Vasily II the Dark(1415-1462), Grand Duke of Moscow from 1425. Son of Vasily I. He won the war with the appanage princes (1425-1453). Blinded (1446) by Prince Dmitry Shemyaka (hence the nickname). He annexed the Nizhny Novgorod principality, part of the Yaroslavl lands, etc. to Moscow. He carried out the unification of taxation, a census of the tax-paying population, etc.

Vasily II Vasilievich Dark, Grand Duke of Moscow, 1415-1462, reigned in 1425. Vasily’s uncle, Yuri, Prince of Galich of Kostroma, taking advantage of his youth, demanded a great reign; the struggle went on for many years. In 1433, Yuri occupied Moscow, but soon died. His sons and Dmitry Shemyaka continued to fight. In 1436 Vasily blinded Kosoy. In 1445, Vasily was captured by the Kazan Tatars and released for a large ransom. In 1446, Vasily was blinded by Shemyaka and deprived of his great reign. In 1447, Vasily again established himself in Moscow; Shemyaka was poisoned. In 1448, he deposed Metropolitan Isidore for his participation in the Union of Florence and elected Jonah as Metropolitan in addition to the Patriarch of Constantinople, thereby making the Russian Church independent. Pestilence and famine raged in 1442-1448. The boyars and clergy sided with Vasily, Vasily’s power grew and strengthened amid the turmoil. He punished Novgorod for helping Shemyaka, annexed the Mozhaisk and Serpukhov appanages to Moscow, subjugated Vyatka, and sent governors to the Ryazan land.

(1415-1462), Grand Duke of Moscow from 1425, son of Vasily I Dmitrievich. During the reign of Vasily II Vasilyevich, a long feudal internecine war took place. The opponents of Vasily II Vasilyevich were a reactionary coalition of appanage princes led by his uncle - the Galician prince Yuri Dmitrievich and his sons and Dmitry Shemyaka. During the war, complicated by the simultaneous struggle with Kazan and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the grand ducal throne passed several times to the Galician princes, who were supported by Novgorod and temporarily Tver. Vasily II Vasilyevich was blinded (1446) by Dmitry Shemyaka (hence the nickname “Dark”), but he ultimately won in the early 50s. XV century victory. Vasily II Vasilyevich liquidated almost all the 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 on Moscow of the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod principality, Novgorod the Great, Pskov and Vyatka increased. By order of Vasily II Vasilyevich, 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'.

Literature:

1. Tikhomirov M.N. Medieval Moscow in the XIV-XV centuries, M., 1957;
2. Cherepnin L.V. Formation of the Russian centralized state in the XIV-XV centuries. M., 1960.

Vasily II the Dark (1415-1462), Grand Duke of Moscow from 1425. Son of the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily I and Sophia Vitovtovna. After the death of his older brothers, he became a possible contender for the Moscow table. During the childhood of Vasily II, the state was ruled by Grand Duchess Sofya Vitovtovna, Metropolitan Photius, and boyar I. D. Vsevolozhsky. During the internecine war of 1425-1453. Between Vasily II and his uncle Yuri Dmitrievich, and then the sons of the latter and Dmitry Shemyaka, Moscow changed hands several times. During the wedding of Vasily II with the Serpukhov princess Maria Yaroslavna in February 1433, a quarrel between Vasily II and the Galician princes broke out; The army of Vasily II was defeated in the battle on the river. Klyazma (April 25, 1433), Vasily II fled from Moscow, which was occupied by Prince Yuri Dmitrievich. Dissatisfaction with the policies of Yuri Dmitrievich led to the departure of many service people from the city to Vasily II, who was in Kolomna. Soon Yuri Dmitrievich was forced to leave Moscow. After the new defeat of Vasily II in the battle of March 20, 1434 and the week-long siege of Moscow. On March 31, the city was again occupied by supporters of Prince Yuri Dmitrievich, but after his imminent death (June 5, 1434), Vasily Kosoy declared himself heir to the Moscow throne. A month later, “having taken gold and silver, his father’s treasury and the entire city’s reserves,” he left for Kostroma. Vasily II re-entered Moscow and in January 1435 defeated the army of Vasily Kosoy. In 1436, by order of Vasily II, Dmitry Shemyaka, who arrived in Moscow, was captured, and the army was defeated on the river. Cherekh, he himself was brought to Moscow and on May 21, 1436 he was blinded. In 1439, when the army of Khan Ulu-Muhammad “unknown” appeared under the walls of Moscow, Vasily II left the city, leaving Yuri Patrikeev as governor, and went to the Volga; Ulu-Muhammad burned the Moscow suburbs and, after a ten-day siege of the city, retreated, taking it completely. During the campaign against Kazan in July 1445, the wounded Vasily II was captured; power in Moscow passed to Dmitry Shemyaka. Soon after this, a fire broke out in the city, destroying almost all the wooden buildings; About 2 thousand people died, and unrest among the townspeople began. In October 1445, Vasily II was released from captivity and arrived in Moscow, accompanied by the Tatars; Dmitry Shemyaka fled to Uglich, where he gathered an army, and on February 12, 1446 captured Moscow; Vasily II was captured in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, taken to Moscow, blinded (hence the nickname Dark) and exiled to Uglich. But already in December 1446, Vasily II again occupied Moscow, and at the beginning of 1450. inflicted a decisive defeat on Dmitry Shemyaka. In 1451, the Tatar army approached Moscow: the Moscow suburbs were burned, but the Kremlin survived. Later, Moscow repeatedly suffered from fires (in 1453 the Kremlin burned down; the fire of 1457 destroyed almost a third of the city).

Under Vasily II, the Dmitrov, Galitsky, Mozhaisky, Serpukhov-Borovsky appanages were liquidated, the Nizhny Novgorod principality, part of the Yaroslavl lands, the cities of Venev, Tashilov, Rzhev, etc. were annexed to Moscow, and the dependence of the Suzdal principality on Moscow increased. Consolidating power, Vasily II made his son Ivan co-ruler (no later than 1448). He expanded the composition of the Sovereign's court to include the children of boyars and service princes. At the insistence of Vasily II, Russian Bishop Jonah was elected metropolitan. In Moscow, the churches of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary at the Simonov Metochion (1458), the Praise of the Virgin Mary (1459), the Epiphany (in the Kremlin, at the courtyard of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery), John the Baptist (1460, at the Borovitsky Gate), etc. .

E.I. Kuksina.

(1415-1462) - Grand Duke of Moscow (1425-1433 under the regent mother, 1434-1462 - ruled independently).

Born in Moscow on March 10, 1415, the son of the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily I Dmitrievich and Sofia Vitovtovna, nee Princess of Lithuania, grandson of Dmitry Donskoy.

During the childhood of Vasily II, real power belonged to his mother, Sophia, and Metropolitan Photius. His independent reign began in 1433 with his marriage to his fourth cousin, Princess Maria Yaroslavna - the daughter of the Borovsk, Serpukhov and Maloyaroslavl princes Yaroslav (Afanasy) Vladimirovich, the granddaughter of the hero of the Battle of Kulikovo. book Vladimir Andreevich Brave. From her he had nine children (seven sons and two daughters, of whom one survived).

The right to the Moscow throne after the death of his father was disputed by his uncle Yuri Dmitrievich, the prince of Zvenigorod and Galich (meaning the city of Galich in the Kostroma land). Based on the patrimonial order of inheritance, replaced by Vasily I with a family one, as well as on the will of their father Dmitry Donskoy, Yuri refused to recognize the legality of the rights of the young Vasily to the great reign. Yuri also had sons who were older than his ten-year-old cousin and, based on the family order of succession to the throne, had more rights to Moscow.

Already in February 1425, Yuri began negotiations with Moscow on the succession to the throne, but did not dare to start a war, fearing the mother of Vasily II and the regent of the Moscow principality Sophia, behind whom the figure of the powerful ruler of Lithuania, Vytautas, was clearly visible. The cunning policy of Metropolitan Photius, who defended the interests of the regent and her son, forced the issue of succession to the throne to be postponed until the khan's decision, especially since Rus' was gripped by a “pestilence” (plague).

In 1427, Vasily’s mother Sophia went to Lithuania to visit her father and there officially handed over to Vytautas the care of her son and the Moscow reign. Yuri was forced to admit that he would not “seek a great reign under Vasily.”

But in 1430 Vytautas died. Prince Yuri's brother-in-law and brother-in-law, another Lithuanian prince Svidrigailo, took the place of Vitovt. Counting on his support, Yuri renewed his claims to the throne. In 1431, he went to the Horde to sue his 15-year-old nephew Vasily II. In the Horde, he met him accompanied by a group of boyars, led by Ivan Vsevolozhsky. The latter, having a marriageable daughter and expecting to become the father-in-law of Vasily II, handled the matter so skillfully that the khan did not even want to hear about Yuri. In 1432, the khan gave the label to Vasily II. But upon returning from the Horde, Sophia insisted that her son become engaged not to Vsevolzhsky’s daughter, but to Princess Maria of Maloyaroslavl. At the wedding, a conflict broke out (Sofia tore off a precious gold belt from Yuri Dmitrievich’s son, Vasily Yuryevich, declaring that this belt was stolen and belonged to her family). The scandal became the reason for a long feudal war. Offended by Sophia, Vsevolzhsky went over to the side of Yuri Dmitrievich and became his faithful adviser.

In April 1433, Yuri and his regiments moved to Moscow. The “great battle” happened not far from the Trinity-Sergius Monastery; Yuri completely defeated his nephew 20 miles from Moscow. Vasily fled to Kostroma, where he was captured.

