text: photographer

text: Farm Security Administration

text: Great Depression

text: Columbia University

text: Rexford Tugwell

text: Resettlement Administration

text: Dorothea Lange

text: Arthur Rothstein

text: Walker Evans

text: Ben Shahn

text: John Vachon

text: Marion Post Wolcott

text: Russell Lee

text: Jack Delano

text: Gordon Parks

text: John Collier

text: Carl Mydans

text: Louise Rosskam

text: World War II

text: US Congress

text: Library of Congress

text: Standard Oil

text: Berenice Abbott

text: Gordon Parks

text: Todd Webb

text: Esther Bubley

text: Harold Corsini

text: Russell Lee

text: Arnold S. Eagle

text: Elliott Erwitt

text: Sol Libsohn

text: Pittsburgh

text: Pennsylvania

text: Pittsburgh Photographic Library

text: Carnegie Library

text: Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation

text: University of Missouri

text: Grand Junction, Colorado

text: Photographic Archives

text: Archives and Special Collections

text: University of Louisville

categories: American photojournalists,1975 deaths,1893 births,American civil servants

paragraph: Roy Stryker

paragraph: Roy Emerson Stryker (November 5, 1893 – September 27, 1975) was an American economist, government official, and photographer. He headed the Information Division of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) during the Great Depression, and launched the documentary photography movement of the FSA.

paragraph: Section::::Life.

paragraph: After serving in the infantry in World War I, Stryker went to Columbia University where he studied economics. He used his photography to illustrate his economics texts and lectures. At Columbia, he worked with Rexford Tugwell, and when Tugwell became part of the Resettlement Administration, Stryker followed him. Tugwell and Stryker refocused the attention of the Resettlement Administration to document the problems of the heartland, and in 1935 Stryker became the head of the Historical Section (Information Division) of the RA. The RA was renamed the Farm Security Administration, and Stryker set up the photo-documentary project.

paragraph: Stryker was a manager of the FSA's photographic project. The photographers involved attested to the fact that Stryker was expert at getting good work out of them. He made sure that the photographers were well briefed on their assigned areas before being sent out, and he ensured that they were properly funded. However, Stryker has been criticized for his heavy-handed editing methodology, which involved physically defacing negatives by punching holes in them. "Roy was a little bit dictatorial in his editing and he ruined quite a number of my pictures, which he stopped doing later. He used to punch a hole through a negative. Some of them were incredibly valuable," photographer Ben Shahn has been quoted saying.

paragraph: Stryker also made sure that mainstream publications had access to FSA photographs. This both helped focus public attention on the plight of the rural poor and set up the commercial careers of his photographers. Overall, from 164,000 developed negatives some 77,000 different finished photographic prints were made for the press, plus 644 color images.

paragraph: Photographers hired by Stryker for the FSA included Dorothea Lange, Arthur Rothstein, Walker Evans, Ben Shahn, John Vachon, Marion Post Wolcott, Russell Lee, Jack Delano, Gordon Parks, John Collier, Carl Mydans, and Edwin and Louise Rosskam.

paragraph: During World War II, the photographic unit of the FSA was reassigned to the Office of War Information and put to more propagandistic uses for one year and then disbanded. At the same time, the US Congress disbanded the FSA, and the holdings of the FSA's photographic unit were transferred to the Library of Congress.

paragraph: Stryker resigned and went to work for Standard Oil in its public relations documentary project from 1943 to 1950.

paragraph: In selecting photographers for projects at Standard Oil (SO), Stryker sought those who possessed what he described as an "insatiable curiosity, the kind that can get to the core of an assignment, the kind that can comprehend what a truck driver, or a farmer, or a driller or a housewife thinks and feels and translate those thoughts and feelings into pictures that can be similarly comprehended by anyone."

paragraph: Photographers on the SO project included, among others: Berenice Abbott, Gordon Parks and Todd Webb; as well as Esther Bubley, Harold Corsini, Russell Lee, Arnold S. Eagle, Elliott Erwitt and Sol Libsohn, who would later follow Stryker to his next project in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After suggesting topics he wanted to be documented, Stryker gave his photographers the freedom to pursue their individual approaches to their subjects. As with all his projects, Stryker was adamant that his staff understand their subjects and their context before going out on an assignment.

paragraph: From 1950 to 1952, Stryker worked to establish the Pittsburgh Photographic Library (PPL). In 1960, the collection was transferred to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

paragraph: After leaving the PPL, Stryker directed a documentation project at Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation. Thereafter, he accepted consulting jobs on occasion and conducted seminars on photo-journalism at the University of Missouri. Stryker eventually returned to the west in the 1960s. He died in Grand Junction, Colorado.

paragraph: The Roy Stryker Papers, including manuscripts, correspondence, and vintage prints from the Stryker-directed projects—Farm Security Administration (FSA), the Standard Oil (New Jersey) Co. and Jones & Laughlin Steel—are held in Photographic Archives, Archives and Special Collections, University of Louisville.

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- The Standard Oil (New Jersey) Collection – A digital collection of photographs from the documentary project directed by Roy E. Stryker.

alias:
Roy Emerson Stryker
Roy E. Stryker

description: American photographer

wikidata_label: Roy Stryker

wikipedia_title: Roy Stryker


text: fl.

text: Briton

text: King of Strathclyde

text: King of the Picts

text: Rhun ab Arthgal, King of Strathclyde

text: Cináed mac Ailpín, King of the Picts

text: Alpínid dynasty

text: Pictish realm

text: Áed

text: Giric

text: floruit

text: Kingdom of Northumbria

text: Viking

text: Domnall mac Custantín

text: Gaelic

text: Kingdom of Alba

text: Dyfnwal, King of Strathclyde

text: Muirchertach mac Néill, King of Ailech

text: Rhun ab Arthgal, King of Strathclyde

text: Harleian genealogies

text: kings of Al Clud

text: Chronicle of the Kings of Alba

text: Cináed mac Ailpín, King of the Picts

text: British

text: Gaelic

text: Pictish

text: Arthgal ap Dyfnwal, King of Al Clud

text: Al Clud

text: captured and destroyed

text: Amlaíb

text: Ímar

text: English

text: British

text: Pictish

text: Kingdom of Al Clud

text: River Clyde

text: Govan

text: Partick

text: Kingdom of Strathclyde

text: Atholl

text: Fife

text: Áed mac Cináeda

text: King of the Picts

text: Giric

text: feast

text: Áed Findliath mac Néill

text: Prophecy of Berchán

text: Scot

text: kingmaker

text: Dyfnwal ap Rhydderch, King of Al Clud

text: granduncle

text: Domnall mac Ailpín

text: ward

text: Bran mac Fáeláin

text: King of Leinster

text: Niall Caille mac Áeda, King of Tara

text: floruit

text: River Eamont

text: Penrith

text: Kingdom of Northumbria

text: Domnall mac Custantín

text: King of Alba

text: Britain

text: Irish annals

text: Máel Muire ingen Cináeda

text: kings of Tara

text: Flann Sinna mac Maíl Shechnaill

text: Niall Glúndub mac Áeda

text: Custantín mac Áeda

text: Kingdom of Alba

text: Scottish history

text: Amlaíb mac Illuilb, King of Alba

text: Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, King of Alba

text: Dundurn

text: Dyfnwal, King of Strathclyde

text: Great Book of Lecan

text: Banshenchas

text: Muirchertach mac Néill

categories: Monarchs of Strathclyde,9th-century Scottish monarchs

paragraph: Eochaid, son of Rhun

paragraph: Eochaid (fl. 878–889) was a ninth-century Briton who may have ruled as King of Strathclyde and/or King of the Picts. He was a son of Rhun ab Arthgal, King of Strathclyde, and descended from a long line of British kings. Eochaid's mother is recorded to have been a daughter of Cináed mac Ailpín, King of the Picts. This maternal descent from the royal Alpínid dynasty may well account for the record of Eochaid reigning over the Pictish realm after the death of Cináed's son, Áed, in 878. According to various sources, Áed was slain by Giric, a man of uncertain ancestry, who is also accorded kingship after Áed's demise.

