Prince Vasily the Dark ruled in. Vasily the dark

Vasily II the Dark

Vasily II Vasilievich Dark, Grand Duke Moscow and Vladimir, son of Grand Duke Vasily I Dmitrievich. Born in 1415, reigned from 1425 to 1462.

Vasily Vasilyevich was 10 years old when his father died. His candidacy for the grand ducal throne could also be considered legally unstable: the will of Dmitry Donskoy, his grandfather, contained words that substantiated the claim of Vasily’s uncle, Yuri Dmitrievich, to the great reign.

The resolution of the dispute between uncle and nephew depended in fact on the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas, the guardian of the family of Vasily I. Relying on him, Metropolitan Photius persuaded Yuri to a peace treaty (1425), according to which he undertook not to achieve a great reign by force; only the khan's award was recognized as authoritative in case Yuri renewed his claims.

Dependent on Lithuania, the Moscow government did not protest against the appointment of a special Western Russian metropolitan in 1425. It was not difficult for Lithuania to obtain the abdication (in 1428) of the Moscow Grand Duke from independent politics in Veliky Novgorod and Pskov. Yuri had to formally limit his possessions to Galich and Vyatka, renounce his claims to the great reign, undertake not to accept Moscow emigrants into his service, etc. In 1430, Vitovt died; Svidrigailo settled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and Yuri, who was related to him, was not slow in abandoning the treaty of 1428. At the beginning of 1431

Yuri and Vasily II were already in the Horde; the litigation dragged on there for more than a year and ended in favor of Vasily II. According to the chronicle story, Yuri stood on the basis of Donskoy’s will; Moscow boyar Ivan Dmitrievich Vsevolozhsky opposed the sovereign will of the khan to the will, denying the legal value of “dead” letters. Vasily II was seated on the table by the Horde ambassador - for the first time in Moscow. Yuri Khan was given the city of Dmitrov, which was soon (1432) taken from him by Vasily. At a critical moment, Vsevolozhsky’s promise to marry his daughter was broken, and in 1433 Vasily II married the daughter of the appanage prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich. In addition, at the wedding of the Grand Duke, his mother, Sofya Vitovtovna, treated Yuri’s son, Vasily Kosy, rudely.

The offended Vsevolozhsky went over to Yuri's side; Vasily Kosoy and his brothers Dmitry Shemyaka and Dmitry Krasny went to their father. In April 1433, 20 versts from Moscow, Vasily II was defeated and took refuge in Kostroma, where he was captured. Of all his possessions, only Kolomna remained behind him. But disagreements among the victors forced Yuri to cede the great reign to Vasily II.

Yuri's sons did not lay down their arms; Yuri soon reconciled with them. Vasily II suffered defeat after defeat. In 1434 he had to take refuge in Novgorod; Moscow was occupied by Yuri. Sudden death Yuria split the opponents of Vasily II for the second time; younger brothers they did not pester the eldest, Vasily Kosoy, who declared himself the Grand Duke; with their help, Vasily II regained his great reign. In 1435 Kosoy was defeated on the Kotorosl River and bound by a treaty. Vasily II's position, however, was not strong. The strife, which for several years in a row violated economic life Moscow center, shook the loyalty of Moscow commercial and industrial circles, who were looking for peace. In Tver, Shemyaka began to lean towards Kosoy (and was imprisoned on suspicion of this). Kosoy himself violated the agreement in 1436 and opposed Vasily II. In open battle he was defeated; in captivity he was blinded, Shemyaka was freed and granted patrimony. Until now there has been a purely dynastic dispute; the second attack of strife occurred on both sides under the banner of national principle. Two factors contributed to this. The Florentine Union of 1439 created a line between Uniate (at first) and Catholic Lithuania - and did not change Orthodoxy Eastern Russia; at the same time, the aggressive policy of the Eastern Tatar hordes intensified, and the Tatar element began to penetrate the ruling elite of Moscow society.

Vasily II eliminated almost all small fiefs within the Moscow principality and strengthened the grand-ducal power. As a result of a series of campaigns in 1441-1460, the dependence of the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod principality on Moscow increased, Novgorod land, Pskov and Vyatka land.

By order of Vasily II, the Russian bishop Jonah was elected metropolitan (1448), which marked the declaration of independence of the Russian church from the Patriarch of Constantinople and strengthened the international position of Rus'.

The results of the reign of Vasily II can be characterized as a series of major successes: an increase in the territory of the Moscow Grand Reign, independence and a new formulation of the tasks of the Russian Church, a renewed idea of ​​Moscow autocracy and the internally strengthened power of the Grand Duke.

Vasily II the Dark

Biography of Prince Vasily 2 Vasilyevich the Dark

Vasily 2 Vasilyevich (Dark) - (born March 10, 1415 - death March 27, 1462) Son of Vasily 1 Dmitrievich. Grand Duke of Moscow. Under Vasily 2, a long internecine war was waged. A coalition of appanage princes under the leadership of his uncle, the Galician prince Yuri Dmitrievich and his sons Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka, opposed him. At the same time, there was a struggle with Kazan and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Grand Duke's throne passed several times to the Galician princes (1433–1434), who enjoyed the support of Novgorod and Tver.

Vasily was blinded in 1446 by Dmitry Shemyaka (hence the "Dark"), but ultimately won in the early 50s. XV century victory.

