up with Grand Duke Casimir. According to this agreement, Novgorod, while recognizing the power of the Grand Duke of Lithuania, nevertheless kept its state system intact; Lithuania also pledged to help in the fight against the Muscovite state. A clash with Ivan III became inevitable.

On June 6, 1471, a ten-thousandth detachment of Moscow troops under the command of Danila Kholmsky set out from the capital in the direction of Novgorod land, a week later the army of Obolensky's Striga set out on a campaign, and on June 20, 1471, Ivan III himself began the campaign from Moscow. The advance of Moscow troops through the lands of Novgorod was accompanied by robberies and violence, designed to intimidate the enemy.

Novgorod also did not sit idly by. A militia was formed from the townspeople, the command was taken by the posadniks Dmitry Boretsky and Vasily Kazimir. The number of this army reached forty thousand people, but its combat effectiveness, due to the haste of the formation of citizens not trained in military affairs, remained low. In July 1471, the Novgorod army advanced in the direction of Pskov, in order to prevent the Pskov army, allied to the Moscow prince, from joining the main forces of Novgorod's opponents. On the Shelon River, Novgorodians unexpectedly encountered Kholmsky's detachment. On July 14, a battle began between the opponents.

During the battle on Shelon, the Novgorod army was utterly defeated. The losses of the Novgorodians amounted to 12 thousand people, about two thousand people were captured; Dmitry Boretsky and three other boyars were executed. The city was under siege, among the Novgorodians themselves, the pro-Moscow party took over, which began negotiations with Ivan III. On August 11, 1471, a peace treaty was concluded, according to which Novgorod was obliged to pay an indemnity of 16,000 rubles, retained its state structure, but could not “surrender” under the rule of the Lithuanian Grand Duke; a significant part of the vast Dvina land was ceded to the Grand Duke of Moscow. One of the key issues in relations between Novgorod and Moscow was the question of the judiciary. In the autumn of 1475, the Grand Duke arrived in Novgorod, where he personally dealt with a number of cases of unrest; some figures of the anti-Moscow opposition were declared guilty. In fact, during this period, judicial dual power was taking shape in Novgorod: a number of complainants went directly to Moscow, where they presented their claims. It was this situation that led to the emergence of a pretext for a new war, which ended with the fall of Novgorod.

In the spring of 1477, a number of complainants from Novgorod gathered in Moscow. Among these people were two minor officials - Nazar from Podvoi and clerk Zakhary. Outlining their case, they called the Grand Duke “sovereign” instead of the traditional address “lord”, which suggested the equality of “lord of the great prince” and “lord of the great Novgorod”. Moscow immediately seized on this pretext; ambassadors were sent to Novgorod, demanding official recognition of the title of sovereign, the final transfer of the court into the hands of the grand duke, as well as the device in the city of the grand duke's residence. Veche, after listening to the ambassadors, refused to accept the ultimatum and began preparations for war.

On October 9, 1477, the Grand Duke's army set out on a campaign against Novgorod. It was joined by the troops of the allies - Tver and Pskov. The beginning of the siege of the city revealed deep divisions among the defenders: supporters of Moscow insisted on peace negotiations with the Grand Duke. One of the supporters of the conclusion of peace was the Archbishop of Novgorod Theophilus, which gave the opponents of the war a certain advantage, expressed in sending an embassy to the Grand Duke with the archbishop at the head. But an attempt to negotiate on the same terms was not successful: on behalf of the Grand Duke, the ambassadors were given strict demands (“I’ll ring the bell in our fatherland in Novgorod, don’t be a posadnik, but keep our state”), which actually meant the end of Novgorod independence. Such a clearly expressed ultimatum led to new unrest in the city; from behind the city walls, high-ranking boyars began to move to the headquarters of Ivan III, including the military leader of the Novgorodians, Prince V. Grebenka-Shuisky. As a result, it was decided to give in to Moscow's demands, and on January 15, 1478, Novgorod surrendered, the veche orders were abolished, and the veche bell and the city archive were sent to Moscow.

"Standing on the Ugra" and liberation from the power of the Horde

Relations with the Horde, already tense, by the beginning of the 1470s, finally deteriorated. The Horde continued to disintegrate; on the territory of the former Golden Horde, in addition to the immediate successor (“Great Horde”), the Astrakhan, Kazan, Crimean, Nogai and Siberian Hordes were also formed. In 1472, Khan of the Great Horde Akhmat began a campaign against Russia. At Tarusa, the Tatars met a large Russian army. All attempts of the Horde to cross the Oka were repulsed. The Horde army managed to burn the city of Aleksin, but the campaign as a whole ended in failure. Soon (in the same year 1472 or in 1476) Ivan III stopped paying tribute to the Khan of the Great Horde, which would inevitably lead to a new clash. However, until 1480, Akhmat was busy fighting the Crimean Khanate.

According to the "Kazan History" (a literary monument written no earlier than 1564), the immediate reason for the start of the war was the execution of the Horde embassy sent by Akhmat to Ivan III for tribute. According to this news, the Grand Duke, refusing to pay money to the Khan, took "the basma of his face" and trampled it; after that, all the Horde ambassadors, except for one, were executed. However, the messages of the Kazan History, which contain, among other things, a number of factual errors, are frankly legendary in nature and, as a rule, are not taken seriously by modern historians.

One way or another, in the summer of 1480, Khan Akhmat moved to Russia. The situation for the Muscovite state was complicated by the deterioration of relations with its Western neighbors. The Lithuanian Grand Duke Casimir entered into an alliance with Akhmat and could attack at any moment, and the Lithuanian army could overcome the distance from Vyazma, which belonged to Lithuania, to Moscow in a few days. The troops of the Livonian Order attacked Pskov. Another blow for the Grand Duke Ivan was the rebellion of his brothers: the appanage princes Boris and Andrei Bolshoi, dissatisfied with the oppression of the Grand Duke (for example, in violation of customs, after the death of his brother Yuri, Ivan III took all his inheritance for himself, did not share with the brothers the rich booty taken in Novgorod, and also violated the ancient right of departure of the nobles, ordering to seize Prince Obolensky, who had left the Grand Duke for his brother Boris), together with his entire court and squads, drove off to the Lithuanian border and entered into negotiations with Kazimir. And although as a result of active negotiations with the brothers, as a result of bidding and promises, Ivan III managed to prevent their action against him, the threat of a repeat of the civil war did not leave the Russian state.

Finding out that Khan Akhmat was moving towards the Russian border, Ivan III, having gathered troops, also headed south, to the Oka River. The troops of the Grand Duke of Tver also came to the aid of the Grand Duke's army. For two months, the army, ready for battle, was waiting for the enemy, but Khan Akhmat, also ready for battle, did not start offensive operations. Finally, in September 1480, Khan Akhmat crossed the Oka south of Kaluga and headed through Lithuanian territory to the Ugra River - the border between Moscow and Lithuanian possessions.

On September 30, Ivan III left the troops and left for Moscow, instructing the troops under the formal command of the heir, Ivan the Young, who also included his uncle, specific prince Andrei Vasilyevich Menshoi, to move in the direction of the Ugra River. At the same time, the prince ordered to burn Kashira. Sources mention the hesitation of the Grand Duke; in one of the chronicles it is even noted that Ivan panicked: “the horror was found on n, and you want to run away from the shore, and your Grand Duchess Roman and the treasury with her were sent to Beloozero.”

Subsequent events are interpreted in the sources ambiguously. The author of an independent Moscow code of the 1480s writes that the appearance of the Grand Duke in Moscow made a painful impression on the townspeople, among whom a murmur arose: you sell nonsense (you exact a lot of what you shouldn’t). And now, having angered the tsar himself, without paying him an exit, you betray us to the tsar and the Tatars. After that, the annals report that Bishop Vassian of Rostov, who met the prince together with the metropolitan, directly accused him of cowardice; after that, Ivan, fearing for his life, left for Krasnoye Sel'tso, north of the capital. Grand Duchess Sophia, with her entourage and the sovereign's treasury, was sent to a safe place, to Beloozero, to the court of the appanage prince Mikhail Vereisky. The Grand Duke's mother refused to leave Moscow. According to this chronicle, the Grand Duke repeatedly tried to summon his son Ivan the Young from his army, sending him letters, which he ignored; then Ivan ordered Prince Kholmsky to bring his son to him by force. Kholmsky did not comply with this order, trying to persuade the prince, to which he, according to the message of this chronicle, replied: “It is fitting for me to die here, and not to go to my father.” Also, as one of the measures to prepare for the invasion of the Tatars, the Grand Duke ordered the Moscow Posad to be burned.

As R. G. Skrynnikov notes, the story of this chronicle is in clear contradiction with a number of other sources. So, in particular, the image of the Rostov Bishop Vassian as the worst accuser of the Grand Duke does not find confirmation; judging by the "Message" and the facts of his biography, Vassian was completely loyal to the Grand Duke. The researcher connects the creation of this vault with the environment of the heir to the throne, Ivan the Young and the dynastic struggle in the grand-ducal family. This, in his opinion, explains both the condemnation of Sophia's actions and the praise addressed to the heir - as opposed to the indecisive (turned into cowardly under the chronicler's pen) actions of the Grand Duke.

At the same time, the very fact of Ivan III's departure to Moscow is recorded in almost all sources; the difference in chronicle stories refers only to the duration of this trip. The grand ducal chroniclers reduced this trip to only three days (September 30 - October 3, 1480). The fact of fluctuations in the grand ducal environment is also obvious; the grand-ducal code of the first half of the 1490s mentions a certain Mamon as an opponent of the resistance to the Tatars; hostile to Ivan III, an independent code of the 1480s, in addition to G.V. Mamon, also mentions I.V. Oshchera, and the Rostov chronicle - V.B. Tuchko. Meanwhile, in Moscow, the Grand Duke held a meeting with his boyars, and ordered about the preparation of the capital for a possible siege. Through the mediation of the mother, active negotiations were held with the rebellious brothers, which ended in the restoration of relations. On October 3, the Grand Duke left Moscow to join the troops, however, before reaching them, he settled in the town of Kremenets, 60 versts from the mouth of the Ugra, where he waited for the troops of the brothers who stopped the rebellion, Andrei Bolshoi and Boris Volotsky, to approach. Meanwhile, fierce clashes began on the Ugra. The attempts of the Horde to cross the river were successfully repulsed by Russian troops. Soon Ivan III sent the ambassador Ivan Tovarkov to the khan with rich gifts, asking him to retreat away and not to ruin the "ulus". Khan demanded the personal presence of the prince, but he refused to go to him; the prince also refused the khan's offer to send him his son, brother, or Nikifor Basenkov, an ambassador known for his generosity (who had previously often traveled to the Horde).