Yuri entered Moscow as a winner and took the throne. His sons and Dmitry (nicknamed Shemyaka) suggested that their father kill their cousin and rival, but Yuri “gave peace” to Vasily II - he released him from captivity, allowed him to go to Kolomna near Moscow and even richly gifted him. However, this broad gesture did not save the situation: no one in Moscow wanted to recognize Yuri as a ruler, and princes, boyars, governors, nobles, and servants began to flock to Kolomna to the exiled Vasily II. Seeing that he was “not called to reign,” Yuri “sent to Vasily to invite him back to the great reign,” and he himself left for Galich.

But Yuri’s sons did not want to humble themselves and give their brother what (they believed) belonged to them by right of kinship. In 1434, they went to war against their 19-year-old brother and defeated his army on the Kusi River. Vasily II, having learned that his uncle’s regiments also took part in the battle against him, went to Galich and burned this city, and forced his uncle to flee to Beloozero. In mid-1434, the troops of Yuri and his sons jointly defeated the regiments of Vasily II near Rostov the Great. The Moscow prince had to seek protection first in Veliky Novgorod, then in Nizhny Novgorod and the Horde. There he received news of the sudden death of his uncle.

The second period of the war began. It began with the fact that two of the sons of the deceased Yuri - Dmitry Shemyaka and Dmitry Krasnoy (at that time in Rus' children were given names in honor of the saints who accounted for their birth, so in one family there could be two children with the same names) - unexpectedly took the side of Vasily II. However, their aforementioned brother Vasily remained firm in his claims to the throne. In 1435, he gathered an army in Kostroma, challenging the Moscow prince to battle. Not far from Yaroslavl (on the banks of the Kotorosl River), the Muscovites won a victory. At the conclusion of peace, Vasily promised to no longer “seek a great reign,” but in 1436 he again began to lay claim to the throne. Near Rostov the Great, near the village of Skoryatin, in the same 1436 he was defeated, captured and - according to the Byzantine custom applied to the vanquished - blinded. This gave him the nickname “Oblique”.

In 1439, the Kazan Khan Ulu-Mukhammed approached Moscow. Vasily II, not having time to gather an army, fled across the Volga, leaving the capital to the governor Yuri Patrikeev. By refusing to help his brother and ally in this difficult moment, Dmitry Shemyaka actually began the third period of internecine struggle for power, which moved into the stage of open confrontation in 1441. Circumstances were not in Vasily’s favor: a plague epidemic had reached Rus'.

The following years, 1442-1444, also turned out to be dry and hungry. At this time, threats to Moscow from the Tatars intensified. The first successes of Vasily II (he managed to defeat a 1,500-strong army of Kazan Tatars on the Nerl River in 1445) gave way to defeats: near the Euthymius Monastery he was severely wounded and captured by the Tatars, who chopped off several of his fingers, removed his pectoral cross and sent ambassadors to Moscow to his mother and wife, offering to negotiate a ransom of 25 thousand rubles. To pay, Vasily’s mother Sophia ordered the urgent introduction of new taxes.

In February 1446, Vasily returned to Moscow and first of all went to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery to thank God for the miraculous salvation. Taking advantage of this, Dmitry Shemyaka captured Moscow, captured Sophia (sent her to Chukhloma) and emptied the treasury. After this, he ordered that Vasily II be brought from the monastery. On February 16, 1446, by order of Dmitry Shemyaki, they did the same to him as with Dmitry: Vasily II was blinded (from then on he received the nickname “Dark”) and exiled to Uglich along with his wife.

But the Moscow boyars did not want to recognize the son of the Zvenigorod heir as their ruler. Many, before the return of the “legitimate prince,” together with the service people, rushed to Lithuania. Less than six months had passed before Dmitry Shemyaka came to Vasily in Uglich to “ask for forgiveness,” gave him rich gifts, called him back “to the table” and, as a sign of reconciliation, “gave Vologda as his patrimony.”

Blinded Vasily II did not believe the promises. He turned to the Tver prince with a request for help, hoping to take revenge on Shemyaka. The Tver prince agreed to provide regiments “to help” on the condition that Vasily’s son, the young Prince Ivan (the future Tsar Ivan III) betrothed to his daughter, Princess Maria Borisovna. The terms were accepted.

In 1447, a united army (Muscovites, Tver, Lithuanian regiments) opposed Shemyaka and forced him to flee to Kargopol. Vasily asked for help from the church (from Metropolitan Jonah). The Council of Bishops condemned “Yuryevich’s sedition.” Vasily II, who returned to the capital, hastened to free his mother, wife and children, and especially his beloved son Ivan, from captivity. In 1450, when Ivan was 10 years old, Vasily II called him “Grand Duke” and from then on ordered that all letters be drawn up on behalf of two great princes: his own and his son Ivan. This made Ivan III Vasilyevich the recognized heir to the great reign. In order to put an end to the confrontation with Shemyaka forever, Vasily gave the order to pursue Dmitry to the last. In 1453 Shemyaka was captured in Novgorod and poisoned.

After Shemyakina’s death, Vasily II put an end to all his former allies, annexing their lands to Moscow (Mozhaisk in 1454, Uglich in 1456); The Moscow prince took 10,000 rubles from Novgorod.

In 1462, shortly before his death, Vasily II for the first time used mass executions as a means of combating disobedience and drew up a detailed will, transferring into the possession of his five sons and wife all the cities and volosts collected “under his hand.” Wanting to give his eldest son an advantage over his brothers, he gave Ivan more cities than everyone else, laying the foundation of the state in the princely inheritance and obliging all sons to obey the brother to whom the great reign was bequeathed.

Vasily II died on March 27, 1462 from “dry disease” (neurosyphilis). He was buried in Moscow in the Archangel Cathedral.

The reign of Vasily II has been assessed differently by historians. N.K. Karamzin believed that the creation of a unified Moscow state began with him. In the era of the Soviet political “thaw”, an appeal to the history of Rus' at the beginning of the 15th century. was a way to talk about the internecine war between Moscow and other lands as a war between feudal Moscow and the freedom-loving population of other parts of the country (A.A. Zimin). A decade later, the same war of Vasily II was presented in the works of historians as a struggle of a progressive, striving for the centralization of Moscow with the ideology of the old appanage power-hungry principles (Yu.G. Alekseev). Many did not agree with this interpretation of events, as well as with the fact that the bearer of the “nationwide idea of ​​unity” could be Vasily II, “a politically weak and evil character” who “had neither political nor military talents” (Ya.S. Lurie) .

During the reign of Vasily II, Nizhny Novgorod, the Principality of Suzdal, Murom were annexed to Moscow, Moscow governors were installed in the Ryazan cities, and Pskov, Novgorod and Vyatka were made dependent on Moscow. Under Vasily II, taxation was unified and a census of the tax-paying population was carried out. The strengthening of Moscow was supported by the Russian Orthodox Church, which advocated the unity of the Russian land. Russia also strengthened its international authority by rejecting the decisions of the VIII Ecumenical Council in Florence (July 5, 1539) and the union adopted at it between the Orthodox and Catholic churches, since it implied the primacy of the Pope. Ryazan Bishop Jonah was named Moscow Metropolitan under Vasily II (without the consent and permission of the Patriarchate of Constantinople).

Literature:

1. Zimin A.A. Large feudal estate and socio-political struggle in Russia (late XV-XVI centuries). M., 1977;
2. Presnyakov A.V. Formation of the Great Russian State. Pgd., 1918;
3. Tikhomirov M.N. Medieval Moscow in the XIV-XV centuries. M., 1957; Cherepnin L.V. Formation of the Russian centralized state in the XIV-XV centuries. M., 1960.

Lev Pushkarev, Natalya Pushkareva

(03/15/1415 - 03/27/1462) (knee 17) From the family of Moscow Grand Dukes. Son of Vasily I Dmitrievich and Grand Duchess of Lithuania Sofia Vitovtovna. Born March 10, 1415. Grand Duke of Moscow in 1425-1433, 1434-1462.

Vasily II became the prince of Moscow when he was barely 10 years old. Meanwhile, his rights to the great reign were far from disputed, since his uncles Yuri, Andrei, Peter and Konstantin Dmitrievich were alive, of whom the first - Yuri Zvenigorodsky - never hid his desires to become the Grand Duke after the death of Vasily I (especially since this followed directly from the will of his father, Dmitry Donskoy). As soon as he heard about the death of his elder brother, Yuri fled to Galich and from there began negotiations with Moscow. Neither side dared to start a war, and through the mediation of Metropolitan Photius, it was decided to postpone the question of succession to the throne until the khan's decision. However, in 1427, Vasily’s mother went to Lithuania to visit her father Vitovt and entrusted him with her son and the entire Moscow reign. It was now difficult for Yuri to persist in his intention. In 1428, he promised not to seek a great reign under Vasily.

But in 1430 Vitovt died, and in 1431 Yuri went to the Horde to sue his nephew. Vasily followed, accompanied by his first boyars, on whose resourcefulness and dexterity he could only rely. The head of the Moscow boyars was then Prince. Ivan Dmitrievich Vsevolozhsky, cunning, dexterous, resourceful, a worthy successor to those Moscow boyars who, under Vasily’s father, grandfather and great-grandfather, knew how to maintain Moscow’s primacy and give it power. Upon arrival in the Horde, he handled the matter so skillfully that the khan did not want to hear about Yuri. In the spring of 1432, the rivals began to go to court in front of the Tatar princes. Yuri based his rights on ancient family custom, referring to chronicles and Donskoy’s will. Ivan Dmitrievich spoke for Vasily. He told the khan: “Prince Yuri is looking for the Great Reign according to the will of his father, and Prince Vasily is looking for your mercy; You gave your ulus to his father Vasily Dmitrievich, who, based on your mercy, passed it on to his son, who has reigned for so many years and has not been overthrown by you, therefore, reigns by your mercy.” This flattery, which expressed complete contempt for antiquity, had its effect: the khan gave the label to Vasily.