Vasily the Dark was able to eliminate almost all the small fiefs within the Moscow principality, strengthening the grand-ducal power. As a result of the campaigns of 1441–1460. The dependence on Moscow of the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod principality, Novgorod the Great, Pskov, and Vyatka increased significantly.

By order of Vasily 2, the Russian Bishop Jonah was elected metropolitan (1448), which marked the proclamation of the independence of the Russian Church from the Patriarch of Constantinople and contributed to the strengthening of the international position of Rus'.

Biography of Vasily 2 the Dark

Origin. Inheritance

1425, February 27 - the Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow Vasily 1 Dmitrievich died, leaving his inheritance, “thoughts” and the great principality to his only son Vasily, who at that time was not yet 10 years old. The beginning of Vasily's reign was marked by a plague epidemic and severe drought in 1430 - 1448. The position of the young Grand Duke on the throne was precarious. He had uncles, appanage princes Yuri, Andrey, Peter and Konstantin Dmitrievich. The eldest of them, Yuri Dmitrievich, himself laid claim to the great reign. Prince Yuri believed that the order of succession could not be established by Vasily 1, because it was determined by the spirituality of their father, Dmitry Donskoy. Yuri Dmitrievich believed that, in accordance with this will, after the death of Vasily, it was he, Prince Yuri, who should have inherited the grand-ducal throne, as the eldest of the family.

Power struggle

In the struggle for power, Yuri Dmitrievich relied, on the one hand, on the support of his brother-in-law, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Svidrigail Olgerdovich, and on the other, on the intercession of his friend, the influential Horde Murza Tegini, before the khan. However, the Moscow boyars, led by the talented diplomat Ivan Dmitrievich Vsevolozhsky, were well versed in the current balance of power. Ivan Dmitrievich was able to turn the majority of the Horde Murzas against Tegini, which means he made them supporters of his prince.

Court in Orda

When, at the khan’s trial, Yuri Dmitrievich began to substantiate his claims to the great reign by referring to ancient family law, the Moscow diplomat with one phrase was able to achieve the khan’s decision in his favor, saying: “Prince Yuri is looking for a great reign according to the will of his father, and Prince Vasily - by your grace."

The Khan, very pleased with this manifestation of submission on the part of the Muscovites, ordered the label to be issued to Vasily and even ordered Yuri Dmitrievich, as a sign of submission to the Khan’s will, to lead by the bridle the horse with the Grand Duke sitting on it.

The beginning of civil strife

This episode was the reason for the continuation of the war. 1433 - during the wedding of Vasily Vasilyevich, his mother, Sofya Vitovtovna, tore off a precious gold belt from another Vasily - the son of Yuri Dmitrievich. A little earlier, one of the old boyars told Sophia that this belt once belonged to Dmitry Donskoy, and then it was stolen and ended up in the family of Yuri Dmitrievich. The scandal, needless to say, was louder: the prince appeared at the wedding feast wearing a stolen item! Of course, Vasily Yuryevich and his brother Dmitry Shemyaka immediately left Moscow. Their father, Yuri Dmitrievich, took advantage of this opportunity and moved an army against his nephew.

In the battle on Klyazma, the Grand Duke's smaller army was defeated by Yuri Dmitrievich, and Vasily himself was captured and sent by Yuri to Kolomna. On Holy Week in 1434, Yuri Dmitrievich entered Moscow, but turned out to be an unwelcome guest there. The next year, Yuri again defeated the army of the Grand Duke and once again entered Moscow, which he had previously been forced to leave due to the hostility of the boyars and nobles. The mother and wife of a Moscow prince who fled to Nizhny Novgorod were captured. Unexpectedly, Yuri died.

Sofya Vitovtovna at the wedding of Grand Duke Vasily 2

Historical portrait of Vasily the Dark

For the most part, historians consider Vasily 2 the Dark to be a completely ordinary person, not distinguished by any talents. The scale of this personality seems incommensurate with the “sea of ​​troubles” that she had to overcome. The tragedy of Vasily’s fate is noted by all researchers. Although, in fairness, it should be noted that the Grand Duke endured a lot of suffering through his own fault. And yet, the victory over numerous rivals - talented and cunning - is difficult to explain only by the reasonableness and experience of advisers and well-functioning state system. We must pay tribute to the tenacity of Vasily the Dark, his ability to start the fight again after defeat and his ability, speaking modern language, “select personnel.” In the many years of war that Vasily had to wage with his enemies, the opposing sides did not hesitate in choosing their means, acting with cunning and force. It is hardly appropriate to whitewash both Vasily and his opponents.

Civil strife continues

Vasily 2 returned to Moscow, made peace with the sons of the deceased: Vasily, Dmitry Shemyaka and Dmitry Krasny. But the first of them broke his oath by attacking Moscow, but was captured and blinded (which is why he received the nickname Scythe). Shemyaka was detained in Moscow, where he came to invite Grand Duke Vasily 2 to his wedding. Later, the Trinity Abbot Zinovy ​​was able to try them on.

In the meantime, an attempt was made to unite the Catholic and Orthodox churches. 1441, March - to Moscow from Florence church cathedral where the act of unification was adopted Christian churches Under the leadership of the Pope, Metropolitan Isidore returned. Secular authorities and the clergy made an attempt to persuade him to renounce the union, but, seeing how stubborn the Metropolitan was, they imprisoned him in the Chudov Monastery, from where he fled to Tver, and then to Rome.