On October 26, 1480, the Ugra River froze over. The Russian army, gathered together, withdrew to the city of Kremenets, then to Borovsk. On November 11, Khan Akhmat gave the order to retreat. A small Tatar detachment managed to destroy a number of Russian volosts near Aleksin, but after Russian troops were sent in its direction, they also retreated to the steppe. Akhmat's refusal to pursue the Russian troops is explained by the unpreparedness of the khan's army for waging war in the conditions of a harsh winter - as the chronicle says, "because the Tatars were naked and barefoot, they were skinned." In addition, it became quite clear that King Casimir was not going to fulfill his allied obligations towards Akhmat. In addition to repulsing the attack of the Crimean troops allied to Ivan III, Lithuania was busy solving internal problems. "Standing on the Ugra" ended with the actual victory of the Russian state, which received the desired independence.

Confrontation with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Border War of 1487-1494

Significant changes took place during the reign of Ivan III in the relations of the Muscovite state with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Initially friendly (the Lithuanian Grand Duke Casimir was even appointed, according to the will of Vasily II, the guardian of the children of the Grand Duke of Moscow), they gradually deteriorated. Moscow's desire to unite the Russian lands constantly ran into opposition from Lithuania. The attempt of the Novgorodians to pass under the rule of Casimir did not contribute to the friendship of the two states, and the union of Lithuania and the Horde in 1480, during the "standing on the Ugra", heated relations to the limit. It was to this time that the formation of the union of the Russian state and the Crimean Khanate dates back.

Beginning in the 1480s, the aggravation of the situation brought the matter to border skirmishes. In 1481, a conspiracy of princes Ivan Yuryevich Golshansky, Mikhail Olelkovich and Fedor Ivanovich Belsky, who wanted to transfer their possessions to the Grand Duke of Moscow, was uncovered in Lithuania; Ivan Golshansky and Mikhail Olelkovich were executed, Prince Belsky managed to escape to Moscow, where he received control of a number of regions on the Lithuanian border. In 1482, Prince I. Glinsky fled to Moscow. In the same year, the Lithuanian ambassador B. A. Sakovich demanded that the Moscow prince recognize the rights of Lithuania to Rzhev and Velikiye Luki and their volosts.

In the context of the confrontation with Lithuania, the alliance with the Crimea acquired particular importance. Following the agreements reached, in the fall of 1482, the Crimean Khan made a devastating raid on Lithuanian Ukraine. As the Nikon Chronicle reported, “September 1, according to the word of the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan Vasilyevich of All Russia, Mengli-Girey, the king of the Crimean Perekop Horde, came with all his might to the queen power and the city of Kyiv, taking and burning with fire, and seized the governor of the Kyiv pan Ivashka Khotkovich , and it is full of countless taking; and the land of Kyiv is empty." According to the Pskov Chronicle, 11 cities fell as a result of the campaign, the entire district was devastated. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was seriously weakened.

Border disputes between the two states did not subside throughout the 1480s. A number of volosts, which were originally in joint Moscow-Lithuanian (or Novgorod-Lithuanian) possession, were actually occupied by the troops of Ivan III (this primarily concerns Rzheva, Toropets and Velikiye Luki). From time to time, skirmishes arose between the Vyazma princes who served Kazimir and the Russian specific princes, as well as between the Mezetsky princes (supporters of Lithuania) and the princes Odoevsky and Vorotynsky who had gone over to the side of Moscow. In the spring of 1489, things came to open armed clashes between the Lithuanian and Russian troops, and in December 1489, a number of border princes went over to the side of Ivan III. Protests and a mutual exchange of embassies produced no result, and the undeclared war continued.

On June 7, 1492, Casimir, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, died. After him, his son, Alexander, was elected to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Another son of Casimir, Jan Olbracht, became king of Poland. The inevitable confusion associated with the change of the Lithuanian Grand Duke weakened the principality, which Ivan III did not fail to take advantage of. In August 1492 troops were sent against Lithuania. They were headed by Prince Fyodor Telepnya Obolensky. The cities of Mtsensk, Lubutsk, Mosalsk, Serpeisk, Khlepen, Rogachev, Odoev, Kozelsk, Przemysl and Serensk were taken. A number of local princes went over to the side of Moscow, which strengthened the positions of the Russian troops. Such rapid successes of the troops of Ivan III forced the new Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander to begin peace negotiations. One of the means of settling the conflict proposed by the Lithuanians was Alexander's marriage to Ivan's daughter; the Grand Duke of Moscow reacted to this proposal with interest, but demanded that all disputed issues be resolved first, which led to the failure of the negotiations.

At the end of 1492, the Lithuanian army entered the theater of military operations with Prince Semyon Ivanovich Mozhaisky. At the beginning of 1493, the Lithuanians managed to briefly capture the cities of Serpeisk and Mezetsk, but during the retaliatory counterattack of the Moscow troops, they were repulsed; in addition, the Moscow army managed to take Vyazma and a number of other cities. In June-July 1493, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander sent an embassy with a proposal to make peace. As a result of lengthy negotiations, on February 5, 1494, a peace treaty was finally concluded. According to him, most of the lands conquered by Russian troops were part of the Russian state. Among other cities, the strategically important fortress of Vyazma, located not far from Moscow, became Russian. The cities of Lubutsk, Mezetsk and Mtsensk, and some others, were returned to the Grand Duke of Lithuania. Also, the consent of the Moscow sovereign was obtained for the marriage of his daughter Elena with the Lithuanian Grand Duke Alexander.

Union with the Crimean Khanate

Diplomatic relations between the Moscow State and the Crimean Khanate remained friendly during the reign of Ivan III. The first exchange of letters between countries took place in 1462, and in 1472 an agreement on mutual friendship was concluded. In 1474, a union treaty was concluded between Khan Mengli-Girey and Ivan III, which, however, remained on paper, since the Crimean Khan soon had no time for joint actions: during the war with the Ottoman Empire, Crimea lost its independence, and Mengli- Girey was captured, and only in 1478 he again ascended the throne (now as a Turkish vassal). However, in 1480, the union treaty between Moscow and the Crimea was concluded again, while the treaty directly named the enemies against whom the parties had to act together - Khan of the Great Horde Akhmat and the Grand Duke of Lithuania. In the same year, the Crimeans made a trip to Podolia, which did not allow King Casimir to help Akhmat during his “standing on the Ugra”.

In March 1482, in connection with the deteriorating relations with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Moscow embassy again went to Khan Mengli Giray. In the autumn of 1482, the troops of the Crimean Khanate made a devastating raid on Lithuanian Ukraine. Among other cities, Kyiv was taken, all southern Russia was devastated. From his booty, the khan sent Ivan a chalice and diskos from the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, robbed by the Crimeans. The devastation of the lands seriously affected the combat capability of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

In subsequent years, the Russian-Crimean alliance showed its effectiveness. In 1485, Russian troops already made a trip to the Horde lands at the request of the Crimean Khanate, which was attacked by the Horde. In 1491, in connection with new Crimean-Horde skirmishes, these campaigns were repeated again. Russian support played an important role in the victory of the Crimean troops over the Great Horde. An attempt by Lithuania in 1492 to lure the Crimea to its side failed: from 1492, Mengli Giray began annual campaigns on the lands belonging to Lithuania and Poland. During the Russo-Lithuanian War of 1500-1503, Crimea remained an ally of Russia. In 1500, Mengli Giray twice devastated the lands of southern Russia belonging to Lithuania, reaching Brest. The actions of the allied Lithuania of the Great Horde were again neutralized by the actions of both the Crimean and Russian troops. In 1502, having finally defeated the Khan of the Great Horde, the Crimean Khan made a new raid, devastating part of the Right-Bank Ukraine and Poland. However, after the end of the war, which was successful for the Moscow state, there was a deterioration in relations. Firstly, the common enemy disappeared - the Great Horde, against which the Russian-Crimean alliance was directed to a large extent. Secondly, now Russia is becoming a direct neighbor of the Crimean Khanate, which means that now the Crimean raids could be made not only on Lithuanian, but also on Russian territory. And finally, thirdly, Russian-Crimean relations deteriorated due to the Kazan problem; the fact is that Khan Mengli-Girey did not approve of the imprisonment of the deposed Kazan Khan Abdul-Latif in Vologda. However, during the reign of Ivan III, the Crimean Khanate remained an ally of the Muscovite state, waging joint wars against common enemies - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Great Horde, and only after the death of the Grand Duke did the Crimeans begin constant raids on the lands belonging to the Russian state.

Relations with the Kazan Khanate

Relations with the Kazan Khanate remained an extremely important area of ​​Russia's foreign policy. The first years of the reign of Ivan III, they remained peaceful. After the death of the active Khan Mahmud, his son Khalil ascended the throne, and soon the deceased Khalil, in turn, was succeeded in 1467 by another son of Mahmud, Ibrahim. However, the brother of Khan Mahmud was still alive - the elderly Kasim, who ruled the Kasimov Khanate, which depended on Moscow; a group of conspirators led by Prince Abdul-Mumin tried to invite him to the Kazan throne. These intentions were supported by Ivan III, and in September 1467, the soldiers of the Kasimov Khan, together with the Moscow troops under the command of I.V. Striga-Obolensky, launched an attack on Kazan. However, the campaign was unsuccessful: having met a strong army of Ibrahim, the Moscow troops did not dare to cross the Volga, and retreated. In the winter of the same year, Kazan detachments made a trip to the Russian border lands, devastating the environs of Galich Mersky. In response, Russian troops launched a punitive raid on the Cheremis lands that were part of the Kazan Khanate. In 1468, border skirmishes continued; a major success of Kazan was the capture of the capital of the Vyatka land - Khlynov.

The spring of 1469 was marked by a new campaign of Moscow troops against Kazan. In May, Russian troops began to lay siege to the city. Nevertheless, the active actions of the Kazanians made it possible to first stop the offensive of the two Moscow armies, and then to defeat them one by one; Russian troops were forced to retreat. In August 1469, having received replenishment, the troops of the Grand Duke began a new campaign against Kazan, however, due to the deterioration of relations with Lithuania and the Horde, Ivan III agreed to make peace with Khan Ibrahim; according to its terms, Kazanians handed over all previously captured prisoners. For eight years after that, relations between the parties remained peaceful. However, in early 1478, relations again heated up. The reason for this time was the campaign of Kazan against Khlynov. Russian troops marched on Kazan, but did not achieve any significant results, and a new peace treaty was concluded on the same terms as in 1469.