paragraph: It is uncertain if Eochaid and Giric were relatives, unrelated allies, or even rivals. Whilst it is possible that they held the Pictish kingship concurrently as allies, it is also conceivable that they ruled successively as opponents. Another possibility is that, whilst Giric reigned as King of the Picts, Eochaid reigned as King of Strathclyde. Eochaid's floruit dates about the time when the Kingdom of Strathclyde seems to have expanded southwards into lands formerly possessed by the Kingdom of Northumbria. The catalyst for this extension of British influence appears to have been the Viking conquest of this northern English realm.

paragraph: According to various sources, Eochaid and Giric were driven from the kingship in 889. The succeeding king, Domnall mac Custantín, was an Alpínid, and could well have been responsible for the forced regime change. The terminology employed by various sources suggests that during the reigns of Eochaid and Giric, or during that of Domnall and his successors, the wavering Pictish kingdom—weakened by political upheaval and Viking invasions—redefined itself as a Gaelic realm: the Kingdom of Alba.

paragraph: Eochaid is not attested after 889. Likewise, nothing is recorded of the Kingdom of Strathclyde until the first quarter of the next century, when a certain Dyfnwal, King of Strathclyde is reported to have died. Whilst the parentage of this man is unknown, it is probable that he was a member of Eochaid's kindred, and possibly a descendant of him. A daughter of Eochaid may have been Lann, a woman recorded to have been the mother of Muirchertach mac Néill, King of Ailech.

paragraph: Section::::Antecessors.

paragraph: Eochaid was a son of Rhun ab Arthgal, King of Strathclyde. Rhun's patrilineal ancestry is evidenced by a pedigree preserved within a collection of tenth-century Welsh genealogical material known as the "Harleian genealogies". According to this source, he was descended from a long line of kings of Al Clud. The ninth- to twelfth-century "Chronicle of the Kings of Alba" evinces that Rhun was married to a daughter of Cináed mac Ailpín, King of the Picts, and states that a product of the union was Eochaid himself. Eochaid's maternal ancestry may be exemplified in the name he bore. There is no known British form of the Gaelic . In theory, a Pictish form of the name would be * or *.

paragraph: In 870, during the reign of Rhun's father, Arthgal ap Dyfnwal, King of Al Clud, the fortress of Al Clud was captured and destroyed by the insular Scandinavian kings Amlaíb and Ímar. In the following year, Amlaíb and Ímar returned to Ireland with a fleet of two hundred ships, and a mass of captives identified as English, British, and Pictish. Arthgal died in 872. The "Annals of Ulster", and "Chronicon Scotorum" reveal that he was slain at the behest of Rhun's brother-in-law, Custantín mac Cináeda, King of the Picts. The circumstances surrounding Arthgal's assassination are unknown, and Rhun's reign probably commenced not long after his death.

paragraph: Prior to its fall, the fortress of Al Clud served as the capital of Arthgal's Kingdom of Al Clud, and afterwards the capital appears to have relocated up the River Clyde to the vicinity of Govan and Partick. The relocation is partly exemplified by a shift in royal terminology. Until the fall of Al Clud, for example, the rulers of the realm were styled after the fortress; whereas following the loss of the site, the Kingdom of Al Clud came to be known as the Kingdom of Strathclyde in consequence to its reorientation towards Ystrad Clud (Strathclyde), the valley of the River Clyde. Either Arthgal or Rhun could have been the first monarch to rule to the reconstructed realm of Strathclyde.

paragraph: It is uncertain when Rhun's reign and life ended. One possibility is that Rhun died in 876, when Custantín seems to have been slain by Vikings. Custantín's death is dated to 876 by the "Annals of Ulster". The "Chronicle of the Kings of Alba" appears to locate his fall in Atholl, whilst several king-lists locate his demise to a place variously called , an otherwise uncertain location that might refer to Inverdovat in Fife.

paragraph: Section::::Sources of the royal succession.

paragraph: It is uncertain who assumed the kingship of Strathclyde after Rhun. If Rhun and Custantín both died in 876, Eochaid could well have succeeded his father. Certainly, Custantín's brother, Áed mac Cináeda, succeeded as King of the Picts, and ruled as such upon his death two years later. Whilst the "Annals of Ulster" reports that Áed was killed by his own companions, several mediaeval king-lists state that he was slain by a certain Giric. Quite who reigned as king after Áed is uncertain, although there are several plausible possibilities.

paragraph: According to the "Chronicle of the Kings of Alba", Eochaid succeeded Áed, and held the kingship for eleven years. The chronicle adds that it was further said that Giric also reigned during this period on account of the fact that he was Eochaid's ("foster father", "guardian") and ("guardian", "governor", or "king-maker"). A solar eclipse is also noted during their reigns—an event dated to the feast of St Ciricius—and the two are stated to have been ejected from the kingdom.

paragraph: The chronicle reports that Áed Findliath mac Néill died in the second year of Eochaid's reign. Since Áed indeed expired in 879, the chronicle's chronology is evidently accurate for the outset of Eochaid's reign. As for the eclipse, the chronicle appears to place it in the context of the final year of Eochaid's kingship. Nevertheless, it is clear that the eclipse is identical to that which took place on 16 June 885, as 16 June is certainly the feast day of at least one saint named Ciricius. Since the dates given by the chronicle and the "Annals of Ulster" show that there was an eleven-year gap between the previous reign and the next, it is evident that the eclipse indeed occurred in the midst of Eochaid's reign. The chronicle's inconsistency in regard to the eclipse may owe itself to an attempt to increase the dramatic effect of the regime change by associating a remarkable astronomical event with Eochaid's expulsion.

paragraph: Other than the chronicle, the only source to associate both Eochaid and Giric as kings is the twelfth-century "Prophecy of Berchán". According to the latter, Eochaid ruled as king for thirteen years until he was expelled and succeeded by Giric (described as "the son of fortune"). It is possible that the discrepancies between the two sources may partly stem from an ethnic bias. Certainly, the "Prophecy of Berchán" is critical of Eochaid's British heritage whilst Giric is celebrated as a Scot.

paragraph: Section::::Relationship with Giric.

paragraph: Giric's familial origins are uncertain. According to several versions of the "Chronicle of the Kings of Alba" his father's name was , whereas certain versions of the "Verse Chronicle" equate his father's name to . Although it is possible that Giric's association with kingship stems from an ancestral claim, the evidence for this is uncertain. Giric need not have possessed any claim of his own, and could have merely played the role of kingmaker, by orchestrating the removal of Áed, and installing Eochaid in his place.

paragraph: Nevertheless, there is also reason to suspect that Giric's patronym, "son of Dúngal", may actually refer to an early form of the Welsh rather than the Gaelic . If correct, Giric's patronym could be evidence that his father was Dyfnwal ap Rhydderch, King of Al Clud, and that Giric was a brother of Arthgal. Such a relationship could indicate that Giric's apparent killing of Áed was undertaken in the context of avenging Arthgal's demise at Custantín behest. If Giric and Eochaid were indeed both descendants of Dyfnwal, Eochaid could well have ruled as king under the tutelage of Giric, his granduncle.

paragraph: Giric's patronym may instead identify him as a son of Domnall mac Ailpín. If such a parentage is correct, it would certainly mean that Giric possessed strong claim to the Pictish throne. The fact that Áed seems to have succeeded Custantín could indicate that Giric had been denied the kingship. Such a possibility could account for Giric's apparent killing of Áed. It could also reveal that Giric received or was reliant upon significant assistance from Eochaid—in this case his maternal kinsman—which would in turn account for the evidence that Giric and Eochaid shared the Pictish kingship in some manner.

paragraph: Conversely, it could have been Eochaid who claimed the kingship by right of his maternal Alpínid ancestry. If this was indeed the case, one possibility is that Eochaid was only able to hold authority in conjunction with Giric—either as an ally or client, or perhaps as a youthful ward under Giric's guardianship. In the ninth century, the term was used to describe the relationship between a powerful ruler and a satellite. One such example is the establishment of Bran mac Fáeláin as King of Leinster by Niall Caille mac Áeda, King of Tara. As such, the terminology employed by the "Chronicle of the Kings of Alba" could reveal that Giric—as —similarly established Eochaid as king.

