Who ruled between Ivan 3 and 4. The era of the reign of Ivan III. Began the path to empire

Ivan 3 was appointed by fate to restore autocracy in Russia, did not suddenly accept this great deed and did not consider all means permitted.

Karamzin N.M.

The reign of Ivan 3 lasted from 1462 to 1505. This time entered the history of Russia as the beginning of the unification of the lands of specific Russia around Moscow, which created the foundations of a single state. It was also Ivan 3 who was the ruler under whom Russia got rid of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, which lasted almost 2 centuries.

Ivan 3 began his reign in 1462 at the age of 22. The throne passed to him according to the will from Vasily 2.

State administration

Beginning in 1485, Ivan III proclaimed himself the sovereign of all Russia. From this moment begins a unified policy aimed at strengthening the international position of the country. As for internal control, it is difficult to call the power of the prince absolute. The general scheme of governing Moscow and the entire state under Ivan 3 is presented below.

The prince, of course, ascended above everyone, but the church and the boyar duma were quite a bit inferior in importance. It suffices to note that:

• The power of the prince does not extend to church lands and boyar estates.
• The church and the boyars have the right to mint their own coin.

Thanks to the Sudebnik of 1497, the feeding system takes root in Russia, when princely officials receive broad powers in terms of local government.

Under Ivan 3, a system of transfer of power was first implemented, when the prince appointed himself a successor. It was also during this era that the first Orders began to take shape. The order of the Treasury and the Palace were founded, which were in charge of the receipt of taxes and the distribution of land to the nobles for service.

Unification of Russia around Moscow

Conquest of Novgorod

Novgorod during the period of Ivan 3 coming to power retained the principle of governance through veche. Veche chose the posadnik, who determined the policy of Veliky Novgorod. In 1471, the struggle between the boyar groups "Lithuania" and "Moscow" intensified. This was ordered to the massacre at the veche, as a result of which the Lithuanian boyars won the victory, led by Marfa Boretskaya, the wife of the retired posadnik. Immediately after this, Marfa signed the vassal oath of Novgorod to Lithuania. Ivan 3 immediately sent a letter to the city, demanding to recognize the supremacy of Moscow in the city, but the Novgorod veche was against it. This meant war.

In the summer of 1471, Ivan 3 sent troops to Novgorod. The battle took place near the Shelon River, where the Novgorodians were defeated. On July 14, a battle took place near the walls of Novgorod, where the Muscovites won, and the Novgorodians lost about 12 thousand people killed. Moscow strengthened its positions in the city, but kept self-government for Novgorodians. In 1478, when it became obvious that Novgorod did not stop trying to go under the rule of Lithuania, Ivan 3 deprived the city of any self-government, finally subordinating it to Moscow.

Novgorod was now ruled by the Moscow governor, and the famous bell, symbolizing the freedom of the Novgorodians, was sent to Moscow.

Accession of Tver, Vyatka and Yaroslavl

Prince of Tver Mikhail Borisovich, wishing to preserve the independence of his principality, married the granddaughter of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Kazemir 4. This did not stop Ivan 3, who in 1485 started the war. The situation for Mikhail was complicated by the fact that many Tver boyars had already switched to the service of the Moscow prince. Soon the siege of Tver began, and Mikhail fled to Lithuania. After that, Tver surrendered without resistance. Ivan 3 left his son Ivan to manage the city. So there was a subordination of Tver to Moscow.

Yaroslavl during the reign of Ivan 3 formally retained its independence, but it was a gesture of goodwill from Ivan 3 himself. Yaroslavl was completely dependent on Moscow, and its independence was expressed only in the fact that local princes had the right to inherit power in the city. The wife of the Yaroslavl prince was the sister of Ivan 3, Anna, which is why he allowed her husband and sons to inherit power and rule independently. Although all important decisions were made in Moscow.

Vyatka had a control system similar to Novgorod. In 1489, Tver submitted to the rule of Ivan III, passing into the control of Moscow along with the ancient city of Arsk. After that, Moscow strengthened as a single center for the unification of Russian lands into a single state.

Foreign policy

The foreign policy of Ivan 3 was expressed in three directions:

• East - liberation from the yoke and the solution of the problem of the Kazan Khanate.
• Southern - confrontation with the Crimean Khanate.
• Western - the solution of border issues with Lithuania.

East direction

The key task of the eastern direction is the deliverance of Russia from the Tatar-Mongol yoke. The result was standing on the Ugra River in 1480, after which Russia gained independence from the Horde. 240 years of the yoke were completed and the rise of the Muscovite state began.

Wives of Prince Ivan 3

Ivan 3 was married twice: the first wife was Princess Maria of Tver, the second wife was Sophia Paleolog from the family of Byzantine emperors. From his first marriage, the prince had a son - Ivan Molodoy.

Sophia (Zoya) Palaiologos was the niece of the Byzantine emperor Constantine 11, but after the fall of Constantinople, she moved to Rome, where she lived under the auspices of the pope. For Ivan III, this was a great option for marriage, after the death of Princess Mary. This marriage made it possible to unite the ruling dynasties of Russia and Byzantium.

In January 1472, an embassy was sent to Rome for the bride, headed by Prince Ivan Fryazin. The Pope agreed to send Palaiologos to Russia under 2 conditions:

1. Russia will persuade the Golden Horde to war with Turkey.
2. Russia in one form or another will accept Catholicism.

The ambassadors accepted all the conditions, and Sophia Paleolog went to Moscow. On November 12, 1472, she entered the capital. It is noteworthy that at the entrance to the city, traffic was stopped for several days. This was due to the fact that Catholic priests were at the head of the delegation. Ivan 3 considered worship of someone else's faith a sign of disrespect for his own, so he demanded that the Catholic priests hide the crosses and move deeper into the column. Only after meeting these requirements, the movement continued.

succession to the throne

In 1498, the first dispute over the succession to the throne arose. Part of the boyars demanded that his grandson Dmitry become the heir of Ivan 3. It was the son of Ivan the Young and Elena Voloshanka. Ivan Young was the son of Ivan 3 from his marriage to Princess Mary. Another group of boyars spoke out for Vasily, the son of Ivan 3 and Sophia Paleolog.

The Grand Duke suspected his wife that she wanted to poison Dmitry and his mother Elena. A conspiracy was announced and some people were executed. As a result, Ivan 3 became suspicious of his wife and son, so on February 4, 1498, Ivan 3 names Dmitry, who at that time was 15 years old, as his successor.

After that, there was a change in the mood of the Grand Duke. He decided to re-investigate the circumstances of the assassination attempt on Dmitry and Elena. As a result, Dmitry was already taken into custody, and Vasily was appointed prince of Novgorod and Pskov.

In 1503, Princess Sophia died, and the prince's health became noticeably worse. Therefore, he gathered the boyars and declared Vasily, the future Prince Vasily 3, his heir.

The results of the reign of Ivan 3

In 1505 Prince Ivan III dies. After himself, he leaves a great legacy and great deeds that were destined to be continued by his son Vasily. The results of the reign of Ivan 3 can be characterized as follows:

• Elimination of the reasons for the fragmentation of Russia and the unification of the lands around Moscow.
• The beginning of the creation of a single state
• Ivan 3 was one of the strongest rulers of his era

Ivan 3 was not an educated person, in the classical sense of the word. He could not get enough education in childhood, but this was compensated by his natural ingenuity and quick wit. Many call him a cunning king, because he very often achieved the results he needed by cunning.

An important stage in the reign of Prince Ivan III was the marriage to Sophia Paleolog, as a result of which Russia became a strong power, and it began to be discussed throughout Europe. This, no doubt, gave impetus to the development of statehood in our country.

Key events of the reign of Ivan III:

• 1463 - annexation of Yaroslavl
• 1474 - annexation of the Rostov principality
• 1478 - annexation of Veliky Novgorod
• 1485 - annexation of the Tver principality
• Liberation of Russia from the Horde yoke
• 1480 - standing on the Ugra
• 1497 - adoption of the code of law Ivan 3.

Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

Hosted at http://www.allbest.ru/

In 1462, Ivan III came to the throne of Moscow. The ascension of the 22-year-old ruler took place according to the will of Vasily II. Neither the approval of the Horde nor the Horde label was required. But the payment of tribute was still a strong thread that connected Russia with the Golden Horde. Meanwhile, the weakened Horde was gradually falling apart. In addition to the Golden, or Great, Horde, as the former power of Batu was called, several more khanates appeared that separated from Saray. These are the Kazan, Crimean and Siberian khanates. The Kasimov Khanate settled on the very territory of Russia. These khanates competed with each other, but each demanded tribute from Russia. Ivan III inflicted a series of blows on the Kazan Khanate, In 1469, the army led by his brother Yuri. besieged Kazan and freed Russian captives languishing there. Ivan III had to settle relations in his family. Indeed, according to the will of Vasily II, the brothers of Ivan III received, albeit small, but independent principalities-destinies. Any aggravation of relations with the brothers threatened a new war. Therefore, Ivan III left their destinies behind them. But as soon as his childless brother Yuri died, his inheritance, the principality of Dmitrov, was immediately included in the state lands. Ivan III energetically continued the policy of subordinating still independent Russian lands to Moscow. The methods here were very different. So, Ivan III bought the Yaroslavl principality from the Yaroslavl princely family, and established patronage over the Ryazan principality. It was more difficult with Novgorod and Tver - these old rivals of Moscow.

Subjugation of Novgorod

The rulers of Novgorod felt that the preponderance of forces was more and more leaning towards Moscow. And therefore, sending embassies to Moscow with a request to preserve Novgorod's liberties in the old way, they simultaneously entered into negotiations with Lithuania, asking for help against Moscow. Lithuania agreed to provide this assistance. Thus, as it were, the times of the confrontation between Olgerd and Vitovt and Moscow were returning. Lithuania also tried to enlist the support of the Great Horde and the Crimean Khanate. Novgorod, thus, was included in the big Eastern European politics. The goal was one - to stop the strengthening of the Moscow principality. Self-confident, Ivan III sent a letter to Novgorod, in which he called the Novgorod Republic his ancestral homeland. This met with an outcry in the city. And not only the boyars - supporters of the Lithuanian party, but also ordinary townspeople - merchants and artisans. Stormy meetings of the vecha began to take place - the Novgorodians did not want to be serfs of the Moscow prince! The democratic order of this northwestern Russian city, close to Europe, faced irresistible processes of unification of all Russian lands, the creation of a powerful centralized state capable of defending freedom and independence, primarily from the Horde, of all Russian lands. Ivan III resolved the conflict by force of arms.

As an experienced politician, he gave the upcoming campaign an all-Russian character - he gathered representatives of princely families, boyars, nobles and merchants in order to enlist their support. In addition, the punitive expedition was of a religious nature. Ivan III announced that he was starting a campaign against those who were inclined towards Latinism, towards heresy, because the union of Novgorod with Lithuania was an agreement with a Catholic country. Moreover, at that time the fate of Orthodoxy, the fate of the true faith, was aggravated by the fact that in 1453 Constantinople fell under the pressure of the Turks. Over Orthodoxy hangs not only the scourge of Latinism, but also the threat of Islam. Ivan III and his assistants did not forget about the attempt of papal Rome to subjugate the weakening Greek Orthodoxy to its influence, when in 1439 a union arose between the Catholic and Orthodox churches. In the face of the Turkish offensive against Byzantium, the Patriarch of Constantinople agreed to such a union. This decision was made in Italy at the famous Church Council, which was held in two cities - Ferrara and Florence. The Metropolitan of Moscow was also present at the Council, supporting the union. When he returned to Moscow, he was accused of betraying the Orthodox faith, arrested and removed from the metropolitan throne. For Russia, the fight against Catholicism and Uniatism, of course, meant protection from the ideological aggression of Western countries. But at the same time it led to the isolation of the country from European civilization. Under the banner of the salvation of the true faith, Ivan III led his regiments to Novgorod. He mobilized against Novgorod all the forces of the then Russia. In the summer of 1471, a historic battle took place on the banks of the Shelon River. A small, but well-organized and equipped Russian army, without waiting for the approach of the main forces, defeated the Novgorod army, which was numerically superior to it. The result of this defeat was the constraint of Novgorod freedoms. Novgorod recognized himself as the fatherland of Ivan III. The power of the Moscow governor was strengthened, relations with Lithuania were declared illegal. Novgorod posadniks were executed, among them - Boretsky, an active supporter of the rapprochement of Novgorod with Lithuania. A number of boyars and other noble persons were sent to prison in Kolomna. Novgorod paid Moscow a huge indemnity.

