SOFIA PALEOLOGIST AND IVAN III
Introduction
Sofia Paleolog before marriage
Dowry of a Byzantine princess
New title
Code of Law of Ivan III
Overthrow the yoke of the Horde
Family and state affairs
Conclusion
Bibliography
Application
Introduction
The personality of Ivan III belongs to an extremely important historical period from Sergius of Radonezh to Ivan IV, which is of particular value. Because During this period of time, the birth of the Moscow state, the core of modern Russia, takes place. The historical figure of Ivan III the Great is more homogeneous than the bright and controversial figure of Ivan IV the Terrible, well known due to numerous disputes and a real war of opinions.
It does not cause controversy and somehow traditionally hides in the shadow of the image and name of the Terrible Tsar. Meanwhile, no one ever doubted that it was he who was the creator of the Moscow state. That it was from his reign that the principles of Russian statehood were formed, and the geographical outlines of the country familiar to everyone appeared. Ivan III was the greatest personality of the Russian Middle Ages, a major politician in Russian history, during whose reign events took place that forever determined the life of a huge nation. But what significance did Sophia Paleologue have in the life of Ivan III and the entire country?
The marriage of Ivan III and Sophia Palaeologus, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XII, had enormous political significance: we can talk not only about raising the prestige of the Russian state, but also about continuity with the Roman Empire. The expression “Moscow is the third Rome” is connected with this.
1. Sophia Paleolog before marriage
Sofya Fominichna Palaeologus (nee Zoya) (1443/1449-1503) - daughter of the ruler (despot) of Morea (Peloponnese) Thomas Palaeologus, niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, who died during the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453. Born between 1443 and 1449 in the Peloponnese . Her father, the ruler of one of the regions of the Empire, died in Italy.
The Vatican took upon itself the education of the royal orphans, entrusting them to Cardinal Bessarion of Nicaea. Greek by birth, former Archbishop of Nicaea, he was a zealous supporter of the signing of the Union of Florence, after which he became a cardinal in Rome. He raised Zoe Paleologue in European Catholic traditions and especially taught her to humbly follow the principles of Catholicism in everything, calling her “the beloved daughter of the Roman Church.” Only in this case, he inspired the pupil, will fate give you everything. “It was very difficult to marry Sophia: she was without a dowry.”
Ivan III Vasilyevich (Appendix No. 5), was the son of Vasily II. From an early age, he helped his blind father as much as he could in government affairs and went on hikes with him. In March 1462, Vasily II became seriously ill and died. Shortly before his death, he made a will. The will stated that the eldest son Ivan received the grand-ducal throne, and most of the state, its main cities. The remaining part of the state was divided among the remaining children of Vasily II.
By that time, Ivan was 22 years old. He continued the policies of his parent, primarily in matters of uniting the lands of Rus' around Moscow and fighting the Horde. A cautious, prudent man, he slowly but surely pursued his course towards the conquest of appanage principalities, the subjugation of various rulers, including his own brothers, to his power, and the return of Russian lands seized by Lithuania.
“Unlike his predecessors, Ivan III did not directly lead the troops on the battlefield, exercised general strategic direction of their actions, and provided the regiments with everything they needed. And this gave very good results. Despite his apparent slowness, when necessary, he showed determination and iron will.”
The fate of Ivan III spanned more than six decades and was filled with stormy and important events that were of exceptional importance for the history of the Fatherland.
Marriage of Ivan III with Sophia Paleolog
In 1467, Ivan III's first wife, Maria Borisovna, died, leaving him with his only son, heir, Ivan the Young. Everyone believed that she had been poisoned (the chronicle says that she died “from a mortal potion, because her body was all swollen,” the poison is believed to have been in a belt given to the Grand Duchess by someone). “After her death (1467), Ivan began to look for another wife, further away and more important.”
In February 1469, the ambassador of Cardinal Vissarion arrived in Moscow with a letter to the Grand Duke, which proposed a legal marriage with the daughter of the Despot of Morea and, by the way, it was mentioned that Sophia (the name Zoya was diplomatically replaced with the Orthodox Sophia) had already refused two crowned suitors who had wooed her - to the French king and Duke of Milan, not wanting to marry a Catholic ruler - “does not want to go into Latin.”
The marriage of Princess Zoya, renamed Sophia in Russian Orthodox fashion, with the recently widowed young Grand Duke of the distant, mysterious, but, according to some reports, incredibly rich and powerful Moscow principality, was extremely desirable for the papal throne for several reasons:
1.Through his Catholic wife it was possible to influence the Grand Duke, and through him the Orthodox Russian Church in implementing the decisions of the Union of Florence - and the Pope had no doubt that Sophia was a devoted Catholic, for she, one might say, grew up on the steps of him throne.
.In itself, strengthening ties with distant Russian principalities is of great importance for all European politics.
And Ivan III, who strengthened the grand-ducal power, hoped that kinship with the Byzantine house would help Muscovy increase its international prestige, which had noticeably weakened over two centuries of the Horde yoke, and help increase the authority of the grand-ducal power within the country.
So, after much thought, Ivan sent the Italian Ivan Fryazin to Rome to “see the princess,” and if he liked her, then to give consent to the marriage for the Grand Duke. Fryazin did just that, especially since the princess happily agreed to marry the Orthodox Ivan III.
Together with Sophia, her dowry came to Russia. Many carts were accompanied by the papal legate Anthony, dressed in a red cardinal's dress and carrying a four-pointed Catholic cross as a sign of hope for the conversion of the Russian prince to Catholicism. Anthony’s cross was taken away upon entering Moscow by order of Metropolitan Philip, who did not approve of this marriage.