paragraph: It is conceivable that Eochaid ruled over both the Strathclyde Britons and Picts. If so, he could have initiated his royal career as King of Strathclyde before succeeding as King of the Picts. In fact, the evidence of shared kingship may merely mean that Eochaid ruled the British kingdom whilst Giric ruled the Pictish realm. As such, it is possible that Giric was successful in imposing some form of authority over the Kingdom of Strathclyde during Eochaid's floruit. If correct, the price for Eochaid's assistance may have been the preservation of the British realm from other descendants of Cináed. The fact that Eochaid's grandfather died in 872 could indicate that, if his father died soon after, Eochaid may have succeeded to the kingship of Strathclyde as a youth.

paragraph: The remarkable uncertainty surrounding the Pictish kingship during this period means that it is also possible that Eochaid and Giric were rivals rather allies. An adversarial relationship between the two may well be evidenced by the "Prophecy of Berchán" which gives a negative account of the Britons during Giric's tenure.

paragraph: Section::::Expansion of the British realm.

paragraph: It is not until the turn of the tenth century before sources cast light upon the history of the Kingdom of Strathclyde. At some point after the loss of Al Clud, the Kingdom of Strathclyde appears to have undergone a period of expansion. Although the precise chronology is uncertain, by 927 the southern frontier appears to have reached the River Eamont, close to Penrith. The catalyst for this southern extension may have been the dramatic decline of the Kingdom of Northumbria at the hands of conquering Scandinavians, and the expansion may have been facilitated by cooperation between the Cumbrians and insular Scandinavians in the late ninth- and early tenth century. Amiable relations between these powers may be evidenced by the remarkable collection of contemporary Scandinavian-influenced sculpture at Govan. There is reason to suspect that Eochaid reigned during this expansion of the Kingdom of Strathclyde. The Pictish and British realms are certainly not recorded to have been assailed by Vikings during Eochaid's floruit. Furthermore, a union of the Pictish and British kingdoms could well have allowed him to extend British authority southward.

paragraph: Section::::Transformation of the Pictish realm.

paragraph: As for the Scottish kingdom, the succeeding king is identified as Domnall mac Custantín by the "Chronicle of the Kings of Alba". Domnall's kingship is corroborated by the "Annals of Ulster" and "Chronicon Scotorum" which report his death in 900. The fact the "Chronicle of the Kings of Alba" accords Domnall an eleven-year reign places the inception of his rule in 889, and therefore corroborates the eleven-year reign accorded to Eochaid. Domnall is the first monarch to be styled King of Alba by a contemporary annalistic source. Prior to about this period, the Gaelic stood for "Britain". In fact, the shifting terminology employed by various English, Irish, and Scottish sources may be evidence that the Pictish realm underwent a radical transformation during this period in history.

paragraph: For example, the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" identifies the Irish as up until the 890s. By the 920s, this term came to be accorded to the people formerly regarded as Pictish (and last recorded as such in the 870s). As for the Irish annals—specifically the hypothesised "Chronicle of Ireland"—the terms and ("king of the Picts") are last accorded to the Picts and their kings in the 870s. In fact, the last Pictish king to be styled thus was Domnall's uncle, Áed. By the 900s, the terms ("men of Alba") and ("king of Alba") are utlilised for these people. The "Chronicle of the Kings of Alba" last utilises the term in the midst of Domnall's reign. Thereafter, the realm is called .

paragraph: There is reason to suspect that the political and dynastic upheaval endured by the Pictish realm in the last quarter of the ninth century was the catalyst for a radical new political order based upon the reestablishment of the Alpínids in the kingship. Alternately, the transformation could have taken place specifically during the floruit of Giric and Eochaid. For instance, it is conceivable that Giric gained the throne by seizing upon the upheaval caused by the incessant Viking depredations that assailed Pictavia. At an earlier date, the Gaelic realm of Dál Riata appears to have crumbled under such pressures, and it is possible that Giric drew military power from this broken polity to forcefully seize the Pictish throne. In any case, the accommodation of significant Gaelic aristocratic power in the wavering Pictish realm could account for the eventual transformation of Pictavia into Alba.

paragraph: The temporary exclusion of the Alpínids from the Pictish throne could well have meant that they endured exile in Ireland. Certainly, Domnall's paternal aunt, Máel Muire ingen Cináeda, possessed significant Irish connections as the wife of two successive kings of Tara—Áed Findliath and Flann Sinna mac Maíl Shechnaill—and the mother of another—Niall Glúndub mac Áeda. If Domnall and his succeeding first cousin, Custantín mac Áeda, indeed spent their youth in Ireland prior to assuming the kingship of Alba, their Gaelic upbringing could well have ensured the continuation of Pictavia's Gaelicisation. If the eventual Alpínid successors of Eochaid and Giric were indeed sheltered in Ireland, this could account for the fact that the "Chronicle of Ireland" fails to acknowledge their usurpation.

paragraph: Furthermore, if the Pictish transformation indeed stems from the floruit of Giric and Eochaid, the new terminology could indicate that the Kingdom of Alba was envisioned to include Pictish, Gaelic, British, and English inhabitants. Several king-lists allege that Giric subjugated Ireland and England during his reign, an outlandish claim that could instead evince a multi-ethnic northern alliance under his authority. As such, there is reason to suspect that —a term previously used for Britain—may have been meant to encapsulate a new political construction, a polity of "North Britain".

paragraph: Section::::Legacy.

paragraph: Although the apparent reigns of Eochaid and Giric are obscure and uncertain, Giric eventually came to remembered as a legendary figure, credited as the liberator of the Gaelic Church from the Picts, and the architect of military conquests of Ireland and England. Eochaid, on the other hand, is only attested by the "Chronicle of the Kings of Alba" and the "Prophecy of Berchán". Unlike Giric, later mediaeval king-lists and chronicles fail to include Eochaid within their accounts of Scottish history. In fact, Eochaid, and the later Alpínid Amlaíb mac Illuilb, King of Alba, are the only Scottish kings not noted by the king-lists. The window within which Eochaid and Giric appear to have reigned marks the only point between the careers of Cináed and Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, King of Alba that a patrilineal Alpínid is not known to have ruled the Pictish/Alban realm.

paragraph: Eochaid is unattested after his apparent expulsion in 889, and the date of his death is unrecorded and unknown. According to various king-lists, Giric was slain at Dundurn. Evidence of extensive burning at the site may relate to this event, and may mark the end of the fort's use. If the accounts of Giric's downfall are to be believed, and if both he and Eochaid were allied together at the time, it is conceivable that both Eochaid and Giric fell together. Alternately, Giric's killing could have contributed to Eochaid's ejection from the kingship. Although it is unknown who was responsible for Giric's reported demise, one candidate is the succeeding Domnall. Alternately, Domnall's path to throne could have been paved by magnates who afterwards sent for him.

paragraph: Certainly, nothing is recorded concerning the kingship of Strathclyde until the turn of the tenth century, when the "Chronicle of the Kings of Alba" notes the passing of a certain Dyfnwal, King of Strathclyde. Dyfnwal's parentage is uncertain. On one hand, he could have been another son of Rhun. On the other hand, he could have been descended from Eochaid: either as a son or grandson. Alternately, Dyfnwal could have represented a more distant branch of the same dynasty. Eochaid may have also had a daughter, Lann, the wife of Niall Glúndub attested by the "Great Book of Lecan" version of the twelfth-century "Banshenchas". As such, if the "Banshenchas" is to be believed, a maternal grandson of Eochaid was Lann's son, Muirchertach mac Néill.

paragraph: Section::::See also.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Máel Coluim, son of the king of the Cumbrians, a probable member of Eochaid's kindred who could have reigned as either King of Strathclyde or King of Alba

alias:
Eochaid ap Rhun
Eochaid map Rhun
Eochaid mac Run

description: King of Strathclyde; and/or King of the Picts

wikidata_label: Eochaid, son of Rhun

wikipedia_title: Eochaid, son of Rhun


text: Grand Prince of Moscow

text: Vladimir

text: Ruza

text: Zvenigorod

text: Ivan Kalita

text: Simeon the Proud

text: Black Death

text: Golden Horde

text: Mongols

text: Lithuania

text: Algirdas

text: Lithuania

text: Bryansk

text: Riazan

text: Orthodox

text: Metropolitan Alexius

text: Moscow

text: Borovsk

text: Vereya

text: Cathedral of the Archangel Michael

text: Moscow

text: Bryansk

text: mayor

text: Dmitri Donskoi

text: Grand Duchy of Moscow

text: Bobrok

text: Volhynia

text: Zvenigorod

categories: Grand Princes of Vladimir,Grand Princes of Moscow,14th-century Grand Princes of Moscow,1359 deaths,14th-century Russian princes,1326 births,Rurik dynasty,Eastern Orthodox monarchs

paragraph: Ivan II of Moscow

paragraph: Ivan II Ivanovich the Fair () (30 March 1326 – 13 November 1359) was the Grand Prince of Moscow and Grand Prince of Vladimir in 1353. Until that date, he had ruled the towns of Ruza and Zvenigorod. He was the second son of Ivan Kalita, and succeeded his brother Simeon the Proud, who died of the Black Death.