Lithuania did not dare to come out in support of its ally. But the khan of the Great Horde Akhmat took advantage of the distraction of the Moscow forces to the north. In the summer of 1472 he attacked Russia. However, Ivan III managed to advance the grand ducal army to the Oka, and Akhmat did not dare to force the Oka. The Horde evaded the general battle, the Horde was afraid of an open confrontation with Moscow. The hour of the final liberation of Russia from the Mongol-Tatar yoke was approaching. After the defeat on the Shelon River, the anti-Moscow party in Novgorod did not lay down its arms. It was headed by the widow of the executed posadnik Marfa Boretskaya. More and more persistent efforts were made to go under the rule of Lithuania. Opponents of Moscow were driven by hatred for Ivan III, infringement of personal, selfish interests. Objectively, the victory of this party would mean the preservation of urban freedoms, getting rid of the heavy hand of Moscow and moving along the path of other Eastern European states that are in the orbit of European civilizational development.

Soon Boretskaya's party took over, supporters of the Moscow party were executed, and Moscow merchants were expelled from Novgorod. In 1477, Ivan III again sent an all-Russian army to the rebellious city, which besieged Novgorod and forced the city leaders to enter into negotiations. As before, neither Lithuania nor the Horde came to the aid of Novgorod. Under the new treaty, Novgorod became one of the parts of the Russian state. The lands of opponents of unity with Moscow and part of the church lands were confiscated in favor of the Grand Duke of Moscow. In January 1478, Ivan III solemnly entered his fatherland - Novgorod. Grand princely governors took power in the city. The most stubborn opponents of Moscow were arrested and sent to prison. Among them was the indomitable Martha Boretskaya. Ivan III spent a month in the once independent Novgorod Republic, establishing the Moscow order. When he returned to Moscow, a veche bell was carried behind him on a sleigh.

Sovereign of all Russia. The victory over the Horde was accompanied by new successes of Ivan III in the unification of the Russian lands and in the centralization of state power. After the inclusion of Novgorod in the composition of the emerging Russian state, the historical turn of Tver began. The ring of Moscow lands around Tver was shrinking. Prince of Tver Mikhail Borisovich tried to avoid the fate of Novgorod and entered into an alliance with Lithuania. And then Ivan III moved the Moscow army to Tver. In 1485 the Principality of Tver was included in the Russian state, but at first it retained some autonomy: the eldest son of Ivan III Ivan Ivanovich became the Prince of Tver. Somewhat later, Ivan III undertook a campaign against Vyatka, and the entire Vyatka region also became part of the Russian state. After the victory over the Horde, Novgorod and Tver, Ivan III gradually liquidated the inheritances of the brothers. Thus, during the years of the reign of Ivan III, the political map of North-Eastern and North-Western Russia changed dramatically. A large, unified, independent state appeared - Russia. At the reception of foreign ambassadors in 1488, Ivan III declared: We, by the grace of God, are sovereigns on our land. He called himself the sovereign of all Russia. The double-headed eagle borrowed from the Holy Roman Empire became the coat of arms of the new state. The coat of arms symbolized that Russia is a Eurasian power. On the coat of arms, one head of the eagle seems to be turned towards Europe, the other towards Asia. At the Moscow court, a magnificent ceremonial was established, largely borrowed from Byzantium. Moscow proclaimed that the new state was the heir to the Old Russian state, which once united all the East Slavic lands. And this meant that Moscow claimed all the lands that were part of the ancient Slavic state, whose possessions stretched from the White Sea to the Black Sea, from the Ural Mountains to the Carpathians. The first steps in this direction were taken under Ivan III and under his son, Vasily III. At the end of the XV century. Vyazma was ceded to Moscow under an agreement with Lithuania. During the Russo-Lithuanian war (1500-1503), Muscovite troops obtained Chernigov, Bryansk, Mtsensk, Rylsk, Gomel and some other Russian cities for Russia. Lithuania tried to oppose Moscow in alliance with the Teutonic Order and the Crimean Khanate, but the troops of Vasily III themselves went on the offensive and in 1514 captured Smolensk. In 1510, Pskov was annexed to Moscow, and in 1520, the Ryazan principality. All North-Eastern and North-Western Russia was under the rule of Moscow. The unification of the Russian lands was completed, the territory of a single Russian state was formed. The huge Russian state began the struggle for the reunification of all East Slavic lands.

Russia of that time was an agrarian country with a significant predominance of the rural population. (Out of about 6 million inhabitants, no more than 5% lived in cities by the middle of the century). Agriculture remained the main occupation.

The three-field system was spreading more and more, gradually displacing the undercut to the north. The main tool of labor for the peasants, as before, was the plow, which was somewhat improved (the so-called roe deer plow) and, in terms of its arable capabilities, approached the plow. They grew rye, barley, oats, wheat, garden crops. First half of the sixteenth century can be described as the "golden age" of the Russian farmer. Thanks to the development of forests for arable land (i.e. "internal colonization"), the allocation of land to the peasant household increased (from 10 to 15 acres of land in 3 fields). The size of the peasant family also increased (up to 10 souls of both sexes on average), which provided the economy with the necessary labor force. At this time, the traditional rates of taxes and fees were still preserved, which were not very burdensome. On average, the peasant economy gave up to 30% of the total produced product to the state and its feudal lord, which still could not restrain its economic initiative. Thus, the state and the service class, on the one hand, provided external security and internal political stability for the economic activity of the peasantry, and on the other hand, they were not yet strong enough to withdraw a significant share of the produced product and thereby deprive producers of material interest in the results of labor. In addition to the economic at this time, there is an improvement in the social and legal status of farmers. This is evidenced by the very fact of the spread of the term "peasants" and the displacement of the class-deficient concepts of "smerdy", "orphans", reflecting the unequal position of farmers. The peasants' right to a free "exit" on St. George's Day was legally confirmed. Peasants united in a community whose norms and traditions regulated economic and spiritual life. It influenced peasant land use, controlled hayfields and fishing grounds, served as an intermediary in relation to peasants with their feudal lord and state. In general, the community provided economic, social, legal and spiritual conditions for the life of its members. From the end of the fifteenth century the structure of land ownership changed. The boyar patrimony, on the one hand, was shrinking from permanent family divisions, and on the other hand, there was a reduction in the total boyar fund of lands as a result of their partial transfer into the hands of monasteries. The boyars gave part of their possessions to the monasteries, hoping to save their sinful souls through the prayers of the monks - intercessors before God. But the crushing and landlessness of part of the estates threatened the interests of the state, because. undermined his military strength. In conditions of a shortage of funds, the soldiers received land "salaries" for their service, and from the land, due to the labor of the peasants who sat on it, they "fed" and provided themselves and their military servants with marching horses and the necessary weapons. According to some reports, the labor of five peasant farms was spent on the maintenance of one equestrian warrior. The active foreign policy of the country, the need to strengthen statehood required an increase in the size of the army through land distributions. The Grand Duke, after the unification of the country and the concentration of an extensive land fund in his hands, received such an opportunity. However, the allocation of land to estate owners became unprofitable due to the “leakage” of land into the hands of the church, which led to the declassification of “boyar children”. As a result, for military service, the state began to allocate land to the servants of the Grand Duke and "children of the boyars" on limited terms - forbidding them to sell and donate land. This is how a new form of feudal landownership took shape - the estate and a new group of the feudal estate - the landowners ("placed on the land"). The term nobles in relation to this group of landowners became widespread later. Cities became centers of crafts and trade. Potters and tanners, shoemakers and jewelers, etc. produced their products for the market. The number and specialization of urban crafts generally provided for the needs of rural residents. Local markets are forming around the cities, but since For the bulk of the peasants, it was too far and inconvenient to get to them, then they produced a significant part of the handicraft products themselves. Thus, the subsistence nature of the peasant economy, the general economic backwardness of the country stood in the way of the formation of market relations.

At the end of the XV century. in Moscow, a state manufactory for the manufacture of cannons and other firearms arose. But it could not fully cover the needs of the army in modern weapons. In addition, Russia did not have explored deposits of non-ferrous and noble metals, sulfur, iron was mined only from poor swampy ores. All this made necessary both the development of our own production and the expansion of economic ties with the countries of Western Europe. The volume of foreign trade of that era was directly dependent on the success of maritime trade.

Urban population. The population of cities ("townspeople") was quite diverse in composition and differentiated by occupation. Craftsmen, small merchants, gardeners united on a territorial basis in hundreds and fifty. Russia did not know craft workshops in their pure form. Merchants united in corporations of "guests", "cloth workers", etc., who had great privileges, and in a number of ways their status approached that of the boyars - they did not pay taxes, members of some of these corporations could own land with peasants. It was from them that the leaders of the city self-government were elected, in charge of collecting taxes and organizing the serving of various duties. However, the general management of the cities was in the hands of the grand duke's power and was carried out through its governors. City land was considered the property of the state. On the whole, in Russian cities, an "urban system" similar to that in Western Europe did not take shape; the urban population became more and more dependent on the state.

Reforms of the Chosen One

The uprising of 1547 showed that there was acute dissatisfaction in society with the state of affairs in the country. For many years of boyar omnipotence and unrest, the patience of the people was exhausted. The nobles were also dissatisfied, who turned out to be completely dependent on the all-powerful boyar groups, and in the counties - on the will of the feeders. Many representatives of the clergy advocated a reasonable policy.

The young monarch decided to eliminate the painful ulcers of society. Ivan IV tripled the composition of the Boyar Duma, including in it less noble, but capable and energetic people - his supporters. Instead of old, well-born and influential boyars, a circle of young, humble, but intelligent and enlightened people formed around him, who dreamed of turning Russia into a strong and prosperous state. The Kostroma nobleman Alexei Adashev, the priest of the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin Sylvester and the talented military leader, Prince Andrei Mikhailovich Kurbsky, moved to the first place among the new advisers to the tsar. Not trusting the well-born boyars, Ivan IV elevated many representatives of the prikaz administration - the mentation of the country. The closest to the king among them was the head of the Ambassadorial order, the clerk Ivan Viskovaty. A prominent place among the reformers was occupied by Metropolitan Macarius, who, in essence, became the spiritual mentor of the sovereign. Later, Prince Kurbsky called the circle of people close to Ivan IV at that time, the Chosen Rada. Most of them were young, energetic, inspired by the ideals of a just and reasonable government. In 1549, Ivan IV convened a Council of Reconciliation. Members of the Boyar Duma, churchmen, governors, and nobles were invited to the palace. Subsequently, such cathedrals began to be called Zemsky cathedrals, that is, cathedrals from the whole earth. The cathedral marked the beginning of estate representation in Russia, when the monarch rules the country together with representatives of the estates. The same meetings under the kings began to arise in Western countries, where wealthy citizens and merchants were gaining more and more weight. This spoke of the emergence of the first signs of civil society in Russia, i.e., such a society when the people gained access to influence the decisions of the authorities, when the will of the monarch was limited. At first, Ivan IV voluntarily and consciously went to the council with the whole earth. The Council of Reconciliation outlined a number of reforms, which began to be carried out by members of the Chosen Rada under the leadership of the king. First of all, the transformations affected the army. New military units appeared - archery regiments. The Streltsy army was armed not only with edged weapons, like a noble militia, but also with firearms.

Streltsy received uniforms and a monetary salary. In peacetime, they were allowed to engage in crafts and engage in petty trade. In essence, the archers became the royal guard. Financial reforms were undertaken. The country, devastated by the boyars, needed money. They were taken from church farms and monasteries. All their tax breaks were cancelled. Now churchmen were obliged to pay taxes from their lands, as all landowners did. At the same time, new taxes were introduced in the country, and old ones were raised. The state sought to take advantage of the development of the peasant economy and the increase in the incomes of the townspeople. In the 1550s-1560s. the tax yoke has increased several times. Reforms were carried out in local and central government. An end has come to the outrages of feeders - these rapists, extortionists and bribe-takers, according to the general opinion. Feedings were canceled, the place of the feeders was taken by zemstvo self-government bodies. From now on, all affairs in the localities were handled by the elected from the nobility - the heads and their assistants - Valntsh. So they were called because they, taking an oath to judge and govern honestly and fairly, kissed the cross. In the same place where the black-eared (state) peasants lived, they themselves chose their stewards - elders and tseltsvadtgkov; - The same orders were introduced in the cities, among the townspeople. The reform gave rights to the provincial nobility and free, that is, not belonging to private owners, peasants and townspeople.