November 1472, having converted to Orthodoxy under the name of Sophia, Zoya was married to Ivan III (Appendix No. 4). At the same time, the wife “Catholicized” her husband, and the husband “Orthodoxized” his wife, which was perceived by contemporaries as a victory of the Orthodox faith over “Latinism.” “This marriage allowed Ivan III to feel (and declare this to the world) the successor to the once powerful power of the Byzantine emperors.”
4. Dowry of a Byzantine princess
Sofia brought a generous dowry to Rus'.
After the wedding Ivan III<#"justify">. Sophia Paleologue: Moscow princess or Byzantine princess
Sophia Paleologus, then known in Europe for her rare plumpness, brought a very subtle mind to Moscow and received very important importance here. “The 16th boyars attributed to her all the unpleasant innovations that appeared over time at the Moscow court. An attentive observer of Moscow life, Baron Herberstein, who came to Moscow twice as the ambassador of the German Emperor under Ivan's successor, having listened to enough boyar talk, notes about Sophia in his notes that she was an unusually cunning woman who had great influence on the Grand Duke, who, at her suggestion, did a lot " Even Ivan III’s determination to throw off the Tatar yoke was attributed to her influence. In the boyars' tales and judgments about the princess, it is not easy to separate observation from suspicion or exaggeration guided by ill will. Sophia could only inspire what she valued and what was understood and appreciated in Moscow. She could have brought here the legends and customs of the Byzantine court, pride in her origin, annoyance that she was marrying a Tatar tributary. “In Moscow, she did not like the simplicity of the situation and the unceremoniousness of relations at court, where Ivan III himself had to listen, in the words of his grandson, “many obnoxious and reproachful words” from obstinate boyars. But in Moscow, even without her, not only Ivan III had a desire to change all these old orders, which were so inconsistent with the new position of the Moscow sovereign, and Sophia, with the Greeks she brought, who had seen both Byzantine and Roman styles, could give valuable instructions on how and why samples to introduce the desired changes. She cannot be denied influence on the decorative environment and behind-the-scenes life of the Moscow court, on court intrigues and personal relationships; but she could act on political affairs only through suggestions that echoed the secret or vague thoughts of Ivan himself.”
Her husband consulted with her in making government decisions (in 1474 he bought half of the Rostov principality and concluded a friendly alliance with the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey). The idea that she, the princess, with her Moscow marriage was making the Moscow sovereigns the successors of the Byzantine emperors with all the interests of the Orthodox East that held on to these emperors could be especially understandably perceived. Therefore, Sophia was valued in Moscow and valued herself not so much as the Grand Duchess of Moscow, but as a Byzantine princess. In the Trinity Sergius Monastery there is a silk shroud sewn by the hands of this Grand Duchess, who also embroidered her name on it. This veil was embroidered in 1498. After 26 years of marriage, Sophia, it seems, was already time to forget her maidenhood and her former Byzantine title; however, in the signature on the shroud, she still calls herself “the princess of Tsaregorod,” and not the Grand Duchess of Moscow. And this was not without reason: Sophia, as a princess, enjoyed the right to receive foreign embassies in Moscow.
Thus, the marriage of Ivan and Sophia acquired the significance of a political demonstration, which declared to the whole world that the princess, as the heir of the fallen Byzantine house, transferred his sovereign rights to Moscow as to the new Constantinople, where she shared them with her husband.
Formation of a single state
Already at the end of the reign of Vasily II, Moscow began to restrict the independence of “Mr. Veliky Novgorod” - its foreign relations were placed under the control of the Moscow government. But the Novgorod boyars, led by Marfa Boretskaya, the widow of the mayor Isaac Boretsky, trying to maintain the independence of the republic, focused on Lithuania. Ivan III and the Moscow authorities regarded this as political and religious treason. The march on Novgorod by the Moscow army, the defeat of the Novgorodians on the Sheloni River, at Lake Ilmen (1471) and in the Dvina land led to the inclusion of vast lands of the republic among the Moscow possessions. This act was finally consolidated during the campaign against Novgorod in 1477-1478.
In the same 70s. “Great Perm” (the upper reaches of the Kama, the population of Komi, the campaign of 1472) became part of the Russian state; in the next decade - the lands on the Obi River (1489, Ugra and Vogul princes lived here with their fellow tribesmen), Vyatka (Khlynov, 1489 G.).
The annexation of the Novgorod lands predetermined the fate of the Tver principality. He was now surrounded on all sides by Moscow possessions. In 1485, the troops of Ivan III entered the Tver land, Prince Mikhail Borisovich fled to Lithuania. “The people of Tver kissed the cross for Prince Ivan Ivanovich the Young.” He received Tver from his father as an appanage possession.
In the same year, Ivan III took the official title of "Grand Duke of All Rus'". This is how a unified Russian state was born, and the name “Russia” appears for the first time in the sources of that time.
A quarter of a century later, already under Vasily III, the son of Ivan III, the lands of the Pskov Republic were annexed to Russia (1510). This act was of a formal nature, since in fact Pskov had been under the control of Moscow since the 1460s. Four years later, Smolensk with its lands was included in Russia (1514), and even later - the Ryazan principality (1521), which also actually lost its independence at the end of the previous century. This is how the territory of the united Russian state was formed.
True, there still remained the appanage principalities of the sons of Ivan III, the brothers of Vasily III - Yuri, Semyon and Andrey. But the Grand Duke consistently limited their rights (banning the minting of their own coins, reducing judicial rights, etc.)