paragraph: Section::::Reign.

paragraph: Upon succeeding his brother and because of increased civil strife among the Golden Horde, Ivan briefly toyed with the idea of abandoning traditional Moscow allegiance to the Mongols and allying himself with Lithuania, a growing power in the west. This policy was quickly abandoned and Ivan asserted his allegiance to the Golden Horde.

paragraph: Contemporaries described Ivan as a pacific, apathetic ruler, who didn't flinch even when Algirdas of Lithuania captured his father-in-law's capital, Bryansk. He also allowed Oleg of Riazan to burn villages on his territory. However, Orthodox churchmen aided in consolidating the power of the Grand Prince. He received much aid from the capable Metropolitan Alexius. Like his brother, Ivan II was not as successful as his father or grandfather with regard to territorial expansion. Nevertheless, he was able to annex areas southwest of Moscow, including the areas of Borovsk, and Vereya.

paragraph: He is buried in the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael in Moscow.

paragraph: Section::::Marriages and children.

paragraph: Ivan was married twice. In 1341, Ivan married his first wife Fedosia Dmitrievna of Bryansk. She was a daughter of Dmitry Romanovich, Prince of Bryansk. She died childless in Autumn, 1342.

paragraph: Ivan remained a widower for three years. In 1345, Ivan married his second wife, Alexandra Vassilievna Velyaminova. She was a daughter of Vasily Velyaminov, a mayor of Moscow. They had at least four children:

paragraph: BULLET::::- Dmitri Donskoi (12 October 1350 – 19 May 1389). His successor in the Grand Duchy of Moscow.

paragraph: BULLET::::- A daughter married Prince Bobrok of Volhynia.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Ivan Ivanovich, Prince of Zvenigorod (c. 1356 – October 1364).

paragraph: BULLET::::- Maria Ivanovna.

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- His listing , along with his children, in "Medieval lands" by Charles Cawley.

description: Grand Prince of Moscow

wikidata_label: Ivan II of Moscow

wikipedia_title: Ivan II of Moscow


text:
Grand Prince of Moscow
civil war
Russia
Vasily I of Moscow
Sophia of Lithuania
Vytautas the Great
Yuri of Zvenigorod
Galich-Mersky
Vasily the Cross-Eyed
Dmitry Shemyaka
Dmitri Donskoi
Golden Horde
Smolensk
boyar
Kolomna
Kremlin
Golden Horde
Khanate
Ulugh Muhammad
Kazan Khanate
defeated and taken prisoner
Uglich
Vologda
Lithuania
collateral succession
Suzdal
Vyatka
Novgorod
Pskov
Constantinople
Patriarch
Pope
Council of Florence
bishop
Jonah
metropolitan
Russia
Russian Orthodox Church
Patriarch
Constantinople
Ivan III
Anna
Ryazan
Rulers of Russia family tree
History of the Great Feudal War

categories: Medieval child rulers,15th-century Grand Princes of Moscow,Blind royalty and nobility,1415 births,Grand Princes of Moscow,Blind politicians,Rurik dynasty,Rurikids,Eastern Orthodox monarchs,Blind people from Russia,1462 deaths

paragraph: Vasily II of Moscow

paragraph: Vasily Vasiliyevich (; 10 March 141527 March 1462), known as Vasily II the Blind (Василий II Тёмный), was the Grand Prince of Moscow whose long reign (1425–1462) was plagued by the greatest civil war of Old Russian history.

paragraph: Section::::First ten years of internecine struggle.

paragraph: Vasily II was the youngest son of Vasily I of Moscow by Sophia of Lithuania, the only daughter of Vytautas the Great, and the only son to survive his father (his elder brother Ivan died in 1417 at the age of 22). On his father's death Vasily II was proclaimed Grand Duke at the age of 10. His mother acted as a regent. His uncle, Yuri of Zvenigorod (Prince of Galich-Mersky), and his two sons, Vasily the Cross-Eyed and Dmitry Shemyaka, seized on the opportunity to advance their own claims to the throne. These claims were based on the Testament of Dmitri Donskoi, Yuri's father and Vasily II's grandfather, who had stated that if Vasily I died Yuri would succeed his appanage. However, Dmitri had written the testament when Vasily I had no children of his own, and it might be argued that this provision had been made only for the case of Vasily I's childless death. Vasily II's claim was supported by Vytautas, his maternal grandfather.

paragraph: Upon Vytautas' death in 1430, Yuri went to the Golden Horde, returning with a license to take the Moscow throne. But the Khan did not support him any further, largely due to the devices of the Smolensk princeling and Moscow boyarin Ivan Vsevolzhsky. When Yuri assembled an army and attacked Moscow, Vasily II, betrayed by Vsevolzhsky, was defeated and captured by his enemies (1433). Upon being proclaimed Grand Duke of Moscow, Yuri pardoned his nephew and sent him to reign in the town of Kolomna. That proved to be a mistake, as Vasily II immediately started to plot against his uncle and gather all sort of malcontents. Feeling how insecure his throne was, Yuri resigned and then left Moscow for his northern hometown. When Vasily II returned to Moscow, he had Vsevolzhsky blinded as a traitor.

paragraph: Meanwhile, Yuri's claim was inherited by his sons who decided to continue the fight. They managed to defeat Vasily II, who had to seek refuge in the Golden Horde. After Yuri died in 1434, Vasili the Cross-Eyed entered the Kremlin and was proclaimed new Grand Duke. Dmitry Shemyaka, who had his own plans for the throne, quarreled with his brother and concluded an alliance with Vasily II. Together they managed to banish Vasily the Cross-Eyed from the Kremlin in 1435. The latter was captured and blinded, which effectively removed him from the contest for the throne.

paragraph: Section::::Kazan and Shemyaka.

paragraph: During Vasily II 's reign the Golden Horde collapsed and broke up into smaller Khanates. Now that his throne was relatively secure, he had to deal with the Tatar threat. In 1439, Vasily II had to flee the capital, when it was besieged by Ulugh Muhammad, ruler of the nascent Kazan Khanate. Six years later, he personally led his troops against Ulugh Muhammad, but was defeated and taken prisoner. The Russians were forced to gather an enormous ransom for their prince, so that Vasily II `b n could be released some five months later.

paragraph: During that time, the control of Moscow passed to Dmitry Shemyaka. Keeping in mind the fate of his own brother, Dmitry had Vasily II blinded and exiled him to Uglich, in 1446; hence, Vasily II's nickname, 'the blind' ("Tyomniy", literally 'dark'). As Vasily II still had a number of supporters in Moscow, Dmitry recalled him from exile and gave him Vologda as an appanage. That proved to be a mistake, as Vasily II quickly assembled his supporters and regained the throne.

paragraph: Vasily II's final victory against his cousin came in the 1450s, when he captured Galich-Mersky and poisoned Dmitry. The latter's children managed to escape to Lithuania. These events finally put to rest the principle of collateral succession, which was a major cause of medieval internecine struggles.

paragraph: Section::::Later reign and policies.

paragraph: Now that the war was over, Vasily II eliminated almost all of the small appanages in Moscow principality, so as to strengthen his sovereign authority. His military campaigns of 1441–60 increased Moscow's hold over Suzdal, the Vyatka lands, and the republican governments of Novgorod and Pskov.

paragraph: In the meantime, Constantinople fell to the Turks, and the Patriarch agreed to acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope in the Council of Florence. Vasily II promptly rejected this arrangement. By his order in 1448, bishop Jonah was appointed metropolitan of Russia, which was tantamount to declaration of independence of the Russian Orthodox Church from the Patriarch of Constantinople. This move further strengthened Russia's reputation among Orthodox states.