Khan Ibrahim died in 1479. The new ruler of Kazan was Ilham (Alegam), the son of Ibragim, a protege of a party oriented towards the East (primarily the Nogai Horde). The candidate from the pro-Russian party, another son of Ibrahim, 10-year-old Tsarevich Mohammed-Emin, was sent to the Muscovite state. This gave Russia a pretext for interfering in Kazan affairs. In 1482, Ivan III began preparations for a new campaign; an army was assembled, which also included artillery under the leadership of Aristotle Fioravanti, but the active diplomatic opposition of the Kazanians and their willingness to make concessions made it possible to maintain peace. In 1484, the Moscow army, approaching Kazan, contributed to the overthrow of Khan Ilham. The protege of the pro-Moscow party, 16-year-old Mohammed-Emin, ascended the throne. In late 1485 - early 1486, Ilkham again ascended the Kazan throne (also not without the support of Moscow), and soon the Russian troops made another campaign against Kazan. On July 9, 1487, the city surrendered. Prominent figures of the anti-Moscow party were executed, Muhammad-Emin was again placed on the throne, and Khan Ilham and his family were sent to prison in Russia. As a result of this victory, Ivan III took the title of "Prince of Bulgaria"; Russia's influence on the Kazan Khanate increased significantly.

The next aggravation of relations occurred in the mid-1490s. Among the Kazan nobility, dissatisfied with the policy of Khan Mohammed-Emin, an opposition was formed with the princes Kel-Akhmet (Kalimet), Urak, Sadyr and Agish at the head. She invited the Siberian prince Mamuk to the throne, who in the middle of 1495 arrived in Kazan with an army. Mohammed-Emin and his family fled to Russia. However, after some time, Mamuk came into conflict with some princes who invited him. While Mamuk was on the campaign, a coup took place in the city under the leadership of Prince Kel-Ahmet. Abdul-Latif, the brother of Mohammed-Emin, who lived in the Russian state, was invited to the throne, who became the next Khan of Kazan. An attempt by Kazan emigrants led by Prince Urak in 1499 to place Agalak, the brother of the deposed Khan Mamuk, on the throne was unsuccessful. With the help of Russian troops, Abdul-Latif managed to repulse the attack.

In 1502, Abdul-Latif, who began to pursue an independent policy, was deposed with the participation of the Russian embassy and Prince Kel-Ahmet. Muhammad-Amin was again (for the third time) elevated to the Kazan throne. But now he began to pursue a much more independent policy aimed at ending dependence on Moscow. The leader of the pro-Russian party, Prince Kel-Ahmet, was arrested; opponents of the influence of the Russian state came to power. On June 24, 1505, on the day of the fair, a pogrom took place in Kazan; Russian subjects who were in the city were killed or enslaved, and their property was plundered. The war has begun. However, on October 27, 1505, Ivan III died, and Ivan's heir, Vasily III, had to lead it.

Northwest direction: wars with Livonia and Sweden

The annexation of Novgorod shifted the borders of the Muscovite state to the northwest, as a result of which Livonia became a direct neighbor in this direction. The continued deterioration of Pskov-Livonian relations eventually resulted in an open clash, and in August 1480 the Livonians laid siege to Pskov - however, to no avail. In February of the next year, 1481, the initiative passed to the Russian troops: the grand-ducal forces sent to help the Pskovites made a campaign in the Livonian lands that was crowned with a number of victories. On September 1, 1481, the parties signed a truce for a period of 10 years. In the next few years, relations with Livonia, primarily trade, developed quite peacefully. Nevertheless, the government of Ivan III took a number of measures to strengthen the defensive structures of the north-west of the country. The most significant event of this plan was the construction in 1492 of the Ivangorod stone fortress on the Narova River, opposite the Livonian Narva.

In addition to Livonia, Sweden was another rival of Russia in the northwestern direction. According to the Orekhovets Treaty of 1323, the Novgorodians ceded a number of territories to the Swedes; now, according to Ivan III, the moment has come to return them. On November 8, 1493, Russia concluded an allied treaty with the Danish king Hans (Johann), a rival of the Swedish ruler Sten Sture. Open conflict broke out in 1495; in August, the Russian army began the siege of Vyborg. However, this siege was unsuccessful, Vyborg withstood, and the grand ducal troops were forced to return home. In the winter and spring of 1496, Russian troops made a number of raids on the territory of Swedish Finland. In August 1496, the Swedes struck back: an army on 70 ships, descending near Narova, landed near Ivangorod. The viceroy of the Grand Duke, Prince Yuri Babich, fled, and on August 26 the Swedes took the fortress by storm and burned it down. however, after some time, the Swedish troops left Ivangorod, and it was restored and even expanded in a short time. In March 1497, a truce was concluded in Novgorod for 6 years, which ended the Russian-Swedish war.

Meanwhile, relations with Livonia deteriorated significantly. Given the inevitability of a new Russian-Lithuanian war, in 1500 an embassy was sent to the Grand Master of the Livonian Order Plettenberg from the Lithuanian Grand Duke Alexander, with a proposal for an alliance. Mindful of Lithuania's previous attempts to subdue the Teutonic Order, Plettenberg did not give his consent immediately, but only in 1501, when the issue of war with Russia was finally resolved. The treaty, signed at Wenden on June 21, 1501, completed the formalization of the union.

The reason for the outbreak of hostilities was the arrest in Dorpat of about 150 Russian merchants. In August, both sides sent significant military forces against each other, and on August 27, 1501, Russian and Livonian troops met in a battle on the Seritsa River (10 km from Izborsk). The battle ended with the victory of the Livonians; they failed to take Izborsk, but on September 7 the Pskov fortress Ostrov fell. In October, Russian troops (including units of serving Tatars) made a retaliatory raid into Livonia.

In the campaign of 1502, the initiative was on the side of the Livonians. It began with an invasion from Narva; in March, Moscow governor Ivan Loban-Kolychev died near Ivangorod; Livonian troops struck in the direction of Pskov, trying to take the Red Town. In September, Plettenberg's troops struck again, again besieging Izborsk and Pskov. In the battle near Lake Smolina, the Livonians managed to defeat the Russian army, but they could not achieve greater success, and peace negotiations were held the following year. On April 2, 1503, the Livonian Order and the Russian state signed a truce for a period of six years, which restored relations on the terms of the status quo.

War with Lithuania 1500-1503

Despite the settlement of border disputes that led to the undeclared war of 1487-1494, relations with Lithuania continued to be tense. The border between the states continued to be very indistinct, which in the future was fraught with a new aggravation of relations. A religious problem has been added to the traditional border disputes. In May 1499, Moscow received information from the governor of Vyazma about the oppression of Orthodoxy in Smolensk. In addition, the Grand Duke learned about an attempt to impose the Catholic faith on his daughter Elena, wife of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander. All this did not contribute to the preservation of peace between countries.

At the end of 1499-beginning of 1500, Prince S.I. Belsky moved to the Moscow state with his estates; the cities of Serpeisk and Mtsensk also went over to the side of Moscow. In April 1500, the princes Semyon Ivanovich Starodubsky and Vasily Ivanovich Shemyachich Novgorod-Seversky came to the service of Ivan III, and an embassy was sent to Lithuania with a declaration of war. Fighting broke out along the entire border. As a result of the first blow of the Russian troops, Bryansk was taken, the cities of Radogoshch, Gomel, Novgorod-Seversky surrendered, Dorogobuzh fell; the princes Trubetskoy and Mosalsky passed to the service of Ivan III. The main efforts of the Moscow troops were concentrated on the Smolensk direction, where the Lithuanian Grand Duke Alexander sent an army under the command of the Grand Lithuanian Hetman Konstantin Ostrozhsky. Having received the news that Moscow troops were standing on the Vedrosha River, the hetman went there as well. On July 14, 1500, during the battle of Vedrosha, the Lithuanian troops suffered a crushing defeat; more than 8,000 Lithuanian soldiers died; Hetman Ostrozhsky was taken prisoner. On August 6, 1500, Putivl fell under the blow of Russian troops, and on August 9, Pskov troops allied with Ivan III took Toropets. The defeat at Vedrosha dealt a severe blow to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The situation was aggravated by the raids of the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray, who was allied with Moscow.

The campaign of 1501 did not bring decisive success to either side. The fighting between Moscow and Lithuanian troops was limited to small skirmishes; In the fall of 1501, Moscow troops conducted an unsuccessful siege of Mstislavl. A major success of Lithuanian diplomacy was the neutralization of the Crimean threat with the help of the Great Horde. Another factor that acted against the Muscovite state was a serious deterioration in relations with Livonia, which led to a full-scale war in August 1501. In addition, after the death of the Polish king Jan Olbracht (June 17, 1501), the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander also became the Polish king.

In the spring of 1502, the fighting was inactive. The situation changed in June, after the Crimean Khan finally managed to defeat the Khan of the Great Horde, Shikh-Ahmed, which made it possible to make a new devastating raid already in August. The Moscow troops also struck their blow: on July 14, 1502, the army under the command of Dmitry Zhilka, the son of Ivan III, set out near Smolensk. However, a number of miscalculations (lack of artillery and low discipline of the assembled troops), as well as the stubborn defense of the defenders, did not allow them to take the city. In addition, the Lithuanian Grand Duke Alexander managed to form a mercenary army, which also marched in the direction of Smolensk. As a result, on October 23, 1502, the Russian army lifted the siege of Smolensk and retreated.

At the beginning of 1503, peace negotiations began between the states. However, both the Lithuanian and Moscow ambassadors put forward deliberately unacceptable peace conditions; as a result of the compromise, it was decided to sign not a peace treaty, but a truce for a period of 6 years. According to it, in the possession of the Russian state remained (formally - for the period of the truce) 19 cities with volosts, which before the war accounted for about a third of the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; so, in particular, the Russian state included: Chernigov, Novgorod-Seversky, Starodub, Gomel, Bryansk, Toropets, Mtsensk, Dorogobuzh. The truce, known as the Annunciation (on the feast of the Annunciation), was signed on March 25, 1503.