Captured by the Tatars. Blindness

1445 - Vasily 2 was captured by the Tatar princes Mahmutek and Yakub. Shemyaka asked the Tatars not to let the Grand Duke go, but he was able to free himself by promising a huge ransom. In addition to money, he had to give several areas of his principality “for feeding” to the princes. But the “towns and volosts” distributed for feeding belonged to Moscow only formally. Prince Vasily managed to put the Kazan people who came with him not only into the wilderness, but also onto disputed lands.

1446 - Dmitry captured Moscow and captured both grand duchesses. Vasily himself was captured in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery and blinded in Moscow, hence the nickname Dark.

Date of Dmitry Shemyaka and Vasily Dark

After being blinded

He received Vologda as an inheritance, but soon began to fight again in alliance with the Tver prince Boris Alexandrovich, whose daughter, Maria, his son Ivan was married to. 1446, December - Vasily the Dark was able to return the capital and the throne, but the war continued. 1450 - Dmitry Shemyaka arrived in Novgorod, where on July 18, 1453 he was blinded by the agents of Vasily 2. If earlier princes had captured, dethroned and maimed their relatives, now the Grand Duke decided to kill his cousin, unless, of course, the information about the poisoning is correct.

1456 - the Moscow army defeated the Novgorodians. The Novgorod Republic was forced to renounce independence in foreign policy affairs. When in January 1460 the Grand Duke and his sons Yuri and Andrey arrived in Novgorod to venerate local shrines, the issue of killing the guests was discussed at the veche, and only Archbishop Jonah managed to dissuade the townspeople from this idea.

Death

Vasily 2 Dark suffered from dry illness (tuberculosis). He was treated in the usual way at that time: lighting tinder on different parts of the body several times. This, of course, did not help, and gangrene developed in the places of many burns. On March 27, Vasily II the Dark died, bequeathing to his eldest son and co-ruler Ivan the Grand Duchy of Vladimir and the most extensive inheritance. Prince Ivan, the future, nicknamed the Great, received at his disposal an effective corporation, which was completely devoid of internal competition. Very soon it will become the largest state in Europe.

Results of the board

Centralization of grand ducal power
Subordination of small appanage principalities to the Moscow Principality
Increasing Moscow's influence on Suzdal, Pskov, Novgorod
Preservation of religious independence

July 7, 1445 Perhaps one of the most curious events of the Russian Middle Ages occurred. In a small battle near Suzdal, the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily II Vasilyevich, who later received the nickname Dark, was captured by the Tatars. According to data included in chronicle sources, on July 6, 1445, Russian troops, heading to help Nizhny Novgorod besieged by the Tatars, reached the Kamenka River and stopped at the Spaso-Evfimev Monastery, in close proximity to Suzdal. This army numbered “not a thousand” people. The “flare” arose on the same day. The troops “put on their armor and, raising their banners, marched out into the field.” The alarm, however, turned out to be false. The governors and the Grand Duke returned “to their camps,” and Vasily II “had dinner with all his brethren and bolyars and wrote long into the night.”

Early in the morning of July 7, when the Grand Duke wanted to “put himself to rest” with a drinking binge, news came that the Tatars were crossing the Nerl River. Putting on his armor, Vasily II ordered to march. The battle took place in a field, on the left side of the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery. At first, victory tilted in favor of the Russians. The Tatars retreated, Russian soldiers rushed in pursuit of them, but among them there were those who “began to rob the beaten Tatars.” Soon the Tatars stopped and went on the offensive. Many appanage princes - participants in the battle - managed to escape, and Grand Duke Vasily, obviously, was so carried away by the pursuit and went deep into the ranks of the Tatars that he himself did not notice how he was captured.

His return from the Horde took place only after paying a ransom of two hundred thousand rubles. To imagine the enormity of this sum on the scale of that time, let us remember that the same Vasily the Dark, having defeated Novgorod, imposed a tribute of ten (!) thousand rubles on it, and after the Time of Troubles (one and a half hundred years later), Moscow, according to the Stolbovo Treaty, paid Sweden an indemnity of the entire only twenty thousand. Two hundred thousand was a completely unheard of amount. However, Muscovites collected it and paid for it. It would seem, why? We got rid of the “despot” prince, and also the drunkards - and glory to You, Lord. Moreover, Moscow did not experience a shortage of contenders for the grand-ducal throne at that time. What is the reason for such love of subjects for their sovereign?

Let's try to figure it out.

History knows of cases when kings and rulers of powerful powers in Europe and Asia were captured, and then returned safely and continued their activities at the head of the state. Thus, King Richard the Lionheart languished in the dungeon of the Austrian Duke Leopold for two years, and Charles V of Habsburg captured the French King Francis I at Pavia. But in Russia it so happened that the removal of the first person from power necessarily entails irreversible consequences that over the centuries have influenced its historical development. Let us recall the dynastic crisis of the early 17th century, which led to the Great Troubles; the situation after the death of Peter I, which marked an entire era of so-called “palace coups”. This statement also applies to the situation at the beginning of the 20th century, when “the lower classes did not want to, but the upper classes could not”...