paragraph: In his later years the blind prince was greatly helped by Metropolitan Jonah, boyars, and then by his older son Ivan III who was styled co-ruler since the late 1450s. On Vasily II's death in 1462 Ivan III succeeded him as Grand Prince of Moscow. Vasily's daughter Anna was married to a prince of Ryazan.

paragraph: Section::::See also.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Rulers of Russia family tree

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- History of the Great Feudal War

description: Grand Prince of Moscow

wikidata_label: Vasily II of Moscow

wikipedia_title: Vasily II of Moscow


text: Grand Prince of Moscow

text: r.

text: Dmitry Donskoy

text: Golden Horde

text: Volga

text: Timur

text: Grand Duchy of Lithuania

text: Vytautas the Great

text: Sophia

text: Dmitry Donskoy

text: Grand Princess Eudoxia

text: Dmitry Konstantinovich

text: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Nizhny Novgorod

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text: Komi peoples

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text: Golden Horde

text: khan

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text: Gorodets

text: Rostov

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text: John VIII Palaeologus

text: Byzantium

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text: judicial

text: volost

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text: Cathedral of the Annunciation

text: mechanical clock

text: Bulgarian

text: Gregory Tsamblak

text: Vytautas

text: Sophia of Lithuania

text: Vytautas the Great

text: Anna

text: Anna of Moscow

text: John VIII Palaiologos

text: Pronsk

text: Kiev

text: Vladimir Olgerdovich

text: Suzdal

text: Suzdal

text: Andrei II of Vladimir

text: Patrikej

text: Starodub

text: Boyar

text: Vasily II of Moscow

text: Rulers of Russia family tree

categories: 15th-century Grand Princes of Moscow,Grand Princes of Moscow,14th-century Grand Princes of Moscow,1425 deaths,Rurik dynasty,1371 births,Eastern Orthodox monarchs,Rurikids

paragraph: Vasily I of Moscow

paragraph: Vasily I Dmitriyevich (; 30 December 137127 February 1425) was the Grand Prince of Moscow (r. 1389—1425), heir of Dmitry Donskoy (r. 1359—1389). He ruled as a Golden Horde vassal between 1389-1395, and again in 1412-1425. The raid on the Volgan regions in 1395 by Mongol emir Timur resulted in a state of anarchy for the Golden Horde and the independence of Moscow. In 1412, Vasily reinstated himself as a vassal of the Horde. He had entered an alliance with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1392 and married the only daughter of Vytautas the Great, Sophia, though the alliance turned out to be fragile, and they waged war against each other in 1406–1408.

paragraph: Section::::Family and early life.

paragraph: Vasily was the oldest son of Dmitry Donskoy and Grand Princess Eudoxia, daughter of Grand Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich of Nizhny Novgorod.

paragraph: Section::::Reign.

paragraph: While still a youth, Vasily, who was the eldest son of Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy (ruled Moscow 1359–89), travelled to the Tatar khan Tokhtamysh (1383) to obtain the Khan's patent for his father to rule the Russian lands as the grand prince of Vladimir. Diplomatically overcoming the challenge of the prince of Tver, who also sought the patent, Vasily succeeded in his mission. But he was subsequently kept at Tokhtamysh's court as a hostage until 1386 when, taking advantage of Tokhtamysh's conflict with his suzerain Timur Lenk (Tamerlane), he escaped and returned to Moscow.

paragraph: Vasily I continued the process of unification of the Russian lands: in 1392, he annexed the principalities of Nizhny Novgorod and Murom. Nizhny Novgorod was given to Vasily by the Khan of the Golden Horde in exchange for the help Moscow had given against one of his rivals. In 1397–1398 Kaluga, Vologda, Veliki Ustyug and the lands of the Komi peoples were annexed.

paragraph: To prevent Russia from being attacked by the Golden Horde, Vasily I entered into an alliance with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1392 and married Sophia of Lithuania, the only daughter of Vytautas the Great. The alliance turned out to be fragile, and they waged war against each other in 1406–1408.

paragraph: Mongol emir Timur raided the Slavic lands in 1395; he ruined the Volgan regions but did not penetrate as far as Moscow. Timur's raid was of service to the Russian prince as it damaged the Golden Horde, which for the next twelve years was in a state of anarchy. During the whole of this time no tribute was paid to the khan, Olug Moxammat, though vast sums of money were collected in the Moscow treasury for military purposes.

paragraph: In 1408 Edigu burnt Nizhny Novgorod, Gorodets, Rostov, and many other towns but failed to take Moscow, though he had still burnt it. In 1412, however, Basil found it necessary to pay the long-deferred visit of submission to the Horde.

paragraph: The growing influence of Moscow abroad was underlined by the fact that Vasily married his daughter Anna to Emperor John VIII Palaeologus of Byzantium.

paragraph: Section::::Domestic policy.

paragraph: During his reign, feudal landownership kept growing. With the growth of princely authority in Moscow, the judicial powers of landowners were partially diminished and transferred to Vasily's deputies and heads of volosts.

paragraph: Russian (East Slavic) chronicles speak of a monk, Lazar the Serb, newly arrived from Serbia, inventing and building a clock on a tower in the Grand Prince's palace in Moscow behind the Cathedral of the Annunciation at the request of Vasily I, in 1404. It was the first ever mechanical clock in Russia, and also the country's first public clock. It was among the first ten such advanced clocks in Europe, and was regarded as a technical miracle at the time.

paragraph: The most important ecclesiastical event of the reign was the elevation of the Bulgarian, Gregory Tsamblak, to the metropolitan see of Kiev by Vytautas, grand-duke of Lithuania; the immediate political consequence of which was the weakening of the hold of Moscow on the south-western Russian states.

paragraph: Section::::Marriage and children.

paragraph: Vasily married Sophia of Lithuania, a daughter of Vytautas the Great and his wife, Anna. They had nine known children:

paragraph: BULLET::::- Anna of Moscow (1393August 1417), wife of John VIII Palaiologos

paragraph: BULLET::::- Yury Vasilievich (30 March 139530 November 1400)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Ivan Vasilievich (15 January 139620 July 1417), husband of a daughter of Ivan Vladimirovich of Pronsk.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Anastasia Vasilievna (died 1470), wife of Vladimir Alexander, Prince of Kiev, son of Vladimir Olgerdovich

paragraph: BULLET::::- Daniil Vasilievich (6 December 1400May 1402).

paragraph: BULLET::::- Vasilisa Vasilievna. Married first Alexander Ivanovich "Brukhaty", Prince of Suzdal and secondly his first cousin Alexander Daniilovich "Vzmetenj", Prince of Suzdal. They were both fifth-generation descendants of Andrei II of Vladimir.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Simeon Vasilievich (13 January7 April 1405)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Maria Vasilievna. Married Yuri Patrikievich, son of Patrikej, Prince of Starodub and his wife Helena. The marriage solidified his role as a Boyar attached to Moscow.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Vasily II of Moscow (10 March 141527 March 1462)

paragraph: Section::::See also.

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Sofia's listing, along with her husband, in "Medieval lands" by Charles Cawley.

description: Grand Prince of Moscow

wikidata_label: Vasily I of Moscow

wikipedia_title: Vasily I of Moscow


text:
Grand Prince of Moscow
Ivan III Vasiliyevich
Sophia Paleologue
Yuri
Ivan the Great
Ivan the Terrible
annexed
autonomous
Pskov
appanage
Volokolamsk
Ryazan
Novgorod-Seversky
Sigismund of Poland
capture Smolensk
Lithuania
Mikhail Glinski
Russo-Lithuanian Wars
Safavid Empire
Ismail I
Ottoman Empire
Crimean Khanate
Mehmed I Giray
Volga
Cangali khan
Khanate of Kazan
tsar
double-headed eagle
Byzantine Empire
Church
feudal
opposition
metropolitan
Varlaam
banish
Vasili Ivanovich Shemyachich
Rurikid
Shuisky
Vorotynsky
exile
diplomat
statesman
Ivan Bersen-Beklemishev
Maximus the Greek
publicist
Vassian Patrikeyev
sentenced
landownership
gentry
immunities
privileges
boyars
nobility
Solomonia Saburova
Elena Glinskaya
Michael Glinski
Ivan IV
Yuri
bore a son in the convent
abscess
monk
Rulers of Russia family tree

categories: 16th-century Grand Princes of Moscow,1479 births,Grand Princes of Moscow,15th-century Russian people,1533 deaths,Rurik dynasty,16th-century Russian people,Russian people of Greek descent,Rurikids,Eastern Orthodox monarchs

paragraph: Vasili III of Russia

paragraph: Vasili III Ivanovich (, also Basil; 26 March 14793 December 1533, Moscow) was the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1505 to 1533. He was the son of Ivan III Vasiliyevich and Sophia Paleologue and was christened with the name Gavriil (Гавриил). He had three brothers: Yuri, born in 1480, Simeon, born in 1487 and Andrei, born in 1490, as well as five sisters: Elena (born and died in 1474), Feodosiya (born and died in 1475), another Elena (born 1476), another Feodosiya (born 1485) and Eudoxia (born 1492). He is sometimes mockingly referred to as Vasili the Adequate due to his rule taking place between those of Ivan the Great and Ivan the Terrible, as well as the relative uneventfulness of his reign .