Continuation of the "gathering of lands" and "Tver capture"

After the annexation of Novgorod, the policy of "gathering lands" was continued. At the same time, the actions of the Grand Duke were more active. In 1481, after the death of the childless brother of Ivan III, the specific Vologda prince Andrei the Less, all of his allotment passed to the Grand Duke. On April 4, 1482, the Vereisk prince Mikhail Andreevich concluded an agreement with Ivan, according to which, after his death, Beloozero passed to the Grand Duke, which clearly violated the rights of Mikhail's heir, his son Vasily. After the flight of Vasily Mikhailovich to Lithuania, on December 12, 1483, Mikhail concluded a new agreement with Ivan III, according to which, after the death of the Vereisk prince, the entire inheritance of Mikhail Andreevich departed to the Grand Duke (Prince Mikhail died on April 9, 1486). On June 4, 1485, after the death of the mother of the Grand Duke, Princess Maria (in monasticism Martha), her inheritance, including half of Rostov, became part of the Grand Duke's possessions.

Relations with Tver remained a serious problem. Sandwiched between Moscow and Lithuania, the Grand Duchy of Tver was going through hard times. It also included specific principalities; from the 60s of the XV century, the transition of the Tver nobility to the Moscow service began. Sources also preserved references to the spread of various heresies in Tver. The relations between the Muscovites-patrimonials, who owned land in the Tver Principality, and the Tverites did not improve relations either. In 1483, the hostility turned into an armed confrontation. The formal reason for it was an attempt by Prince Mikhail Borisovich of Tver to strengthen his ties with Lithuania through a dynastic marriage and a union treaty. Moscow reacted to this by breaking off relations and sending troops to the Tver lands; Prince of Tver admitted his defeat and in October-December 1484 concluded a peace treaty with Ivan III. According to him, Mikhail recognized himself as the "little brother" of the Grand Duke of Moscow, which in the political terminology of that time meant the actual transformation of Tver into a specific principality; the treaty of alliance with Lithuania, of course, was broken.

In 1485, using as an excuse the capture of a messenger from Mikhail of Tver to the Lithuanian Grand Duke Casimir, Moscow again severed relations with the Tver principality and began hostilities. In September 1485, Russian troops began the siege of Tver. A significant part of the Tver boyars and specific princes transferred to the Moscow service, and Prince Mikhail Borisovich himself, having seized the treasury, fled to Lithuania. On September 15, 1485, Ivan III, together with the heir to the throne, Prince Ivan the Young, entered Tver. The Tver principality was transferred to the heir to the throne; in addition, a Moscow governor was appointed here.

In 1486, Ivan III concluded new agreements with his brothers, appanage princes - Boris and Andrei. In addition to recognizing the Grand Duke as the "eldest" brother, the new treaties also recognized him as "master", and used the title "Grand Duke of All Russia". Nevertheless, the position of the brothers of the Grand Duke remained extremely precarious. In 1488, Prince Andrei was informed that the Grand Duke was ready to arrest him. An attempt to explain himself led to the fact that Ivan III swore "by God and the earth and the mighty God, the creator of all creatures" that he was not going to persecute his brother. As noted by R. G. Skrynnikov and A. A. Zimin, the form of this oath was very unusual for an Orthodox sovereign.

In 1491, a denouement came in the relationship between Ivan and Andrei the Great. On September 20, the Uglich prince was arrested and thrown into prison; his children, princes Ivan and Dmitry, also went to prison. Two years later, Prince Andrei Vasilyevich Bolshoy died, and four years later, the Grand Duke, having gathered the highest clergy, publicly repented that “he had killed him with his sin, carelessness.” Nevertheless, Ivan's repentance did not change anything in the fate of Andrey's children: the Grand Duke's nephews spent the rest of their lives in captivity.

During the arrest of Andrei the Great, another brother of Prince Ivan, Boris, Prince Volotsky, also turned out to be under suspicion. However, he managed to justify himself before the Grand Duke and remain at large. After his death in 1494, the principality was divided among the children of Boris: Ivan Borisovich received Ruza, and Fedor - Volokolamsk; in 1503, Prince Ivan Borisovich died childless, leaving possessions to Ivan III.

A serious struggle between supporters of independence and adherents of Moscow unfolded in the early 1480s in Vyatka, which retained significant autonomy. Initially, success accompanied the anti-Moscow party; in 1485, the Vyatchans refused to participate in the campaign against Kazan. The return campaign of the Moscow troops was not crowned with success, moreover, the Moscow governor was expelled from Vyatka; the most prominent supporters of the grand princely power were forced to flee. Only in 1489 did the Moscow troops under the command of Daniil Schenya achieve the capitulation of the city and finally annexed Vyatka to the Russian state.

Practically lost its independence and the Ryazan principality. After the death of Prince Vasily in 1483, his son, Ivan Vasilyevich, ascended the Ryazan throne. Another son of Vasily, Fedor, received Perevitesk (he died in 1503 childless, leaving possessions to Ivan III). The widow of Vasily, Anna, the sister of Ivan III, became the actual ruler of the principality. In 1500, the Ryazan prince Ivan Vasilyevich died; the guardian of the young prince Ivan Ivanovich was first his grandmother Anna, and after her death in 1501, his mother Agrafena. In 1520, with the capture by Muscovites of the Ryazan prince Ivan Ivanovich, in fact, the Ryazan principality finally turns into a specific principality within the Russian state.

Relations with the Pskov land, which at the end of the reign of Ivan III remained practically the only Russian principality independent of Moscow, also took place in line with the gradual restriction of statehood. Thus, the people of Pskov are losing their last opportunity to influence the choice of princes-grand-princely governors. In 1483-1486, a conflict took place in the city between, on the one hand, the Pskov posadniks and "black people", and, on the other hand, the Grand Duke's governor Prince Yaroslav Obolensky and the peasants ("smerds"). In this conflict, Ivan III supported his governor; in the end, the Pskov elite capitulated, having fulfilled the requirements of the Grand Duke.

The next conflict between the Grand Duke and Pskov broke out at the beginning of 1499. The fact is that Ivan III decided to welcome his son, Vasily Ivanovich, Novgorod and Pskov reign. The people of Pskov regarded the decision of the Grand Duke as a violation of "old times"; the attempts of the posadniks during the negotiations in Moscow to change the situation only led to their arrest. Only by September of the same year, after Ivan's promise to observe the "old days", the conflict was resolved.

However, despite these disagreements, Pskov remained a true ally of Moscow. Pskov aid played an important role in the campaign against Novgorod in 1477-1478; Pskovians made a significant contribution to the victory of Russian troops over the forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In turn, the Moscow regiments took a feasible part in repelling the blows of the Livonians and the Swedes.

Trips to Perm and Yugra

While developing Northern Pomorye, the Muscovite state, on the one hand, faced opposition from Novgorod, which considered these lands to be its own, and, on the other hand, with the opportunity to start moving north and northeast, beyond the Ural Mountains, to the Ob River, in the lower reaches of which Ugra, known to Novgorodians, was located. In 1465, on the orders of Ivan III, the inhabitants of Ustyug made a campaign against Ugra under the leadership of the grand-ducal governor Timofey (Vasily) Skryaba. The campaign was quite successful: having subjugated a number of small Ugra princes, the army returned with a victory. In 1467, not a very successful campaign against the independent Voguli (Mansi) was carried out by the Vyatchans and Komi-Permyaks.

Having received part of the Dvina land under an agreement of 1471 with Novgorod (moreover, Zavolochye, Pechora and Yugra continued to be considered Novgorod), the Muscovite kingdom continued to move north. In 1472, using insults to Moscow merchants as a pretext, Ivan III sent to the newly baptized Great Perm with the army of Prince Fyodor Pyostroy, who subjugated the region to the Muscovite state. Prince Mikhail of Perm remained the nominal ruler of the region, while the real rulers of the country, both spiritually and civilly, were the bishops of Perm.

In 1481, Perm the Great had to defend itself against the Vogulichi, who were led by Prince Asyka. With the help of the Ustyugians, Perm managed to fight back, and already in 1483 a campaign was made against the recalcitrant Vogulians. The expedition was organized on a grand scale: under the command of the grand-ducal governor Prince Fyodor Kurbsky Cherny and Ivan Saltyk-Travin, forces were gathered from all the northern counties of the country. The campaign turned out to be successful, as a result of which the princes of a vast region, populated mainly by Tatars, Vogulichs (Mansi) and Ostyaks (Khanty), submitted to the authorities of the Moscow State.

The next, which became the most large-scale, campaign of Russian troops to Yugra was undertaken in 1499-1500. In total, according to archival data, 4041 people took part in this expedition, divided into three detachments. They were commanded by Moscow governors: Prince Semyon Kurbsky (commanding one of the detachments, he was also the head of the entire campaign), Prince Peter Ushaty and Vasily Gavrilov Brazhnik. During this campaign, various local tribes were conquered, and the Pechora and upper Vychegda basins became part of the Muscovy. Interestingly, information about this campaign, received by S. Herberstein from Prince Semyon Kurbsky, was included by him in his Notes on Muscovy. Fur tribute was imposed on the lands subjugated during these expeditions.

Domestic politics

Integration of newly annexed lands

After the annexation of the Yaroslavl Principality in 1471, a rather strict unification with the general Moscow order began on its territory. A specially appointed envoy of the Grand Duke put the Yaroslavl princes and boyars into the Moscow service, taking away part of their lands. In one of the critical chronicles of that time, these events are described as follows: “He took away from whom the village is good, and from whom the village is good, he took it away and wrote it down on the Grand Duke, and whoever the boyar himself or the son of the boyar will be good, he himself wrote down ". Similar processes took place in Rostov, which came under the control of Moscow. Here, too, the process of entrusting the local elite (both princes and boyars) to the service of the Grand Duke was observed, and the Rostov princes retained in their hands much smaller estates compared to the Yaroslavl princes. A number of possessions were acquired by both the Grand Duke and the Moscow nobility.

The annexation of the Principality of Tver in 1485 and its integration into the Russian state happened quite gently. It was actually turned into one of the specific principalities; Ivan Ivanovich was placed "on the great reign in Tfersky". Under Prince Ivan, the Moscow governor VF Obrazets-Dobrynsky was left. Tver retained many attributes of independence: the princely lands were ruled by a special Tver Palace; although some Tver boyars and princes were transferred to Moscow, the new Tver prince ruled the principality with the help of the Tver boyar duma; the specific princes who supported Ivan III even received new estates (however, not for long; they were soon taken away from them again). In 1490, after the death of Ivan Ivanovich, Tver for some time passed to Prince Vasily, and in 1497 it was taken from him. To early XVI century, the Tver court finally merged with the Moscow one, and some Tver boyars moved to the Moscow Duma.