As the famous Soviet historian A.A. rightly noted. Zimin in his book “The Knight at the Crossroads”, the 15th century in the history of the Russian state was precisely the time when the fate of not just the Grand Duchy of Moscow was being decided, but “when the Russian Knight, standing at the crossroads, had to choose his Fate. He was still forced to bow his helmeted head before the Horde khan, but he already remembered the ringing of swords on the Kulikovo field. He had not yet met ambassadors or merchants from the West, but he had already seen the huge Latin cross that was carried in Moscow in front of Metropolitan Isidore, returning from the Council of Florence. He was not burdened with the burden of science, but he vaguely understood that a stellar moment had come, when the fate of his descendants depended on the choice of path...”

Then, in the first third of the 15th century, no one could have foreseen or foreseen that within a century Moscow was destined to become the “third Rome”, that a powerful state would arise in the vast expanses of land-poor principalities plowed by internecine borders. Today we can say with confidence that an alternative to this course of events was quite real. At that very “stellar moment”, the chances of Rus' to be under the influence of the West or to choose its own path, calling for help from the East, are estimated by modern historians as “fifty-fifty”. And such a seemingly insignificant event as the curious captivity of the Grand Duke by the Tatars on July 7, 1445, in the situation of Russia choosing its historical path could very well play a decisive role...

Vasily II

The Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily II Vasilyevich the Dark (1415 - 1462) is one of the most tragic figures in Russian history. The son of Grand Duke Vasily I Dmitrievich and Princess Sofia Vitovtovna, he was simultaneously the grandson of Dmitry Donskoy and Grand Duke Vitovt of Lithuania. Vasily I Dmitrievich died when Vasily II Vasilyevich was only ten years old. The young prince remained under the tutelage of his grandfather Vytautas, who at first turned out to be the only guarantor of the security of the Moscow throne. Already on the day of his father’s death, serious rivals immediately appeared for the prince: his uncles Yuri and Konstantin, as well as the heirs of Prince Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovsky (cousin of Dmitry Donskoy). Vasily I's brother Yuri Dmitrievich Galitsky did not come to Moscow for his funeral, but began to gather an army in his Galich. Vitovt and the boyars of the Grand Duke hastened to take retaliatory measures: they moved their regiments to Kostroma. Yuri fled to Nizhny Novgorod, from where he later returned to Galich and offered peace to the Grand Duke. Metropolitan Photius went to Galich for negotiations. Yuri promised not to seek the Grand Duke's throne by force, but to rely on the Khan's decision.

In 1430, Vitovt died, but a year later the dispute over the label for the great reign in the Horde was won by the young Prince Vasily, who arrived to negotiate with his boyar Ivan Dmitrievich Vsevolozhsky. The diplomatic art of Vsevolozhsky and his flattering speech touched Khan Ulug-Muhammad. The khan probably did not forget that it was Vytautas who put him on the throne, overthrowing Khan Sarai together with his grandfather Timur in 1411. Therefore, he not only handed the label to the grandson of the Lithuanian prince, but even ordered Yuri, as a sign of submission, to lead the horse on which Vasily was sitting. However, the seventeen-year-old prince did not want to dishonor his almost sixty-year-old uncle and abandoned this humiliating ritual.

It would seem that the issue was resolved, but the main strife was still ahead.

Feudal War (1433-1445)

In February 1433, at the wedding of Vasily Vasilyevich with Maria Yaroslavna, the granddaughter of Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovsky, an episode occurred that was later called by historians the beginning of the era of “feudal wars” in Rus' in the 15th century. At the wedding feast, Vasily's mother Sofya Vitovtovna tore off the precious belt from Prince Vasily, the son of Yuri Dmitrievich (he would later become known under the nickname Kosoy). This belt once belonged to Dmitry Donskoy - he received it as a dowry for Princess Evdokia - then it was stolen or replaced and ended up in Yuri’s family. The insulted Vasily Yuryevich and his brother Dmitry Shemyaka hastily left Moscow. Of course, this quarrel was only a pretext that fueled the old enmity: the speed with which Yuri Dmitrievich gathered an army and moved it to Moscow suggests that he was preparing for war. In April 1433, a battle took place on the banks of the Klyazma. Vasily’s squad was small, “and from the Muscovites,” as the chronicler claims, “there was no help, there were so many pianos from them, and I would take honey from myself, what else to drink.” Vasily was defeated, fled, but was captured in Kostroma. Yuri sent him to Kolomna, which he granted as an appanage to the deposed Grand Duke, and he himself entered Moscow. But many Moscow service princes, boyars and nobles flocked from Moscow to Kolomna, to Vasily. Kolomna gradually acquired the status of a capital: with a sovereign court, a squad, and government institutions. Feeling the precariousness of his position, Yuri was forced to reconcile with his nephew and leave the empty Moscow.

The next year, Yuri again defeated Vasily. The Grand Duke fled to Nizhny Novgorod, and the troops of the Galician prince entered Moscow. This time Vasily’s mother and wife were captured. The position of the Grand Duke became critical. However, Yuri suddenly dies. Vasily returned to Moscow and reconciled with the sons of Yuri Dmitrievich.