Strengthened the central government of the country. In Moscow, a system of orders was finally formed, headed by boyars and clerks. The embassy order was in charge of relations with foreign states, the Razryadny order was in charge of the noble army. The local allotted land to service people. The robber carried out the trial of robbers, thieves and murderers. Streltsy was engaged in the Streltsy army, Yamskaya - in the postal service (from the Tatar word "yam" - "mail"). The petition order, which was in charge of Alexei Adashev, examined the complaints filed with the tsar and reported all cases to Ivan IV himself. Later, as the country's economy became more complex and its territory grew, other orders appeared. All of them strictly obeyed the will of the monarch. By order of the Council in 1550, a new set of laws was developed - the Code of Laws. Articles appeared in it that abolished the tax benefits of monasteries. Now they had to pay all taxes in full to the state treasury. "Sudebnik" came to the defense of the nobles: it was forbidden to turn them into slaves for debts. As for the possibility of the transition of peasants from one owner to another, it has been preserved. The Russian peasant, although limited by the right to cross on St. George's Day, was nevertheless personally free. At the Church Council convened in 1551, the tsar invited the hierarchs to consider the hundred questions he had formulated about the life and life of the Church. The sovereign insisted on putting things in order in church affairs, and asked to express his attitude to the law being prepared on the confiscation of land holdings of the Church. The council gave the king one hundred answers to one hundred of his questions. These answers were collected in a special book - "Stoglav". The Church supported almost all the proposals of the monarch, but opposed the confiscation of land. However, the tsar ensured that the Church did not dare to acquire new lands without a report to him, and all the lands that had passed in her favor during the boyar rule were returned to the state. The reforms had the main goal of strengthening the entire state system in the country, exalting the role of the king.

On Sunday, December 3, 1564, Muscovites observed a strange and frightening picture. A long procession left the gates of the Kremlin. They were the king with his family, his retinue and guards. There have been such trips before. But this one was somehow dark and mysterious. In addition, the king took with him jewelry, treasury and ancient icons. After a month of traveling around the Moscow district, the tsar arrived at Alexander Sloboda, where the well-fortified royal palace was located, and from there sent a letter to the metropolitan, in which he said that he had left Moscow because of traitors. He listed all the sins of the boyars in the period of his infancy and reproached the fathers of the Church for intercession for these villains. A special letter was intended for the townspeople of Moscow, all blacks, that is, ordinary people. The tsar reported that he took up arms against the traitors of the boyars, clerks and nobles, but he did not hold a grudge against them, ordinary people. A few days later, a well-prepared scene took place in Moscow: the townspeople gathered on the square shouted that they were asking the tsar to return to Moscow and punish the traitors. Muscovites sent a petition to Ivan IV, which said that the tsar was free to rule the country as he, the sovereign, was fit and to put to death traitors and villains. The frightened boyars obeyed Ivan and recognized his right to execute them or pardon them. So in 1565, the unlimited dictatorship of Ivan the Terrible, which stretched for several years, began, the goal of which was the final centralization of the country, the elimination of appanages, the eradication of boyar autocracy, as well as all kinds of dissent, disagreement with the tsar and his ideas of autocratic power. At the same time, the tsar and his new assistants dealt with objectionable persons, profited from the confiscation of their estates. Everyone who had ever opposed Ivan IV was subject to destruction. Many honest and devoted to Russia people fell under suspicion. The interests of state centralization and the strengthening of tsarist power were combined with the personal revenge of the tsar, the settling of the personal scores of his new associates, and the enrichment of some at the expense of others. For these purposes, the king introduced the system of oprichnina in the country, dividing all the lands of the state into two parts. He took one under his personal leadership and established there his own Boyar Duma, orders, army. He called this part of the country oprichnina, his special territory. The word "oprichnina" comes from the ancient Russian word "oprich", which means "except". The other part was called zemshchina, which meant the rest of the land. The old administration, headed by the old Boyar Duma, was preserved there. The tsar took the richest and most strategically important parts of the country into the oprichnina. This included Novgorod territories, lands along the Volga, key trade routes, areas rich with Oledobycha, central districts with extensive patrimonial and local lands, part of Moscow, as well as border lands in the west. A corps of personal guards (bodyguards) of Ivan IV was formed. Soon this oprichnina army reached 5 thousand people. Oprichniki wore gloomy black clothes. Riders tied dog heads around the horse's neck, and small panicles to the croup. This meant that they had to sniff out, gnaw and sweep treason out of the country. From the lands taken into the oprichnina, the revenues were to go to the maintenance of the royal court and the oprichnina troops. Dealing with the oprichnina territory, the tsar did not lose sight of the zemstvo. All the most important cases in the other part of the state were reported to him. The goals of the oprichnina were revealed immediately. Massacres began with objectionable persons. Many boyars and nobles were evicted from the oprichnina territory and went to live near Kazan. Representatives of ancient Russian families moved to the settlement in places unknown to them.

Oprichny terror

In the midst of the oprichnina, the tsar gathered the Zemsky Sobor to discuss the issue of relations with Livonia. Most of its participants spoke in favor of the war. This was especially advocated by the landowners, who sought to obtain land in the west, as well as the merchants, who dreamed of using the ports in the Baltic for their trade interests. At this Council, a group of nobles turned to the king with a request to eliminate the oprichnina. The result of the Council was natural. In 1567, the Russian army went to Livonia. But at the same time, the king began new repressions. Some opponents of the oprichnina were executed, others were publicly whipped with batogs. Metropolitan Philip spoke out against the oprichnina. In his sermons in the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, the metropolitan denounced the tsar's violence. One day, the tsar, together with his faithful assistants - guardsmen, led by Malyuta Skuratov, who became the main executioner of the oprichny, burst into the cathedral with a saber drawn, wanting to intimidate the metropolitan. On another occasion, the guardsman Alexei Basmanov tore off Philip's church vestments and drove him out of the cathedral. This sacrilege did not embarrass the king. The Metropolitan was sent into confinement in the Tver monastery. Many of his church supporters also suffered. Later, Malyuta Skuratov betrayed the Metropolitan to a brutal death. The Russian Orthodox Church canonized Metropolitan Philip as a saint. The death of the metropolitan was followed by new executions. The tsar forced Vladimir staritsky to take poison, and his whole family perished. A special place in the history of the oprichnina was occupied by the campaign of the oprichnina troops led by the tsar against Novgorod in 1570. Novgorod, this city of former liberties, open to the West, had long been hated by the tsar. He understood that his ideas of autocratic power would never find support there either among the boyars or among ordinary people. The corps of guardsmen moved to the seditious city, defeating Klin, Tver and Torzhok along the way. The guardsmen left behind them hundreds of corpses, devastated cities, robbed houses. Having entered Novgorod, Ivan IV ordered that everyone who fell under suspicion be arrested and drowned in Volkhov. The Novgorod district was devastated, the grain was burned, the livestock was destroyed. Many peasants, artisans, merchants perished. The bloodless city has forever lost its significance as a rival of Moscow. Thousands of wagons with stolen property accompanied Ivan IV on his way back. It was a victory over his people. Novgorod did not know this even under the Horde. Punitive expeditions also shook Narva, Ivangorod and Pskov. Returning to Moscow, Ivan the Terrible undertook even more frightening executions. This time he decided to deal with the Moscow clerks, as well as with the Novgorodians driven to Moscow. About 300 people gathered on the square. Among them was the head of the Ambassadorial Department, clerk Ivan Viskovaty. Some of the captured people Ivan IV generously forgave, and the rest, among them Viskovaty, was expected to be severely executed. The king and his retinue themselves stabbed them with lances and flogged their heads with sabers. The oprichnina raged more and more fiercely. In this shameful deed unleashed by Grozny, not only the oprichnina army took part, but also ordinary citizens and even serfs, those who were in a hurry to settle scores with their enemies. The terrible tsar only gave a signal to the oprichnina policy. In essence, one part of the population, with the support of the king, stood up against the other. Oprichniki denounced each other, accused each other of treason to the sovereign, fought for an honorable place near the king, for land, income, privileges. Famous Russian military leaders climbed to the block, among them the famous governor M. I. Vorotynsky. During the oprichnina, all famous Russian commanders died from executions or fled abroad. One cannot think that the events that took place in Russia were in the 16th century. something special. Throughout Europe, the centralization of states was accompanied by brutal executions, the persecution of rivals, and the promotion of new favorites. Each country had its own characteristics. In Spain, for example, the Catholic Inquisition was rampant, and Philip II watched with pleasure as 20-30 of his opponents were burned at the stake every day. The French King Charles IX himself participated in the merciless massacre of Protestants on St. Bartholomew's Night in 1572. The Swedish King Eric XIV shed no less blood during the numerous murders of his enemies than Ivan the Terrible. The English Queen Elizabeth fought fiercely at the same time with the rightful heir to the throne. Mary Stuart, executed her and many of her supporters. It is curious that during the correspondence, Elizabeth and Ivan IV promised each other to provide political asylum if they had to flee their country. But in Russia, the oprichnina adopted especially sophisticated, barbaric forms of struggle against true and imaginary rivals. It was the influence of Grozny's cruel, wild, unbridled disposition, his morbid suspicion and vindictiveness. The cruelty and large scale of repressions were also explained by the fact that in the conditions of constant wars, a militarized state and the growth of autocratic power, a person's personality was valued less and less.

End of the oprichnina. By 1572, the oprichnina executions began to fade. With the help of the oprichnina, Ivan the Terrible suppressed all opposition and pockets of specific isolation, destroyed not only his open opponents, those who did not accept his ideas of autocracy, but all those who protested against his methods of governing the country or at least doubted their legitimacy. It became obvious that the oprichnina began to outlive itself. Oprichniki fought among themselves more than guarded the interests of the king. In battles with the Crimean Tatars near Moscow, the oprichnaya army showed itself from the worst side. Oprichniki fought well with the people, but were cowardly where it was necessary to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the state. The Tatars were defeated by the Zemstvo army. In 1572, the tsar forbade even the use of the word "oprichnina". The oprichnina army was disbanded. But the reprisals of the king with the people continued. Until the end of Ivan IV's life, his isolated court remained - a separate management organization (in contrast to the Zemstvo administration, the Duma, orders, etc.), which very much resembled the oprichnina orders.

Foreign policy of Ivan IV

carried out in three directions: in the west - the struggle for access to the Baltic Sea; in the southeast and east - the struggle with the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates and the beginning of the development of Siberia; in the south - the protection of Russian lands from the raids of the Crimean Khanate. Tatar khans made predatory raids on Russian lands. In the territories of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, there were thousands of Russian people captured during the raids in captivity. The local population was brutally exploited - Chuvash, Mari, Udmurts, Mordovians, Tatars, Bashkirs. The Volga route ran through the territories of the khanates, but the Volga could not be used by the Russian people throughout its entire length. Russian landowners were also attracted by the fertile sparsely populated lands of these regions.

First, Ivan the Terrible took diplomatic steps aimed at subjugating the Kazan Khanate, but they did not bring good luck. In 1552, the 100,000th army of the Russian tsar laid siege to Kazan. It was better armed than the Tatar. The artillery of Ivan IV had 150 large cannons. Using a tunnel and barrels of gunpowder, the Russians blew up the walls of Kazan. The Kazan Khanate recognized itself defeated. The peoples of the Middle Volga region became part of the Russian state. In 1556 Ivan the Terrible conquered the Astrakhan Khanate. From this period, the entire Volga region was the territory of Russia. The free Volga trade route significantly improved the terms of trade with the East.

In the middle of the XVI century. Russia included Bashkiria, Chuvashia, Kabarda. The accession of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates opened up new prospects, access to the basins of the great Siberian rivers became possible. As early as 1556, the Siberian Khan Ediger recognized vassal dependence on Moscow, but Khan Kuchum, who replaced him (? - c. 1598), refused to recognize the authority of Moscow (he oppressed local residents, killed the Russian ambassador).

The merchants Stroganovs, who had a letter from the tsar granting lands to the east of the Urals, with the permission of Moscow, hired a large detachment of Cossacks to fight Khan Kuchum. The leader of the detachment was the Cossack chieftain Yermak (? -1585). In 1581, Yermak's detachment defeated Kuchum's troops, and a year later occupied the capital of the Siberian Khanate, Kashlyk.

Kuchum was finally defeated in 1598, and Western Siberia was annexed to the Russian state. All-Russian laws were approved in the annexed territories. The development of Siberia by Russian industrialists, peasants and artisans began.

Russia's foreign policy actions in the West are the struggle for access to the Baltic Sea, for the Baltic lands seized by the Livonian Order. Many Baltic lands have long belonged to Novgorod Rus. The banks of the Neva River and the Gulf of Finland used to be part of the lands of Veliky Novgorod. In 1558, Russian troops moved to the West, the Livonian War began, which lasted until 1583. The rulers of the Livonian Order hindered the relations of the Russian state with Western European countries.

The Livonian War is divided into three stages: until 1561, Russian troops completed the defeat of the Livonian Order, took Narva, Tartu (Derpt), approached Tallinn (Revel) and Riga; until 1578 - the war with Livonia turned for Russia into a war against Poland, Lithuania, Sweden, Denmark. The hostilities became protracted. Russian troops fought with varying success, occupying a number of Baltic fortresses in the summer of 1577.

The situation was complicated by the weakening of the country's economy as a result of the ruin of the guardsmen. The attitude towards the Russian troops of the local population has changed as a result of military extortions.