Vsevolozhsky, as a reward for the services he rendered to Vasily in the Horde, hoped that the Grand Duke would marry his daughter. Vasily, being in the Horde, made a promise to Vsevolozhsky to do this. But upon arrival in Moscow, things changed. The Grand Duke's mother, Sofia Vitovna, did not agree to this marriage and insisted that her son become engaged to Princess Marya Yaroslavna. Then Vsevolzhsky, considering himself severely insulted, left Moscow, went over to Yuri’s side and henceforth became his adviser.

In April 1433, Yuri moved to Moscow. Moscow learned about Yuri's movement only when he was already in Pereyaslavl with a large army. Vasily, taken by surprise, sent his boyars to ask for peace from his uncle, whom they found in the Trinity Monastery. “And there was,” says the chronicler, “a great fight and an unkind word between the boyars.” Then Vasily, having quickly gathered as many military men and Moscow residents, guests and others as he could, marched against his uncle, but was completely defeated by Yuri’s strong regiments on Klyazma, 20 miles from Moscow, and fled to Kostroma, where he was captured. Yuri entered Moscow and became Grand Duke.

Yuri's sons - and Dmitry Shemyaka - wanted to get rid of their opponent immediately after the victory, but Yuri did not have enough firmness to decide on violent measures. In addition, Yuri had an old favorite boyar Semyon Morozov, who, probably out of rivalry with Vsevolozhsky, stood up for the captive Vasily and persuaded Yuri to give Kolomna to the latter as his inheritance. In vain Vsevolozhsky and Yuri's sons were angry and rebelled against this decision: Yuri gave the requested peace to his nephew, richly rewarded him and sent him to Kolomna with all his boyars.

But as soon as Vasily arrived in Kolomna, he began to call people to him from everywhere, and princes, boyars, governors, nobles, servants began to flock to him from everywhere, refusing to serve Yuri, because, the chronicler says, they were not accustomed to serving the Galician princes. In a word, around Vasily gathered all those who would have come to him and to Moscow at the first call, but did not have time to do this, because Yuri attacked his nephew by surprise and only owed his triumph to this. Yuri, seeing himself abandoned by everyone, sent to Vasily to call him back to the great reign, and he himself left for Galich. Vsevolzhsky was captured by Vasily and blinded; its villages were taken into the treasury.

Kosoy and Shemyaka did not participate in their father’s agreement, and the war continued. In the same year they defeated the Moscow army on the Kusi River. Vasily learned that his uncle’s regiments were in the army of his sons. Therefore, in 1434, he went against Yuri to Galich, burned the city and forced his uncle to flee to Beloozero. In the spring, uniting with his sons, Yuri moved to Moscow. He met Vasily in the Rostov region near Mount St. Nikola and broke it. Vasily fled to Novgorod, then to Nizhny. From here he was going to the Horde, when he suddenly learned about the sudden death of Yuri and that Vasily Kosoy had taken the Moscow table.

But Kosoy's brothers, two Dmitrys - Shemyaka and Krasny - sent to invite Vasily to the great reign. Vasily, as a reward for this, endowed them with volosts. Kosoy was expelled from Moscow and deprived of his inheritance. In 1435, he gathered an army in Kostroma and met with Vasily II in the Yaroslavl volost, on the banks of the Kotorosl. Muscovites won. Both rivals made peace, and Kosoy once again promised not to seek a great reign.

But the peace was short-lived. The very next year the war broke out with renewed vigor, and Kosoy was the first to send folding letters to Vasily II. Both troops met in the Rostov region near the village of Skoryatin. Kosoy, not hoping to defeat his opponent by force, decided to use treachery: he concluded a truce with Vasily the Second until the morning and, when Vasily, relying on this, disbanded his regiments to collect supplies, he unexpectedly went on the offensive. Vasily immediately sent out an order to all sides to gather, he himself grabbed the trumpet and began to blow. The Moscow regiments managed to assemble before the arrival of Kosoy, who was defeated and captured. He was taken to Moscow and blinded there.

Vasily II did not have a war with Dmitry Shemyaka at that time, and he calmly reigned in his inheritance. In 1439, the Kazan Khan Ulu-Mukhammed approached Moscow. Vasily did not have time to gather his strength and left for the Volga, leaving governor Yuri Patrikeev to defend Moscow. Khan stood under the city for 10 days, could not take it, but caused a lot of harm to the Russian land. Shemyaka, despite Vasily’s repeated calls, never came to his aid. Vasily, in revenge, went to Shemyaka and drove him to Novgorod. In the same year, Shemyaka returned with an army, but made peace with Vasily.

In 1445, Ulu-Mukhammed captured Nizhny Novgorod, and from there he came to Murom. Vasily came out against him with all his might. Ulu-Muhammad retreated to Nizhny and took refuge in it. Otherwise, the matter ended at the second meeting of Vasily with the Tatars. In the spring of the same year, news came to Moscow that the two sons of Ulu-Mukhammedov had again appeared at the Russian borders, and Vasily opposed them. In June, the Moscow army stopped on the Kamenka River. On the night from the 6th to the 7th there was still no news of the Tatars. Vasily sat down to dinner with the princes and boyars; They got drunk at night, got up the next day after sunrise, and Vasily, having listened to the matins, was about to go to bed again, when the news came that the Tatars were crossing the Nerl River. Vasily immediately sent this news to all the camps, put on armor, raised banners and set out into the field, but he had few troops, only one thousand and a half, because the regiments of the allied princes did not have time to assemble, and Shemyaka did not come, despite the fact that that they sent him many times. Near the Euthymius Monastery, on the left side, the Russian regiments clashed with the Tatars, and in the first skirmish the grand ducal army put the Tatars to flight. But when they began to chase them in disarray, the enemy suddenly turned around and inflicted a terrible defeat on the Russians. Vasily fought back bravely, received many wounds and was finally captured. The Khan's sons removed his pectoral cross and sent him to Moscow to his mother and wife. The prisoner himself was taken to the khan. Ulu-Muhammad agreed with him on a ransom. Its exact amount is not known, but, in any case, it was considerable.

Many Tatar princes left the Horde with the Grand Duke for Rus'. In Vasily’s absence, Moscow suffered a severe fire, the entire city burned down, and thousands of people lost their property. When heavy taxes were imposed on the people to pay the ransom, strong displeasure was revealed on all sides. Shemyaka hastened to take advantage of this. The princes of Tver and Mozhaisk agreed to help him overthrow Vasily. Soon many Moscow boyars and merchants and even monks joined the conspiracy.

In 1446, the Moscow conspirators let the allied princes know that Vasily had gone to the Trinity Monastery to pray. Shemyaka and Mozhaisky took Moscow by surprise on the night of February 12, captured Vasily’s mother and wife, plundered his treasury, intercepted and robbed his loyal boyars. That same night Mozhaisky went to Trinity with a large detachment of his henchmen. On the 13th, Vasily was listening to mass, when suddenly the Ryazan resident Bunko ran into the church and announced to him that Shemyaka and Mozhaisky were marching against him as an army. Vasily did not believe him, because Bunko had recently left him for Shemyaka. “These people only confuse us,” he said, “can it be that the brothers come at me when I’m kissing the cross with them?”, and he ordered Bunka to be expelled from the monastery. But just in case, he still sent guards to Radonezh. The watchmen looked through the military men of Mozhaisky, for they saw them first and told their prince, who hid the soldiers on carts under matting. Having entered the mountain, the warriors jumped out of the carts and intercepted the guards. Vasily saw the enemies only when they began to descend from the Radonezh Mountain. He rushed to the stable yard, but there was not a single ready horse here. Then Vasily ran to the monastery to the Trinity Church, where the sexton let him in and locked the doors behind him. Immediately after this, his enemies entered the monastery. Prince Ivan Mozhaisky began to ask where the Grand Duke was. Vasily, hearing his voice, shouted to him from the church: “Brothers! Have mercy on me! Let me stay here, look at the image of God... I will not leave this monastery, I will take tonsure here,” and, taking the icon of St. Sergius, went to the southern doors, unlocked them himself and, meeting Prince Ivan with the icon in his hands, said to him: “Brother! We kissed the life-giving cross and this icon in this very church, at this tomb of the miracle worker, so that we can’t think of any harm against each other, but now I don’t know what’s happening to me?” Ivan hastened to calm Vasily. He, having put the icon in its place, fell in front of the miraculous tomb and began to pray with such tears, screaming and sobbing that even his enemies shed tears. Prince Ivan, having prayed a little, went out, saying to the boyar Nikita Konstantinovich: “Take him.” Vasily, having prayed, stood up and, looking around, asked: “Where is brother, Prince Ivan?” Instead of answering, Nikita approached him, grabbed him by the shoulders and said: “You have been taken by Grand Duke Dmitry Yuryevich.” Vasily responded to this: “God’s will be done!” Then Nikita took him out of the church and out of the monastery, after which they put him on a naked sleigh with a monk opposite him and took him to Moscow. He arrived here on the night of February 14 and was imprisoned in the courtyard by Shemyakin. On the 16th, at night, he was blinded and exiled to Uglich along with his wife, and his mother, Grand Duchess Sofia Vitovtovna, was sent to Chukhloma.