paragraph: Section::::Foreign affairs.

paragraph: Vasili III continued the policies of his father Ivan III and spent most of his reign consolidating Ivan's gains. Vasili annexed the last surviving autonomous provinces: Pskov in 1510, appanage of Volokolamsk in 1513, principalities of Ryazan in 1521 and Novgorod-Seversky in 1522.

paragraph: Vasili also took advantage of the difficult position of Sigismund of Poland to capture Smolensk, the great eastern fortress of Lithuania (siege started 1512, ended in 1514), chiefly through the aid of the rebel Lithuanian, Prince Mikhail Glinski, who provided him with artillery and engineers. The loss of Smolensk was an important injury inflicted by Russia on Lithuania in the course of the Russo-Lithuanian Wars and only the exigencies of Sigismund compelled him to acquiesce in its surrender (1522).

paragraph: In 1521 Vasili received an emissary of the neighboring Iranian Safavid Empire, sent by Shah Ismail I whose ambitions were to construct an Irano-Russian alliance against the common enemy, the Ottoman Empire.

paragraph: Vasili was equally successful against the Crimean Khanate. Although in 1519 he was obliged to buy off the Crimean khan, Mehmed I Giray, under the very walls of Moscow, towards the end of his reign he established Russian influence on the Volga. In 1531–32 he placed the pretender Cangali khan on the throne of Khanate of Kazan.

paragraph: Basil was the first grand-duke of Moscow who adopted the title of tsar and the double-headed eagle of the Byzantine Empire.

paragraph: Section::::Domestic affairs.

paragraph: Regarding internal policy, Vasili III enjoyed the support of the Church in his struggle with the feudal opposition. In 1521, metropolitan Varlaam was banished for refusing to participate in Vasili's fight against an appanage prince, Vasili Ivanovich Shemyachich. Rurikid princes Vasili Shuisky and Ivan Vorotynsky were also sent into exile. The diplomat and statesman, Ivan Bersen-Beklemishev, was executed in 1525 for criticizing Vasili's policies. Maximus the Greek (publicist), Vassian Patrikeyev (statesman) and others were sentenced for the same reason in 1525 and 1531. During the reign of Vasili III, the landownership of the gentry increased, while authorities actively tried to limit immunities and privileges of boyars and the nobility.

paragraph: Section::::Family life.

paragraph: By 1526 when he was 47 years old, Vasili had been married to Solomonia Saburova for over 20 years with no heir to his throne being produced. Conscious of her husband's disappointment, Solomonia tried to remedy this by consulting sorcerers and going on pilgrimages. When this proved unsuccessful, Vasili consulted the boyars, announcing that he did not trust his two brothers to handle Russia's affairs.

paragraph: The boyars suggested that he take a new wife, and despite much opposition from the clergy, he divorced his barren wife and married Princess Elena Glinskaya, the daughter of a Serbian princess and niece of his friend Michael Glinski. Not many of the boyars approved of his choice, as Elena was of Catholic upbringing. Vasili was so smitten that he defied Russian social norms and trimmed his beard to appear younger. After three days of matrimonial festivity, the couple consummated their marriage, though initially it appeared that Elena was as sterile as Solomonia. The Russian populace began to suspect this was a sign of God's disapproval of the marriage. However, to the great joy of Vasili and the populace, the new tsaritsa gave birth to a son, who would succeed him as Ivan IV. Three years later, a second son, Yuri, was born. According to a story, Solomonia Saburova also bore a son in the convent where she had been confined, just several months after the controversial divorce.

paragraph: Section::::Death.

paragraph: Whilst out hunting on horseback near Volokolamsk, Vasili felt a great pain in his right hip, the result of an abscess. He was transported to the village of Kolp, where he was visited by two German doctors who were unable to stop the infection with conventional remedies. Believing that his time was short, Vasili requested to be returned to Moscow, where he was kept in the Saint Joseph Cathedral along the way. By 25 November 1533, Vasili reached Moscow and asked to be made a monk before dying. Taking on the name Varlaam, Vasili died at midnight, 4 December 1533.

paragraph: Section::::See also.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Rulers of Russia family tree

wikidata_label: Vasili III of Russia

wikipedia_title: Vasili III of Russia


text: Grand Prince of Moscow

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text: Golden Horde

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text: Dmitry Donskoi

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text: King of Poland

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text: Thomas Palaeologus

text: Morea

text: Constantine XI

text: Eastern Orthodoxy

text: etiquette

text: double-headed eagle

text: Maria of Tver

text: Ivan the Young

text: Helen of Moldavia

text: Dmitry the Grandson

text: Vasily

text: Sect of Skhariya the Jew

text: Sudebnik

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text: Constantinople

text: Ridolfo di Fioravante

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text: Knut Posse

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text: Chernigov

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text: Novgorod-Seversky

text: appanage

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text: Constantine XI

text: Third Rome

text: Philotheos

text: Nicholas Zernov

text: Sigismund von Herberstein

text: George Vernadsky

text: Michael Karpovich

text: Arctic

text: puppet state

text: Ugra River

text: emissary

text: Tver

text: revival of statehood

text: Kazan Khanate

text: Oka River

text: Pechora River

text: Pustozyorsk

text: Maria of Tver

text: Ivan Ivanovich (Ivan the Young)

text: Sophia Palaiologina

text: Helena of Moscow

text: Grand Duchess of Lithuania

text: Queen of Poland

text: Vasily III of Russia

text: Grand Prince of Moscow

text: Yury Ivanovich

text: Ibrahim, Khan of Kazan

text: Vasily 'Nemoy' Shuisky

text: Mstislavsky

text: Vasily Danilovich Kholmsky

text: Andrey of Staritsa

text: Rulers of Russia family tree

text: Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition

text: public domain

text: Sudebnik

categories: 1440 births,16th-century Grand Princes of Moscow,Grand Princes of Moscow,15th-century Russian people,1505 deaths,Rurik dynasty,16th-century Russian people,15th-century Grand Princes of Moscow

paragraph: Ivan III of Russia

paragraph: Ivan III Vasilyevich (; 22 January 1440, Moscow – 27 October 1505, Moscow), also known as Ivan the Great, was a Grand Prince of Moscow and "Grand Prince of all Rus'". Sometimes referred to as the "gatherer of the Russian lands", he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Mongols/Tatars over Russia by defeating the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. He was one of the longest-reigning Russian rulers in history.

paragraph: Section::::Gathering of Rus' lands.

paragraph: Ivan's rule is marked by what some historians called 'the Gathering of the Russian Lands'. Ivan brought the independent duchies (kniažestva) of different Rurikid princes under the direct control of Moscow, leaving the princes and their posterity without royal titles or land inheritance. His first enterprise was a war with the Republic of Novgorod, with which Muscovy ("Moscow") as a Northern district of Golden Horde had fought a series of wars stretching back to at least the reign of Dmitry Donskoi. These wars were waged over Moscow's religious and political sovereignty, and over Moscow's efforts to seize land in the Northern Dvina region. Alarmed at the growing power of Moscow, Novgorod had negotiated with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Rus in the hope of placing itself under the protection of the neighboring Catholic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Casimir IV, King of Poland and Grand Prince of Lithuania, against the increasing attacks by the Muscovite dynasty, a would-be alliance that was proclaimed by the Moscow rulers as an act of apostasy from Orthodoxy (in part, because the Polish king was a Catholic). Ivan took the field against Novgorod in 1470, and after his generals had twice defeated the forces of the republic — at the Battle of Shelon River and on the Northern Dvina, both in the summer of 1471 — the Novgorodians were forced to sue for peace, agreeing to abandon their overtures to Lithuania and to cede a considerable portion of their northern territories, while paying a war indemnity of 15,500 roubles.