New title
Ivan, having married a noble wife, the heiress of the Byzantine emperors, found the previous Kremlin environment boring and ugly. “Following the princess, craftsmen were sent from Italy who built Ivan a new Assumption Cathedral, the Palace of Facets and a new stone courtyard on the site of the previous wooden mansion. At the same time, in the Kremlin, at court, that complex and strict ceremony began to take place, which conveyed such stiffness and tension in Moscow court life. Just as at home, in the Kremlin, among his court servants, Ivan began to act with a more solemn gait in external relations, especially since the Horde yoke fell from his shoulders by itself, without a fight, with Tatar assistance. , which gravitated over northeastern Russia for two and a half centuries (1238-1480).” Since then, in Moscow government, especially diplomatic, papers, a new, more solemn language has appeared, and a magnificent terminology has developed, unfamiliar to the Moscow clerks of the appanage centuries. It is based on two ideas: the idea of the Moscow sovereign, the national ruler of the entire Russian land, and the idea of the political and church successor of the Byzantine emperors. In relations with Western courts, not excluding the Lithuanian one, Ivan III for the first time dared to show the European political world the pretentious title of “Sovereign of All Rus'”, previously used only in domestic use, in acts of internal use, and in the treaty of 1494 he even forced the Lithuanian government to formally recognize this title. After the Tatar yoke fell from Moscow, in relations with unimportant foreign rulers, for example with the Livonian master, Ivan III titled himself Tsar of All Rus'. This term, as is known, is a shortened South Slavic and Russian form of the Latin word Caesar.
“The word Caesar came into Proto-Slavic through the Gothic “kaisar”. In Proto-Slavic it sounded like “cmsarь”, then shortened to “tssar”, and then “king” (analogues of this abbreviation are known in Germanic titles, for example, Swedish kung and English king from kuning).”
“The title of tsar in acts of internal government under Ivan III was sometimes, under Ivan IV, usually combined with the title of autocrat of similar meaning - this is the Slavic translation of the Byzantine imperial title autokrator. Both terms in Ancient Rus' did not mean what they came to mean later; they expressed the concept not of a sovereign with unlimited internal power, but of a ruler who was independent of any external authority and did not pay tribute to anyone. In the political language of that time, both of these terms were opposed to what we mean by the word vassal. Monuments of Russian writing before the Tatar yoke, sometimes Russian princes are called tsars, giving them this title as a sign of respect, not in the sense of a political term. The kings were predominantly Ancient Rus' until the half of the 15th century. called the Byzantine emperors and khans of the Golden Horde, the independent rulers best known to it, and Ivan III could accept this title only by ceasing to be a tributary of the khan.” The overthrow of the yoke removed the political obstacle to this, and the marriage with Sophia provided a historical justification for this: Ivan III could now consider himself the only Orthodox and independent sovereign remaining in the world, as the Byzantine emperors were, and the supreme ruler of Rus', which was under the rule of the Horde khans. “Having adopted these new magnificent titles, Ivan found that now it was no longer suitable for him to be called in government acts simply in Russian Ivan, Sovereign Grand Duke, but began to be written in church book form: “John, by the grace of God, sovereign of all Rus'.” To this title, as its historical justification, is attached a long series of geographical epithets, denoting the new boundaries of the Moscow state: “Sovereign of All Rus' and Grand Duke of Vladimir, and Moscow, and Novgorod, and Pskov, and Tver, and Perm, and Yugorsk, and Bulgarian, and others”, i.e. lands." Feeling himself a successor to the fallen house of the Byzantine emperors in terms of political power, and Orthodox Christianity, and finally, and by marriage kinship, the Moscow sovereign also found a clear expression of his dynastic connection with them: the Moscow coat of arms with St. George the Victorious was combined with a double-headed eagle - the ancient coat of arms of Byzantium (Appendix 2). This emphasized that Moscow is the heir of the Byzantine Empire, Ivan III is “the king of all Orthodoxy,” and the Russian Church is the successor of the Greek Church.
Code of Law of Ivan III
In 1497, the Sovereign of All Rus', Ivan III, approved the national Code of Law, which replaced the Russian Truth. Sudebnik - the first code of laws of a united Russia - established a unified structure and management in the state. “The highest institution was the Boyar Duma - the council under the Grand Duke; its members managed individual branches of the state economy, served as governors in regiments, and governors in cities. Volostels, made up of free people, exercised power in rural areas - volosts. The first orders appeared - central government bodies, they were headed by boyars or clerks, whom the Grand Duke ordered to manage certain matters.”
In the Code of Laws, the term “estate” was used for the first time to denote a special type of land ownership, issued for the performance of public service. For the first time on a national scale, the Code of Law introduced a rule limiting the exit of peasants; their transfer from one owner to another was now allowed only once a year, during the week before and the week after St. George’s Day (November 26), after the end of field work. In addition, the immigrants were obliged to pay the owner the elderly - money for the “yard” - outbuildings. “The assessment of a peasant household during the transition at the time of the adoption of the Code of Law in the steppe zone was 1 ruble per year, and in the forest zone - half a ruble (50 kopecks). But as an elderly person, sometimes up to 5 or even 10 rubles were charged. Due to the fact that many peasants could not pay their dues, they were forced to remain on the lands of the feudal lords on their terms. The agreement was most often concluded orally, but written agreements have also been preserved.” Thus began the legal enslavement of peasants, which ended in the 17th century.
“The Code of Law puts local government in the person of feeders under the control of the center. Instead of squads, a single military organization is created - the Moscow army, the basis of which is made up of noble landowners. At the request of the Grand Duke, they must appear for service with armed men from their slaves or peasants, depending on the size of the estate. The number of landowners under Ivan III increased greatly due to slaves, servants and others; they were given lands confiscated from Novgorod and other boyars, from princes from unannexed regions.”
The strengthening of the power of the Grand Duke, the growing influence of the nobility, and the emergence of the administrative apparatus were reflected in the Code of Laws of 1497.
9. Overthrow the yoke of the Horde
paleologist byzantine prince nobility
Along with the unification of the lands of Rus', the government of Ivan III also solved another task of national importance - liberation from the Horde yoke.