Of the Vasiliev boyars and servants, some swore allegiance to Shemyaka, others fled to Tver. But there were also many who were ready to fight with arms in hand for the return of Vasily to the throne. They all gathered soon in Lithuania. Shemyaka was frightened by the general mood in favor of the captive Vasily and, after long meetings with his supporters, decided to release him and give him patrimony. In the fall of 1446, he came to Uglich, repented and asked Vasily for forgiveness. Vasily, in turn, placed all the blame on himself alone, saying: “And it was not necessary for me to suffer for my sins and perjury before you, my older brothers, and before all Orthodox Christianity. I was worthy of the death penalty, but you... “The sovereign showed mercy to me, did not destroy me with my iniquities, gave me time to repent.” When he said this, tears flowed from his eyes in streams, everyone present was amazed at such humility and tenderness and cried themselves, looking at him. Shemyaka arranged a large feast for Vasily, his wife and children, which was attended by all the bishops and many boyars. Vasily received rich gifts and Vologda as his fatherland, promising Shemyaka in advance not to seek a great reign under him.

But Vasily’s followers were only waiting for his release and rushed to him in crowds. Everything was ready for war, the only difficulty was the promise given by Vasily. Hegumen Kirillov of the Belozersky Monastery Tryphon took the perjury upon himself when Vasily came from Vologda to his monastery under the pretext of feeding the brethren and distributing alms. From Bela Lake Vasily went to Tver. Tver Prince Boris Alexandrovich promised help on the condition that he would betroth his eldest son and heir Ivan to his daughter Marya. Vasily agreed and with the Tver regiments went to Shemyaka to Moscow. An army of Vasily's supporters, Moscow exiles, moved from Lithuania. Shemyaka with Prince Ivan Mozhaisky went to Volok to meet the enemy, but in their absence Moscow was easily captured by the boyar Pleshcheev. Having learned about this, Shemyaka and Mozhaisky ran to Galich, and from there to Chukhloma and Kargopol. Shemyaka released the captive Sofia Vitovtovna from Kargopol and began to ask for peace. Peace was given to him. Of course, Shemyaka was ready to break the peace at any moment. Less than a year had passed before much evidence of his treachery had accumulated in Moscow. Finally, a letter from Shemyaka to the Moscow thiun Vatazin was intercepted, in which Shemyaka ordered him to outrage the townspeople against Vasily.

Having received this evidence, Vasily handed the matter over to the clergy for decision. The Council of Bishops unequivocally condemned Shemyaka's sedition. In 1448, Vasily set out on a campaign against the rebellious Yuryevich. Shemyaka got scared and asked for peace. Peace was concluded on the same terms, but in the spring of 1449 Shemyaka again violated the kiss of the cross, besieged Kostroma, fought for a long time near the city, but could not take it, because there was a strong garrison in it. Vasily and his regiments marched against Shemyaka, but returned without fighting.

Finally, in 1450, Prince Vasily Ivanovich Obolensky attacked Shemyaka near Galich and inflicted a heavy defeat on him. After this, Galich surrendered to the Grand Duke. Shemyaka fled north and captured Ustyug. Meanwhile, in 1451, the Tatar prince Mazovsha came to Moscow and burned the entire settlement. In 1452, having fought off the Tatars, Vasily went to drive Shemyaka out of Ustyug. Yuryevich took refuge in Novgorod, where he was poisoned and died in 1453.

As one would expect, Vasily armed himself after Shemyakina’s death against his former allies. In 1454 Mozhaisk was annexed to Moscow. Prince Ivan fled to Lithuania. In 1456, Prince Vasily Yaroslavich Serpukhovsky was captured and imprisoned in Uglich. Of all the estates, only one remained in Moscow - Vereisky. In the same year, Vasily went to Novgorod, but made peace, taking 10,000 rubles as a ransom.

In 1462, Vasily fell ill with a dry illness and ordered himself to use the medicine that was then common for this illness: to light tinder on different parts of the body several times; but the medicine did not help. It became very difficult for the patient, he wanted to become a monk, but the boyars dissuaded him, and on March 27, Saturday, the fourth week of Lent, Vasily died. He was buried in Moscow in the Archangel Cathedral.

Ryzhov K. All the monarchs of the world Russia. 600 short biographies. M., 1999.

Vasily II Vasilyevich the Dark, Grand Duke of Moscow and Vladimir, son of Grand Duke Vasily I Dmitrievich. Born in 1415, reigned from 1425. He 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 Vytautas, the Moscow government did not protest against the appointment of a special Western Russian metropolitan in 1425. It was not difficult for Vitovt 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. Vytautas died in 1430; Svidrigailo settled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and Yuri, who was related to him, did not hesitate to abandon the agreement 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. The promise given by Vasily to Vsevolozhsky at a critical moment 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. The sudden death of Yuri split the opponents of Vasily II for the second time; the younger brothers 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 disrupted the economic life of the Moscow center for several years in a row, shook the loyalty of the Moscow commercial and industrial circles, which were seeking 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 Eastern Russia, which did not change Orthodoxy; 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. At first, after the strife was pacified, the Moscow government allowed itself a bold policy in relation to Veliky Novgorod; it stopped recognizing the treaty of 1435 concluded with it in difficult times, sent a princely governor there, and in 1441, with a military expedition, forced the Novgorodians to buy a peace that was unfavorable for them for 8,000 rubles and formally abandon the conditions of 1435. In 1442 it was “ “dislike was thrown” onto Shemyaka, who under the new conditions had nowhere to hide and no one to rely on; However, reconciliation took place with the assistance of the Trinity abbot. At the same time, Metropolitan Isidore, who concluded the Florentine Union, was not accepted. Khan Ulu-Makhmet, thrown out of the Horde to the Russian border, settled in 1438 in the city of Belev; besieged there by Moscow troops, he was ready to agree to any conditions, surrendering to the complete will of Vasily II. But the Moscow governors wanted a military victory - and were defeated due to the betrayal of the Lithuanian governor sent to their aid. Ulu-Makhmet passed unhindered to Nizhny Novgorod, and in 1439 made a destructive raid on Moscow; The Grand Duke managed to escape, the stone “city” survived, but the towns and surrounding areas (up to and including Kolomna) suffered greatly. Nizhny Novgorod, where the Horde of Ulu-Makhmet was based, was under siege. Murom and Vladimir had to maintain reinforced garrisons; The residence of the Grand Duke wandered between them. In 1445, Makhmet’s movement was repulsed; Believing that security was temporarily ensured, Vasily II returned to Moscow to celebrate Easter. Taking advantage of the weakness of the garrisons, Makhmet unexpectedly attacked Vasily II near the city of Yuryev and took him prisoner. The conditions of liberation - a heavy ransom (200,000 rubles) and an exacting retinue of the Tatar nobility - created conditions favorable for Shemyaki, who had risen again: relying on discontent in different strata of society, he attracted the princes of Tver and Mozhaisk to his side. In February 1446, Vasily II was captured in the Trinity Monastery by the Prince of Mozhaisk: Moscow was occupied by Shemyaka. Vasily II was brought here and blinded. His supporters found an honorable reception in Lithuania. Through the mediation of the Ryazan Bishop Jonah, to whom Shemyaka promised the metropolis, the new government managed to deceive the children of Vasily II to Moscow; They were imprisoned together with their father in Uglich. This reprisal did not strengthen Shemyaka’s position; the concentration of dissatisfied people on Lithuanian territory threatened major complications. At the church-boyar council at the end of 1446, Shemyaka, under the influence of the particularly compromised Metropolitan Jonah, agreed to release the blind Vasily II (1447). Vologda was given to him as a homeland and became the base of a movement that immediately began in his favor. Its center was moved to Tver, when the abbot of the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery Trifon allowed Vasily II from kissing the cross in Shemyaka, and the Tver prince Boris lagged behind Shemyaka, and his daughter was betrothed to Vasily’s son, Ivan (the future Grand Duke Ivan III); Supporters of Vasily II from Lithuania also flocked to Tver. The Moscow See, always a supporter of strong grand-ducal power, did not miss the moment to rehabilitate itself and take the side of the strongest; Shemyaka’s departure from Moscow put into her hands the wavering capital’s population, which in its leading trading circles was exclusively peaceful. It was easy for a small detachment of supporters of Vasily II, who secretly penetrated into Moscow, to intercept people close to Shemyaka and swear in the Moscow masses (Shemyaka’s oath could only be canceled by the highest local, that is, metropolitan, church authority). Shemyaka's position from that moment quickly deteriorated, and in 1448 he was forced to formally renounce the Moscow throne. His ally Prince Mozhaisky, as well as the princes of Ryazan, Borovsky and Vereysky were bound by subordinate agreements. At the same time, the official consecration of Jonah to metropolitan by a church council took place; in the message announcing this, Jonah conjures everyone who has not yet gone over to the side of Vasily II to beat the restored Grand Duke with his forehead, under the threat of church excommunication. In 1449, when Shemyaka again opposed Vasily II, the campaign of the Moscow troops had an almost cross-like character: the metropolitan and bishops went with the Grand Duke. In 1450, Shemyaka was completely exhausted near Galich and fled to Veliky Novgorod. From there in 1452 he made a sortie that ended unsuccessfully. In 1453 he died suddenly. The version of his poisoning due to Moscow efforts, according to some signs, can be considered plausible. The Mozhaisk prince fled to Lithuania, and Mozhaisk was annexed to Moscow in 1454. Two years later, the same thing happened to the Borovsk prince. The turn came to Veliky Novgorod; The Novgorod troops were defeated, Novgorod was brought to submission to the Grand Duke under unprecedentedly difficult conditions: 10,000 indemnity, the abolition of veche charters (“there will be no eternal charters”), the replacement of the Novgorod seal with the seal of the Grand Duke. This was the beginning of the end of Novgorod independence. The degree of irritation of the Novgorodians can be judged by the fact that during one of Vasily Vasilyevich’s visits to Novgorod (1460), the issue of killing the Grand Duke was discussed at the assembly. In 1458-1459, Vyatka, who stood on the side of Yuri and his sons in the strife of the 30s, was forced to “finish off the will of the Grand Duke with his brow.” In the 50s, the Ryazan prince entrusted his principality and son to Moscow guardianship, which was expressed in sending governors there. 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. In 1450, Ivan, the eldest son of Vasily II, was made his co-ruler; his name appears on state documents. All these are sprouts that bloomed in lush colors during the reign of Ivan III. - Vasily Vasilyevich died on March 27, 1462 from dry illness. Married to Princess Maria Yaroslavna from 1433, he had children: Yuri (died before 1462), Ivan, Yuri, Andrei Bolshoi, Semyon, Boris, Andrei Menshoy and a daughter Anna, who was married to Prince Vasily Ivanovich of Ryazan.