Of interest is also the integration into the national structure of the Belozersky Principality. After its transfer in 1486 under the authority of Moscow, in March 1488, the Belozersky statutory charter was promulgated. Among other things, it established the norms for feeding representatives of the authorities, and also regulated the legal proceedings.

The most profound were the changes that befell the Novgorod land. The differences between the social system of the Novgorod state and the Moscow order were much deeper than in other newly annexed lands. The wealth of the Novgorod boyar-merchant aristocracy, which owned vast estates, lay at the heart of the veche order; The Novgorod church also had huge lands. During the negotiations on the surrender of the city to the Grand Duke, the Moscow side gave a number of guarantees, in particular, it was promised not to evict the Novgorodians “to the Niz” (outside the Novgorod land, to Moscow proper territory) and not to confiscate property.

Immediately after the fall of the city, arrests were made. The implacable opponent of the Moscow state, Marfa Boretskaya, was taken into custody, the vast possessions of the Boretsky family passed into the hands of the treasury; a similar fate befell a number of other leaders of the pro-Lithuanian party. In addition, a number of lands belonging to the Novgorod church were confiscated. In subsequent years, the arrests were continued: for example, in January 1480, Archbishop Theophilus was taken into custody; in 1481 fell into disgrace recently adopted on state service boyars Vasily Kazimir, his brother Yakov Korobov, Mikhail Berdenev and Luka Fedorov. In 1483-1484 followed new wave arrests of the boyars on charges of treason, in 1486 fifty families were evicted from the city. And finally, in 1487, a decision was made to evict the entire landowning and trading aristocracy from the city and confiscate its estates. In the winter of 1487-1488, about 7,000 people were evicted from the city - the boyars and "living people". The following year, more than a thousand merchants and "living people" were evicted from Novgorod. Their estates were confiscated to the treasury, from where they were partially distributed to the estates of the Moscow boyar children, partially transferred to the ownership of the Moscow boyars, and partially constituted the possessions of the Grand Duke. Thus, the place of noble Novgorod votchinniki was taken by Moscow settlers, who owned the land already on the basis of the local system; the common people were not affected by the resettlement of the nobility. In parallel with the confiscation of estates, a land census was carried out, summing up the land reform. In 1489, part of the population of Khlynov (Vyatka) was evicted in the same way.

The elimination of the dominance of the old landowning and commercial aristocracy of Novgorod went hand in hand with the breaking up of the old state administration. Power passed into the hands of the governors, who were appointed by the Grand Duke, and were in charge of both military and judicial-administrative affairs. The archbishop of Novgorod also lost a significant part of his power. After the death in 1483 of Archbishop Theophilus (who was arrested in 1480), he became the Trinity monk Sergius, who immediately turned the local clergy against himself. In 1484 he was replaced by Gennady Gonzov, Archimandrite of the Chudov Monastery, appointed from Moscow, a supporter of the Grand Duke's policy. In the future, Archbishop Gennady became one of the central figures in the fight against the heresy of the "Judaizers".

Introduction to the Law Code

The unification of the previously fragmented Russian lands into a single state urgently required, in addition to political unity, to create also the unity of the legal system. In September 1497, the Sudebnik, a unified legislative code, was put into effect.

As to who could be the compiler of the Sudebnik, there is no exact data. The opinion that prevailed for a long time that Vladimir Gusev (dating back to Karamzin) was its author is considered in modern historiography as a consequence of an erroneous interpretation of the corrupted chronicle text. According to Ya. S. Lurie and L. V. Cherepnin, here we are dealing with a mixture in the text of two different news - about the introduction of the Sudebnik and the execution of Gusev.

The sources of the norms of law reflected in the Code of Laws known to us are usually referred to as the following monuments of ancient Russian legislation:

• Russian Truth
• Statutory letters (Dvina and Belozerskaya)
• Pskov Judicial Charter
• A number of decrees and orders of the Moscow princes.

At the same time, part of the text of the Code of Laws consists of norms that have no analogues in previous legislation.

The range of issues reflected in this first generalizing legislative act for a long time is very wide: this is the establishment of uniform norms of legal proceedings for the whole country, and the norms of criminal law, and the establishment of civil law. One of the most important articles of the Sudebnik was Article 57 - “On Christian Refusal”, which introduced a single period for the entire Russian state for the transition of peasants from one landowner to another - a week before and a week after St. George's Day (autumn) (November 26). A number of articles dealt with issues of land ownership. A significant part of the text of the monument was occupied by articles on the legal status of serfs.

The creation in 1497 of the all-Russian Sudebnik was an important event in the history of Russian legislation. It should be noted that such a unified code did not exist even in some European countries (in particular, in England and France). The translation of a number of articles was included by S. Herberstein in his work Notes on Muscovy. The publication of the Sudebnik was an important measure to strengthen the political unity of the country through the unification of legislation.

Cultural and ideological politics

The unification of the country could not but have a beneficial effect on the culture of Russia. Large-scale fortress construction, the construction of temples, the flourishing of chronicles in the era of Ivan III are visible evidence of the spiritual upsurge of the country; At the same time, an important fact indicating the intensity cultural life, is the emergence of new ideas. It was at this time that concepts appeared that in the future formed a significant part of the state ideology of Russia.

Architecture

A big step forward under Ivan III was made by Russian architecture; a significant role in this was played by the fact that, at the invitation of the Grand Duke, a number of Italian masters arrived in the country, who introduced Russia to the architectural techniques of the rapidly developing Renaissance.

Already in 1462, construction began in the Kremlin: repairs were begun on the walls that needed to be repaired. In the future, large-scale construction in the Grand Duke's residence continued: in 1472, at the direction of Ivan III, on the site of a dilapidated cathedral built in 1326-1327 under Ivan Kalita, it was decided to build a new Assumption Cathedral. The construction was entrusted to Moscow craftsmen; however, when there was very little left before the completion of the work, the cathedral collapsed. In 1475, Aristotle Fioravanti was invited to Russia, who immediately set to work. The remains of the walls were demolished, and a temple was built in their place, which invariably aroused the admiration of contemporaries. On August 12, 1479, the new cathedral was consecrated by Metropolitan Gerontius.

From 1485, intensive construction began in the Kremlin, which did not stop throughout the life of the Grand Duke. Instead of the old wooden and white stone fortifications, brick ones were built; By 1515, the Italian architects Pietro Antonio Solari, Marco Ruffo, and a number of others had turned the Kremlin into one of the strongest fortresses of that time. Construction also continued inside the walls: in 1489, the Annunciation Cathedral was built by Pskov masters, a new grand ducal palace was erected, one of the parts of which was the Faceted Chamber erected by Italian architects in 1491. In total, according to chronicles, about 25 churches were built in the capital in 1479-1505.

Large-scale construction (primarily of a defensive orientation) was also carried out in other parts of the country: for example, in 1490-1500, the Novgorod Kremlin was rebuilt; in 1492, on the border with Livonia, opposite Narva, the Ivangorod fortress was erected. The fortifications of Pskov, Staraya Ladoga, Pit, Orekhov, Nizhny Novgorod were also updated (since 1500); in 1485 and 1492 large-scale works were carried out to strengthen Vladimir. By order of the Grand Duke, fortresses were also built on the outskirts of the country: in Beloozero (1486), in Velikiye Luki (1493).

Literature

The reign of Ivan III was also the time of the appearance of a number of original literary works; so, in particular, in the 1470s, the Tver merchant Afanasy Nikitin wrote his "Journey Beyond Three Seas". An interesting monument era is compiled by Fyodor Kuritsyn on the basis of the legends he heard during his stay in Wallachia, "The Tale of Dracula", which tells about the Wallachian ruler Vlad Tepesh, who became famous for his cruelty.

Significant development boost religious literature was given by the struggle against the heresy of the "Judaizers"; also in the works of this era, disputes about church wealth were reflected. One can note a number of works by Joseph Volotsky, in which he acts as an ardent exposer of heresy; This denunciation takes on its most complete form in The Illuminator (the first edition of which, however, was compiled no earlier than 1502).

Chronicle in this period is experiencing its heyday; at the Grand Duke's court, chronicles were intensively compiled and processed. However, at the same time, it was during this period, as a result of the unification of the country, that independent chronicle writing, which was a characteristic feature of the previous era, completely disappears. Starting from the 1490s, chronicles created in Russian cities - Novgorod, Pskov, Vologda, Tver, Rostov, Ustyug and in a number of places - are either a modified grand ducal code, or a chronicle of a local nature that does not claim to be of all-Russian significance. Church (in particular, metropolitan) chronicle in this period also merges with the Grand Duke. At the same time, chronicle news is being actively edited and reworked both in the interests of the grand-ducal policy and in the interests of specific groups that have the greatest influence at the time the code was written (primarily this was due to the dynastic struggle between the party of Vasily Ivanovich and Dmitry the grandson).

Ideology of power, title and coat of arms

The most notable incarnations of the emerging ideology of a united country in historical literature are considered to be the new coat of arms - the double-headed eagle, and the new title of Grand Duke. In addition, it is noted that it was in the era of Ivan III that those ideas were born that a little later would form the official ideology of the Moscow state.

Changes in the position of the great Moscow prince, who had turned from the ruler of one of the Russian principalities into the ruler of a vast state, could not but lead to changes in the title. Already in June 1485, Ivan III uses the title of "Grand Duke of All Russia", which also meant claims to the lands that were under the rule of the Grand Duke of Lithuania (who was also called, among other things, also the "Grand Duke of Russia"). In 1494, the Grand Duke of Lithuania expressed his readiness to recognize this title. The full title of Ivan III also included the names of the lands that became part of Russia; now he sounded like "the sovereign of all Russia and the Grand Duke of Vladimir, and Moscow, and Novgorod, and Pskov, and Tver, and Perm, and Yugra, and Bulgarian, and others." Another innovation in the title was the appearance of the title "autocrat", which was a copy of the Byzantine title "autocrat". The era of Ivan III also includes the first cases of the Grand Duke using the title “Tsar” (or “Caesar”) in diplomatic correspondence, so far only in relations with petty German princes and the Livonian Order; the royal title begins to be widely used in literary works. This fact is extremely indicative: from the time of the beginning of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, the “king” was called the Khan of the Horde; to Russian princes who do not have state independence, such a title was almost never applied. The transformation of the country from a tributary of the Horde into a powerful independent state did not go unnoticed abroad: in 1489, the ambassador of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Nikolai Poppel, on behalf of his overlord, offered Ivan III the royal title. The Grand Duke refused, pointing out that “by the grace of God, we are sovereigns on our land from the beginning, from our first forefathers, and we have the appointment from God, like our forefathers, and we ... and we didn’t want the appointment from anyone before, and now we don’t want."