During this period, Prince Kurbsky, one of the most prominent Russian military leaders, who also knew the military plans of Ivan the Terrible, went over to the side of the enemy. The devastating raids on the Russian lands of the Crimean Tatars made the situation more difficult.

In 1569, Poland and Lithuania united into a single state - the Commonwealth. Elected to the throne, Stefan Batory (1533-1586) went on the offensive; Since 1579, Russian troops have been fighting defensive battles. In 1579, Polotsk was taken, in 1581 - Velikiye Luki, the Poles besieged Pskov. The heroic defense of Pskov began (it was headed by the voivode I.P. Shuisky), which lasted five months. The courage of the defenders of the city prompted Stefan Batory to abandon further siege.

However, the Livonian War ended with the signing of unfavorable for Russia Yam-Zapolsky (with Poland) and Plyussky (with Sweden) truces. The Russians had to abandon the conquered lands and cities. The Baltic lands were occupied by Poland and Sweden. The war exhausted Russia's forces. The main task of gaining access to the Baltic Sea was not solved.

The tension of the Livonian War, the raids of the Crimean Khan, the devastation caused by the oprichnina brought incalculable losses to the country. Healthy, strong, young soldiers perished in the war. The Oprichnina terror led to the death of many gifted governors, clerks, as well as merchants, artisans, and peasants. Entire boyar and noble families were cut to the root. The Church did not escape repression either. As they said then, the state is deserted. In the place of many villages and villages now there were wastelands. Overgrown with shrubs and forest arable land. Especially great troubles befell the Novgorod and Pskov lands. In 1581, the government of Ivan the Terrible proclaimed the so-called reserved years (from the word "commandment" - "ban"). The transition of peasants on St. George's Day was prohibited until a special decree. Since then, there has been a saying: “Here you are, grandmother, and St. George’s Day!” This measure was initially introduced as a temporary measure. Subsequently, all the peasants who, according to the cadastral books of 1581, were recorded for one or another owner, remained attached to their lands along with their offspring. So they were completely dependent on the owners of the land. Now they could be bought and sold along with the lands. This was the beginning of serfdom in Russia, which lasted until 1861.

The era of Ivan the Terrible, its turbulent events associated with the strengthening of the centralized state, the transformation of Russia into a kingdom, the reprisals against the boyars, the annexation of Kazan, the oprichnina, were reflected in folklore, written monuments, architecture, and painting. The most important phenomenon of Russian culture was the further expansion of its horizon and scope. More and more cultural phenomena in the life of the country turned out to be connected not with the history of any one principality, one land, but with the events and ideas of a single large state. The creators of fairy tales, epics, proverbs, sayings, authors of chronicles, architects, painters felt like residents of a huge and strong state. At the same time, their work was more and more influenced by the idea of ​​autocratic power, oprichnina terror, the militant struggle of the Church against heresy and freethinking. Folklore fully reflected the heroes of that turbulent time. First of all, the bright, contradictory figure of Ivan the Terrible appears in fairy tales. On the one hand, he is praised as a fighter against the boyars, as a defender of the poor, all the humiliated and offended. On the other hand, this is a formidable despot who does not tolerate contradictions. In historical songs, the tsar, his archers and gunners are glorified for the capture of Kazan. Another favorite figure of fairy tales and songs was the legendary conqueror of Siberia Ermak Timofeevich. In the eyes of the people, this is an ideal hero, brave, wise and fair. The people in their work are proud of strong Russia, they realize themselves involved in the deeds of the state, despite all the cruelties of the new regime. But before, fairy tales and songs were permeated with a feeling of longing for a free and free share, crushed by the Horde boot. They could hear the delight and pride from the first victories over the Horde. Now life has changed, the history of the people has changed, fairy tales and songs have become different. New phenomena in art and life. The autocratic claims of Vasily III and Ivan the Terrible were reflected in the construction of a number of churches, the creators of which sought to perpetuate the deeds of the Russian rulers. In honor of the birth of Ivan IV, Vasily III ordered the construction of the Church of the Ascension in the village of Kolomenskoye, which became a miracle of the then stone architecture. It was a vivid example of the so-called Russian tent architecture, when the builders created single-domed temples in the form of a stone tent. From the 16th century such temples adorn the Russian land. In the same style, but with nine stone tents, the famous St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow was built. In painting, or rather in icon painting, elements of realism appeared, the transition from icons to portrait and genre painting. But it was still far from a genuine portrait, from a real genre painting. The life of various strata of the people in these decades changed slowly. Life in the vast expanses of Russia remained traditional, as it was hundreds of years ago. The same chicken huts, the same wooden utensils, the same entertainment. Only in large cities there were some shifts. In some places, mica and glass windows appeared instead of the former ones, covered with bullish bubbles. The life of the upper strata of society was influenced by expanding contacts with foreign countries. In 1553, an English ship anchored at the mouth of the Northern Dvina, and soon Ivan IV received its captain, Richard Chancellor. Permanent trade contacts with England began. Increasingly, ambassadors and merchants from different European countries came to the Russian capital. Western novelties became noticeable in the clothes of noble Muscovites, some of them in the Western manner began to cut their hair short and shave their faces. Chess, Western musical instruments appeared in the houses - organs, harpsichords, clavichords. Many-voiced church singing came from Novgorod to Moscow. But all this was just grains of sand in the sea of ​​old Russian and old Moscow life. The real change was yet to come.

Literacy and typography

The creation of a new state, the reform of central and local government required an increasing number of literate people. They were needed both in zemstvo huts and in orders. Masters of letters appeared who helped people write a petition to the king, draw up a will or a bill of sale. Textbooks on grammar and arithmetic appeared. The first Russian grammar was written by Maxim Grek, a native of Greek lands. Under Ivan the Terrible, for the first time, several capable young people were sent to Constantinople to study the Greek language and grammar, since a significant part of both secular and church literature was written in Greek and required translation. More and more often, libraries appeared in the homes of wealthy people, which included both Russian manuscripts and books translated from Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. Ivan the Terrible owned a huge library. Dozens of books are mentioned in his letters and other writings. With the death of the king, his famous library disappeared. Where did she go? Where is it hidden - in the dungeons of the Moscow Kremlin, in the Alexander Sloboda? Until now, this mystery has not been solved. An important milestone in the history of Russian education was the appearance of book printing in Russia. 100 years after Gutenberg, in 1564, the Russian master Ivan Fedorov printed the book "Apostle", a kind of collection containing the most popular texts of the Gospel and the Bible at that time. He then released several more books. However, the clergy began to persecute the Russian first printer, accusing him of a heretical occupation, of witchcraft. According to their concept, religious texts could only be copied by hand. At their instigation, the crowd destroyed the first Russian printing house. Ivan Fedorov was forced to move to Lithuania. There he published the first Russian Primer. "Domostroy". Among the first Russian publications, Domostroy stands out, containing a guide to the behavior of an Orthodox person in the family and society. Its creator was the priest Sylvester, a devout champion of the patriarchal order. Sylvester advocated in every possible way for strengthening the role of the father and parents in the family, for the strict observance of church rites. Chronicles and other historical writings. Under the leadership of Metropolitan Macarius, and sometimes Grozny himself, chronicles and other historical works were created, in which the idea of ​​the continuity of power between the Byzantine emperors and the Russian tsar, the idea of ​​autocratic power, was carried out. These ideas were filled with the Facial Code, or the Nikon Chronicle, which contained 16,000 entries. colored persons (miniature illustrations). All Russian history in this chronicle was rigorously, according to the authors of the code, to the tsarist power of Ivan IV. The ideas of autocracy, the divine origin of royal power are also visible in the "Book of Powers", where all the degrees of the Rurik dynasty are shown step by step, as well as in the "Kazan History", which tells about the capture of Kazan. Historical stories and legends reported on the most important events of the time of Ivan the Terrible - about the campaign against Novgorod, the deeds of the king, the fight against foreigners. Thus, The Tale of the Battle of Molodinsky sings of the brilliant victory of the Russians over the Crimean Khan in 1572. The Tale of the Coming of Stefan Batory to Pskov is dedicated to the heroic defense of the city. 16th century left for future generations such a type of literature as journalism, that is, works written on a topical topic. Such is Ivan Peresvetov's Petition to the Tsar, in which he called on the young monarch to resolutely fight to strengthen his power, to limit the influence of the boyars. At the same time, Peresvetov put forward Turkey as a model, where all subjects were considered servants of the Sultan. The author wanted to see Russia as the same autocratic country.

Vague, difficult and uncertain was the time at the turn of the XV I - XVII centuries. for our country. At the cost of enormous efforts, bloody wars, brilliant diplomatic victories and secret intrigues, the great Moscow princes and tsars by the end of the 16th century. turned Russia into a huge and strong centralized state. At that time, its population was 7 million people. This was more than in any other European country. The territory of Russia extended to Europe and Asia. But this power and these dimensions had a downside. The expansion of the country's territory was mainly to the east - sparsely populated, sparsely populated, although rich in their natural resources, lands. They were significantly removed from the centers of world civilization, which meant that Russia, in its territory, in its own interests, was increasingly moving to the east. Meanwhile, the western border with densely populated Russian lands, rich and artisan cities, as well as access to the Baltic and Black Seas, and from there to the countries of Northern, Central and Southern Europe, was firmly blocked by the Commonwealth, Sweden and the Crimean Khanate hostile to Russia.

By the beginning of the XVII century. The natural, climatic and economic conditions for the existence of the Russian people and the Russian state were still extremely unfavorable compared to other European countries. It was clear that the only way to change this course of history was by force. The first attempts were unsuccessful. The long-term Livonian war ended in vain. The tasks of resolving these issues were pushed aside in the 17th century. It was in the second half of the 16th century, and then in the first decades of the 17th century. there was a further backlog of Russia from the advanced European countries. A country that had just united with great difficulty into a single centralized state in the second half of the 16th century. entered a period of heavy offensive wars and a terrible oprichnina. Russia emerged from these events weakened and devastated. To cover ever-increasing military spending, the authorities increased taxes. Fleeing from the tax pressure, from ruin and hunger, many peasants fled to new lands or under the shelter of the all-powerful patrimonial boyars and rich monasteries, which had tax benefits and the opportunity to support the peasants who fled to them. In response, the so-called reserved summers were introduced, which prohibited; in a number of devastated areas, peasant transitions from one owner to another. As it always happened in Russia in difficult and hungry years, theft, robbery and violence became more frequent throughout the country. ?Dashing people? terrified cities and villages. At the same time, peasant unrest began in some places against the gentlemen and the tsarist authorities, tax collectors, scribes who compiled scribe books, where peasants and townspeople were recorded in their places of residence without the right to move. By the beginning of the XVII century. feudal relations in Russia, that is, relations of dependence of some people on others, based on land relations (the feudal lords had all the rights to the land, and the peasants were completely dependent on the landowners), became more cruel, became more and more widespread, as the government generously distributed vacant communal lands to estates. The formation of the autocratic power of the monarch has made significant progress. Oprichnina played an important role in this process. It dealt a decisive blow to the remnants of the specific system, princely and boyar self-will, strengthened the central government, the personal dictatorship of the monarch. But it also gave rise to numerous, not limited by law, abuses by those who stood at the top of society. Way out of its plight Russia by the beginning of the XVII century. sought to strengthen the feudal system, further enslavement of the lower classes, primarily peasants, strengthening the central autocratic power, conquests in the east, preparations for the struggle for access to the Baltic Sea, for the return of old Russian lands and in defense against Crimean invasions. By the beginning of the XVII century. The successes of Russian culture were significant, but its main direction - in chronicle writing, in painting, architecture, journalism, and in other areas - was to reflect the growth of unity, centralization, the sovereignty of the state, strengthening the autocratic power of the monarch in the country, strengthening the influence and authority of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The initial fact and the immediate cause of the turmoil was the end of the royal dynasty. This termination was accomplished by the death of the three sons of Ivan the Terrible: Ivan, Fedor and Dmitry. The eldest of them, Ivan, was already an adult and married when he was killed by his father. In character, he was quite like his father, participated in all his affairs and amusements, and, they say, showed the same cruelty that distinguished Ivan the Terrible. After the death of Grozny himself, two sons survived: Fedor and, the child is still Dmitry, born in the seventh marriage of Grozny with Maria Naga.

The Supreme Duma, composed by the dying John of five nobles: Prince Ivan Mstislavsky - the eldest Boyar and Voevoda, Nikita Romanovich Yuryev - the uncle of the Sovereign, Prince Peter Shuisky, Bogdan Belsky - the tutor of Tsarevich Dmitry and the first favorite of Ioannov, and Boris Godunov - the brother of the wife of Tsarevich Fyodor "... on the very first night (March 18, 1584) after the death of Ivan the Terrible, she expelled many well-known servants of John's ferocity from the capital, imprisoned others, and placed guards against the relatives of the dowager Empress, Nagim, accusing them of malicious intent (probably, of the intention to declare the young Demetrius, the heir of Ioannova). Moscow was worried; but the Boyars calmed this excitement: they solemnly swore allegiance to Theodore along with all the officials, and the next morning they promulgated his accession in writing.