Vasily Vasilyevich lost power several times and returned to it again. He received the nickname “Dark” after being blinded by his opponent Dmitry Shemyaka.

Nephew vs uncle

Vasily Vasilyevich was born in 1415. His father died when the boy was only ten years old. At first, the boyar regency council ruled for the child. Vasily I transferred power to his son, contrary to the long-standing law, according to which the throne, according to seniority, should have passed to the next brother of the deceased - Yuri Dmitrievich. This prince received only the city of Galich as his inheritance and considered himself deprived. Subsequently, this dynastic conflict led to a long and bloody internecine war.

Vasily 2 the Dark, whose domestic and foreign policy in the first years of his reign was determined by advisers from among the boyars, had a powerful defender in the person of his maternal grandfather, the Lithuanian prince Vytautas. This monarch ruled a huge power from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Yuri Dmitrievich rightly feared the intercession of a dangerous neighbor. However, in 1430, the elderly Vytautas died.

Khan's court

For some time, the conflict between uncle and nephew was frozen. However, in 1431, old feuds again made themselves felt. Yuri, not wanting to remain an appanage prince, threatened his nephew with war. Then Vasily II the Dark suggested going to the Horde (at that time Rus' was still dependent on the Tatars), where King Mahmet ruled.

The opponents faced the khan's trial. Young Vasily had experienced boyars who were able to turn the Tatar Murzas against Yuri and his supporters. Convinced by Moscow diplomats, the nobles began to petition their king for Vasily. At the trial, the Moscow prince defended his case with the charter, according to which inheritance was carried out from father to son, and not from brother to brother. Yuri referred to the will of Dmitry Donskoy, which stated that he was considered the successor of Vasily I.

In the end, Mahmet took the side of the young prince. Moreover, Yuri, by order of the khan, had to lead his horse. Vasily 2 the Dark did not want to humiliate his relative and abandoned this ancient Tatar rite. As a token of compensation, my uncle received the city of Dmitrov, which remained after the death of another son of Donskoy, Pyotr Dmitrievich. Upon returning home, Vasily was again solemnly placed on the grand-ducal throne (the ceremony was performed by the Tatar nobleman Ulan Tsarevich). This event became symbolic because it was after it that the city of Vladimir formally lost its status as the capital of Rus'.

A stolen belt and a ruined wedding

At the khan's court, a Moscow boyar named John played a particularly important role. He spoke more convincingly than others before Makhmet, after which Vasily 2 the Dark finally won the argument with his uncle. John wanted the young ruler to marry his daughter. Vasily did not do this and in 1433 he married the daughter of the Serpukhov prince, Maria Yaroslavna.

John was offended and went to Yuri. In the future, boyars tossing from one camp to another will become commonplace. In the meantime, Vasily’s quarrel with his adviser demonstrated that the conflict with Yuri is far from over.

At the wedding of the Grand Duke, another memorable incident occurred, which many contemporaries associated with the beginning of a new internecine war. His cousins ​​(sons of Yuri himself) Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka came to the feast for young Vasily. Suddenly the holiday was overshadowed by a scandal. Vasily Kosoy was wearing a golden belt. The mother of the Grand Duke Sophia recognized this jewel, which was once allegedly stolen from Dmitry Donskoy. The woman, not paying attention to decency, tore off the belt from Vasily Kosoy, declaring that the valuable thing rightfully belonged to her family.

Yuri's children were offended, left the palace in anger and immediately went to their father in Uglich. The scene with the belt was especially inappropriate due to the fact that Kosoy and Shemyaka were going to become peacemakers and mediators between warring relatives. Now, on the contrary, they began to turn their father against Vasily Vasilyevich.

The war begins

The amount of accumulated grievances between the princes became critical. A few weeks after the memorable wedding, war broke out. Yuri's army advanced to Moscow. Vasily 2 the Dark did not suspect anything about enemy actions until the very moment when the Rostov governor galloped up to him, reporting that his uncle had already captured neighboring Pereslavl. The Grand Duke's council was inactive - since the time of Dmitry Donskoy and his son, the boyar entourage had become smaller and cowardly. Instead of an army, an embassy was sent to Yuri. The prince was already standing in the vicinity of the Trinity Monastery and was not going to make concessions.

The reign of Vasily II the Dark was about to end. In April 1433, the young man took his wife and mother and moved to Tver. He soon surrendered to Yuri, who had already entered Moscow and was declared Grand Duke. Many close associates advised the winner not to show mercy. Yuri, however, listened to the nobleman Simeon Morozov, who said the opposite, and let his nephew rule the estate in Kolomna. The relatives said goodbye together. The feast passed, Vasily, having received generous gifts, left Moscow.

In Kolomna

It soon became clear that Prince Vasily II the Dark was not inferior to his uncle in his lust for power. Suddenly, many boyars and noble citizens began to leave Moscow and went to Kolomna together. Once in the capital, Yuri brought with him his close aristocracy. These boyars from Uglich and other appanage cities occupied the positions of the former Moscow aristocrats. Many noble people who were left out of work realized their mistake and began to go over to the side of Vasily, who, on the contrary, having come to power, did not change anything from the old orders of his father and grandfather.

Suddenly Kolomna became the de facto capital of the grand duchy. Yuri's sons blamed boyar Morozov for everything, who advised Vasily to be released. The nobleman was killed. Frightened by their father's anger, Shemyaka and Kosoy left for Kostroma. Yuri, meanwhile, decided to return to Galich himself, since he understood that under new circumstances he would not be able to hold Moscow for long. In September 1433, Vasily returned to the capital. However, the troubles of his reign were just beginning.

Continuing the fight

Less than a year after the change of power in Moscow, Yuri again gathered regiments and defeated the army of the Grand Duke on the Kusi River. Vasily II the Dark, whose policy was not much different from his uncle’s, ruined Galich. In 1434, Yuri and his sons defeated his nephew in a battle within Rostov. Vasily cowardly fled to Nizhny Novgorod. The winner took Moscow and captured his wife and mother.

Having again become the Grand Duke, Yuri enlisted the support of his nephews Mikhail and Ivan Andreevich (who owned Beloozero, Kaluga and Mozhaisk), as well as Ivan Fedorovich Ryazansky. The new allies promised not to have anything to do with Vasily, who had become an exile. It seemed that this time Yuri Dmitrievich would be able to retain the throne. But just a few months later (June 5, 1434) he died, just shy of his sixtieth birthday.

Against Vasily Kosoy

After the death of Yuri, Vasily Vasilyevich, having found a common language with Dmitry Shemyaka and his younger brother Dmitry the Red, expelled Vasily Kosoy from the capital and once again became the Moscow sovereign. The allies were rewarded. Shemyak received Rzhev and Uglich, Krasny - Zvenigorod, Bezhetsky Verkh and Vyatka. Their contract document has been preserved, in which the princes assured each other of friendly intentions. In fact, all the grandchildren of Dmitry Donskoy were hard-hearted and cowardly, which predetermined the inevitability of another internecine war.

The most unreasonable of the princes turned out to be Vasily Kosoy. He surrounded himself with vagabonds and robbers, and with this gang, after several months of peaceful life, he began to plunder his cousin’s possessions. His army captured Ustyug, killed the Grand Duke's governor and many unarmed residents. At this time, Shemyaka came to Moscow with the intention of inviting Vasily Vasilyevich to his own wedding. Angered by the actions of Kosoy, the sovereign put Dmitry in chains and sent him into exile in Kolomna. It was an dishonorable and reckless act.

Finally, Vasily 2 the Dark, in short, tired of the atrocities of his cousin, gathered an army (which was joined by Dmitry the Red) and met his gang not far from Rostov. Kosoy, hoping to defeat the enemy by cunning, begged for a truce. Vasily Vasilyevich disbanded the army, after which his camp was suddenly attacked by enemy soldiers. This time the Grand Duke showed a determination that was rare for himself. Without moving, he himself notified the troops of the alarm by blowing a special trumpet. The army of Kosoy hoped for a mistake by the Muscovites, but it itself was shamefully defeated and scattered.