The appearance of the double-headed eagle as the state symbol of the Moscow state was recorded at the end of the 15th century: it is depicted on the seal of one of the letters issued in 1497 by Ivan III. Somewhat earlier, a similar symbol appeared on the coins of the Tver principality (even before joining Moscow); a number of Novgorod coins minted already under the rule of the Grand Duke also bear this sign. There are different opinions regarding the origin of the double-headed eagle in the historical literature: for example, the most traditional view of its appearance as a state symbol is that the eagle was borrowed from Byzantium, and the niece of the last Byzantine emperor and wife of Ivan III, Sophia Palaiologos, brought it with her. ; This opinion goes back to Karamzin. As noted in modern studies, in addition to obvious strengths, this version also has drawbacks: in particular, Sophia came from the Morea - from the outskirts of the Byzantine Empire; the eagle appeared in state practice almost two decades after the marriage of the Grand Duke with the Byzantine princess; and, finally, it is not known about any claims of Ivan III to the Byzantine throne. As a modification of the Byzantine theory of the origin of the eagle, the South Slavic theory associated with the significant use of double-headed eagles on the outskirts of the Byzantine world gained some fame. At the same time, traces of such interaction have not yet been found, and the very appearance of the double-headed eagle of Ivan III differs from its supposed South Slavic prototypes. Another theory of the origin of the eagle can be considered an opinion about the borrowing of the eagle from the Holy Roman Empire, which has used this symbol since 1442 - and in this case the emblem symbolizes the equality of the ranks of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the Grand Duke of Moscow. It is also noted that one of the symbols depicted on the coins of the Novgorod Republic was a single-headed eagle; in this version, the appearance of a double-headed eagle on the seal of the Grand Duke looks like a development of local traditions. It is worth noting that at the moment there is no unambiguous opinion about which of the theories describes reality more accurately.

In addition to the adoption of new titles and symbols, the ideas that appeared during the reign of Ivan III, which formed the ideology of state power, also deserve attention. First of all, it is worth noting the idea of ​​the succession of grand ducal power from the Byzantine emperors; for the first time this concept appears in 1492, in the work of Metropolitan Zosima "Exposition of Paschalia". According to the author of this work, God placed Ivan III, as well as "the new Tsar Constantine, to the new city of Konstantin - Moscow and the whole Russian land and many other lands of the sovereign." A little later, such a comparison will acquire harmony in the concept of "Moscow - the third Rome", finally formulated by the monk of the Pskov Elizarov Monastery Philotheus already under Vasily III. Another idea that ideologically substantiated the grand ducal power was the legend of Monomakh's regalia and the origin of Russian princes from the Roman emperor Augustus. Reflected in the somewhat later "Tale of the Princes of Vladimir", it will become an important element of the state ideology under Vasily III and Ivan IV. It is curious that, as researchers note, the original text of the legend put forward not Moscow, but Tver grand dukes as descendants of Augustus.

At the same time, it is worth noting that such ideas during the reign of Ivan III did not receive any wide circulation; for example, it is significant that the newly built Assumption Cathedral was compared not with the Constantinople Hagia Sophia, but with the Vladimir Assumption Cathedral; the idea of ​​the origin of the Moscow princes from Augustus up to the middle of the 16th century is reflected only in non-annalistic sources. In general, although the era of Ivan III is the period of the birth of a significant part of the state ideology of the 16th century, one cannot speak of any state support for these ideas. Chronicles of this time are scarce in ideological content; they do not trace any single ideological concept; the emergence of such ideas is a matter of the next era.

Church politics

Extremely important part Ivan III's domestic policy was his relationship with the church. The main events characterizing church affairs during his reign can be called, firstly, the emergence of two church-political currents that had different attitudes towards the practice of church life that existed at that time, and, secondly, the emergence, development and defeat of such called "the heresy of the Judaizers". At the same time, it should be noted that the intra-church struggle was repeatedly influenced by both contradictions within the grand-ducal family and external factors. In addition, the Union of Florence held in 1439 and the attempts of the Catholic Church to force the Orthodox Church to recognize it made a certain difficulty in the affairs of the church.

First conflicts

For the first time, the Grand Duke came into conflict with the church authorities in 1478, when the rector of the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery, Nifont, decided to transfer from the Rostov Bishop Vassian to direct subordination to the appanage prince Mikhail Vereisky. At the same time, Metropolitan Gerontius supported the rector, and the Grand Duke - Bishop Vassian; under pressure, the metropolitan yielded. In the same year, having conquered Novgorod, the Grand Duke carried out extensive confiscations of the lands of the richest Novgorod diocese. In 1479 the conflict escalated again; the occasion was the procedure for the consecration by Metropolitan Gerontius of the newly built Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin. Until the dispute was resolved, the metropolitan was forbidden to consecrate churches. However, soon the Grand Duke was not up to theological subtleties: in 1480, Khan of the Great Horde Akhmat moved to Russia, Ivan III was busy defending the country, and the dispute had to be postponed until 1482. By this time, the issue had become very acute also because, due to the Grand Duke's ban, many newly built churches remained unconsecrated. Having lost his patience, the metropolitan, leaving the pulpit, left for the Simonov Monastery, and only a trip to him by Ivan III himself with apologies allowed him to temporarily extinguish the conflict.

The years 1483-1484 were marked new attempt Grand Duke to subjugate the obstinate Gerontius. In November 1483, the metropolitan, citing illness, again departed for the Simonov Monastery. However, this time Ivan III did not go to Gerontius, but tried to remove him, detaining him by force at the monastery. Only a few months later the metropolitan returned to the throne.

In the meantime, two currents were born in the Russian church and gained some distribution, with different attitudes towards the question of church property. The followers of Nil Sorsky, who received the name "non-possessors", advocated the voluntary rejection of wealth by the church and the transition to a poorer and ascetic life. Their opponents, who received the name "Josiflyan" ("Osiflyan", named after Joseph Volotsky), on the contrary, defended the church's right to wealth (in particular, to land). At the same time, the Josephites advocated the observance of the monastic charters, poverty and diligence of each monk individually.

Heresy of the "Judaizers" and the Council of 1490

In 1484, Ivan III appointed his longtime supporter Gennady Gonzov as bishop of Novgorod. Soon the newly appointed bishop sounded the alarm: in his opinion, a heresy appeared and spread widely in Novgorod (which received the name “the heresy of the Judaizers” in the historical literature). Gennady began an active struggle against her, even drawing on the experience of the Catholic Inquisition, but here he ran into unforeseen circumstances: some of the alleged heretics enjoyed the patronage of the Grand Duke. So, in particular, Fyodor Kuritsyn had considerable influence on state affairs; the places of priests in the Assumption and Archangel Cathedrals were occupied by two more heretics - Denis and Alexei; the wife of the heir to the throne, Ivan Ivanovich, Elena Voloshanka, was connected with heretics. Gennady's attempts, on the basis of the testimony of the heretics arrested in Novgorod, to achieve the arrest of Moscow supporters of heresy did not produce results; Ivan III was not inclined to attach to the case of heresy of great importance. Nevertheless, Gennady managed to win over a number of church hierarchs; among others, he was actively supported by Joseph Volotsky.

In May 1489, Metropolitan Gerontius died. Archbishop Gennady became the senior hierarch of the church, which immediately strengthened the position of supporters of the eradication of heresy. In addition, on March 7, 1490, the heir to the throne, Prince Ivan Ivanovich, died, whose wife was the patroness of heretics Elena Stefanovna, as a result of which the influence of adherents of the zealot of orthodox Orthodoxy Sophia Paleolog and Prince Vasily grew. Nevertheless, on September 26, 1490, the enemy of Archbishop Gennady, Zosima, became the new metropolitan (Joseph Volotsky, not embarrassed by strong expressions, reproached Zosima with heresy), and on October 17 a church council was assembled.

The result of the council was the condemnation of heresy. A number of prominent heretics were arrested; some were imprisoned (they were kept in very harsh conditions, which became fatal for many), some were extradited to Gennady, and demonstratively taken through Novgorod. One of the Novgorod chronicles also mentions more cruel reprisals: the burning of heretics "on the Dukhovskoye field." At the same time, some supporters of heresy were not arrested: for example, Fyodor Kuritsyn was not punished.

Discussion about church property and the final defeat of heresy

The Council of 1490 did not lead to complete destruction heresy, but seriously weakened the position of its supporters. In subsequent years, the opponents of the heretics carried out significant educational work: for example, between 1492 and 1504, Joseph Volotsky's "The Tale of the Newly Appeared Heresy of the Novgorod Heretics" was completed. To a certain extent, this revival of church thought was associated with the advent of the year 7000 "from the creation of the world" (1492 from the birth of Christ) and the widespread expectation of the end of the world. It is known that such sentiments evoked ridicule from supporters of heresy, which, in turn, led to the appearance of explanatory writings by church leaders. So, Metropolitan Zosima wrote the "Exposition of Paschalia" with calculations church holidays 20 years ahead. Another type of such work was the translation by deacon Dmitry Gerasimov into Russian of a number of Catholic anti-Jewish treatises. In addition to anti-heretical ideas, in particular, thoughts about the inadmissibility of confiscation of church lands were widely known: for example, around 1497 in Novgorod, on behalf of Archbishop Gennady, a treatise was compiled by the Dominican Catholic monk Benjamin on this topic. It should be noted that the appearance of such a work in Novgorod was dictated primarily by the Novgorod reality - the confiscations of the archiepiscopal lands by the Grand Duke.

In August-early September 1503, a new church council was convened. During it were adopted important decisions, significantly changing everyday church practice: in particular, duties for appointment to church positions were completely abolished. This decision, apparently, found support among nonpossessors. In addition, this practice was repeatedly criticized by heretics. However, a number of measures were also taken, proposed and actively supported by the Josephites. After signing the conciliar verdict (Ivan III sealed it with his own seal, which emphasized the importance of innovations), the cathedral went to its logical conclusion; Iosif Volotsky, summoned by urgent business, even managed to leave the capital. However, unexpectedly, Nil Sorsky raised the question of whether it was worthy for monasteries to own estates. In the course of the heated discussion, the non-possessors and the Josephites failed to come to a consensus. Ultimately, the attempt of the nonpossessors to convince the hierarchs of the church that they were right failed, despite the Grand Duke's obvious sympathy for the idea of ​​land secularization.