Fedor became king. Foreign ambassadors Fletcher and Sapieha paint Fyodor with rather definite features. The king was short in stature, with a swollen face and unsteady gait, and, moreover, constantly smiling. Sapega, seeing the king during the audience, says that he received from him the impression of complete dementia. N.M. describes him the same way. Karamzin: “On the thunderous throne of the fierce tormentor, Russia saw a faster and a silent man, more for a cell and a cave than for a sovereign born: thus, in hours of sincerity, John himself spoke of Theodore, mourning the death of his beloved, eldest son. Having not inherited a royal mind, Theodore did not have the dignified appearance of his father, nor the courageous beauty of his grandfather and great-grandfather: he was small in stature, flabby in body, pale in face, always smiling, but without liveliness; moved slowly, walked with an uneven step, from weakness in the legs; in a word, he expressed in himself the premature exhaustion of natural and spiritual forces.

Similar Documents

Parents of Ivan the Terrible. Solemn wedding ceremony of the Grand Duke Ivan IV in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin in January 1547. Marriages of Ivan IV. Creation of the Elected Rada, its composition. Assessment of contemporaries about the character of the king, features of the board.

presentation, added 01/05/2014


The process of unification of fragmented Russian lands. The beginning of the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Kingdom wedding. Board under the "Chosen Rada" and its fall. War with Sweden. Beginning of the Livonian War. Oprichnina period. The last years of the reign of Ivan the Terrible.

test, added 10/09/2014


The initial period of the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Reforms of the Chosen Rada: the path to the centralization of state power. Adoption of a new law code and reform of the army, the church. Oprichnina: causes, essence, consequences. The main directions of the foreign policy of Ivan IV.

control work, added 12/07/2015


Ivan IV (the Terrible) - the first Russian Tsar. Reforms of the middle of the XVI century. Formation of a class-representative monarchy. Oprichnina, its causes and consequences. Foreign policy of Ivan IV. Foreign policy of Ivan the Terrible in the eastern and western directions.

test, added 04/23/2007


Beginning of Ivan's reign. Kingdom wedding. Fire and uprising in Moscow. The reforms of the Chosen One are glad. Russia in the middle of the XVI century. State-political system of Russia. Fall of the Chosen One. Oprichnina. Mad autocrat. Death of Ivan the Terrible.

abstract, added 01/15/2003


A brief biography and analysis of the external and internal prerequisites for the wedding to the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible (1530-1584), as well as a description of his reforms. Description of the structure and tasks of the Chosen One. Background, meaning and consequences of the introduction of the oprichnina.

presentation, added 12/21/2010


Reasons for the rise of the Moscow principality. Successes of the Moscow princes. Struggle for the Grand Duke's Throne. Completion of the political unification of Russian lands around Moscow. The end of the Horde dominion. Russia and Lithuania at the turn of the XV-XVI centuries. Fight with Novgorod.

term paper, added 01/02/2015


The formation and fall of the Chosen Rada. Brief description of the reforms. Oprichnina of Ivan the Terrible, its background. "Repudiation" of Ivan the Terrible. Post-oprichny period and the reform of the court. Oprichnina terror, the results of the oprichnina. A different approach to assessing the oprichnina.

term paper, added 12/12/2010


The internal situation and foreign policy of the Russian state during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. The reasons contributing to the creation of the political system of the oprichnina, its goals. The campaign of Tsar Ivan IV against Novgorod in 1570. The main consequences of the Time of Troubles.

presentation, added 12/08/2012


Features of the development of Russia in the XVI century: strengthening of centralization, foreign and domestic policy. Personality and activity of Ivan the Terrible. Historical assessment of the beginning of the reign of Ivan IV and the reforms of the Chosen Rada. Oprichnina and its consequences for Russia.

10 093

The red sun does not shine in the sky
Blue clouds do not admire them:
Then at the meal he sits in a golden crown,
The formidable Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich is sitting ...
Mikhail LERMONTOV

But I recognize you the beginning
High and rebellious days!
Over the enemy camp, as it used to be,
And the splash, and the pipes of the swans.
Alexander Blok

Both are Ivans, both are Vasilievichs, both are Terrible, both are Great, both are cruel passionaries, both are stubborn builders of the geopolitical power of the Russian state. Their greatness is especially impressive and leads to philosophical reflections in comparison with that monstrous betrayal and desecration of their efforts and the deeds of other ancestors, which several political heroes allowed themselves, overnight and in a drunken stupor destroyed a great power that had been created over a millennium by the efforts of two ruling dynasties. , as well as the talent, sweat and blood of thousands and millions of outstanding or unknown Russian people.

Even in a nightmare it is impossible to imagine that one of the two Ivanovs would suddenly take and offer to the specific princes and boyars: take, they say, sovereignty - as much as you want. Yes, even today, from one such thought, they would turn over in their coffins, and the stone tombstones over their graves in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin would shake. To the creators and collectors - glory forever and ever! Destroyers and spenders of greatness and wealth not created by them - eternal and indelible shame (and as they say in such cases: let them burn in fiery hell)!

Russian history knows six Ivans involved in the reigning houses - Ivan I Kalita, Ivan II the Red, Ivan III the Great, Ivan IV the Terrible, Ivan Alekseevich V - the half-brother and short co-ruler of Peter I, Ivan Antonovich VI - the nominal Russian emperor, imprisoned in the Shlisselburg fortress and killed there during an unsuccessful attempt to free and enthrone. Of the six, two Ivans - Ivan Vasilievich III and his grandson Ivan IV - without a doubt, can be safely included in the "golden ten" of the rulers of Russia, who made the greatest contribution to strengthening its geopolitical greatness and creating an appropriate image in the face of the rest of the world. (To me personally, the “golden ten” appears in the following sequence: Oleg the Prophetic, Vladimir the Holy, Yaroslav the Wise, Alexander Nevsky, Ivan III the Great, Ivan IV the Terrible, Peter I the Great, Catherine II the Great, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. Of course, almost for each stretches an endless string of shadows of innocently killed, tortured and disgraced people with the direct connivance of these rulers of the Russian land; nevertheless, each made an undeniable contribution to strengthening the greatness and prosperity of the State.)

The reign of Ivan III is covered in detail in many chronicles - both pro-Moscow and anti-Moscow. Among them, Ermolinskaya stands apart, named after its customer and first owner Vasily Ermolin, a building contractor during the said reign. He turned out to be an eyewitness to many events, and on the pages of the chronicle, named after him, he ordered to reflect not only the chronology of that turbulent era, but also his own construction activity (how do we know to the smallest detail: what, when and how was built, for example, in Moscow) . About the accession of the great collector of Russia and the creator of a powerful Russian state, it is said here sparingly and casually: “The great prince Vasily Vasilyevich reposed and was buried in the church of the archangel [sic!] Michael in Moscow. And sitting on him in the great reign, with his blessing, the son of his elder, the great prince Ivan ... "
And further, more than forty years of the reign of Ivan III is covered in all details and details. It would seem that nothing was missed, everything fell into the field of view of the chronicler. But no - there are a lot of reticences and ambiguities, sometimes you have to read between the lines. Last but not least, this concerns the family life of the new king and his complex relationship with numerous relatives. The first wife of Tsar Ivan was Princess Maria of Tver. The marriage pursued primarily a political goal - the final pacification of the obstinate Tver and the neutralization of its grand ducal ambitions. The wedding of the young took place when the groom was only twelve years old (the chronicles are silent about the age of the bride, but, presumably, she was in no way older than her betrothed). Five years later, the first-born was born, named after his father Ivan. Soon he became the official heir to the throne and received a dynastic addition to his name - Young.

Whether Tsar Ivan loved his Tver wife is now difficult to say for certain. In any case, when she suddenly died fifteen years after the wedding, her husband did not come to Moscow for the funeral, although he was very close - in Kolomna. Five years later, in November 1472, Ivan III married again, choosing Princess Zoya, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine Palaiologos, who was killed by the Turks after the capture of Constantinople, as his bride. Together with the surviving members of the imperial family, Zoya lived in Italy under the auspices of the Pope, but did not change the Orthodox faith and quickly agreed to the proposal to marry the Russian Tsar. In Russia, Zoya received the name of Sophia, and after her father's name, she also received a patronymic - Fominichna. Having such a pedigree and even a European upbringing, Sofya Fominichna Paleolog was, of course, a domineering, proud, arrogant and restive woman, she felt herself far from completely at ease in “barbaric” Russia and, quite naturally, compensated for the moral damage due to palace intrigues - in the most perfect spirit of Byzantine traditions.

There were plenty of reasons to intrigue in the capital of the Muscovite kingdom. But the main stumbling block inevitably became the question of the heir to the throne. Sophia Fominichna gave birth to the Russian Tsar a bunch of children - five sons and several daughters. Meanwhile, the children and grandchildren of the first wife remained the official heirs to the throne for a long time: first Ivan the Young, then (after an unexpected death) - his son and grandson of the tsar - Dmitry. It would be ridiculous to assume that Sophia Paleolog, in whose veins the blood of the insidious Byzantine emperors flowed, could be indifferent to the current situation. At the beginning of 1498, the 14-year-old grandson Dmitry was solemnly crowned (“crowned to the kingdom”) in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Tsaritsa Sophia and her many supporters tried to prevent an undesirable action for them. A conspiracy quickly matured and took shape in favor of Vasily, the eldest son from his second marriage, whose birth was accompanied by miraculous signs. It was supposed to kill Dmitry the grandson, and transport Vasily to Vologda along with the state treasury and force Tsar Ivan to agree to the conditions dictated by the conspirators.

However, the conspiracy was uncovered (as always, there were no "snitches"). Potential performers were quartered on the ice of the Moskva River (some were allowed to cut off only their heads as a special favor). Several women from the tsarina's entourage, who were charged with witchcraft in order to kill the legitimate heir, were drowned in the hole, Tsarevich Vasily was put in custody, and the main inspirer of the conspiracy, Tsarina Sophia, was driven out of the Kremlin - out of sight. But Tsar Ivan, apparently, forgot that he was not dealing with a conscientious Russian woman, but with an unprincipled Byzantine and a cunning Greek woman.

Less than a year later, the situation changed radically. Unfortunately, the chroniclers are silent (and this is still one of the unsolved mysteries of Russian chronicle writing) how exactly Sophia managed to convince her husband that she was slandered. It must be assumed that the arguments seemed more than convincing, because already in the winter following the crowning of the heir, completely different heads rolled onto the ice of the Moscow River. Ivan did not even spare the family of Prince Ryapolovsky, to whom he owed his own life: in the year of the blinding of his father, Vasily the Dark, the Ryapolovskys hid and saved the young prince Ivan from assassins sent by Dmitry Shemyaka. Sophia Palaiologos triumphed again: the tsar returned his love to her, and made their son Vasily his official successor. The fate of Dmitry the grandson turned out to be sad: he fell into disgrace, and after the death of Ivan III, which followed in 1505, by order of the new tsar and half-brother Vasily, he was captured in chains, thrown into prison, where he died four years later under unclear circumstances.

In fact, the Moscow chroniclers diligently bypass the slippery moments associated with both this and subsequent reigns. But they did not spare bright colors and lofty words in praise of the authoritative and formidable ruler of the Russian State. They were definitely imbued with that common passionate spirit that was inherent in Tsar Ivan himself, his closest associates and all the Moscow people, who forged the power and greatness of the Russian state. This is especially evident during the struggle against Novgorod separatism. The independent and wealthy Novgorod Republic, which did not know the Tatar-Mongol yoke, reached the last limit in its rivalry with Moscow: it was ready to give up all-Russian interests and become a subject of the Polish king. The leader and ideological inspirer of the anti-Moscow party, by chance, was the widow of the Novgorod mayor Marfa Boretskaya and her children. Truth is rarely on the side of state traitors and traitors. So it happened with the Novgorod independents. They did not even heed the celestial signs and noospheric warnings that clearly warned of the deplorable outcome of their black designs. One of the Pskov chronicles reports:

“... And on Thursday (November 30, 1475) on that night, a miracle was wondrous and filled with fear: Veliky Novgorod shook off against the great prince, and there was a commotion all night strong all over Novugrad. And the same night you saw and heard many faithfully, like a pillar of fire standing over the Settlement from heaven to earth, the same is the thunder of heaven, and there was nothing to the light, all this God tame with your mercy; as the prophet said: for God does not want the death of a sinner, but to wait for conversion.