One of them - Vasily Yuryevich - soon broke his oath, opposed the Grand Duke and was defeated and captured. He was sent to Moscow, where Vasily was blinded, from then on receiving the nickname Scythe.

According to A.A. Zimin, the Galicia-Zvenigorod princes (Yuri, Vasily, Dmitry) relied in their policy exclusively on the northern and northwestern Russian lands, which traditionally gravitated towards Lithuania. Being opponents of the rapprochement between Moscow and the Horde, they sought, first of all, to contrast Western influence on Rus' with the influence of the Tatars on the development of the eastern lands, i.e. to reorient the “Russian Knight”, which is at a crossroads, from East to West. The Moscow princes, in particular Vasily II, following the long-standing tradition of “Kalita’s nest”, found allies in the Tatar khans. The Tatars have long been considered “one of our own” in Rus'. It turned out to be easier to come to an agreement with them than to continue the endless princely strife. The grandson of Vytautas did not immediately decide to resort to the effective help of the Horde in a related conflict.

On July 7, 1445, Vasily Vasilyevich, as you know, was captured by the Tatars. The Tatar governors sent the pectoral cross taken from Vasily to Moscow to convince his mother and wife of the prince’s captivity. And on July 14, all of Moscow was “burnt out” in a terrible fire, so that, according to the chronicler, not only were there no wooden buildings left in the city, “but also the stone churches fell apart, and the walls of the hailstones fell in many places.” The city found itself defenseless against a possible attack by the Tatars. The Grand Duchesses hastened to leave for Rostov. Dmitry Shemyaka, who after the capture of the Grand Duke automatically received the Grand Duke's throne, sent clerk Fyodor Dubensky to the Horde, ordering him to convince the Tatars not to release Vasily from captivity under any circumstances. But the Grand Duke managed to gain freedom at the cost of a huge ransom - 200 thousand silver rubles.

According to some sources, Vasily did not pay the ransom, according to others, he paid only part of it (25 or 50 thousand). But the prince did not return from captivity alone. Vasily was accompanied, and then five hundred Tatar people sent by the khan began to rule in Moscow - “Tatar princes with many people” (see M. Khudyakov, “Essays on the history of the Kazan Khanate,” p. 27). Ulu-Muhammad, who distributed best years his career shortcuts to rule on behalf of the highest authorities, he continued to consider Muscovy “his” land. However, Vasily did not think so, because he knew that Ulu-Muhammad had already been removed from his position of power, and he obeyed only under pressure from force, i.e. those same “Tatar princes”. The Horde was going through a period feudal fragmentation. Rus', on the contrary, sought to concentrate its lands around the large principalities - Moscow, Tver, Galicia-Zvenigorod. According to A.A. Zimin, the Galician princes could well have created their own, much more powerful public education from the northern and northwestern lands. But the sons of Yuri Dmitrievich, like Chekhov’s sisters, for some reason were eager to “go to Moscow, to Moscow!” Vasily, for his part, sought to retain the throne of the Grand Duke of Moscow at any cost. And he made his choice.

The Tatars, who came to Russia with Grand Duke Vasily, began to arrange themselves as they desired. They began to build mosques in Russian cities, where they settled, took the best lands and entire cities “to feed”, and opened trade. Due to the “exit” of part of the capital from Muscovy to Kazan, this city began to develop rapidly, quickly turning into a first-class center international trade. Meanwhile, the people in Muscovy were grumbling: just as before there was the dominance of the Lithuanians, so now there is the dominance of the Tatars...

Simultaneously with the appearance of the Kazan people in Moscow, the Kasimov kingdom was founded in the Meshchera land on the Oka River. Younger son Ulu-Muhammad, Kasim, has ruled in Meshchera since 1446. The tribute of the Russian government in favor of the Kasimov khans is mentioned in the will of John III, as well as in the agreement between his sons dated June 16, 1504. It was paid even under John IV. After the conquest of Kazan, “exit to the Tsarevich town” (Kasimov) was mentioned among Moscow’s obligations, along with “exits” (payments) to Crimea and Astrakhan. Russian historians, not without surprise, noted this fact of the Russian sovereigns paying tribute to the Kasimov khans, who are usually presented as pitiful henchmen of Moscow and weak-willed executors of its orders. What is this if not the gratitude of the princes of Moscow for a service once rendered?

Simultaneously with Vasily's return from captivity, the role of the Grand Duke's Court increased significantly. In Pereslavl he was met by “all the princes and his boyars, and the boyars’ children, and the multitude of his court from all the cities.” The essence of the restructuring of the old Court as a military-economic organization during the events of 1446 boiled down to the separation of the Palace from it - an economic and administrative organization - and the formation of a new Court - a military-administrative corporation of service people. Church hierarchs sided with Vasily, who preferred to be friends with the more tolerant Tatars than with their eternal enemies - the “Westernizers” Latins and Lithuania. The majority of the population, oppressed by the oppression of appanage rulers, Lithuanian and Tatar princes, also had high hopes for a strong grand-ducal power.

Second stage of feudal wars (1446-1453)

But the “Westerners”, led by Dmitry Shemyaka, did not give up.

Already in the winter of 1446, Shemyaka, taking advantage of the departure of the Grand Duke with a small retinue on a pilgrimage to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, captured Moscow, captured both princesses and the Grand Duke's children. Then Dmitry's soldiers found Vasily II in the monastery, brought him to Moscow and blinded him. Hence his nickname - Vasily the Dark.