The Council of 1503, occupied primarily with internal church problems, did not finally decide the question of heresy; at the same time, by this time the position of heretics in the princely court was more precarious than ever. After the arrest in 1502 of their patroness Elena Voloshanka and the proclamation of Vasily Ivanovich, the son of the champion of Orthodoxy Sophia Paleolog, as heir, the supporters of heresy largely lost influence at court. Moreover, Ivan himself finally listened to the opinion of the clergy; Joseph Volotsky, in a message that has come down to us to the confessor of Ivan III, even mentions the repentance of the Grand Duke and the promise to punish heretics. In 1504, a new church council was convened in Moscow, condemning prominent figures of heresy to death. On December 27, 1504, the main heretics were burned in Moscow; executions also took place in Novgorod. Such a brutal reprisal caused a mixed reaction, including among the clergy; Joseph Volotsky was forced to deliver a special message emphasizing the legality of the executions that had taken place.

Family and the question of succession

The first wife of Grand Duke Ivan was Maria Borisovna, daughter of Prince Boris Alexandrovich of Tver. On February 15, 1458, the son Ivan was born in the family of the Grand Duke. The Grand Duchess, who had a meek character, died on April 22, 1467, before reaching the age of thirty. According to rumors that appeared in the capital, Maria Borisovna was poisoned; clerk Alexei Poluektov, whose wife Natalya, again according to rumors, was somehow involved in the story of the poisoning and turned to fortune-tellers, fell into disgrace. The Grand Duchess was buried in the Kremlin, in the Ascension Convent. Ivan, who was at that time in Kolomna, did not come to his wife's funeral.

Two years after the death of his first wife, the Grand Duke decided to marry again. After a consultation with his mother, as well as with the boyars and the metropolitan, he decided to agree to the recently received proposal from the Pope to marry the Byzantine princess Sophia (Zoya), the niece of the last emperor of Byzantium, Constantine XI, who died in 1453 during the capture of Constantinople by the Turks . Sophia's father, Thomas Palaiologos, the last ruler of the Despotate of Morea, fled from the advancing Turks to Italy with his family; his children enjoyed papal protection. The negotiations, which lasted for three years, eventually ended with the arrival of Sophia. On November 12, 1472, the Grand Duke married her in the Kremlin Assumption Cathedral. It is worth noting that the attempts of the papal court to influence Ivan through Sophia, and to convince him of the need to recognize the union, completely failed.

Struggle of heirs

Over time, the second marriage of the Grand Duke became one of the sources of tension at court. Soon enough, two groups of court nobility formed, one of which supported the heir to the throne, Ivan Ivanovich the Young, and the second, the new Grand Duchess Sophia Paleolog. In 1476, the Venetian A. Contarini noted that the heir "is in disfavor with his father, because he behaves badly with Despina" (Sofya), but since 1477 Ivan Ivanovich has been mentioned as a co-ruler of his father; in 1480 he played an important role during the clash with the Horde and "standing on the Ugra". In subsequent years, the grand ducal family increased significantly: Sophia gave birth to a total of nine children to the grand duke - five sons and four daughters.
Meanwhile, in January 1483, the heir to the throne, Ivan Ivanovich Molodoy, also married. His wife was the daughter of the sovereign of Moldavia, Stephen the Great, Elena. On October 10, 1483, their son Dmitry was born. After the annexation of Tver in 1485, Ivan Molodoy was appointed prince of Tver as his father; in one of the sources of this period, Ivan III and Ivan Molodoy are called "autocrats of the Russian land." Thus, during all the 1480s, the position of Ivan Ivanovich as the legitimate heir was quite strong. The position of the supporters of Sophia Palaiologos was much less advantageous. So, in particular, the Grand Duchess failed to get government posts for her relatives; her brother Andrey left Moscow with nothing, and her niece Maria, the wife of Prince Vasily Vereisky (the heir to the Vereisko-Belozersky principality), was forced to flee to Lithuania with her husband, which also affected Sophia's position.

By 1490, however, new circumstances came into play. The son of the Grand Duke, heir to the throne, Ivan Ivanovich, fell ill with "kamchugo in the legs" (gout). Sophia ordered a doctor from Venice - "Mistro Leon", who presumptuously promised Ivan III to cure the heir to the throne; nevertheless, all the efforts of the doctor were powerless, and on March 7, 1490, Ivan the Young died. The doctor was executed, and rumors spread around Moscow about the poisoning of the heir; a hundred years later, these rumors, already as indisputable facts, were recorded by Andrei Kurbsky. Modern historians regard the hypothesis of the poisoning of Ivan the Young as unverifiable due to a lack of sources.

The conspiracy of Vladimir Gusev and the coronation of Dmitry the grandson

After the death of Ivan the Young, his son, the grandson of Ivan III, Dmitry, became the heir to the throne. Over the next few years, the struggle continued between his supporters and followers of Vasily Ivanovich; by 1497 this struggle had seriously escalated. This aggravation was facilitated by the decision of the Grand Duke to crown his grandson, giving him the title of Grand Duke and thus resolving the issue of succession to the throne. Of course, the actions of Ivan III categorically did not suit Vasily's supporters. In December 1497, a serious conspiracy was uncovered, aiming at the rebellion of Prince Vasily against his father. In addition to the "departure" of Vasily and the reprisals against Dmitry, the conspirators also intended to seize the grand ducal treasury (located on Beloozero). It is worth noting that the conspiracy did not find support among the higher boyars; the conspirators, although they came from fairly noble families, nevertheless, were not included in the immediate circle of the Grand Duke. The result of the conspiracy was Sophia's disgrace, which, as the investigation found out, was visited by sorceresses and soothsayers; Prince Vasily was placed under house arrest. The main conspirators from among the boyar children (Afanasy Eropkin, Shchavei Skryabin, Vladimir Gusev), as well as the “dashing women” associated with Sophia, were executed, some conspirators were imprisoned.

On February 4, 1498, the coronation of Prince Dmitry took place in the Assumption Cathedral in an atmosphere of great splendor. In the presence of the metropolitan and the highest hierarchs of the church, the boyars and members of the grand ducal family (with the exception of Sophia and Vasily Ivanovich, who were not invited to the ceremony), Ivan III “blessed and granted” his grandson a great reign. Barmas and the Hat of Monomakh were assigned to Dmitry, and after the coronation, a “great feast” was given in his honor. Already in the second half of 1498, the new title of Dmitry ("Grand Duke") was used in official documents. The coronation of Dmitry the grandson left a noticeable mark on the ceremonial of the Moscow court (thus, in particular, “The wedding ceremony of Dmitry the grandson”, describing the ceremony, influenced the wedding ceremony, developed in 1547 for the coronation of Ivan IV), and was also reflected in a number of non-annalistic monuments (primarily in the "Tale of the princes of Vladimir", which ideologically substantiated the rights of Moscow sovereigns to Russian lands).

Transfer of power to Vasily Ivanovich

The coronation of Dmitry the grandson did not bring him victory in the struggle for power, although it strengthened his position. However, the struggle between the parties of the two heirs continued; Dmitry received neither inheritance nor real power. Meanwhile, the internal political situation in the country worsened: in January 1499, on the orders of Ivan III, a number of boyars were arrested and sentenced to death - Prince Ivan Yurievich Patrikeev, his children, Princes Vasily and Ivan, and his son-in-law, Prince Semyon Ryapolovsky. All of the above were part of the boyar elite; I.Yu.Patrikeev was a cousin of the Grand Duke, he held the boyar rank for 40 years and at the time of his arrest he headed the Boyar Duma. The arrest was followed by the execution of Ryapolovsky; the life of the Patrikeyevs was saved by the intercession of Metropolitan Simon - Semyon Ivanovich and Vasily were allowed to take the veil as monks, and Ivan was imprisoned "for bailiffs" (under house arrest). A month later, Prince Vasily Romodanovsky was arrested and executed. The sources do not indicate the reasons for the disgrace of the boyars; it is also not entirely clear whether it was associated with any disagreements on foreign or domestic policy, or with dynastic struggles in the grand ducal family; in historiography there are also very different opinions on this matter.

By 1499, Vasily Ivanovich apparently managed to partially regain his father’s trust: at the beginning of this year, Ivan III announced to the Pskov posadniks that “I, the great prince Ivan, bestowed my son on Grand Duke Vasily, gave him Novgorod and Pskov.” However, these actions did not find understanding among the people of Pskov; the conflict was resolved only by September.

In 1500 another Russian-Lithuanian war began. On July 14, 1500, at Vedrosha, Russian troops inflicted a serious defeat on the forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It is to this period that the annalistic news about the departure of Vasily Ivanovich to Vyazma and about serious changes in the attitude of the Grand Duke to the heirs belongs. There is no consensus in historiography on how to interpret this message; in particular, both assumptions are made about Vasily's "departure" from his father and an attempt by the Lithuanians to capture him, and opinions about Vasily's readiness to go over to the side of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In any case, the year 1500 was a period of growing Basil's influence; in September, he was already called the Grand Duke of "All Russia", and by March 1501, the leadership of the court on Beloozero was transferred to him.

Finally, on April 11, 1502, the dynastic struggle came to its logical conclusion. According to the chronicle, Ivan III “placed disgrace on the grandson of his Grand Duke Dmitry and on his mother, the Grand Duchess Elena, and from that day on he did not order them to be remembered in litanies and litias, nor called the Grand Duke, and plant them for bailiffs.” A few days later, Vasily Ivanovich was granted a great reign; soon Dmitry the grandson and his mother Elena Voloshanka were transferred from house arrest to imprisonment. Thus, the struggle within the grand-ducal family ended in the victory of Prince Vasily; he became the co-ruler of his father and the rightful heir to a huge power. The fall of Dmitry the grandson and his mother also predetermined the fate of the Moscow-Novgorod heresy: the Church Council of 1503 finally defeated it; a number of heretics were executed. As for the fate of those who lost the dynastic struggle, it was sad: on January 18, 1505, Elena Stefanovna died in captivity, and in 1509 Dmitry himself died “in need, in prison”. “Some believe that he died from hunger and cold, others that he suffocated from smoke,” Herberstein reported about his death.