Victories and defeats

The defeated Vasily Yuryevich tried to escape, but was captured. The Grand Duke, forgetting about mercy, ordered his cousin to be blinded. Even in the darkest centuries of Russian history, such execution enjoyed disrepute and was considered simply barbaric. To calm his conscience, Vasily II the Dark, whose biography was full of errors, ordered the release of Shemyaka and returned the appanage cities to him. Kosoy lived in solitude for another 12 years, forgotten by all relatives and friends.

In 1437, Khan of the Golden Horde Makhmet was deprived of power by his brother Kichim. Once he contributed to Vasily’s accession to the throne and now hoped for his help. Khan, together with an army of three thousand, approached the Russian borders, but received news that the Grand Duke demanded that he leave. Then the Tatars took the border town of Belev.

Vasily 2 the Dark, who lived in peace for a short time, was forced to gather an army again. He entrusted the army to Shemyaka. The cousin was defeated. Makhmet, however, realizing that he could not stay in Belevo, went to the Volga region, where he restored Kazan from the Ashes and became the actual founder of the Kazan Khanate - a state that was the most important eastern neighbor of the Moscow Principality in the 15th - 16th centuries.

Captured by the Tatars

The Kazan Khanate immediately became a serious headache for Vasily Vasilyevich. Regular invasions of the Tatars began. Makhmet even captured and plundered the old part of Nizhny Novgorod. In 1445, his two sons, Mahmud and Yakub, headed for Suzdal with an army. The Grand Duke led the army, hoping for help from the appanage princes. Shemyaka did not give his cousin a single warrior.

How, after several years of peace, Vasily II the Dark was unable to gather a large army, why the Dark One frivolously decided to defeat the Tatars with small forces, there are no exact answers to these questions in the chronicles. One way or another, but on July 7, 1445, the small Moscow army squad was defeated. The foreign policy of Vasily II the Dark turned into a complete failure. The Grand Duke was captured by the Tatars. The Kazan princes, as a sign of victory, removed his gold jewelry and sent them as intimidation to Moscow.

Not a single Moscow prince had previously been captured by non-believers. The news of Vasily's unfortunate fate caused panic in the capital, which was aggravated by a major fire. At the same time, taking advantage of the anarchy, the Tver prince Boris Alexandrovich plundered Torzhok.

Although the Kazan princes won, they did not have the strength to further ravage the Russian lands. They returned to their father. Meanwhile, Mahmet learned that the neighboring Mongol khan had captured Kazan. These circumstances led to the release of Vasily and the end of the war. The Grand Duke paid a large ransom and gave several small towns to feed the Tatars.

Blindness

It is believed that Vasily 1, Vasily 2 the Dark and Ivan III finally united the Russian lands around Moscow. Before this happened, the country had to experience a lot of troubles. For Vasily himself, even captivity was not the last test.

Dmitry Shemyaka, who did not provide support to the Grand Duke in the war with the Tatars, was afraid of revenge. After Vasily returned home, he set about organizing the conspiracy. Shemyaka was joined by Ivan Mozhaisky and Boris Tverskoy. The conspirators also found comrades-in-arms among some Moscow boyars.

In February 1446, Vasily 2 the Dark, whose brief biography speaks of him as a devout person, took his two sons with him and went on a traditional trip to the Trinity Lavra. Shemyaka found out about this and, together with a loyal detachment, came to Moscow. He had accomplices in the city, who opened the gates and let the prince into the Kremlin. Dmitry took Vasily's family captive and sent Ivan Mozhaisky to the Trinity Monastery.

When rumors about the capture of the capital reached the Grand Duke, he did not believe in this dubious news. His guards also acted carelessly. Ivan's armed detachment, hiding in the carts, attacked the guards and killed them. Finally Vasily realized that things were bad. Finding himself surrounded, he locked himself in the church. Soon Ivan Mozhaisky came to the monastery. Vasily begged him not to violate the sanctity of the temple and not to commit a crime.

The traitor assured the sovereign of his good intentions, and he surrendered into the hands of the enemy. Immediately they announced to Vasily that he was a prisoner of Grand Duke Dmitry Yuryevich. The slave was sent under guard to Moscow. Four days later he was blinded. Vasily was subjected to the same execution to which he had once doomed his cousin and namesake Vasily Kosoy. The blinding was carried out on behalf of Shemyaka, Boris Tverskoy and Ivan Mozhaisky. The conspirators explained their actions by saying that the overthrown prince condoned the Tatars.

Return to power

The blinded Vasily was poisoned into exile in Uglich. His sons Ivan (the future Ivan III) and Yuri ended up in the hands of faithful monks, who transported them to the fortified and neutral Murom. Dmitry resorted to deception and, at the request of the local bishop, lured his nephews to Moscow. He promised the church that after this he would free Vasily. However, Shemyaka broke his word. He also sent his nephews to Uglich, where he left his blind cousin.

Dmitry's treachery turned more and more boyars and military men against him. Finally, fearing a rebellion, he freed Vasily and gave him reign in Vologda. Numerous supporters began to gather around the blind man. Some wanted to serve him with the sword, others with prayer. Moreover, Vasily entered into an alliance with Boris Tverskoy (as a sign of agreement, the wedding of their children was celebrated: Ivan Vasilevich and Maria Borisovna).

Dmitry learned about his cousin’s intentions and stood with the army next to Volok Lamsky. Vasily’s army bypassed his positions with a cunning maneuver, approached Moscow and took the capital without a fight. The Grand Duke again took the throne - this time until his death. On January 27, 1450, Shemyaka suffered a decisive defeat in a battle near Galich. He continued the fight, but having lost his father's inheritance, he was left without supporters. In 1453, Dmitry Yuryevich, who was in exile in Novgorod, was poisoned by the people of the Grand Duke.

Death. Results of the reign

Although at its first stage the reign of Vasily 2 the Dark was a series of internecine wars, then the Grand Duke managed to stabilize the situation in the country. Most of the small estates were annexed to his power, and those that retained imaginary independence were in fact completely dependent on Moscow. The internal policy of Vasily II the Dark in church affairs was based on the principle of independence from Constantinople (in 1488 in Rus', without regard for the Greeks, Bishop Jonah was elected metropolitan).

The Grand Duke lived a short life. He died in 1462 at the age of 47. Towards the end of his life, tuberculosis was added to Vasily’s blindness. The Emperor was treated with cauterizations, which caused him to develop gangrene. Vasily was succeeded by his son Ivan III, who continued to strengthen the Grand Duchy and finally united Rus'. After a long internecine war, the law according to which power was transferred from parents to children, and not from brothers to brothers, was finally established in the Moscow state.

He was afraid of rivals, especially his brother, Prince Yuri Dmitrievich Galitsky. Indeed, this uncle of Vasily II, relying on the custom of seniority and the will of Dmitry Donskoy, was already gathering an army to fight for Moscow, but was forced to give in and promise not to seek the grand-ducal table personally, but only through the khan.

Later, Yuri had to refuse this and sign an agreement, recognizing himself as a younger brother to his nephew. But the enmity in the princely family did not subside. In 1431, taking advantage of the death of Vytautas, Yuri again presented his claims to the grand reign. The dispute had to be resolved in the Horde, where both princes had well-wishers. Vasily appeared with his smart boyar Ivan Dmitrievich Vsevolozhsky, and while Yuri Dmitrievich exhibited his rights, Vsevolozhsky pointed out to the khan that Vasily relied on everything the will of the khan and is looking for “the table of the great reign, and your ulus, according to your royal salary.” Such recognition of the khan’s unconditional will persuaded him to decide the matter in favor of Vasily, and in 1432 the latter returned from the Horde with Tsarevich Mansyr-Ulan, who installed him in Moscow for the great reign.

Soon Vsevolozhsky was offended by the preference given to Marya Yaroslavna, granddaughter Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovsky, in front of his daughter, when Sofya Vitovtovna arranged the marriage of her son. This boyar went to Yuri. At the wedding feast itself (1433), Sophia insulted the sons of Yuri, Dmitry Shemyaka (born 1420) and Vasily Kosoy(born 1421), tearing off from the latter a precious belt that once belonged to the family of the Grand Dukes of Moscow. The brothers fled from the feast and, returning to their father, together with him and his large army moved towards Moscow. Vasily II fled to Kostroma, was captured there, but spared by Yuri, who settled in Moscow as a grand prince; Vasily received Kolomna as an inheritance.

Sofya Vitovtovna at the wedding of Grand Duke Vasily II. Painting by K. Goon, 1861

However, feeling the precariousness of his position, Yuri soon returned the throne to his nephew, and he himself retired to Galich, which a short time later was burned out by the vengeful Vasily. The strife continued unabated; Yuri once again captured the Moscow table (1434), but soon died. His sons continued the fight. Vasily Kosoy and Vasily II either made peace, then violated it, and finally, in 1436, the first treacherously attacked the Moscow prince, but was defeated, captured and blinded. Vasily concluded a peace treaty with Dmitry Shemyaka and allowed him to live freely, but without leaving the country and under supervision, in Kolomna.

In 1438, Khan Ulu-Makhmet, expelled from the Horde by his brother, came with the Tatars to the city of Belev; the Grand Duke sent an army against him, which the Tatars defeated. Ulu-Makhmet, having retired to the Volga, the next year captured Kazan, devastated by the Russians, and settled there. This is how the terrible beginning began later Kazan kingdom. Ulu-Makhmet constantly harassed the Moscow regions, and in 1445 the Tatars managed not only to inflict a serious defeat on the Russians on the banks of the river. Kamenki, near Suzdal, but also to capture the Grand Duke. Vasily was released from captivity only for a huge ransom, which caused displeasure among Muscovites.

