Origin When the Mongols invaded the lands of Kievan Rus , Moscow was still an insignificant trading outpost in the principality of Vladimir-Suzdal. Even if the Mongols burned Moscow in winter 1238 and pillaged in 1293, its site in the forest in Moscow offered some security against the Mongol attacks, while allowing access to a set of trade routes through the basins of the Volga , the Neva and Don.
The first ruler of the principality of Moscow, Moskovsky Daniel ( 1261 - 1303 ), was the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky , ruler of the principality of Vladimir-Suzdal. Daniel I began to expand his principality by taking Kolomna while ensuring the inheritance of Pereslavl-Zalessky. Daniel's son, Yuri Moskovsky III ( 1325 ) then controls the entire basin of the river Moskva and expanded its territory westward by capturing Mojaisk. He then forged an alliance with Ozbeg of the Golden Horde by marrying the sister of the Khan, for the right to claim the title of Grand Duke of Vladimir-Suzdal , a position which enabled him to confront the Republic of Novgorod.
The successor of Yuri, Ivan I of Russia ( one thousand two hundred and eighty-eight - 1,340 ) retained the title of Grand Duke, through its close cooperation with the Mongols. This relationship also allowed to have sway over the main rival to Moscow at the time: the city of Tver , who rebelled against the Golden Horde in 1327, uprising that was suppressed by the combined forces of the Mongols and Muscovites. Ivan I also used his wealth to expand and acquire land and surrounding principalities but also to finance the construction of stone churches, especially in the Moscow Kremlin. In 1327, the Metropolitan of Moscow, Pierre moved his residence from Vladimir to Moscow, which increased the prestige of the principality.
Dimitri IV
The successors of Ivan I continued to collect the Russian lands. As a result, they quickly entered into conflict of interest with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Grand Duke of Lithuania, Olgierd allied by marriage to Tver and undertook three expeditions against Moscow in 1368, in 1370 and 1372, without being able to drop.
In the 1350s , the principality and the royal family were affected by the plague. Dimitri IV of Russia was nine years old when his parents died and the title of Grand Duke slipped into the hands of his distant relative, Dmitri III Konstantinovich. It cultivated relations with the Russian Orthodox Church , who knew at that time a revival of influence because of the monastic reforms of St. Sergius of Radonezh.
Dimitri IV showed himself the champion of orthodoxy by uniting the principalities of Russia in its fight against the Golden Horde. He defeated the khan's authority and defeated his commander Mamai in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, however, even if Tokhtamych invades Moscow a few years later. In 1389, he passed the throne to his son Vasily I of Russia , without bothering to obtain the agreement of the khan.
Vasily I and Vasily II
Table of Apollinary Vasnetsov (1864-1933), representing the courtyard of a medieval Russian prince.
Vasili I ( one thousand three hundred and seventy-one - in 1425 ) continued the policy of his father. After the attack of Timur against the Golden Horde, Vasili I did not pay tribute to Khan, but he was forced, after the raid of Edigu in 1408 to lead a more conciliatory policy with the Horde. He was married to the only daughter of Grand Duke of Lithuania, Vytautas the Great , which allowed him to avoid open conflict with his powerful father-in spite of the annexation by the latter, of Smolensk. These years of peace were marked by continuing expansion of the principality to the east by the annexation of Nizhny Novgorod and Suzdal in 1392 and north by the annexation of Vologda , Veliky Ustyug and Basin Vytchegda in 1398.
The period was marked by significant religious reform and a cultural revival, exemplified by the icons and frescoes of the monk Andrei Rublev. Hundreds of monasteries were founded by disciples of St. Sergius of Radonezh as those Kirillo-Belozersky and Solovetsky. Besides their cultural function, these monasteries were major landowners, which marked the economy and society of the adjacent areas, often isolated.
On the ascent of the successor of Vasily I , Vasili II of Russia ( 1415 - one thousand four hundred and sixty-two ), his uncle, Yuri IV of Russia laid his claim to the throne. A fratricidal conflict marred the country during the reign of Vasili II. After the death of Yuri IV in 1432, his claims were repeated by his son, Vasily Kosoi and Dimitri Shemyaka until 1450. Although he was ousted from Moscow, and then taken prisoner by the ruler of Kazan Olug Moxammat , blinded and finally in 1446, Vasily II was finally able to defeat its enemies and to pass on his throne to his son.
Ivan III
Table of Aleksey Maksimov
The expansion of Muscovy in the fourteenth and fifteenth century was accompanied by internal consolidation. In the fifteenth century , though several princes still claimed their autonomy or independence, Ivan III of Russia ( 1.44 thousand - one thousand five hundred and five ) forced the princes to recognize his military authority, judicial, and diplomatic. The principality annexed the Republic of Novgorod in 1478 and the Grand Duchy of Tver in 1485 and by inheritance Ivan III acquired the principality of Ryazan , while the princes of Rostov Veliki and Yaroslavl paid him homage. Great Principality of Moscow and had acquired full sovereignty over a significant part of Russian land in 1480, when the domination of the Golden Horde broke up. The republic of Pskov remained independent during this period, however, even if it was conquered by the son of Ivan III , Vasily III ( 1479 - 1533 ).
But Ivan III was still faced with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , he had conflicts with Border Control Basin Dnieper and Donets. After a long war concluded in 1503 against Lithuania, Ivan III extended his principality to the west, in the west of the former Kievan Rus. Ivan III, thereby completing the centralization of state before that Ivan IV of Russia did crown Tsar in 1547.
References
Table of Aleksey Maksimov
Sources
Bibliography
Loading ...