At the same time, Savvaty of Solovetsky also had a terrible vision: when he was in Novgorod on business of the monastery and got to a feast in the tower of Martha Boretskaya, he suddenly saw the boyars sitting at the table, headless, and predicted their imminent death. Ordinary Novgorodians did not want to fight for a wrong cause, and did not consider Moscow a mortal enemy: they were driven into battle by force and by intimidation: carpenters and potters, and others who, having never been born on a horse, and in whose thoughts it never happened to raise a hand against the Grand Duke, those traitors drove them all by force, and those who did not want to go out to fight, they themselves robbed and killed, and others were thrown into the Volkhov River ... "

That is why, in the Novgorod epic, the passionate inspiration of Muscovites, which broke the apathy of the many times superior majority of Novgorodians. The latter thought first of all about their money, the former - about the interests of the motherland. In all chronicles, the famous battle on the Shelon River on July 14, 1471, is described with different details, where a small Moscow army, led by passionary prince Danila Kholmsky, completely defeated the Novgorod militia, which was many times superior to it. Karamzin summarized the stories of various chronicles into an overall impressive picture (the 6th volume, entirely devoted to the reign of John IV, was recognized by many as the best in the entire 12-volume History of the Russian State):
“At the very time when Kholmsky was thinking of crossing to the other side of the river, he saw an enemy so numerous that the Muscovites were amazed. There were 5,000 of them, and Novgorodians from 30,000 to 40,000: for the friends of the Boretskys still managed to recruit and send out several regiments to strengthen their cavalry army.<Июля 14>. But the Governors of Ioannov, having told the squad: “the time has come to serve the Sovereign; let us not be afraid of three hundred thousand rebels; for us the truth and the Lord Almighty”, rushed on horseback to Shelon, from a steep bank, and in a deep place; however, none of the Muscovites doubted to follow their example; nobody drowned; and everyone, having safely moved to the other side, rushed into battle with an exclamation: Moscow! The Novgorod chronicler says that his compatriots fought courageously and forced the Muscovites to retreat, but that the Tatar cavalry [Tatars were allies of Tsar Ivan during the 1st campaign against Novgorod. - V.D.], being in an ambush, by an accidental attack upset the first and decided the case. But according to other news [In most annals. - VD] Novgorodians did not stand for an hour: their horses, pierced by arrows, began to knock down the riders; horror gripped the cowardly governor and the inexperienced army; turned the rear; they galloped without memory and trampled each other, persecuted, exterminated by the victor; having tired the horses, they rushed into the water, into the marsh mud; did not find a way in their forests, drowned or died from wounds; others galloped past Novgorod, thinking that it had already been taken by John. In the madness of fear, the enemy seemed to them everywhere, the cry was heard everywhere: Moscow! Moscow! Over a space of twelve miles, the regiments of the Grand Dukes drove them, killed 12,000 people, took 17,000 prisoners, including two of the most distinguished Posadniks, Vasily Kazimer and Dmitry Isakov Boretsky; Finally, weary, they returned to the battlefield…”

The pacification and appeasement of Novgorod was accompanied by the most severe repressions. The chroniclers report them in chilling detail. After the Battle of Shelon on the ashes of Staraya Russa, the Grand Duke of Moscow personally perpetrated a demonstrative reprisal against adherents of Novgorod independence and supporters of Marfa Posadnitsa. To begin with, the noses, lips and ears of ordinary prisoners were cut off and in this form they were released home for a visual demonstration, which will continue to await any troublemakers who do not agree with the position of the supreme Moscow authorities. The captive governors were taken to the Staraya Russian square, and before they were cut off their heads, each had their tongue cut out beforehand and thrown to be eaten by hungry dogs. Scary? Certainly! Cruel? Undoubtedly! Pointless? But the Novgorodians did not heed the words of reason and conviction. Letters of exhortation were sent to them abound. And if Tsar Ivan continued to send letters and wait for the veche to discuss them and take a decision by voting, then it would be possible to predict without much effort of thought that today Novgorod (and after him Pskov) would be part of the Swedish kingdom or Greater Poland, and the outer border of Russia would pass not far from Moscow, somewhere near Mozhaisk (as it was in the middle of the 15th century).

The victorious cry “Moscow! Moscow!”, which sounded for the first time in Shelon, became dominant for a long time throughout the vast territory of the new and expanding Russia. In the meantime, the great sovereign Ivan Vasilyevich had to fight with an iron fist on two fronts: from the inside, the specific princes and Novgorod separatists were shaking the state, from the outside, the traditional enemies of Russia and, first of all, the Tatars were constantly annoyed. What happened to the Russian people at that time is told in the ingenuous story of Afanasy Nikitin, who undertook his unprecedented “travel across the three seas” to India just at the very time when John entered into a mortal battle with Martha Posadnitsa (and the Tatars had not yet reached him arms):
“We are sailing past Astrakhan, and the moon is shining, and the tsar saw us, and the Tatars shouted to us: “Kachma - don’t run!” But we didn’t hear anything about it and we’re running under sail. For our sins, the king sent all his people after us. They overtook us on Bohun and started shooting at us. We shot a man, and we shot two of their Tatars. And our smaller ship got stuck near Eza, and they immediately took it and plundered it, and all my luggage was on that ship.

We reached the sea on a large ship, but it became aground at the mouth of the Volga, and then they overtook us and ordered the ship to be pulled up the river to the eza. And our big ship was robbed here and four Russians were taken prisoner, and we were released with our bare heads across the sea, and they didn’t let us go back, up the river, so that they wouldn’t give us news

And we went, weeping, on two ships to Derbent; in one vessel, Ambassador Hasan-bek, yes, the Teziks, and ten of us Russians, and in another vessel - six Muscovites, and six Tverites, and cows, and our food. And a storm arose on the sea, and the smaller ship broke on the shore. And here stands the town of Tarki, people went ashore, but the kaitaks came and took everyone prisoner ... ” (Translated by L.S. Semenov)

Distracting from the general line of the story about the reign of Ivan III, one cannot help but marvel at the further narration of Afanasy Nikitin - if only because his famous “Journey” is not at all a separate and independent book, but organic chronicle inserts: the earliest texts are included in Sophia II and Lviv Chronicle. Russian people have always sought to discover other worlds for themselves and have always been open to the rest of the world. Therefore, the revelations of Afanasyev's diary are read so vividly to this day (as if you see the “miracles of India” with your own eyes:

“And here is the Indian country, and people walk around naked, but their heads are not covered, and their breasts are bare, and their hair is braided in one braid, everyone walks around with belly fat, and children are born every year, and they have many children. Both men and women are all naked and all black. Wherever I go, there are many people behind me - they marvel at the white man. The local prince has a veil on his head, and another on his hips, and the boyars there have a veil over his shoulder, and another on his hips, and the princesses go around - a veil is thrown over their shoulders, another veil is on their hips. And the servants of princes and boyars have one veil wrapped around their hips, and a shield, and a sword in their hands, some with darts, others with daggers, and others with sabers, and others with bows and arrows; Yes, they are all naked, yes barefoot, but strong, but they don’t shave their hair. And women walk around - their heads are not covered, and their breasts are bare, and boys and girls walk naked until they are seven years old, their shame is not covered.

From Chaul they went on land, they went to Pali for eight days, to the Indian mountains. And ten days went from Pali to Die, then an Indian city. And from Die seven days' journey to Junnar.
An Indian khan rules here - Asad Khan of the Junnar, and he serves melik-at-tujar. Troops were given to him from melik-at-tujar, they say, seventy thousand. And the melik-at-tujar has two hundred thousand troops under his command, and he has been fighting with the Kafars for twenty years: and they defeated him more than once, and he defeated them many times. Asad Khan travels in public. And he has a lot of elephants, and he has a lot of good horses, and he has a lot of warriors, Khorasans. And horses are brought from the Khorasan land, others from the Arab land, others from the Turkmen land, others from the Chagotai land, and they are all brought by sea in tavs - Indian ships.
And I, a sinner, brought the stallion to the Indian land, and went with him to Junnar, with God's help, healthy, and he became me a hundred rubles. Their winter began on Trinity Day. I spent the winter in Junnar. lived here for two months. Every day and night - for four whole months - everywhere there is water and mud. These days they plow with them and sow wheat, and rice, and peas, and everything edible. Their wine is made from large nuts, the Gundustan goats are called, and the mash is made from tatna. Horses are fed here with peas, and khichri is boiled with sugar and butter, they are fed to horses, and in the morning they give sheshni. Horses are not found in the Indian land, bulls and buffaloes are born in their land - they ride and carry goods and other things, they do everything.

Dzhunnar-grad stands on a stone rock, not fortified by anything, protected by God. And the way to that mountain is a day, walking one by one; the road is narrow, two cannot pass.
In Indian land, merchants are settled in farmsteads. The hostesses cook for the guests, and the hostesses make the bed, and sleep with the guests. If you have a close connection with her, give two residents, if you do not have a close connection, give one inhabitant. There are many wives here according to the rule of temporary marriage, and then a close relationship is free, but they love white people.

In the time of Ivan III, Russia itself, in full force, in all its immensity and greatness, opened up to the rest of the world, which was surprised to find in the recent Tatar ulus a powerful European power and a successful rival. This merit, again, undoubtedly belongs to Ivan III. With the dominion of the Horde, as is well known from any textbook, it was over in the autumn of 1480 during the famous standing on the Ugra. Then two huge armies - Russian and Tatar - froze in a dumb stupor on different banks of the Oka tributary, which, by a strange whim of fate, captured in its name another terrible invasion of half a thousand years ago - the Ugric (Hungarian) migration from the Northern Ob region to the Danube region through the territory of Russia, completely devastated and robbed along the route of the migrants.

The end is well known - it is enthusiastically described in all the annals of that time. In the Typographic Chronicle, it says this: “It was then that the most glorious miracle of the Most Pure Mother of God happened: when ours retreated from the coast, the Tatars, thinking that the Russians were giving up the coast to them in order to fight with them, possessed by fear, fled. (The Sofia First Chronicle adds: “after all, the Tatars were naked and barefoot, everyone was skinned”). In conclusion, the pathos of the chronicler reaches its climax:

“O brave, courageous sons of Russia! Take pains to save your fatherland, the Russian land, from the infidels, do not spare your life, may your eyes not see the captivity and plunder of your houses, and the murder of your children, and the reproach of your wives and children, as other great and glorious lands suffered from Turk. I will name them: Bulgarians, and Serbs, and Greeks, and Trebizond, and Morea, and Albanians, and Croats, and Bosna, and Mankup, and Kafa and many other lands that did not find courage and perished, they ruined the fatherland, and the land, and state, and wandering in foreign countries, truly unfortunate and homeless, and crying a lot, and worthy of tears, reproached and vilified, spat upon for lack of courage. People who fled with many property, and with their wives and children to foreign countries, not only lost gold, but also destroyed their souls and bodies and envy those who then died and should not now wander homeless in foreign countries. By God, I saw with my sinful eyes the great sovereigns who fled from the Turks with property, and wandering like wanderers, and asking God for death as deliverance from such a disaster. And, Lord, have mercy on us Orthodox Christians with the prayers of the Theotokos and all the saints. Amen". (Translated by Y.S. Lurie)

The chronicler sees the victory over the Horde in the living context of world history and is closely linked with the common fate of the Slavs, when, after the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in May 1453, the Orthodox world was left with the last hope - Russia.

It was during the reign of Ivan III that the unifying national idea, on an all-Russian and worldwide scale, finally took shape: "Moscow is the third Rome." It is symbolic and significant that she was born not on the banks of the Moskva River, but in Pskov, one of the main nests of Russian separatism. This testifies, first of all, to the fact that the awareness of the need for all-Russian unity under the auspices of Moscow has become widespread and has penetrated into all sectors of society. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire, the messianic role of Russia, the main heir and guardian of Orthodox traditions, became obvious. This all-Russian idea, which remains winged to this day, was proclaimed by the elder and hegumen of the Pskov Savior Elizarov Monastery Filofey (c. 1465 - c. 1542). Subsequently, in a special message to the Grand Duke, he wrote:
“And if you arrange your kingdom well, you will be a son of light and an inhabitant of Jerusalem on high, and as I wrote to you above, so now I say to you: guard and heed, pious king, that all the Christian kingdoms have converged into one of yours, that two Romes have fallen , and the third is standing, but the fourth will not happen.

During the reign of Ivan III, Russia also experienced a most serious ideological upheaval, when the so-called heresy of the Judaizers spread like an infection in Novgorod, and then in Moscow, engulfing the most diverse layers of the Russian people. The fight against heresy required the mobilization of all the spiritual forces of the best representatives of the Orthodox Church, which was especially difficult, since at first the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III himself pecked at the zakordonnaya dummy and treated it not without favor. Fortunately, the Sovereign of All Russia was quickly brought to his senses and directed to the true path by the main overthrower of the heresy of the “Judaizers” Joseph Volotsky (1439/40-1515).