Vasily II the Dark

Dmitry Shemyaka, who had been in contact with the Tatars even during the captivity of the Grand Duke, now decided to take advantage of the circumstances; chance helped him. Vasily II went with a small number of close associates to the Trinity Monastery to thank God for deliverance from captivity and to venerate the relics of St. Sergius. In the Trinity Monastery, he was captured by Shemyaka's accomplices, brought to Moscow and blinded, the Grand Duke's throne was seized by Dmitry, and Vasily, who now received the nickname of the Dark One due to his blindness, remained in captivity (1446).

But Shemyaka also did not feel secure on the Moscow table, especially in view of the murmurs about the villainy of Vasily’s blinding. Convinced by the Ryazan bishop Jonah, he freed Vasily II, who vowed not to seek the grand-ducal table, and released him to his granted fatherland - Vologda (1447). But Vasily did not keep his word, and in the same year his followers, who were only waiting for the release of the prince, elevated Vasily again to the Moscow table. Shemyaka fled to Galich and was forced to give “damned letters”, according to which, under the threat of church damnation, he renounced his claims to the great reign and swore not to harbor any evil towards the Grand Duke and his family.

But Shemyaka did not let up; Several times the Moscow army had to oppose him, until Dmitry was defeated near Galich. He fled to Novgorod, which gave him shelter. The Galician volost was annexed to Moscow and grand-ducal governors were appointed there (1450). In this struggle, Vasily was especially helped by the clergy with their authority and admonitions addressed both to Shemyaka and to his followers and concealers. At the head of the clergy was Metropolitan Jonah, who replaced the one who fled for the adoption of the Union of Florence Isidora. Jonah excommunicated Shemyaka from the church. In 1452, Dmitry made another unsuccessful attempt to establish himself in Ustyug, again fled to Novgorod and soon died (1453), most likely poisoned. Shemyaka's allies fled to Lithuania or, having made all kinds of concessions, made peace with Vasily the Dark.

The Grand Duke, who had long been at odds with the Novgorodians, decided to turn his forces against them. First, he imposed a tribute of up to 8,000 rubles on Novgorod, then in 1456 he moved the army. Novgorodians near Rusa were defeated Prince Striga Obolensky and Fyodor Basenko. In Yazhelbitsy, where the prince himself stood, an agreement was concluded on difficult terms; in addition to the promise not to accept the enemies of the Grand Duke, the payment of 10,000 rubles to him alone, they laid down: “there will be no veche letters” and “there will be no seal of the great princes.” After 1460, the liberties of Pskov were limited; governors were sent there from Moscow.

Vasily the Dark died on March 27, 1462 from wounds received during the treatment of “dry disease” by cauterization of the body. He had eight children from his wife, Marya Yaroslavna, of whom the second, Ivan, after the death of the eldest, was declared co-ruler from 1450, and then took his father’s table.

The newest book of facts. Volume 3 [Physics, chemistry and technology. History and archaeology. Miscellaneous] Kondrashov Anatoly Pavlovich

Why did the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily II Vasilyevich receive the nickname Dark?

Vasily II Vasilyevich (1415–1462), Grand Duke of Moscow from 1425, was able to inherit the throne only thanks to the support of the Moscow boyars and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas, his maternal grandfather, because according to the will drawn up even before the birth of Vasily, the heir should have been his uncle is Prince of Zvenigorod and Galicia Yuri Dmitrievich. In this regard, Vasily II Vasilyevich had to wage a brutal feudal war, first with Yuri Dmitrievich, and then with his sons - Vasily Kosy and Dmitry Shemyaka. In 1436, Vasily II Vasilyevich captured his cousin Vasily Kosoy and blinded him, and in 1446 he himself was blinded, falling into the hands of Dmitry Shemyaka. It was the blindness of Vasily II Vasilyevich that served as the basis for the nickname Dark. Some historians believe that Vasily II Vasilyevich’s ability to carefully conceal his plans also played a certain role in this.

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YURI DOLGORUKY (?-1157), Prince of Suzdal and Grand Duke of Kiev 22 Come to me, brother, in Moscow. An invitation sent to the Novgorod-Seversk prince Svyatoslav Olgovich in 1147. This first written mention of Moscow was preserved in the Ipatiev Chronicle. ? PSRL. – M.,

Vasily II the Dark

Vasily II the Dark

Vasily II Vasilyevich Dark (March 10, 1415 - March 27, 1462) - son of Vasily I Dmitrievich and Sofia Vitovtovna, daughter of the Grand Duke of Lithuania.
Vasily was born on March 10, 1415. At the age of 10, he lost his father and had to ascend the throne in Vladimir. However, his uncle, the next eldest son of Dmitry Donskoy, Prince Yuri Dmitrievich Zvenigorodsky, challenged his nephew’s rights. The will of the winner on the Kulikovo Field, drawn up even before his grandchildren were born, provided for the transfer of rule after the death of the eldest son to the next oldest brother. It was precisely this circumstance that Prince Yuri took advantage of.
1425-1433 - Grand Duke of Moscow
The grandfather of the young Vasily II, the all-powerful Grand Duke of Lithuania Olgerd, with whom Dmitry Donskoy had once desperately feuded, came to the aid of his grandson. Yuri gave in, giving the rights to Vladimir to his nephew.

Karl Goon. “Grand Duchess Sofia Vitovtovna at the wedding of Grand Duke Vasily the Dark”, (1861), oil on canvas, Vytautas the Great Military Museum, Kaunas, Lithuania

Power struggle

After the death in 1430 of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas, the grandfather of Vasily II, the Zvenigorod prince again began to seek primacy. The situation was aggravated by the scandal at the wedding of Vasily II, when his mother accused Yuri Dmitrievich’s eldest son, also Vasily, of stealing a family precious belt that previously belonged to Dmitry Donskoy, and tore this allegedly stolen relic from the prince.
The next year the war began. A coalition of appanage princes led by his uncle, Prince of Zvenigorod Yuri Dmitrievich and his sons Vasily Kosy and Dmitry Shemyaka, opposed him.
Prince Yuri, who inherited the military leadership talents of his famous father, defeated his nephew (Vasily II was generally a bad military leader), occupied Moscow and received the title of Grand Duke of Vladimir.

In 1433 - education Vologda Principality (1433 - 1481), capital Vologda.

1433 - Prince Kolomensky
Expelled from Moscow in 1433 by Yuri, who seized the Grand Duke's throne, Vasily II received the title of Prince of Kolomna. “This city became the true capital of the great reign, both crowded and noisy,” describes historian N.M. Karamzin Kolomna of that time. Kolomna served as the center of united forces that sympathized with the Grand Duke in his policy of “gathering Rus'.” Many residents left Moscow, refusing to serve Prince Yuri, and headed to Kolomna. The streets of Kolomna were filled with carts, the city for some time turned into the capital of North-Eastern Rus' with almost the entire administrative, economic and political staff. Having received support, Vasily was able to regain his throne, but during the war he was deprived of it several more times.

1434-1436 - Grand Duke of Moscow .
In 1434, Yuri III Dmitrievich suddenly died, and his son Vasily Yurievich, who tried to retain Vladimir and Moscow, was soon defeated by the governor of his namesake and renounced his grand-ducal rights.
1436-1445 - Grand Duke of Moscow.
In 1436, Vasily Yuryevich again started a war against Vasily Vasilyevich. The latter won again, ordering his cousin to be blinded. Vasily Yuryevich received the nickname Oblique and died in captivity. But his younger brothers, both bearing the name Dmitry (who had the nicknames Shemyaka and Krasny), did not forgive the reprisal so unprecedented in Rus'. Like their father once did, they decided to wait.

After the invasion of the troops of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas into the Pskov land in 1426, Vytautas, without achieving success, began negotiations with the Pskovites, allies of Vasily II. In order to soften the terms of peace, Vasily sent his ambassador Alexander Vladimirovich Lykov to Vytautas. Relations between Pskov and Lithuania, however, continued to remain tense even after the truce.
Understanding the inevitability of a new clash with Vasily Kosy, Vasily II tried to normalize relations with the Novgorod Republic. Winter 1435 - 1436 He ceded part of the disputed lands to the Novgorodians, pledging to send his people to delimit the lands.
After the victory over Vasily Kosy, the Grand Duke refused to fulfill his previous obligations. Nevertheless, the Novgorodians, wanting to maintain their independence in international relations, did not resist Moscow’s policies (thus, in the spring of 1437, Novgorod, without resistance, paid Moscow the “black forest” - one of the heaviest taxes).
In 1440, after the death of Grand Duke Sigismund at the hands of conspirators, Kazimir Jagailovich (since 1447 - Polish king) ascended the Lithuanian throne. Soon a quarrel broke out in Lithuania between Prince Yuri Semenovich (Lugvenievich) and Casimir IV. Yuri, who was entrenched in Smolensk, was knocked out by Kazimir after the first unsuccessful attempt, and Yuri fled to Moscow. The “pro-Russian” party of Lithuania was among the opponents of Casimir IV.
The Novgorodians and Pskovites hastened to conclude agreements with Casimir IV. In response to this, Vasily II launched a campaign against the Novgorod Republic in the winter of 1440 - 1441. His Pskov allies ravaged the Novgorod land. Vasily II captured Demon and destroyed a number of Novgorod volosts. In response to this, the Novgorodians also organized a series of ruinous campaigns into the grand ducal possessions. Soon, Novgorod Archbishop Euthymius and the Grand Duke (together with the Pskovites) concluded a peace treaty, according to which Novgorod paid Moscow a huge ransom (8,000 rubles).