The 15th century was the time of decline of the Golden Horde. Internal weakening and civil strife led it to disintegrate in the second and third quarter of the century into a number of khanates: Kazan and Astrakhan on the Volga, Nogai Horde, Siberian, Kazan, Uzbek - to the east of it, Great Horde and Crimean - to the west and southwest.
Ivan III in 1478 stopped paying tribute to the Great Horde, the successor to the Golden Horde. “Its ruler Khan Ahmed (Akhmat) in 1480 led an army to Moscow. He approached the Oka River at the confluence of the Ugra River, near Kaluga, expecting help from the Polish king and Grand Duke Casimir IV. The army did not come because of the troubles in Lithuania.”
In 1480, on the “advice” of his wife, Ivan III went with the militia to the Ugra River (Appendix No. 3), where the army of the Tatar Khan Akhmat was stationed. Attempts by the Khan's cavalry to cross the river were repelled by Russian warriors with fire from cannons, arquebuses, and archery. Also, the onset of frost and lack of food forced the khan and his army to leave. Having lost a large number of soldiers, Akhmed fled from the Ugra to the southeast. He learned that his possessions in the Horde were attacked and destroyed - the Russian army sailed there along the Volga.
The Great Horde soon split into several uluses, Khan Ahmed died.
Rus' has finally thrown off the hated yoke that tormented its people for about two and a half centuries. The increased strength of Rus' allowed its politicians to put on the priority list the return of the ancestral Russian lands, lost foreign invasions and Horde rule.
10. Family and state affairs
April 1474 Sophia gave birth to her first daughter Anna (who died quickly), then another daughter (who also died so quickly that they did not have time to baptize her). Disappointments in family life were compensated by activity in non-domestic affairs.
Sophia actively participated in diplomatic receptions (Venetian envoy Cantarini noted that the reception organized by her was “very stately and affectionate”). According to the legend cited not only by Russian chronicles, but also by the English poet John Milton, in 1477 Sophia was able to outwit the Tatar khan by declaring that she had a sign from above about the construction of a temple to St. Nicholas on the spot in the Kremlin where the house of the khan’s governors stood, who controlled the yasak collections. and the actions of the Kremlin. This story presents Sophia as a decisive person (“she kicked them out of the Kremlin, demolished the house, although she did not build a temple”).
But Sofya Fominichna grieved, she “cried, begged the Mother of God to give her an heir-son, gave out alms to the poor in handfuls, donated kitties to churches - and the Most Pure One heard her prayers: again, for the third time, a new life began in the warm darkness of her nature.
Someone restless, not yet a person, but only a still inseparable part of her body, demandedly poked Sofya Fominichna in the side - sharply, elasticly, palpably. And it seems that this was not at all the case, what happened to her twice already, and of a completely different order: the baby pushed hard, persistently, often.
“It’s a boy,” she believed, “a boy!” The child has not yet been born, and she has already begun a great battle for his future. All the strength of will, all the sophistication of the mind, the entire arsenal of great and small tricks, accumulated for centuries in the dark labyrinths and nooks of the palaces of Constantinople, was used every day by Sophia Fominichna in order to first sow in the soul of her husband the smallest doubts about Ivan the Young, who, although was worthy of the throne, but due to his age he undoubtedly was nothing more than an obedient puppet, in the skillful hands of skilled puppeteers - numerous enemies of the Grand Duke, and above all his brothers - Andrei the Bolshoi and Boris.
And when, according to one of the Moscow chronicles, “in the summer of 6987 (1479 from the Nativity of Christ) March 25 at eight o’clock in the morning a son was born to the Grand Duke, and his name was named Vasily of Pariysky, and he was baptized by the Archbishop of Rostov Vasiyan in the Sergeev Monastery in Verbnaya week."
Ivan III married his first-born Ivan the Young of Tverskoy to the daughter of the Moldavian ruler Stephen the Great, who gave the Young a son, and Ivan III a grandson - Dmitry.
In 1483, Sophia’s authority was shaken: she imprudently gave a precious family necklace (“sazhenye”) that had previously belonged to Maria Borisovna, the first wife of Ivan III, to her niece, the wife of Prince Vasily Mikhailovich of Verei. The husband intended an expensive gift for his daughter-in-law Elena Stepanovna Voloshanka, the wife of his son Ivan the Young from his first marriage. In the conflict that arose (Ivan III demanded the return of the necklace to the treasury), but Vasily Mikhailovich chose to escape with the necklace to Lithuania. Taking advantage of this, the Moscow boyar elite, dissatisfied with the success of the prince’s centralization policy, opposed Sophia, considering her the ideological inspirer of Ivan’s innovations, which infringed on the interests of his children from his first marriage.
Sophia began a stubborn struggle to justify the right to the Moscow throne for her son Vasily. When her son was 8 years old, she even made an attempt to organize a conspiracy against her husband (1497), but it was discovered, and Sophia herself was condemned on suspicion of magic and connection with a “witch woman” (1498) and, together with her son Vasily, fell into disgrace .
But fate was merciful to this irrepressible defender of the rights of her family (over the years of her 30-year marriage, Sophia gave birth to 5 sons and 4 daughters). The death of Ivan III's eldest son, Ivan the Young, forced Sophia's husband to change his anger to mercy and return those exiled to Moscow. To celebrate, Sophia ordered a church shroud with her name (“Princess of Tsargorod, Grand Duchess of Moscow Sophia of the Grand Duke of Moscow”).
According to Moscow ideas of that time, Dmitry had the right to the throne, who enjoyed the support of the Boyar Duma. In 1498, when Dmitry was not yet 15 years old, he was crowned with the Grand Duke's Monomakh cap in the Assumption Cathedral.