paragraph: Ivan visited Novgorod Central several times in the next several years, persecuting a number of pro-Lithuanian boyars and confiscating their lands. In 1477, two Novgorodian envoys, claiming to have been sent by the archbishops and the entire city, addressed Ivan in public audience as "Gosudar" (sovereign) instead of the usual "Gospodin" (sir). Ivan at once seized upon this as a recognition of his sovereignty, and when the Novgorodians repudiated the envoys (indeed, one was killed at the veche and several others of the pro-Moscow faction were killed with him) and swore openly in front of the Moscow ambassadors that they would turn to Lithuania again, he marched against them. Deserted by Casimir and surrounded on every side by the Moscow armies, which occupied the major monasteries around the city, Novgorod ultimately recognized Ivan's direct rule over the city and its vast hinterland in a document signed and sealed by Archbishop Feofil of Novgorod (1470–1480) on 15 January 1478.

paragraph: Ivan dispossessed Novgorod of more than four-fifths of its land, keeping half for himself and giving the other half to his allies. Subsequent revolts (1479–1488) were punished by the removal en masse of the richest and most ancient families of Novgorod to Moscow, Vyatka, and other north-eastern Rus' cities. Archbishop Feofil was also removed to Moscow for plotting against the Grand Prince. The rival republic of Pskov owed the continuance of its own political existence to the readiness with which it assisted Ivan against its ancient enemy. The other principalities were eventually absorbed by conquest, purchase, or marriage contract: The Principality of Yaroslavl in 1463, Rostov in 1474, Tver in 1485, and Vyatka 1489.

paragraph: Ivan's refusal to share his conquests with his brothers, and his subsequent interference with the internal politics of their inherited principalities, involved him in several wars with them, from which, though the princes were assisted by Lithuania, he emerged victorious. Finally, Ivan's new rule of government, formally set forth in his last will to the effect that the domains of all his kinsfolk, after their deaths, should pass directly to the reigning Grand Duke instead of reverting, as hitherto, to the princes' heirs, put an end once and for all to these semi-independent princelings.

paragraph: Ivan had four brothers. The eldest, Yury, died childless on 12 September 1472. He only had a draft of a will that said nothing about his land. Ivan seized the land, much to the fury of the surviving brothers, whom he placated with some land. Boris and Andrei the Elder signed treaties with Vasily in February and September 1473. They agreed to protect each other's land and not to have secret dealings with foreign states; they broke this clause in 1480, fleeing to Lithuania. It is unknown whether Andrei the Younger signed a treaty. He died in 1481, leaving his lands to Ivan. In 1491 Andrei the Elder was arrested by Ivan for refusing to aid the Crimean Tatars against the Golden Horde. He died in prison in 1493, and Ivan seized his land. In 1494 Boris, the only brother able to pass his land to his sons, died. However, their land reverted to the Tsar upon their deaths in 1503 and 1515 respectively.

paragraph: There was one semi-autonomous prince in Muscovy when Ivan acceded: Prince Mikhail Andreevich of Vereia, who had been awarded an Appanage by Vasily II. In 1478 he was pressured into giving Belozersk to Ivan, who got all of Mikhail's land on his death in 1486.

paragraph: Section::::Domestic policy.

paragraph: The character of the government of Moscow changed significantly under Ivan III, taking on a new autocratic form. This was a natural consequence of the hegemony of Moscow over the other Vladimir-Suzdal lands, but also to new imperial pretensions. After the fall of Constantinople, orthodox canonists were inclined to regard the Grand Princes of Moscow, where the Orthodox Metropolitan of Kiev moved in 1325 after the Mongol Invasions, as the successors of the Byzantine emperors. Ivan himself appeared to welcome the idea, and he began to style himself tsar in foreign correspondence. Fennell emphasizes Ivan's success in centralizing control over local rulers; he adds, however, that his reign was also "a period of cultural depression and spiritual barrenness. Freedom was stamped out within the Muscovite lands. By his anti-Catholicism Ivan brought down the curtain between Muscovy and the west. For the sake of territorial aggrandizement he deprived his country of the fruits of Western learning and civilization."

paragraph: This movement coincided with a change in the family circumstances of Ivan III. After the death of his first consort, Maria of Tver (1467), and at the suggestion of Pope Paul II (1469), who hoped thereby to bind Muscovy to the Holy See, Ivan III wedded Sophia Palaiologina (also known under her original name Zoe), daughter of Thomas Palaeologus, despot of Morea, who claimed the throne of Constantinople as the brother of Constantine XI, the last Byzantine emperor. Frustrating the Pope's hopes of reuniting the two faiths, the princess endorsed Eastern Orthodoxy. Due to her family traditions, she encouraged imperial ideas in the mind of her consort. It was through her influence that the ceremonious etiquette of Constantinople (along with the imperial double-headed eagle and all that it implied) was adopted by the court of Moscow.

paragraph: Ivan's son with Maria of Tver, Ivan the Young, died in 1490, leaving from his marriage with Helen of Moldavia an only child, Dmitry the Grandson. The latter was crowned as successor by his grandfather on 15 February 1498, but later Ivan reverted his decision in favor of Sophia's elder son Vasily, who was ultimately crowned co-regent with his father (14 April 1502). The decision was dictated by the crisis connected with the Sect of Skhariya the Jew, as well as by the imperial prestige of Sophia's descendants. Dmitry the Grandson was put into prison, where he died, unmarried and childless, in 1509, already under the rule of his uncle.

paragraph: The Grand Duke increasingly held aloof from his boyars. The old patriarchal systems of government vanished. The boyars were no longer consulted on affairs of state. The sovereign became sacrosanct, while the boyars were reduced to dependency on the will of the sovereign. The boyars naturally resented this revolution and struggled against it.

paragraph: It was in the reign of Ivan III that the new Muscovite Sudebnik, or law code, was compiled by the scribe Vladimir Gusev. Ivan did his utmost to make his capital a worthy successor to Constantinople, and with that object invited many foreign masters and artificers to settle in Moscow. The most noted of these was the Italian Ridolfo di Fioravante, nicknamed "Aristotle" because of his extraordinary knowledge, who built several cathedrals and palaces in the Kremlin, and also supervised the construction of the Kremlin walls.

paragraph: Section::::Foreign policy.

paragraph: Muscovy rejected the Tatar yoke during the reign of Ivan III. In 1476, Ivan refused to pay the customary tribute to the grand Khan Ahmed, and in 1480 Ahmed Khan organized a military campaign against Muscovy. Throughout the autumn the Muscovy and Tatar hosts confronted each other on opposite sides of the Ugra River, till 11 November 1480 when Ahmed retreated into the steppe.

paragraph: In the following year the Grand Khan, while preparing a second expedition against Moscow, was suddenly attacked, routed and slain by Ivak, the Khan of the Nogay Horde, whereupon the Golden Horde suddenly fell to pieces. In 1487 Ivan reduced the khanate of Kazan, one of the offshoots of the Horde, to the condition of a vassal-state, though in his later years it broke away from his suzerainty. With the other Muslim powers, the Khan of the Crimean Khanate and the sultans of Ottoman Empire, Ivan's relations were peaceful and even amicable. The Crimean Khan, Meñli I Giray, helped him against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and facilitated the opening of diplomatic relations between Moscow and Constantinople, where the first Muscovian embassy appeared in 1495.

paragraph: The Christian rulers in the Caucasus began to see the Muscovite monarchs as their natural allies against the Muslim regional powers. The first attempt at forging an alliance was made by Alexander I, king of a small Georgian kingdom of Kakheti, who dispatched two embassies, in 1483 and 1491, to Moscow. However, as the Muscovites were still too far from the Caucasus, neither of these missions had any effect on the course of events in the region. In 1488, Ivan sought gun-founders, master-gunners for siege cannons, gold- and silversmiths and (Italian) master builders from Matthias Corvinus of Hungary.