Relations between the Moscow Principality and the Horde were also tense. After a difficult war with Prince Seyid-Akhmet, Ulu-Muhammad settled with small forces near the town of Belev, a vassal of Lithuania. Due to the importance of the city in economic and strategic relations, Vasily II in 1437 sent troops against the khan led by Dmitry Yuryevich Shemyaki and Dmitry Yuryevich Krasny. Covering their path with robberies and robberies, the princes, having reached Belev, overthrew the Tatars, forcing them to seek refuge in the city. Despite the fact that the attempt to capture the city for the Moscow governors was unsuccessful, the next day the Tatars began negotiations. Relying on their own strength, the governors broke off negotiations and resumed the battle on December 5. The Russian regiments were defeated. The troops of Ulu-Muhammad retreated from Belev.
Impressed by the success at Belev, Ulu-Muhammad approached Moscow on July 3, 1439. Vasily II, not ready to repel enemy troops, left Moscow, entrusting responsibilities for the defense of the city to the governor Yuri Patrikeevich. Having failed to take possession of the city, Ulu-Mukhammed, having stood near Moscow for 10 days, turned back, plundering the surrounding area.
Tatar raids on Russian lands did not stop, becoming more frequent at the end of 1443 due to severe frosts. In the end, the recent enemy of Rus', Tsarevich Mustafa, due to difficult living conditions in the steppe, settled in Ryazan. Not wanting to tolerate the presence of the Tatars on his lands, Vasily II went on a campaign against the uninvited guests, and the united Russian-Mordovian troops defeated the Tatar army on the Listani River. Prince Mustafa was killed. It was during this battle that Fyodor Vasilyevich Basyonok distinguished himself for the first time.
K ser. 1440s Ulu-Muhammad's raids on Rus' became noticeably more frequent, and in 1444 the khan began to make plans to annex Nizhny Novgorod, which was facilitated by the close ties of the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod princes with the Horde. A fierce struggle developed between the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily II and the Kazan Khan for Nizhny Novgorod, which was then a rich Volga city and an important strategic center.
In the winter of 1444, the Khan, having captured Nizhny Novgorod, advanced even further, capturing Murom. In response to these actions, Vasily II gathered troops and set out from Moscow during Epiphany. Vasily II, according to chronicle sources, had impressive forces, and therefore the khan did not dare to engage in battle and retreated to Nizhny Novgorod. Soon the city was recaptured, and the Tatars were defeated near Murom and Gorokhovets. Having successfully completed the campaign, the Grand Duke returned to Moscow.
In the spring of 1445, Khan Ulu-Mukhammed sent his sons Mamutyak and Yakub on a campaign against Rus'. In July 1445, the Grand Duchy of Vladimir was attacked by the army of the Tatar Khan Ulu-Muhammad, who by that time had captured Nizhny Novgorod and Murom. From Moscow, the Grand Duke set out for Yuryev, where the governors Fyodor Dolgoldov and Yuri Dranitsa then arrived, leaving Nizhny Novgorod. The campaign was poorly organized: princes Ivan and Mikhail Andreevich and Vasily Yaroslavich arrived to the Grand Duke with small forces, and Dmitry Shemyaka did not take part in the campaign at all. The arrogant Vasily II led only a small detachment to meet the enemy. On July 7, 1445, in a battle near the Suzdal Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery, Vasily II with the united Russian troops was defeated by the Kazan army, under the command of the Kazan princes Mahmud and Yakub (sons of Khan Ulu-Mukhammed), as a result of which Vasily II himself and his cousin Mikhail Vereisky were taken prisoner.
He was released on October 1, 1445 only after he promised the Tatars to pay a huge ransom for himself, and a number of cities were also given over for “feeding” - the right to extort from the population of Rus'. Also, under the terms of this enslaving agreement, according to some sources, the Kasimov Khanate was created within Russia, in Meshchera, the first khan of which was the son of Ulu-Muhammad -.

1445-1446 - Grand Duke of Moscow.
On November 17, 1445, Vasily II returned to Moscow, but was met coldly, aloof and hostile. It was then that Prince Dmitry Shemyaka decided to take revenge on his cousin. In 1446, Vasily II was captured in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and on February 16 at night on behalf of Dmitry Yuryevich Shemyaka, Ivan Mozhaisky and Boris Tverskoy, who, as historian N.M. writes. Karamzin, they told him to say, “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?” He was blinded, which is why he received the nickname “Dark”.
Dmitry III Yuryevich became the Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow, and Vasily II received Uglich as an inheritance, and was sent with his wife to Uglich, and his mother Sofya Vitovtovna was sent to Chukhloma.
Dmitry's troops were looking for the sons of Vasily the Dark - princes Ivan (the future Ivan III - the grandfather of Ivan the Terrible) and Yuri. However, the children were saved by princes Ivan, Semyon and Dmitry Ivanovich Starodubsky-Ryapolovsky - direct descendants of Vsevolod the Big Nest, the center of whose possessions was in Starodub on Klyazma (in the present Kovrovsky district). At first, they hid the princes in one of their villages near Yuryev-Polsky, and then took them to Murom, where they locked themselves in the fortress along with their squad. The Shemyaki governors were never able to take the city by storm. Then Dmitry III resorted to the help of the Ryazan Bishop Jonah, who appeared in Murom and promised the Ryapolovskys that no harm would come to the children of Vasily the Dark. Only then did the Ryapolovskys agree to hand over the princes, and they themselves fought their way through the enemy’s ranks and set off to gather forces against Shemyaka.

1447-1462 - Grand Duke of Moscow.
In 1447, Vasily visited the Ferapontov Monastery and received the blessing of Abbot Martinian for a campaign against Dmitry Shemyaka, who had captured Moscow. With the help of the Ryapolovskys and other allies, Vasily the Dark again occupied Moscow and Vladimir, Dmitry Shemyaka received Galich and several other cities as his inheritance, and Bishop Jonah, in gratitude, was elevated to metropolitan of All Rus'.
The foreign policy isolation of Dmitry Shemyaka and the Novgorod Republic, in which he strengthened himself after the loss of the Moscow reign, was facilitated by the peace treaty of Vasily II with the Polish king and Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir IV in 1449.
This time, having regained power, Vasily the Dark never again conceded the title of Grand Duke of Vladimir to anyone. He managed to subjugate the princes of Ryazan, Mozhaisk and Borovsk, as well as the Novgorod Republic. As a result, the territory of the Vladimir-Moscow state almost doubled, and the power of the Grand Duke after the end of the civil strife increased significantly.
In 1453, Dmitry Shemyaka was poisoned, and in 1456, the Novgorod Republic was forced to recognize its dependence on Moscow under the Yazhelbitsky Treaty.
At the same time, Vasily pledged not to support Mikhail Sigismundovich, who, after the death of his father and Svidrigail Olgerdovich, headed that part of the Lithuanian-Russian nobility that opposed the strengthening of the influence of Polish feudal lords and the Catholic Church in the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and recognized the power of Casimir in all Russian-Lithuanian lands.

Results of the board

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 on Moscow of the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod principality, the Novgorod land, Pskov and the Vyatka land increased. By order of Vasily II, Russian Bishop Jonah was elected metropolitan (1448). He was ordained metropolitan not by the Patriarch of Constantinople, but by a council of Russian bishops, which marked the beginning of the independence of the Russian Church from the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
A few days before his death, he ordered the execution of the children of the boyars of Prince Vasily, suspected of conspiracy.
Vasily II was sick with dry disease (tuberculosis). He ordered to treat himself in the usual way at that time: to light tinder several times on different parts of the body. This naturally did not help, and gangrene developed in the places of numerous burns and he died in March 1462.
The prince's will was written by clerk Vasily, nicknamed Trouble.

Family

The wife of Vasily II was Maria Yaroslavna, the daughter of the appanage prince Yaroslav Borovsky. In October 1432, their betrothal took place, and on February 8, 1433, their wedding took place.
Vasily and Maria had eight children:
Yuri the Great (1437-1441);
Ivan III (January 22, 1440 - October 27, 1505) - Grand Duke of Moscow from 1462 to 1505;
Yuri (George) Young (1441-1472) - Prince of Dmitrov, Mozhaisk, Serpukhov;
Andrei Bolshoi (1446-1493) - Prince of Uglitsky, Zvenigorod, Mozhaisk;
Simeon (1447-1449);
Boris (1449-1494) - Prince of Volotsk and Ruza;
Anna (1451-1501);
Andrei Menshoi (1452-1481) - Prince of Vologda.

Under Vasily the Dark, the city of Vladimir on Klyazma still remained the capital of the Russian state, at the same time being the official seat of the department of metropolitans of all Rus'. The biography of Vasily II was closely connected with the Vladimir land, with Yuryev-Polsky, Murom and Starodub-Klyazemsky, but his final victory in the war with his relatives marked the final decline of Vladimir as the center of a growing unified Russian power.- 1389-1425
1408 – 1431
Vasily II the Dark. 1425-1433, 1433-1434, 1434-1445, 1445-1446 and 1447-1462
(1452 - 1681).
OK. 1436 - 1439
1433 and 1434
1434
1448 - 1461

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