However, the very next year, Prince Vasily was proclaimed Grand Duke of Novgorod and Pskov. “Researchers are unanimous in their interpretation of these events, seeing them as the result of a fierce struggle between factions at court. After this, Dmitry’s fate was practically predetermined. In 1502, Ivan III took his grandson and his mother into custody, and three days later “he placed him in the Grand Duchy of Vladimir and Moscow and made him autocrat of all Russia.”
Ivan wanted to form some serious dynastic party for the new heir to the throne, but after several failures, on the advice of the Greeks from Sophia’s entourage, it was decided to hold a bride show. Vasily chose Solomonia Saburova. However, the marriage was unsuccessful: there were no children. Having obtained a divorce with great difficulty (and Solomonia, having been accused of witchcraft, was tonsured into a monastery), Vasily married Elena Glinskaya.
Feeling like a mistress in the capital again, Sophia managed to attract doctors, cultural figures and especially architects to Moscow; Active stone construction began in Moscow. The architects Aristotle Fioravanti, Marco Ruffo, Aleviz Fryazin, Antonio and Petro Solari, who came from Sophia’s homeland and at her order, erected the Chamber of Facets in the Kremlin, the Assumption and Annunciation Cathedrals on the Kremlin’s Cathedral Square; The construction of the Archangel Cathedral was completed.
Conclusion
Sophia died on August 7, 1503 in Moscow two years earlier than Ivan III, having achieved many honors. She was buried in the Moscow Ascension nunnery of the Kremlin.
In December 1994, in connection with the transfer of the remains of the princes and royal wives to the basement chamber of the Archangel Cathedral, according to the well-preserved skull of Sophia, student M.M. Gerasimova S.A. Nikitin restored her sculptural portrait (Appendix No. 1).
With the arrival of Sophia, the Moscow court acquired the features of Byzantine splendor, and this was a clear merit of Sophia and her entourage. The marriage of Ivan III and Sophia Paleologus undoubtedly strengthened the Muscovite state, contributing to its conversion to the great Third Rome. Sophia's main influence on the course of Russian history was also determined by the fact that she gave birth to a man who became the father of Ivan the Terrible.
The Russian people could be proud of what was done in those glorious decades of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The chronicler reflected these feelings of his contemporaries: “Our great Russian land freed itself from the yoke... and began to renew itself, as if it had passed from winter to a quiet spring. She again achieved her majesty, piety and tranquility, as under the first prince Vladimir.”
The process of unification of lands and the formation of a single state contributed to the consolidation of Russian lands and the formation of the Great Russian nation. Its territorial base was the lands of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, once inhabited by the Vyatichi and Krivichi, and the Novgorod-Pskov land, where the Novgorod Slavs and Krivichi lived. The growth of economic and political ties, common tasks in the struggle for national independence with the Horde, Lithuania and other opponents, historical traditions coming from the times of pre-Mongol Rus', the desire for unity became the driving factors for their unification within the framework of one nationality - the Great Russians. At the same time, other parts of the former ancient Russian nationality are being separated from it - in the west and southwest, as a result of the Horde invasions and seizures of Lithuanian, Polish, and Hungarian rulers, the formation of the Ukrainian (Little Russian) and Belarusian nationalities is taking place.
Bibliography
1.Dvornichenko A.Yu. The Russian Empire from ancient times to the fall of the autocracy. Tutorial. - M.: Publishing House, 2010. - 944 p.
Evgeny Viktorovich Anisimov “History of Russia from Rurik to Putin. People. Events. Dates"
Klyuchevsky V.O. Essays. In 9 volumes. T. 2. Course of Russian history. Part 2/Afterword and comment. Compiled by V.A. Alexandrov, V.G. Zimina. - M.: Mysl, 1987.- 447 p.
Sakharov A.N., Buganov V.I. History of Russia from ancient times to the end of the 17th century: Textbook. for 10th grade general education institutions / Ed. A.N. Sakharov. - 5th ed. - M.: Education, 1999. - 303 p.
Sizenko A.G. Great women of great Russia. 2010
Fortunov V.V. Story. Tutorial. Third generation standard. For bachelors. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2014. - 464 p. - (Series “Textbook for Universities”).
Application
Sophia Paleolog. Reconstruction of S.A. Nikitina.
Coat of arms of Russia under Ivan III.
Standing on the Ugra River. 1480
4. The wedding of Ivan III with the Byzantine princess Sophia. Abegyan M.
Ivan III. Engraving. XVI century.
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Sofia Paleolog and Ivan III the Third: a love story, interesting biographical facts. The recently released series “Sofia” touched upon the previously unexplained topic of the personality of Prince Ivan the Great and his wife Sophia Paleologue. Zoya Paleolog came from a noble Byzantine family. After the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, she and her brothers fled to Rome, where they found the protection of the Roman throne. She converted to Catholicism, but remained faithful to Orthodoxy.
Sofia Paleolog and Ivan III the Third: a love story, interesting biographical facts. At this time, Ivan the Third became a widower in Moscow. The prince's wife died, leaving a young heir, Ivan Ivanovich. The Pope's ambassadors went to Muscovy to propose the candidacy of Zoe Paleologus to the sovereign. The marriage took place only three years later. At the time of her marriage, Sofia, who adopted a new name and Orthodoxy in Rus', was 17 years old. The husband was 15 years older than his wife. But, despite such a young age, Sofia already knew how to show character and completely broke off relations with the Catholic Church, which disappointed the Pope, who was trying to gain influence in Rus'.
Sofia Paleolog and Ivan III the Third: a love story, interesting biographical facts. In Moscow, the Latin woman was received very hostilely; the royal court was against this marriage, but the prince did not heed their persuasion. Historians describe Sophia as a very attractive woman; the king liked her as soon as he saw her portrait brought by the ambassadors. Contemporaries describe Ivan as a handsome man, but the prince had one weakness, common to many rulers in Rus'. Ivan the Third loved to drink and often fell asleep right during the feast; the boyars at that moment became quiet and waited for the prince-father to wake up.