And it all started simple and innocent. Being under constant pressure from Moscow and exhausted by internal contradictions, one of the anti-Moscow groups oriented towards Lithuania invited the Lithuanian prince Mikhail Olelkovich to Novgorod in 1470. In his retinue, a learned Karaite Jew named Shariah (Zachariy Skara) also arrived. Prince Michael soon returned home, but Skhariya not only stayed, but also invited two more learned Jews from Lithuania. Together they launched secret heretical propaganda in Novgorod - first among the Orthodox clergy, and then among the laity, hypnotizing everyone with their prophecies and promises.

Here is how the same story sounds in the angry and accusatory word of the Monk Joseph Volotsky, who dedicated a voluminous polemical treatise called “The Illuminator” to the heresy of the Judaizers (the fragment is given in the canonical church translation):
“... At that time, a Jew named Skhariya lived in Kyiv, and he was an instrument of the devil - he was trained in every villainous invention: sorcery and black books, astrology and astrology. He was known to the then ruling prince named Michael, the son of Alexander, the great-grandson of Volgird, a true Christian, in a Christian way. This prince Mikhail in 6979 (1470), during the days of the reign of Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich, came to Veliky Novgorod, and with him was the Jew Sharia. The Jew first seduced the priest Denis and seduced him into Judaism; Denis brought to him Archpriest Alexei, who was then serving on Mikhailovskaya Street, and this one also apostatized from the immaculate Christian faith. Then other Jews arrived from Lithuania - Iosif Shmoylo-Skaravey, Mosey Hanush. Aleksei and Denis tried so hard to strengthen themselves in the Jewish faith that they always drank and ate with the Jews and learned Jewishness; and not only did they themselves learn, but they also taught their wives and children the same. They wanted to be circumcised according to the Jewish faith, but the Jews did not allow them, saying: if the Christians find out about this, they will see and expose you; keep your Judaism in secret, and outwardly be Christians. And they changed their names: they called Alexei Abraham, and his wife Sarah. Subsequently, Alexei taught many Jews: his son-in-law Ivashka Maximov, his father priest Maxim and many more priests, deacons and ordinary people. Priest Denis also taught many to be Judaizers: Archpriest Gabriel of Sophia, Gridya Kloch; Gridya Kloch taught Grigory Tuchin, whose father had great power in Novgorod. And they taught many more - here are their names: priest Grigory and his son Samsonka, Gridya, clerk Borisoglebsky, Lavresh, Mishuka Sobaka, Vasyuk Sukhoi, son-in-law of Denis, priest Fedor, priest Vasily Pokrovsky, priest Yakov Apostolsky, Yurika Semenov, son of Long, also Avdey and Stepan the clergy, priest Ivan Voskresensky, Ovdokim Lyulish, deacon Makar, deacon Samukha, priest Naum and many others; and they committed such iniquities as the heretics of old did not commit."

Talmudic dope spread among the Novgorodians with the speed of an epidemic. Why, then, suddenly such a general psychosis arose and Orthodox people, and among many clergymen, suddenly pecked at Judaic casuistry? There are many reasons for this, but they have a complex effect. The first reason is political: fear of Moscow expansion and rejection of everything Moscow (hence - constant flirting with non-Orthodox neighbors, including the Commonwealth, Livonia and Sweden). The second reason is humanistic: Russians have always been drawn to new knowledge, and Jewish scientists brought to Novgorod the latest achievements of European science and many hitherto unknown books on astronomy, astrology, logic, divinatory practice, etc. in Russia. Finally, the third reason that led to the massive interest in the propaganda of Skhariya and his adherents is eschatological, connected with the expectation of the End of the World and the Last Judgment in the near future.

According to Christian reckoning, in 1492, the 7th thousand years from the biblical creation of the world came (5508 years before the birth of Christ + 1492 years after the birth of Christ = 7000 years). The mystical, coming from paganism, faith in the secret meaning of the number 7 led the Christian world to the conclusion: the day of the Last Judgment is approaching, the world is moving towards its end. In Orthodox Paschalia, the calculation of the celebration of Easter - the Resurrection of Christ was brought only up to 1491, and in relation to the fateful year 1492, additions were made: “woe, woe to those who have reached the end of the ages” or “here is fear, here is sorrow, as in the crucifixion of Christ this circle was, this summer and at the end appear, in it is tea and your universal coming.

The doomsday was awaited with fear and trembling, it seemed inevitable, the exact date was even announced - on the night of March 25, 1492. And in this situation of complete doom and hopelessness, three learned Jews suddenly appear who, relying on the Torah and the Talmud, declare: according to the Judaic chronology, from the creation of the world to the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, later announced by Christ, not 5508 years have passed, but only only 3761. Consequently, the end of the world is still very, very far away, and how can one not laugh at the “frightening” of Orthodox priests and monks and not doubt the truth of Christian dogmas.

And the Orthodox Novgorodians, and after them the Muscovites, who had never heard of any Talmudic or Kabbalistic wisdom, immediately abandoned the creed and the dogma of the Holy Trinity (according to the Judaic canons, only God the Father, Yahweh, is recognized; Christ was a mere mortal , rightly crucified, decayed and never resurrected; well, the Holy Spirit is just a “shaking of the air”, that is, breathing). This is only one of the sixteen heretical theses defended by the “Judaizers”, which were subjected to merciless criticism by Joseph Volotsky in his “Illuminator”. Of course, the theological-scholastic side of religious sedition played an important role in this:

“The vile idolatrous wolf, dressed in shepherd's clothes, gave to drink the poison of the Judaism of the common people he met, while this deadly serpent defiled others with Sodom's depravity. Eating and drinking, he lived like a pig and in every way dishonored the immaculate Christian faith, bringing damage and temptations into it. He blasphemed our Lord Jesus Christ, saying that Christ called himself God; he erected many blasphemies on the Most Pure Theotokos; he threw the divine Crosses into unclean places, burned the holy icons, calling them idols. He rejected the gospel teaching, the apostolic statutes and the works of all the saints, saying this: there is neither the Kingdom of Heaven, nor the second coming, nor the resurrection of the dead, if someone died, it means that he completely died, until then he was only alive. And with him, many others - students of Archpriest Alexei and priest Denis: Fyodor Kuritsyn, clerk of the Grand Duke, Sverchok, Ivashko Maximov, Semyon Klenov and many others who secretly adhered to various heresies - taught the Jews according to the Decalogue of Moses, adhered to the Sadducean and Messalian heresies and introduced a lot of confusion. Those whom they knew as prudent and versed in the Holy Scriptures, they did not dare to turn into Jews, but, falsely reinterpreting to them some chapters of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, they inclined to their heresy and taught various fabrications and astrology: how to determine and determine by the stars arrange the birth and life of a person - and they taught to despise the Holy Scriptures as empty and unnecessary to people. For people less learned, they directly taught Judaism. Not everyone deviated into Judaism, but many learned from them to censure the Holy Scriptures, and in the squares and in houses they argued about faith, and doubted.

As Joseph Volotsky testifies, some of the “Judaizers” went so far as to insistently demand that they be circumcised, which, however, was prevented by their Jewish mentors, fearing possible reprisals. The latter were not long in coming. The heresy was exposed, condemned by the highest church court and fiercely suppressed: heretics were seized, brutally tortured, and for the most part burned at the stake. The fate of Skhariya himself is unknown: according to some sources, he was burned with a group of Novgorodians, according to others, the scientist troublemaker managed to escape to the Crimea.

This is how the history of the Herisiarch was outlined in literature up to the 20th century. The researchers relied on data contained in church documents of the 15th century and the writings of Joseph Volotsky, which cannot be trusted. However, relatively recently, facts have been introduced into scientific circulation that shed new light on the biography of Skhariya (a detailed presentation of this issue and references to hard-to-reach sources published in small-circulation peripheral publications can be found in the book: V.V. Kozhinov. History of Russia and the Russian word M ., 1999. S. 432-440). According to the discovered documents, Zakhary Skhariya (the exact name is Zakkaria-Skharia) was the son of a rich and noble Genoese merchant who settled on the Taman Peninsula and married a Circassian princess. The Genoese, before being forced out by the Ottoman Turks, occupied strong positions in the Crimea, on the opposite Taman Peninsula, the coast of the Black and Azov Seas, where they erected fortresses (their remains are still preserved), founded trading posts, successfully traded with a motley and multilingual population, wove political intrigues and even participated in the Battle of Kulikovo on the side of Mamai.

Do the new data contradict the earlier ideas about the sources and inspirers of the Russian “Judaizers”? It is unlikely - rather, they concretize the situation. Although the Karaites are a small Turkic-speaking people, professing simplified Judaism, in the opinion of the uninitiated or poorly versed in ethnic. linguistic and religious intricacies, Karaimism is, first of all, Jewishness, and then everything else. It is also well known. that among the Genoese merchants, bankers and usurers there were many Jews who converted to Christianity or secretly professed Judaism. There is evidence (but not supported by all) that the son of just such a Genoese Jew was Christopher Columbus, whose activity, by the way, began at about the same time as the activity of Shariya. But whoever was Skhariya, so to speak, by blood, his interest and deep knowledge in Jewish dogma, astrology and Kabbalistics is beyond doubt. That is why in Russian letters and letters he is quite justifiably called a “Jew” and a “Jew”. And also the Taman prince - from where and his opportunities for direct, albeit written, communication with representatives of the royal family. It is known that Elena Voloshanka, the daughter of the Moldavian ruler and the wife of the heir to the throne, Ivan the Young, who died early, the son from the first marriage of Ivan III, fell under his direct influence.

Russian chronicles pay close attention to this - one of the most amazing - events in the ideological life of medieval Russia with various details. Severe, concise and at the same time capacious Mazurin chronicler:

“In the summer of 6999, in October, the heretics of Novgorod came to the sovereign and Metropolitan Zosima in Moscow. Zosima is not yet leading about them, as if there are chiefs and teachers heretic; Zosima is doing things - Christians are philosophizing. And he commanded to curse the heretics: Archpriest Gabriel of Novgorod and Priest Denis, and many who are so wise. And others sent the essence from the sovereigns to Veliky Novgorod to Archbishop Genadiy according to the Scriptures against heretics. He commanded them to put them on horseback in pack saddles and led them to turn their clothes front to back and turn them with a ridge to the heads of the horses, as if they were looking to the west, into the fire prepared for them, and on their heads he commanded them to put sharp birch bark helmets, like demons, and spruce men bast, and straw wreaths are mixed with hay, and the targets are written on the helmets in ink: "This is the army of Satan." And he commanded on horseback to lead them through the city, and commanded those who met them to spit on them and say: “This is God’s enemy, Christian swindlers.” Then he commanded them to lead from the city 40 a field and burn helmets on their heads, although other heretics also intimidate. Ini, from the sovereign, are condemned to imprisonment. Seeing heretics already in Moscow, Fyodor Kuritsyn and his brother Volk, and hearing, how much the heretics suffered in Great Novgorod from Vladyka Genadiy, offended by sadness about this and intending abyss, they come to the sovereign and pray, as if they are sending to Veliky Novgorod, in Yuryev Monastery, Archimorita Chernets, you yourself taught him, Kasiyan, heresy and Judaism. The Grand Duke commanded him to be. He received the region from the sovereign and came to Veliki Novgrad. Archimorite Casian began to live in St. George's Monastery and gathered all heretics to himself with boldness, not being afraid of Archbishop Gspadius, since he had help from the diyak of the Grand Duke from Fyodor Kuritsyn. Come with him to Novgorod and his brother is the blackest. And many acts of defilement on divine churches and on holy icons and on honest crosses. And Archbishop Genadiy wrote to them about their heresy to the Grand Duke.