paragraph: In Nordic affairs, Ivan III concluded an offensive alliance with Hans of Denmark and maintained regular correspondence with Emperor Maximilian I, who called him a "brother". He built a strong citadel in Ingria, named Ivangorod after himself, situated on the Russian-Estonian border, opposite the fortress of Narva held by the Livonian Confederation. In the Russo-Swedish War (1495–1497) Ivan III unsuccessfully attempted to conquer Viborg from Sweden, but this attempt was checked by the Swedish garrison in Viborg Castle led by Lord Knut Posse.

paragraph: The further extension of the Moscow dominion was facilitated by the death of Casimir IV in 1492, when Poland and Lithuania once again parted company. The throne of Lithuania was now occupied by Casimir's son Alexander, a weak and lethargic prince so incapable of defending his possessions against the persistent attacks of the Muscovites that he attempted to save them by a matrimonial compact, wedding Helena, Ivan's daughter. But the clear determination of Ivan to appropriate as much of Lithuania as possible finally compelled Alexander to take up arms against his father-in-law in 1499. The Lithuanians were routed at the Battle of Vedrosha on 14 July 1500, and in 1503 Alexander was glad to purchase peace by ceding to Ivan Chernigov, Starodub, Novgorod-Seversky and sixteen other towns.

paragraph: Section::::Legacy.

paragraph: Ivan conquered or brought under his control the lands of north-eastern Rus', marking the beginning of Muscovite dominance over Rus' territory. Ivan arguably became best known for his consolidation of Muscovite rule. His predecessors had increased Moscow's territory from less than 600 square miles under Ivan II (reigned 1353–59) to more than 15,000 square miles at the end of Vasily II's reign. It remained for Ivan III to absorb Moscow's old rivals, Novgorod and Tver, and establish virtually a single rule over what had been appanages of Rus'. Although the circumstances surrounding the acquisitions varied, the results were basically the same: former sovereign or semi-autonomous principalities were reduced to the status of provinces of Moscow, while their princes joined the ranks of the Muscovite service nobility.

paragraph: After the death of his first wife in 1467, Ivan married (1472) Sophia (Zoë) Palaiologina, a Byzantine princess and niece of the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI (killed in battle in 1453). The Vatican sponsored the marriage in hope of bringing Russia under the sway of the Pope and of establishing a broad front against the Turks, a goal that failed. From Ivan's point of view, the marriage fit well into the general trend of elevating the Muscovite ruler.

paragraph: Following his second marriage, Ivan developed a complicated court ceremonial on the Byzantine model and began to use the title of "Tsar and Autocrat". Also during the reign of Ivan and his son, Vasily III, Moscow came to be referred to by spokesmen as the Third Rome. Philotheos, a monk from Pskov, developed the idea of Moscow as the true successor to Byzantium and, hence, to Rome.

paragraph: An impressive building program in Moscow took place under Ivan, directed primarily by Italian artists and craftsmen. New buildings were erected in the Kremlin, and the Kremlin walls were strengthened and furnished with towers and gates. In 1475, Ivan III established the first cannon foundry of Russia in Moscow, which started the native cannon production. Ivan died on 27 October 1505, and was succeeded by his son, Vasily III.

paragraph: Section::::Further reading on Ivan III.

paragraph: The only biography in English of Ivan is J. L. I. Fennell, Ivan the Great of Moscow (1961). A good discussion of the Third Rome concept is Nicholas Zernov, Moscow: The Third Rome (1937). A firsthand account of the 1486–1506 period is Baron Sigismund von Herberstein, Notes upon Russia, translated and edited by R. H. Major (2 vols., 1851–1852). The most thorough study of this period available to the English reader is George Vernadsky and Michael Karpovich, A History of Russia, vol. 4 (1959).

paragraph: Section::::Timeline.

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1462 – Becomes Great Prince after his father's death

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1463 – Annexes Yaroslavl

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1465 – Sends an expedition to the Arctic

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1471 – Invades Novgorod, which becomes a puppet state

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1472 – Eldest brother, Yuri, died childless; Ivan seizes his land

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1474 – Buys Rostov

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1475 – Establishes the first Russian cannon foundry in Moscow.

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1476 – Refuses to pay tribute to Khan Ahmed of the Golden Horde

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1478 – Annexes the Republic of Novgorod

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1480 – Golden Horde advances to the Ugra River but retreats (the last attempt to force Muscovy to pay tribute)

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1481 – Younger brother Andrei dies, leaving Ivan his land

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1483 – 1st Georgian emissary

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1484 – 1st purge of Novgorod

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1485 – Annexes Tver. The official date of revival of statehood; an acceptation of new title – 'Grand Prince of All Russia'

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1486 – The only autonomous Muscovite prince, Mikhail Andreevich of Vereia dies; Ivan seizes his land.

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1487 – Kazan Khanate becomes a Muscovite puppet state

paragraph: BULLET::::- 2nd purge of Novgorod

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1489 – Annexes Republic of Vyatka

paragraph: BULLET::::- 3rd purge of Novgorod: 1,000 expelled.

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1491 – Ivan's elder brother Andrei imprisoned for not helping the Crimean Khanate against the Golden Horde

paragraph: BULLET::::- 2nd Georgian emissary

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1492 – War with Lithuania started August

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1493 – Andrei the Elder dies in prison; Ivan seizes his land

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1494 – Last brother, Boris, dies and leaves his land to his sons, Ivan and Fedor

paragraph: BULLET::::- February – Lithuanian war ends

paragraph: BULLET::::- Muscovy annexes Vyazma and a sizable region in the upper reaches of the Oka River

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1499 – Lithuania invaded. 4,000 troops cross the Pechora River, take 1,000 prisoners, pelts and found Pustozyorsk.

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1503 – Ivan takes the land of his nephew Ivan on the latter's death

paragraph: BULLET::::- Chernigov, Starodub, Novgorod-Seversky, and sixteen other towns ceded by Lithuania to Muscovy, ending the war

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1505 – Ivan dies, leaving Muscovy to his son Vasili

paragraph: Section::::Marriages and children.

paragraph: 1.By Maria of Tver

paragraph: BULLET::::- Ivan Ivanovich (Ivan the Young) (15 February 1458 — 7 March 1490)

paragraph: 2.By Sophia Palaiologina

paragraph: BULLET::::- Anna (b.1474), died in infancy

paragraph: BULLET::::- Elena (b.1475), died in infancy

paragraph: BULLET::::- Feodosia (b.1475-?)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Helena of Moscow (19 May 1476 – 20 January 1513), Grand Duchess of Lithuania and Queen of Poland

paragraph: BULLET::::- Vasily III of Russia (25 March 1479 – 3 December 1533), Grand Prince of Moscow and Grand Prince of all Rus'(Russia)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Yury Ivanovich (23 March 1480 — 8 March 1536)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Dmitry Ivanovich (6 October 1481—14 February 1521)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Eudoxia Ivanovna (1492 — 1513); married Peter (born Kudaikul), son of Ibrahim, Khan of Kazan. Had issue, two daughters: Anastasia, wife of Vasily 'Nemoy' Shuisky and Anastasia, wife of Fyodor Mstislavsky

paragraph: BULLET::::- Elena Ivanovna (8 April 1484 -?)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Feodosia Ivanovna (29 May 1485 — 12 February 1501); married Vasily Danilovich Kholmsky

paragraph: BULLET::::- Simeon Ivanovich (21 March 1487 — 26 June 1518)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Andrey of Staritsa (5 August 1490 – 11 December 1537)

paragraph: Section::::See also.

paragraph: Section::::Further reading.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Fennell, J. L. I. "Ivan the Great of Moscow" (1961)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Grey, Ian. "Ivan III and the unification of Russia" (1964)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Ostowski, Donald. "The Growth of Moscovy, (1462–1533)" in Maureen Perrie, ed., "The Cambridge History of Russia" (2006) vol. I pages 213–39

paragraph: BULLET::::- Paul, Michael C. "Secular Power and the Archbishops of Novgorod up to the Muscovite Conquest," "Kritika" (2007) 8#2 pp:131–170.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Soloviev, Sergei M. and John J. Windhausen, eds. "History of Russia. Vol. 8: Russian Society in the Age of Ivan III" (1979)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Vernadsky, George, and Michael Karpovich, "A History of Russia" vol. 4 (1959).

paragraph: Section::::Further reading.:Primary sources.

paragraph: This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Sudebnik

description: Grand Prince of Moscow

wikidata_label: Ivan III of Russia

wikipedia_title: Ivan III of Russia