Sofia Paleolog and Ivan III the Third: a love story, interesting biographical facts. The relationship between the spouses was always very close, which the boyars did not like, who saw Sofia as a great threat. At court they said that the prince ruled the country “from his bedchamber,” hinting at the omnipresence of his wife. The Emperor often consulted with his wife, and her advice benefited the state. Only Sofia supported, and in some cases directed, Ivan’s decision to stop paying tribute to the Horde. Sofia contributed to the spread of education among the nobles; the princess's library could be compared with the collection of books of European rulers. She supervised the construction of the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin; at her request, foreign architects came to Moscow.
Sofia Paleolog and Ivan III the Third: a love story, interesting biographical facts. But the personality of the princess aroused conflicting emotions among her contemporaries; opponents often called her a witch for her passion for drugs and herbs. And many were sure that it was she who contributed to the death of the eldest son of Ivan the Third, the direct heir to the throne, who was allegedly poisoned by a doctor who was invited by Sophia. And after his death, she got rid of his son and daughter-in-law, the Moldavian princess Elena Voloshanka. After which her son Vasily the Third, father of Ivan the Terrible, ascended the throne. How true this could be, one can only guess; in the Middle Ages, this method of fighting for the throne was very common. The historical results of Ivan the Third were colossal. The prince managed to collect and increase Russian lands, tripling the area of the state. Based on the significance of his actions, historians often compare Ivan the Third with Peter. His wife Sofia also played a significant role in this.
Sophia Paleologus (?-1503), wife (from 1472) of Grand Duke Ivan III, niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI Paleologus. Arrived in Moscow on November 12, 1472; on the same day, her wedding to Ivan III took place in the Assumption Cathedral. The marriage with Sophia Paleologus contributed to strengthening the prestige of the Russian state in international relations and the authority of the grand ducal power within the country. Special mansions and a courtyard were built for Sophia Paleolog in Moscow. Under Sophia Paleologus, the grand-ducal court was distinguished by its special splendor. Architects were invited from Italy to Moscow to decorate the palace and the capital. The walls and towers of the Kremlin, the Assumption and Annunciation Cathedrals, the Faceted Chamber, and the Terem Palace were erected. Sofia Paleolog brought a rich library to Moscow. The dynastic marriage of Ivan III with Sophia Paleologus owes its appearance to the rite of royal crowning. The arrival of Sophia Paleologus is associated with the appearance of an ivory throne as part of the dynastic regalia, on the back of which was placed an image of a unicorn, which became one of the most common emblems of Russian state power. Around 1490, the image of a crowned double-headed eagle first appeared on the front portal of the Palace of Facets. The Byzantine concept of the sacredness of imperial power directly influenced Ivan III’s introduction of “theology” (“by God’s grace”) in the title and in the preamble of state charters.
KURBSKY TO GROZNY ABOUT HIS GRANDMOTHER
But the abundance of your Majesty’s malice is such that it destroys not only your friends, but, together with your guardsmen, the entire holy Russian land, a plunderer of houses and a murderer of sons! May God protect you from this and may the Lord, King of Ages, not allow this to happen! After all, even then everything is going as if on the edge of a knife, because if not your sons, then your half-brothers and close brothers by birth, you have overflowed the measure of bloodsuckers - your father and your mother and grandfather. After all, your father and mother - everyone knows how many they killed. In exactly the same way, your grandfather, with your Greek grandmother, having renounced and forgotten love and kinship, killed his wonderful son Ivan, courageous and glorified in heroic enterprises, born of his first wife, Saint Mary, Princess of Tver, as well as his divinely crowned grandson born of him Tsar Demetrius together with his mother, Saint Helena - the first by deadly poison, and the second by many years of imprisonment in prison, and then by strangulation. But he was not satisfied with this!..
MARRIAGE OF IVAN III AND SOFIA PALEOLOGIST
On May 29, 1453, the legendary Constantinople, besieged by the Turkish army, fell. The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, died in battle defending Constantinople. His younger brother Thomas Palaiologos, ruler of the small appanage state of Morea on the Peloponnese peninsula, fled with his family to Corfu and then to Rome. After all, Byzantium, hoping to receive military assistance from Europe in the fight against the Turks, signed the Union of Florence in 1439 on the unification of the Churches, and now its rulers could seek asylum from the papal throne. Thomas Palaiologos was able to remove the greatest shrines of the Christian world, including the head of the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called. In gratitude for this, he received a house in Rome and a good boarding house from the papal throne.
In 1465, Thomas died, leaving three children - sons Andrei and Manuel and the youngest daughter Zoya. The exact date of her birth is unknown. It is believed that she was born in 1443 or 1449 in her father's possessions in the Peloponnese, where she received her early education. The Vatican took upon itself the education of the royal orphans, entrusting them to Cardinal Bessarion of Nicaea. Greek by birth, former Archbishop of Nicaea, he was a zealous supporter of the signing of the Union of Florence, after which he became a cardinal in Rome. He raised Zoe Paleologue in European Catholic traditions and especially taught her to humbly follow the principles of Catholicism in everything, calling her “the beloved daughter of the Roman Church.” Only in this case, he inspired the pupil, will fate give you everything. However, everything turned out quite the opposite.
In February 1469, the ambassador of Cardinal Vissarion arrived in Moscow with a letter to the Grand Duke, in which he was invited to legally marry the daughter of the Despot of Morea. The letter mentioned, among other things, that Sophia (the name Zoya was diplomatically replaced with the Orthodox Sophia) had already refused two crowned suitors who had wooed her - the French king and the Duke of Milan, not wanting to marry a Catholic ruler.