According to N.M. Karamzin, the main accusation brought against Vasily by supporters of Dmitry Shemyaka was accusing him of sympathizing with the Tatars: “Why do you love the Tatars and give them Russian cities to feed? Why do you shower the infidels with Christian silver and gold? Why do you exhaust the people with taxes? Why did you blind our brother, Vasily Kosoy?”

In those days, causing any significant injury to a ruler or a contender for the throne meant the actual elimination of his figure from the political arena. The crippled prince could not command the army during the battle, and, therefore, was not perceived as a leader even by his squad - the main driving force of the medieval “palace coups”. In addition, a person with a physical disability was considered unworthy of the “divine” princely power. But the story of Vasily Vasilyevich the Dark shattered all these outdated ideas.

In the spring and summer of 1446, a number of appanage princes openly opposed Dmitry Shemyaka. With the support of the Tatars from the “sovereign court,” they intended to free Vasily from his imprisonment in Uglich, removing Shemyaka, who was disliked by them, from the grand prince’s throne. The conspiracy, among others, included the princes Ryapolovsky, Ivan Vasilyevich Striga Obolensky, representatives of the influential Moscow boyar family of the Morozovs “and many other children of the boyars of the Grand Duke’s court.” Near the Mologa River there was a clash between the squad of the Ryapolov princes and one of the detachments loyal to Shemyaka. The conspirators won. Under the current conditions, Dmitry Yuryevich decided to convene a church meeting, which insisted on “reconciliation” with Vasily the Dark. The official "reconciliation" ceremony took place in September 1446. Vasily “kissed the cross” in loyalty to Dmitry, and was soon released by him and his family to Vologda. Only Vasily did not go there. He went to the Kirillov Monastery, where the abbot of the monastery Tryphon “released” Vasily the Dark from the kiss of the cross to Grand Duke Dmitry, declaring: “that sin is on me and on my brothers heads, that you kissed Prince Dmitry and gave the fortress” (“would that sin be on you kissed us unwillingly").

From the monastery, Vasily headed to Tver, where an agreement was reached between him and the Tver prince Boris Alexandrovich on a joint fight against Dmitry. Supporters of Vasily the Dark continued to arrive in Tver from among the Moscow service people from the grand ducal court, “princes and boyars.” From Lithuania the forces of Prince Vasily Yaroslavich, Ivan Vasilyevich Striga Obolensky, the princes Ryapolovsky, Fyodor Vasilyevich Basenko set out for Russia, uniting in Yelnya with the detachments of the Tatar princes Yakub and Kasym.

Shemyaka, with the northern princes loyal to him, tried for some time to gather an opposition to fight the Moscow prince, but did not receive either the support of the church or the majority of the appanage principalities. We will not dwell in detail on the methods of fighting it, which included both the carrot and the stick. Ultimately, the barbaric methods of Dmitry’s opponents were not much different from the methods of the overthrown but not defeated ruler. Both sides used generous promises, incitement to hostility, repression and robberies of entire cities, taking close relatives hostage, and dirty intrigues.

Ultimately, in 1451, Dmitry Shemyaka was recognized as Grand Duke only by Veliky Novgorod. At the same time, the Novgorod authorities did not object to the great reign of Vasily II the Dark. It seems that the Novgorodians did not care at all who would be considered the Grand Duke in distant Moscow. They cared little about the fate of Shemyaka himself, who by that time no longer had any real military force. In July 1453, by order of Vasily the Dark, Dmitry Yuryevich was poisoned in Novgorod. The feudal war is over.

Results

As A.A. Zimin wrote, “During the years of the Shemyakin Troubles, the unfortunate men, crushed by poverty, and the predatory robbers from the Sovereign’s court won. Welded together by the unity of selfish goals, these princes, boyars and boyar children were not much different from their eastern neighbors (“Scythians... we, with slanted and greedy eyes”), and from the warlike Lithuanians who enslaved the rich cities of Ukraine and Belarus. Like a pack of hungry dogs with strong teeth, they tormented the flourishing lands of Rus'. Unless the groans for the dead were drowned out by the mournful sounds of the funeral bells...”

The further reign of Vasily II proceeded without new shocks. On the contrary, he sought to strengthen his power in every possible way. In 1456, Prince Vasily Yaroslavich of Serpukhov-Borovsk was arrested, and his inheritance was liquidated. Mikhail Andreevich Vereisky (son of Andrei Dmitrievich, grandson of Dmitry Donskoy) was completely dependent on the Grand Duke. After his death (in 1486), the Vereysky inheritance became the property of the Grand Duke (at that time already Ivan III).

In 1456, after Vasily’s victorious campaign against Novgorod, the rights of the Novgorod land were significantly curtailed. Novgorod undertook to pay the Grand Duke black forest in its volosts and court penalties; In addition, Novgorod abolished eternal (veche) charters and undertook to write letters on behalf of the Grand Duke of Moscow.

Ivan Fedorovich, Grand Duke of Ryazan, first sought help from the Grand Duke of Lithuania, and then, dying, gave his son, Vasily, into the hands of the Grand Duke of Moscow. Vasily II took the young Ryazan prince to Moscow, and sent his governors to the Ryazan cities.