The death of the Grand Duke

In the summer of 1503, Ivan III fell seriously ill. Shortly before this (April 7, 1503), his wife, Sophia Palaiologos, died. Leaving business, the Grand Duke went on a trip to the monasteries, starting with the Trinity-Sergius. However, his condition continued to deteriorate: he became blind in one eye; partial paralysis of one arm and one leg. On October 27, 1505, Grand Duke Ivan III died. According to V. N. Tatishchev (however, it is unclear how reliable), the Grand Duke, having called before his death to his bedside confessor and metropolitan, nevertheless, refused to be tonsured as a monk. As the chronicle noted, “the sovereign of all Russia was in the state of the Grand Duchess ... 43 years and 7 months, and all the years of his stomach 65 and 9 months.” After the death of Ivan III, a traditional amnesty was held. The Grand Duke was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

According to the spiritual charter, the grand prince's throne passed to Vasily Ivanovich, the other sons of Ivan received specific cities. However, although the specific system was actually restored, it differed significantly from the previous period: the new Grand Duke received much more land, rights and advantages than his brothers; the contrast with what Ivan himself received at one time is especially noticeable. V. O. Klyuchevsky noted the following advantages of the Grand Duke's share:

• The Grand Duke now owned the capital alone, giving the brothers 100 rubles each from his income (previously, the heirs owned the capital jointly)
• The right of court in Moscow and the Moscow region now belonged only to the Grand Duke (previously, each of the princes had such a right in his part of the villages near Moscow)
• Now only the Grand Duke had the right to mint a coin
• Now the possessions of the specific prince who died childless passed directly to the Grand Duke (previously such lands were divided among the remaining brothers at the discretion of the mother).

Thus, the restored appanage system differed markedly from the appanage system of former times: in addition to increasing the grand ducal share during the division of the country (Vasily received more than 60 cities, and four of his brothers got no more than 30), the grand duke also concentrated political advantages in his hands.

Character and appearance

The description of the appearance of Ivan III, made by the Venetian A. Contarini, who visited Moscow in 1476 and was awarded a meeting with the Grand Duke, has come down to our time. According to him, Ivan was “tall, but thin; In general, he is a very nice person.” The Kholmogory chronicler mentioned Ivan's nickname - Humpbacked, which, perhaps, indicates that Ivan was stooping - and this, in principle, is all that we know about the appearance of the Grand Duke. One nickname given by contemporaries - "The Great" - is currently used most often. In addition to these two nicknames, two more nicknames of the Grand Duke have come down to us: “Terrible” and “Justice”.
Little is known about the character and habits of Ivan Vasilievich. S. Herberstein, who visited Moscow already under Vasily III, wrote about Ivan: “... For women, he was so formidable that if any of them accidentally came across him, then from his gaze she just did not lose her life.” He did not ignore the traditional vice of the Russian princes - drunkenness: “during dinner, for the most part, he indulged in intoxication to such an extent that he was overcome by sleep, and all those invited were, meanwhile, stricken with fear and were silent; upon awakening, he usually rubbed his eyes, and then only began to joke and show cheerfulness towards the guests. The author of one Lithuanian chronicle wrote about Ivan that he was “a man of a bold heart and a knight of the roll” - which was probably some exaggeration, since the Grand Duke himself preferred not to go on campaigns himself, but to send his generals. S. Herberstein wrote on the same occasion that “the great Stefan, the famous palatine of Moldavia, often remembered him at feasts, saying that he, sitting at home and indulging in sleep, multiplies his power, and he himself, fighting daily, is barely able to protect the borders.

It is known that Ivan III listened to the advice of the boyar duma; nobleman I. N. Bersen-Beklemishev (executed under Vasily III) wrote that the Grand Duke “loved the strech (objections) against himself and complained of those who spoke against him.” Andrei Kurbsky also noted the monarch's love for the boyar councils; however, judging by the words of Kurbsky's correspondence opponent, Ivan IV, Ivan III's relationship with the boyars was by no means idyllic.

The characterization of Ivan's religious views also runs into a lack of data. It is known that heretics-freethinkers enjoyed his support for a long time: two Novgorod heretics (Denis and Alexei) were appointed to the Kremlin cathedrals; Fyodor Kuritsyn enjoyed considerable influence at court; in 1490, Zosima was elected metropolitan, whom some church leaders considered a supporter of heresy. Judging by one of the letters of Joseph Volotsky, Ivan knew about the connections of his daughter-in-law, Elena Voloshanka, with heretics.

Board results

The main result of the reign of Ivan III was the unification around Moscow of most of the Russian lands. Russia included: the Novgorod land, the Tver principality, which was a rival of the Moscow state for a long time, as well as the Yaroslavl, Rostov, and partially Ryazan principalities. Only the Pskov and Ryazan principalities remained independent, however, they were not completely independent either. After successful wars with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Novgorod-Seversky, Chernigov, Bryansk, and a number of other cities (which before the war accounted for about a third of the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) became part of the Muscovite state; dying, Ivan III transferred to his successor several times more land than he himself accepted. In addition, it was under Grand Duke Ivan III that the Russian state became completely independent: as a result of “standing on the Ugra”, the power of the Horde Khan over Russia, which had lasted since 1243, completely ceased. Russia is turning into a strong state capable of pursuing an independent policy in its own interests.

The reign of Ivan III was also marked by success in domestic politics. In the course of the reforms, a code of laws of the country was adopted - the "Sudebnik" of 1497. At the same time, the foundations of the command system of government were laid, and the local system also appeared. The centralization of the country and the elimination of fragmentation were continued; the government waged a fairly tough fight against the separatism of the specific princes. The era of the reign of Ivan III became a time of cultural upsurge. The erection of new buildings (in particular, the Moscow Assumption Cathedral), the flourishing of chronicle writing, the emergence of new ideas - all this testifies to significant success in the field of culture.

In general, we can say that the reign of Ivan III Vasilyevich was extremely successful, and the nickname of the Grand Duke, “The Great”, common in science and journalism, characterizes the scale of the deeds of this outstanding political figure in the era of the unified Russian state.

Ivan 3 Vasilyevich began his reign as the prince of Moscow, in fact, as one of the many specific princes of Russia. After 40 years, he left his son a state that united the entire northeastern Russia, the size of which was several times greater than the territory of the Moscow principality, a state liberated from the yoke of tribute to the Tatar-Mongols and stunned all of Europe with its appearance.

Childhood and youth

The creator of the Russian state, Tsar Ivan III, was born on January 22, 1440. Father, Vasily 2, is the Grand Duke of Moscow, mother is the daughter of the Serpukhov specific prince Yaroslav Maria. He was his great-grandfather. The childhood of Ivan 3 passed in Moscow.

Father, a brave and purposeful man, despite his blindness, managed to regain the throne, lost during internecine strife. He was blinded by order of the specific princes, because of which he was nicknamed the Dark One. FROM early childhood Vasily 2 prepared his eldest son for the throne, already in 1448 Ivan Vasilyevich began to be called the Grand Duke. From the age of 12, he begins to take part in military campaigns against the Tatars and recalcitrant princes, and at 16 he becomes a co-ruler of his father. In 1462, after the death of Vasily the Dark, his son takes over the reins of the Grand Duchy.

Accomplishments

Gradually, slowly, where by diplomatic cunning and persuasion, and where by war, Ivan 3 subordinates almost all Russian principalities to Moscow. The subjugation of the rich and strong Novgorod was difficult and difficult, but in 1478 he also surrendered. Unification was necessary - fragmented Russia, sandwiched between the Tatars from the east and the Principality of Lithuania from the west, would eventually simply cease to exist, crushed by its neighbors.

Having united the Russian lands, feeling the strength of his positions, Ivan 3 stops paying tribute to the Horde. Khan Akhmat, who could not bear this, in 1480 undertook a campaign against Russia, which ended in failure. Tatar-Mongol yoke, cruel and ruinous, was put an end to.

Freed from the danger from the Horde, Ivan Vasilyevich goes to war on Lithuanian principality, as a result of which Russia advanced its borders to the west.

During the reign of Ivan Vasilyevich, Russia became a strong, independent state, which forced not only its closest neighbors, but the whole of Europe to reckon with itself. Ivan 3 was the first in history to be called the "sovereign of all Russia." He not only expanded the borders of the Russian principality, but also internal changes took place under him - the code of laws "Sudebnik" was adopted, chronicle writing was encouraged, the brick Moscow Kremlin, the Assumption Cathedral, the Faceted Chamber were rebuilt by Italian architects.

Wives and children

Interesting facts of the biography of the creator of the Russian state are contained in his personal life.

In 1452, at the age of twelve, Ivan Vasilievich was married to ten-year-old Maria Borisovna, the daughter of the Tver prince. In 1958, their son, Ivan, was born. Unremarkable, quiet Maria Borisovna died unexpectedly at the age of 29. The Grand Duke, who was at that time in Kolomna, for some reason did not come to the funeral in Moscow.

Ivan 3 decided to marry again. He was interested in Sophia Palaiologos, the niece of the deceased Byzantine emperor Constantine. The candidacy of the Byzantine princess was proposed by the Pope. After three years of negotiations, in 1472, Sophia arrived in Moscow, where she immediately married Ivan 3.

Family life was probably successful, judging by the numerous offspring. But in the first years of marriage, Sophia, to the displeasure of Ivan Vasilyevich, gave birth only to girls, three of the four, moreover, died in infancy. But, finally, on March 25, 1479, the Grand Duchess gave birth to a boy, who was named Vasily.

In total, from 1474 to 1490, the couple had 12 children.

Sophia's life in Moscow was overshadowed by the dislike for her of the townspeople and noble boyars, who were unhappy with her influence on Ivan 3 and the negative attitude towards her stepson, Ivan Ivanovich Molodoy. She did everything to ensure that Vasily, their long-awaited first son, was recognized as the heir to Ivan Vasilyevich. And she was looking forward to it. Ivan Ivanovich Molodoy died in 1490 (as they said, he was poisoned on the orders of Sophia), his son Dmitry, who was magnificently crowned for a great reign in 1498, after 4 years was disgraced and imprisoned. And in 1502, Ivan 3 declares Vasily his co-ruler.

demise

In 1505, 2 years after the death of his wife, Ivan 3, who had retired from business, was paralyzed - the left half of the body was taken away and one eye was blind. On October 27, 1505, at the age of 65, he died. His remains rested in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.