According to the ideas of that time, Sophia was considered a middle-aged woman, but she was very attractive, with amazingly beautiful, expressive eyes and soft matte skin, which in Rus' was considered a sign of excellent health. And most importantly, she was distinguished by a sharp mind and an article worthy of a Byzantine princess.
The Moscow sovereign accepted the offer. He sent his ambassador, the Italian Gian Battista della Volpe (he was nicknamed Ivan Fryazin in Moscow), to Rome to make a match. The messenger returned a few months later, in November, bringing with him a portrait of the bride. This portrait, which seemed to mark the beginning of the era of Sophia Paleologus in Moscow, is considered the first secular image in Rus'. At least, they were so amazed by it that the chronicler called the portrait an “icon,” without finding another word: “And bring the princess on the icon.”
However, the matchmaking dragged on because Moscow Metropolitan Philip for a long time objected to the sovereign’s marriage to a Uniate woman, who was also a pupil of the papal throne, fearing the spread of Catholic influence in Rus'. Only in January 1472, having received the consent of the hierarch, Ivan III sent an embassy to Rome for the bride. Already on June 1, at the insistence of Cardinal Vissarion, a symbolic betrothal took place in Rome - the engagement of Princess Sophia and the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan, who was represented by the Russian ambassador Ivan Fryazin. That same June, Sophia set off on her journey with an honorary retinue and the papal legate Anthony, who soon had to see firsthand the futility of the hopes Rome placed on this marriage. According to Catholic tradition, a Latin cross was carried at the front of the procession, which caused great confusion and excitement among the residents of Russia. Having learned about this, Metropolitan Philip threatened the Grand Duke: “If you allow the cross in blessed Moscow to be carried before the Latin bishop, then he will enter the only gate, and I, your father, will go out of the city differently.” Ivan III immediately sent the boyar to meet the procession with the order to remove the cross from the sleigh, and the legate had to obey with great displeasure. The princess herself behaved as befits the future ruler of Rus'. Having entered the Pskov land, the first thing she did was visit an Orthodox church, where she venerated the icons. The legate had to obey here too: follow her to the church, and there venerate the holy icons and venerate the image of the Mother of God by order of despina (from the Greek despot- “ruler”). And then Sophia promised the admiring Pskovites her protection before the Grand Duke.
Ivan III did not intend to fight for the “inheritance” with the Turks, much less accept the Union of Florence. And Sophia had no intention of Catholicizing Rus'. On the contrary, she showed herself to be an active Orthodox Christian. Some historians believe that she did not care what faith she professed. Others suggest that Sophia, apparently raised in childhood by the Athonite elders, opponents of the Union of Florence, was deeply Orthodox at heart. She skillfully hid her faith from the powerful Roman “patrons”, who did not help her homeland, betraying it to the Gentiles for ruin and death. One way or another, this marriage only strengthened Muscovy, contributing to its conversion to the great Third Rome.
Early in the morning of November 12, 1472, Sophia Paleologus arrived in Moscow, where everything was ready for the wedding celebration dedicated to the name day of the Grand Duke - the day of remembrance of St. John Chrysostom. On the same day, in the Kremlin, in a temporary wooden church, erected near the Assumption Cathedral under construction, so as not to stop the services, the sovereign married her. The Byzantine princess saw her husband for the first time. The Grand Duke was young - only 32 years old, handsome, tall and stately. His eyes were especially remarkable, “formidable eyes”: when he was angry, women fainted from his terrible gaze. Previously he was distinguished by a tough character, but now, having become related to the Byzantine monarchs, he turned into a formidable and powerful sovereign. This was largely due to his young wife.
The wedding in a wooden church made a strong impression on Sophia Paleolog. The Byzantine princess, raised in Europe, differed in many ways from Russian women. Sophia brought with her her ideas about the court and the power of government, and many of the Moscow orders did not suit her heart. She did not like that her sovereign husband remained a tributary of the Tatar khan, that the boyar entourage behaved too freely with their sovereign. That the Russian capital, built entirely of wood, stands with patched fortress walls and dilapidated stone churches. That even the sovereign's mansions in the Kremlin are made of wood and that Russian women look at the world from a small window. Sophia Paleolog not only made changes at court. Some Moscow monuments owe their appearance to her.
She brought a generous dowry to Rus'. After the wedding, Ivan III adopted the Byzantine double-headed eagle as a coat of arms - a symbol of royal power, placing it on his seal. The two heads of the eagle face the West and the East, Europe and Asia, symbolizing their unity, as well as the unity (“symphony”) of spiritual and temporal power. Actually, Sophia’s dowry was the legendary “Liberia” - a library allegedly brought on 70 carts (better known as the “library of Ivan the Terrible”). It included Greek parchments, Latin chronographs, ancient Eastern manuscripts, among which were unknown to us poems by Homer, works by Aristotle and Plato, and even surviving books from the famous Library of Alexandria. Seeing wooden Moscow, burned after the fire of 1470, Sophia was afraid for the fate of the treasure and for the first time hid the books in the basement of the stone Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary on Senya - the home church of the Moscow Grand Duchesses, built by order of St. Eudokia, the widow. And, according to Moscow custom, she put her own treasury for preservation in the underground of the Kremlin Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist - the very first church in Moscow, which stood until 1847.
According to legend, she brought with her a “bone throne” as a gift to her husband: its wooden frame was entirely covered with plates of ivory and walrus ivory with scenes on biblical themes carved on them. This throne is known to us as the throne of Ivan the Terrible: the king is depicted on it by the sculptor M. Antokolsky. In 1896, the throne was installed in the Assumption Cathedral for the coronation of Nicholas II. But the sovereign ordered it to be staged for Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (according to other sources, for his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna), and he himself wished to be crowned on the throne of the first Romanov. And now the throne of Ivan the Terrible is the oldest in the Kremlin collection.