In the same year, by order of the Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich of All Russia, there was a council in Moscow for the Nougorod heretics, according to a letter from the Nougorod Archbishop Genadiy. At the cathedral, instead of his autocratic father, and the lord reverend Zosima, Metropolitan of Russia, and Tikhon, Archbishop of Rostov, and bishops: Nifont of Suzdal, Simeon Rezansky, Vasyan of Tver, Prokhor Sarsky, Philetheus of Perm and Troetsk of the Sergius Monastery, Abbot Afonasey , and hermits, the virtuous elders Paisia ​​and Nil, and many archimorites, and abbots, protapopes, and priests, and deacons, and the whole consecrated cathedral of the Russian metropolis. And so having gathered and truly asceticized against those apostate Novgorod heretics and all their like-minded people who want to corrupt the Christian faith, they won’t overcome it, but like a stone they’ve been struck and they themselves shattered the former and perished, like many ordinary people deceived by their foul heresms. Bring the former to the cathedral and ask about their heretical villainy, they are repentant [and] the first, because they are a lot of deceit, hiding their iniquities and locking themselves in their heresies, but not according to the false testimony of the denunciation of the former. And thus, all the poison of their own madness was poured out, and all their apostate deeds were clearly exposed, and incomparable words began to speak. And abie, as if in the frenzy of the mind, stasha, and bysha, as if dumb. Their same, according to the rule of the saints, the apostle and the holy father from the holy cathedral church excommunicate and cast out the rank and betray the curse; Ovii, according to the law of Gradtsk, put the former to death. Diyak Volk Kuritsyn and Mitya Konoplev, and Nekras Rukavov, and Archimorite Kasiyan of Yuryev, and his brother, and many other heretics burned in Novegrad and Moscow. Others are in prison and in the dungeons of the rose, others are in the monastery. The holy, immaculate and Orthodox faith, having affirmed and glorified the holy trinity in one Divinity: the father and the son and the holy spirit, now and forever and forever and ever, amen ... ”

After 1917, Russian historians and philosophers tried to get rid of the term “Judaizing”. In encyclopedias, dictionaries, reference books, where it was impossible to get around this original phenomenon in Russian spiritual life, as a rule, the obsolescence or unusedness of this concept in modern science was indicated. Practically no serious research has been done on this topic. Publications were not welcomed, and the former, pre-revolutionary*, were either deleted from the recommendatory lists, or even surrendered to the special depository. The essence of the heresy itself - where it was impossible to ignore it, was reported in an extremely abstract manner with smoothing out “sharp corners”, so that, God forbid, it would not turn out that the Jews were trying to seduce Russian Orthodox people from the true path. It was also believed, apparently, that the very name "Jewish" offends the feelings of modern Jews. However, there is no logic in such an approach, nor in a possible explanation. The fact is that the Russians themselves are solely to blame for the craze of Novgorodians (and even earlier, Muscovites) with the Old Testament problems in general and the Talmudic, in particular. The Jews only satisfied, so to speak, the natural curiosity of the Russian people. Moreover, they warned the people against excessive enthusiasm for the “forbidden fruit”. Is Zacharias Skara the Karaim to blame? if Novgorod fools besieged him with a tearful request to have them circumcised? So in everything that happened, you should only blame yourself and no one else. As the people say: “There is nothing to blame on the mirror if the face is crooked” ...

As for the allegedly abusive word “Yid”, there is nothing offensive or derogatory in it. The word “Jew” for a long time was used only in the Church Slavonic language as a translation from Greek, and in folk and fiction usage its equivalent “Jew” was used - also a translated word, but borrowed through Western European (presumably Romance) languages. In order to be convinced of what has been said, it is enough to open the 5th volume of the Dictionary of the Russian Language of the XI-XVII centuries on the corresponding pages. (M., 1978) or classical works by Pushkin (for example, “The Miserly Knight”), Gogol (for example, “Taras Bulba”) or Leskov (for example, “Jewish somersault”). Only in the 20th century did the word acquire an offensive connotation.
V. Demin

Years of life: January 22, 1440 - October 27, 1505
Reign: 1462-1505

From the Rurik dynasty.

The son of the Moscow prince and Maria Yaroslavna, daughter of Prince Yaroslav Borovsky, granddaughter of the hero of the Battle of Kulikovo V.A. Serpukhov.
Also known as Ivan the Great Ivan Saint.

Grand Duke of Moscow from 1462 to 1505.

Biography of Ivan the Great

He was born on the day of memory of the apostle Timothy, so in his honor he received a name at baptism - Timothy. But thanks to the next church holiday - the transfer of the relics of St. John Chrysostom, the prince received the name by which he is best known.

From a young age, the prince became an assistant to his blind father. He took an active part in the fight against Dmitry Shemyaka, went on campaigns. In order to legitimize the new order of succession to the throne, Vasily II, during his lifetime, called the heir the Grand Duke. All letters were written on behalf of 2 Grand Dukes. In 1446, at the age of 7, the prince became engaged to Maria, the daughter of Prince Boris Alexandrovich of Tver. This future marriage was to become a symbol of the reconciliation of eternal rivals - Tver and Moscow.

Military campaigns play an important role in the upbringing of the heir to the throne. In 1452, the young prince was already sent as the nominal head of the army on a campaign against the Ustyug fortress of Kokshenga, which was successfully completed. Returning from a campaign with a victory, he married his bride, Maria Borisovna (June 4, 1452). Soon Dmitry Shemyaka was poisoned, and the bloody civil strife that had lasted for a quarter of a century began to wane.

In 1455, young Ivan Vasilyevich made a victorious campaign against the Tatars, who had invaded Russia. In August 1460, he became the head of the Russian army, which blocked the way to Moscow for the advancing Tatars of Khan Akhmat.

Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III Vasilyevich

By 1462, when the Dark One died, the 22-year-old heir was already a man of many who has seen, ready to solve various state issues. He was distinguished by prudence, lust for power and the ability to steadily go towards the goal. Ivan Vasilyevich marked the beginning of his reign by issuing gold coins with the minted names of Ivan III and his son, heir to the throne. Having received the right to a great reign according to his father’s spiritual diploma, for the first time since the invasion of Batu, the Moscow prince did not go to the Horde to receive a label, and became the ruler of a territory of about 430 thousand square meters. km.
During the entire reign, the main goal of the country's foreign policy was the unification of northeastern Russia into a single Muscovite state.

So, by diplomatic agreements, cunning maneuvers and force, he annexed Yaroslavl (1463), Dimitrov (1472), Rostov (1474) principalities, Novgorod land, Tver principality (1485), Belozersky principality (1486), Vyatka (1489), part of Ryazan, Chernigov, Seversk, Bryansk and Gomel lands.

The ruler of Moscow mercilessly fought against the princely-boyar opposition, setting the rates of taxes that were collected from the population in favor of the governors. The noble army and the nobility began to play an important role. In the interests of the noble landlords, a restriction was introduced on the transfer of peasants from one master to another. The peasants received the right to move only once a year - a week before the autumn St. George's Day (November 26) and a week after St. George's Day. Under him, artillery appeared as an integral part of the army.

Victory of Ivan III Vasilyevich the Great

In 1467 - 1469. military operations were successfully conducted against Kazan, as a result, they achieved its vassalage. In 1471, he made a trip to Novgorod and, thanks to a blow to the city in several directions, carried out by professional soldiers, during the battle on Shelon on July 14, 1471, he won the last feudal war in Russia, including the Novgorod lands in the Russian state.

After the wars with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1487 - 1494; 1500 - 1503), many Western Russian cities and lands went to Russia. According to the Annunciation Truce of 1503, the Russian state included: Chernigov, Novgorod-Seversky, Starodub, Gomel, Bryansk, Toropets, Mtsensk, Dorogobuzh.

Successes in the expansion of the country also contributed to the growth of international relations with European countries. In particular, an alliance was concluded with the Crimean Khanate, with Khan Mengli-Girey, while the agreement 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 subsequent years, the Russian-Crimean alliance showed its effectiveness. During the Russian-Lithuanian war of 1500-1503. Crimea remained an ally of Russia.

In 1476, the ruler of Moscow stopped paying tribute to the Khan of the Great Horde, which should have led to a clash between two old opponents. October 26, 1480 "standing on the river Ugra" ended with the actual victory of the Russian state, having received the desired independence from the Horde. For the overthrow of the Golden Horde yoke in 1480, Ivan Vasilyevich received the nickname Saint among the people.

The unification of the previously fragmented Russian lands into a single state urgently demanded the unity of the legal system. In September 1497, the Sudebnik was put into effect - a single legislative code, which reflected the norms of such documents as: Russian Pravda, Statutory letters (Dvina and Belozerskaya), Pskov judicial letter, a number of decrees and orders.

The reign of Ivan Vasilievich was also characterized by large-scale construction, the construction of temples, the development of architecture, and the flourishing of chronicles. Thus, the Assumption Cathedral (1479), the Faceted Chamber (1491), the Annunciation Cathedral (1489) were erected, 25 churches were built, and the intensive construction of the Moscow and Novgorod Kremlin. The fortresses Ivangorod (1492), in Beloozero (1486), in Velikiye Luki (1493) were built.

The appearance of the double-headed eagle as the state symbol of the Moscow state on the seal of one of the letters issued in 1497 Ivan III Vasilyevich symbolized the equality of the ranks of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the Grand Duke of Moscow.

Was married twice:
1) from 1452 on Maria Borisovna, daughter of the Tver prince Boris Alexandrovich (she died at the age of 30, according to rumors - she was poisoned): son Ivan Molodoy
2) from 1472 on the Byzantine princess Sophia Fominichna Paleolog, niece of the last emperor of Byzantium, Constantine XI

sons: Vasily, Yuri, Dmitry, Semyon, Andrey
daughters: Elena, Feodosia, Elena and Evdokia

Marriages of Ivan Vasilyevich

The marriage of the Moscow sovereign with the Greek princess was an important event in Russian history. He opened the way for the relations of Muscovite Rus with the West. Soon after that, he was the first to receive the nickname Terrible, because he was a monarch for the princes of the squad, demanding unquestioning obedience and severely punishing disobedience. At the first instruction of the Terrible, the heads of objectionable princes and boyars lay on the chopping block. After his marriage, he took the title "Sovereign of All Russia".

Over time, the 2nd marriage of Ivan Vasilyevich became one of the sources of tension at court. There were 2 groups of court nobility, one of which supported the heir to the throne - Young (son from the 1st marriage), and the second - the new Grand Duchess Sophia Paleolog and Vasily (son from the second marriage). This family strife, during which hostile political parties clashed, was also intertwined with the church question - about measures against the Judaizers.

Death of Tsar Ivan III Vasilyevich

At first, Grozny, after the death of his son Young (he died of gout), crowned his son, and his grandson, Dmitry, on February 4, 1498 in the Assumption Cathedral. But soon, thanks to skillful intrigue on the part of Sophia and Vasily, he took their side. On January 18, 1505, Elena Stefanovna, Dmitry's mother, died in prison, and in 1509 Dmitry himself died in prison.

In the summer of 1503, the Moscow ruler became seriously ill, he was blind in one eye; partial paralysis of one arm and one leg. Leaving business, he went on a trip to the monasteries.

On October 27, 1505, Ivan the Great died. Before his death, he named his son Vasily as his heir.
The sovereign of all Russia was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

Historians agree that this reign was extremely successful, it was under him that the Russian state, by the beginning of the 16th century, occupied an honorable international position, standing out with new ideas, cultural and political growth.

				"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 chosen by Providence to decide for a long time the fate of peoples: he is a Hero not only of Russian, but also of World History. John appeared in the political theater at a time when a 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 European political activity, not 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, a new power began to emerge - Sweden, while dependent on Denmark, but itself controlling 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 they would not reach Eastern Europe 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 cause 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, imprisonment in Uglich - 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. He was relentlessly by his side, participated in all his campaigns, and at the age of six he was engaged to the daughter of the Tver prince, which should have meant 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 a 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, Grand Duchess Maria, suddenly died. 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, the eastern border of the 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 guessing 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.

In the same days, the Moscow army captured 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 last Byzantine emperor, who was killed by the Turks on the walls of Constantinople in 1453. Her father, Thomas Palaiologos, the 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 the 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 of royal power during the ceremony of crowning the kingdom was the Monomakh's hat with barmas (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.

The liberation of Russia from the 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 to European capitals, but insisted that Ivan III stop paying tribute to the Horde Khan and free himself from his power, inspiredGrand 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 had a 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.

On August 12, 1479, a new cathedral was consecrated in Moscow in the name of the Assumption of the Mother of God, conceived and built as an architectural image of a unified 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 from now on, together with other bells, it 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 - the brothers of Ivan III, princes Boris Volotsky and Andrei Bolshoy, decided on an open rebellion and left 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 at least 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 looked for a weak point in the 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 a 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, for no apparent reason, 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 - it was this that shocked him so much that it made him turn back the horses.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 the glorious victory of 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. 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, offer her a 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 a significant event in Russian history that took place in 1480 within the Kaluga region.

The 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 the German city of Rugodiv (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 the military assistance of 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 Duke's great-nephew 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 a court ceremonial and the state emblem of Russia that operated for more than one century.

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 under their banners an army 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 more strengthened 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 propagated the 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 the sovereign not only of the lands subject to him, but of the entire Russian Orthodox population that 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, was quickly gaining 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 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. central government bodies began to form in Moscow - " orders", which were the direct predecessors of Peter's "collegia" and ministries of the 19th century.

In the provinces, the governors, who were appointed by the Grand Duke himself, began to play the main role. 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 were dexterous and influential women - the widow of Ivan the Young, a 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 both his family feelings and the fate of his loved ones to state needs. 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, the Sovereign of All Russia and the Grand Duke Volodimirsky, 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 a powerful state that instilled fear in its 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 powerful walls and towers made of red brick rose in place of the dismantled ancient fortifications. 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 golden robes, and solemnly laid on his heir richly embroidered shoulders - "barmas" - and a precious "hat" that looked like 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 and to this day you knew the only kind of those Grand Dukes, first of Kyiv, and up to the Grand Duke Dmitry-Vsevolod Yurievich of Vladimir himself (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