The reign of Vasily the Dark put an end to the dependence of the Russian Church on the Patriarch of Constantinople: the metropolitan, the Greek Isidore, who signed the Florentine Union, had to flee from Moscow, as a result of which the council of Russian bishops, without the consent of the patriarch, named the Ryazan Archbishop Jonah as Moscow metropolitan in 1448.

Thus, the freedom-loving North, which found support in Western civilization untouched by the Mongol-Tatar invasion, was ultimately crushed by the pro-Tatar Center. Feudal, peasant and monastic Moscow was opposed by the northern freemen of commercial people (salt workers, hunters, fishermen) and free peasants. The death of Galich's freedom led to the fall of Tver and Novgorod, and then the bloody glow of the oprichnina.

So, the blind, not the wisest and most talented ruler regained his throne. His opponents were thrown into dust. The unity of the lands around Moscow was restored. But at what cost? "Kalita's Nest" was liquidated. Only the Grand Duke's brother-in-law Mikhail Andreevich retained his inheritance on Beloozero. The rest either died (Prince Yuri Dmitrievich and Vasily Kosoy), or died (Dmitry Shemyaka), or were in the “nation” (Vasily Yaroslavich), or ended up abroad (Ivan Andreevich, Ivan Dmitrievich Shemyachich and Vasily Yaroslavich’s son Ivan). The “nest of Kalita” was replaced by the family of the Grand Duke, and there was already only one step to one autocrat like Ivan IV Vasilyevich. A means of combating disobedience, so rare in previous times, also appeared - mass executions. They became the final chord of the reign of Vasily II...

Elena Shirokova

Based on materials:

Zimin A.A. Knight at the crossroads: feudal war in Russia in the 15th century. - M.: Mysl, 1991

Vasily 2 the Dark (reigned 1415-1462) is a Moscow prince who made a significant contribution to strengthening his principality and establishing it as a “gatherer of Russian lands.” It was bright representative the last civil strife in the Russian state, which managed to emerge victorious in this bloody battle. In this article we will look at life path this person, we will find out why Vasily 2 received the nickname “Dark”, and also why victory was on the side of Vasily 2.

Vasily the Second “Dark” was born in 1415 in Moscow. Vasily's mother was the influential Lithuanian princess Sofya Vitovtovna, who was the regent of the young prince. However, not everyone in the Russian state wanted to recognize the new ruler. Vasily's uncle, the Galich prince Yuri, relying on the will of Dmitry Donskoy, declared his right to the Moscow throne. Yuri’s sons, Dmitry Kosoy and Vasily Shemyaka, also had the right to the grand ducal title. For a long time Yuri was afraid to directly declare his right to the throne, since regent Sophia relied on her powerful father, the Lithuanian ruler Vytautas. However, after his death in 1430, Yuri went to the Horde, wanting to challenge his 15-year-old nephew for the right to the throne. But with the support of the influential boyar Ivan Vsevolozhsky, Vasily received the khan's label for reign. Boyar Vsevolozhsky intended to give his daughter to Vasily and thereby gain a strong place near the throne, but Vasily’s mother had other plans. She prophesied Princess Marya Yaroslavna as Vasily’s wife, so she considered this marriage more profitable.

This event became the beginning of a long civil strife in the Russian state. On the way home, Yuri's sons plundered Yaroslavl, Vasily's possession. In 1433, the blitz of the Sergius-Troitsky Monastery clashed between the armies of Vasily and Yuryevich. Vasily was defeated and captured, and Yuri ascended the throne. Dmitry and Vasily Yuryevich tried to persuade him to commit suicide with his nephew, but their father, rightly deciding that this act would turn the majority of his subjects against him, decided to do the opposite - he presented Vasily with rich gifts and sent him to reign in Kolomna. However, this gesture of goodwill did not bring any visible results. On the contrary, people began to flock to Kolomna, dissatisfied with Yuri’s usurpation. Moscow was empty, and Kolomna instantly turned into new capital. Soon the new prince realizes that the local population does not want to see him as a prince and returns the Moscow throne to Vasily.

However, his sons, Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka, do not agree with this decision. Gathering an army, in 1434 they defeated Vasily’s army near Rostov and captured Moscow. Soon Yuri dies, and before his death he bequeaths Moscow to his son Vasily Kosoy.

Vasily's brothers, Dmitry Shemyaka and Dmitry Krasny did not recognize the new ruler and entered into an alliance with Vasily the Dark. When the united troops of the princes approached, Vasily disappeared, taking the treasury with him. Having gathered a new army in Novgorod, Vasily Kosoy gave battle to Yuri near the Kotorosl River and was defeated. Vasily Kosoy requested a truce, but soon violated it himself, speaking at the position of Vasily II in Rostov. In 1436, a battle took place on the Cherek River, as a result of which Vasily Kosoy was defeated and captured. The prisoner was taken to Moscow, where he was blinded. His brother Dmitry, who was in captivity in Kolomna, was released by order of Vasily and endowed with the lands of his rebellious brother.

However, with the defeat of Vasily Kosoy, feudal strife in the Russian state did not stop. In 1439, the Kazan Khan Ulu-Mukhammed approached Moscow. Vasily II, Prince of Moscow, was unable to organize a successful defense of the capital and was forced to leave Moscow, while his ally, Dmitry Shemyaka, refused to come to the aid of his brother. This was the start of a new feudal war.

Vasily marched against them and suffered an absolute disaster at Suzdal and was captured. The Tatars set a huge ransom of 25,000 rubles for Vasily. Sophia, the prince's mother, was forced to introduce new taxes in the capital in order to collect the required ransom. Also, a number of cities in the Volga region were given to the Tatars for plunder, on the site of which the Kasimov kingdom arose, where the sons of Ulu-Muhammad ruled.

After gaining freedom, Vasily went to the Sergius Trinity Monastery to pray for his salvation. At the same moment, Dmitry Shemyaka treacherously captured Moscow, and then ordered Vasily to be brought to him. He blinded him just as the Moscow prince blinded his brother. This is the answer to the question why Vasily the Dark received such a nickname. However, Shemyaka could not reign calmly on the grand-ducal throne, since the capital’s nobility did not want to see him as their ruler. Many nobles fled to neighboring Lithuania, intending to wait until Vasily regained the throne.

Under these conditions, Shemyaka decided to appease his cousin, gave him Vologda as his possession and sent him rich gifts. However, Vasily decided not to trust his treacherous brother. Having secured the support of the Tver prince, as well as the Lithuanians, the prince opposed Shemyaka. Frightened by this army, the usurper fled to Kargopol in 1447. Vasily again took the grand-ducal throne and freed his wife from captivity and returned his mother, who had been sent into exile.

The newly created prince decided to put an end to the problem of succession to the throne once and for all. He enlisted the support of Metropolitan Jonah, who at the council of bishops condemned the “sedition of the Yuryevichs” and ordered to pursue Shemyaka wherever possible. Ultimately, Dmitry was overtaken in Novgorod and poisoned. After the death of Shemyaka, Vasily the Dark dealt with his allies, taking away their allotments and annexing them to Moscow. Novgorod was forced to pay 8,500 rubles as compensation.

With the accession of Vasily to the Moscow throne and the defeat of Shemyaka, the last feudal war in Russia and one of the last in Europe ended. Here it is important to determine why Vasily the Dark won. There are several reasons for this.

Firstly, Shemyaka’s cruelty and unscrupulousness did not correspond to Christian norms, which had great importance in that era. The Dark One was perceived as a martyr, and Shemyaka as an apostate and fratricide. In addition, the nobility and ordinary people perceived Vasily as a guarantor of stability and unity of the state.

Secondly, Vasily was able to eliminate the specific separatism of the boyars. He confiscated the land holdings of the boyars who supported the rebellious princes. The boyars extremely valued their lands, so such a policy forced them to remain loyal to the grand ducal throne.

Thirdly, Vasily was able to strengthen the authority of the Orthodox Church and gain its support. This was facilitated by the fact that in 1439 the Byzantine patriarch signed a union with Catholic Church. Russian Orthodox Church rejected this document because she did not want to become dependent on the Pope. As a result, the metropolitan in Rus' began to be elected through a council of bishops, and not by decree of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Subsequently, Moscow became associated with the “Third Rome,” a bastion of genuine Orthodoxy. And the prince began to be perceived as a conductor of this idea to the broad masses. The first independent metropolitan in Rus' was Jonah, who supported Vasily in the fight against the rebels.

This determined the victory of Vasily the Dark in the civil strife and allowed him to continue strengthening the Moscow principality, begun by his ancestors. During the reign of Vasily the Dark, almost all the surrounding lands were annexed to Moscow (in 1454 - Mozhaisk, in 1456 - Uglich and others). Influence in the subordinate Yaroslavl and Vyatka principalities was strengthened. In the annexed fiefs, Moscow proteges were appointed, the Grand Duke's seal was installed, and coins of Vasily the Dark were minted.

The process of annexing the Novgorod Republic to Moscow began. After the defeat of Shemyaka and his Novgorod supporters, the Yazhelbitsky Peace Treaty was signed between the veche and Vasily II, according to which the independence of the Novgorod Republic was greatly limited. Now Novgorod could not conduct an independent foreign policy and issue its own laws, and the seals of Novgorod officials were replaced by the seal of the Moscow prince.

At the same time, Vasily resolved the issue of succession to the throne. His son Ivan was declared co-ruler of Vasily and direct heir to the Moscow throne. Thus, Vasily approved the direct order of succession to the throne “from father to son.”

As for foreign policy, two directions can be distinguished. The first is relations with Lithuania. In 1449, the Perpetual Peace was concluded with Lithuania, as a result of which both states renounced mutual territorial claims and pledged not to support internal political opponents. As for relations with the Horde, things were not so rosy. In the period from 1449 to 1459, the Horde repeatedly attacked Russian lands and plundered cities. The Russians managed to resist the attacks of the Kazan and Crimean Khanates with varying degrees of success. However, already in 1447 Vasily stopped sending tribute to the Tatar-Mongols.

Until now, Vasily 2, whose domestic and foreign policy was aimed at strengthening the Moscow principality and centralizing the lands around his inheritance, remains a controversial personality. Some researchers believe that he did not possess any political or military qualities, and his successes are the fruits of a successful coincidence of circumstances. Other historians are inclined to argue that Vasily II introduced huge contribution in strengthening the role of Moscow and consolidating the lands around it.