Sophia brought with her several Orthodox icons, including, supposedly, a rare icon of the Mother of God “Blessed Heaven”... And even after the wedding of Ivan III, an image of the Byzantine Emperor Michael III, the founder of the Paleologus dynasty, with which the Moscow people became related, appeared in the Archangel Cathedral rulers. Thus, the continuity of Moscow to the Byzantine Empire was established, and the Moscow sovereigns appeared as the heirs of the Byzantine emperors.
Although his son, Ivan the Terrible, is remembered more often, it was Vasily III who largely determined both the vectors of state policy and the psychology of the Russian government, which was ready to do anything to preserve itself.
Spare king
Vasily III came to the throne thanks to the successful struggle for power carried out by his mother, Sophia Paleologus. Vasily's father, Ivan III, declared his eldest son from his first marriage, Ivan the Young, as his co-ruler. In 1490, Ivan the Young suddenly died of illness and two parties began to fight for power: one supported Ivan the Young’s son Dmitry Ivanovich, the other supported Vasily Ivanovich. Sofia and Vasily overdid it. Their plot against Dmitry Ivanovich was discovered and they even fell into disgrace, but this did not stop Sofia. She continued to influence the authorities. There were rumors that she even cast a spell against Ivan III. Thanks to the rumors spread by Sofia, Dmitry Ivanovich's closest associates fell out of favor with Ivan III. Dmitry began to lose power and also fell into disgrace, and after the death of his grandfather he was shackled and died 4 years later. So Vasily III, the son of a Greek princess, became the Russian Tsar.
Solomonia
Vasily III chose his first wife as a result of a review (1500 brides) during his father’s lifetime. She became Solomonia Saburova, the daughter of a scribe-boyar. For the first time in Russian history, the ruling monarch took as his wife not a representative of the princely aristocracy or a foreign princess, but a woman from the highest stratum of “service people.” The marriage was fruitless for 20 years and Vasily III took extreme, unprecedented measures: he was the first of the Russian tsars to exile his wife to a monastery. Regarding children and inheriting power, Vasily, accustomed to fight for power in all possible ways, had a “fad.” So, fearing that the possible sons of the brothers would become contenders for the throne, Vasily forbade his brothers to marry until he had a son. The son was never born. Who is to blame? Wife. Wife - to the monastery. We must understand that this was a very controversial decision. Those who opposed the dissolution of the marriage, Vassian Patrikeev, Metropolitan Varlaam and the Monk Maxim the Greek, were exiled, and for the first time in Russian history, a metropolitan was defrocked.
Kudeyar
There is a legend that during her tonsure, Solomonia was pregnant, gave birth to a son, George, whom she handed over “to safe hands,” and announced to everyone that the newborn had died. Afterwards this child became the famous robber Kudeyar, who with his gang robbed rich convoys. Ivan the Terrible was very interested in this legend. The hypothetical Kudeyar was his older half-brother, which means he could lay claim to power. This story is most likely a folk fiction. The desire to “ennoble the robber”, as well as to allow oneself to believe in the illegitimacy of power (and therefore the possibility of its overthrow) is characteristic of the Russian tradition. With us, no matter what the ataman is, he is the legitimate king. Regarding Kudeyar, a semi-mythical character, there are so many versions of his origin that there would be enough for half a dozen atamans.
Lithuanian
For his second marriage, Vasily III married a Lithuanian, young Elena Glinskaya. “Just like his father,” he married a foreigner. Only four years later, Elena gave birth to her first child, Ivan Vasilyevich. According to legend, at the hour of the baby's birth, a terrible thunderstorm allegedly broke out. Thunder struck from the clear sky and shook the earth to its foundations. The Kazan Khansha, having learned about the birth of the tsar, announced to the Moscow messengers: “A tsar was born to you, and he has two teeth: with one he can eat us (Tatars), and with the other you.” This legend stands among many written about the birth of Ivan IV. There were rumors that Ivan was an illegitimate son, but this is unlikely: an examination of the remains of Elena Glinskaya showed that she had red hair. As you know, Ivan was also red-haired. Elena Glinskaya was similar to the mother of Vasily III, Sofia Paleologus, and she handled power no less confidently and passionately. After the death of her husband in December 1533, she became the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Moscow (for this she removed the regents appointed by her husband). Thus, she became the first after Grand Duchess Olga (if you don’t count Sofia Vitovtovna, whose power in many Russian lands outside the Moscow principality was formal) ruler of the Russian state.
Italian mania
Vasily III inherited from his father not only a love for strong-willed overseas women, but also a love for everything Italian. Italian architects hired by Vasily the Third built churches and monasteries, kremlins and bell towers in Russia. Vasily Ivanovich’s security also consisted entirely of foreigners, including Italians. They lived in Nalivka, a “German” settlement in the area of modern Yakimanka.
Barberbearer
Vasily III was the first Russian monarch to get rid of chin hair. According to legend, he trimmed his beard to look younger in the eyes of Elena Glinskaya. He did not last long in a beardless state, but it almost cost Rus' independence. While the Grand Duke was flaunting his clean-shaven youth, the Crimean Khan Islyam I Giray, complete with armed, sparsely bearded fellow countrymen, came to visit. The matter threatened to turn into a new Tatar yoke. But God saved. Immediately after the victory, Vasily grew his beard again. So as not to wake up the dashing.
The fight against non-covetous people
The reign of Basil III was marked by the struggle of the “non-possessors” with the “Josephites.” For a very short time, Vasily III was close to the “non-covetous”, but in 1522, instead of Varlaam, who had fallen into disgrace, the disciple of Joseph of Volotsky and the head of the Josephites, Daniel, was appointed to the metropolitan throne, who became an ardent supporter of strengthening the grand-ducal power. Vasily III sought to substantiate the divine origin of the grand ducal power, relying on the authority of Joseph Volotsky, who in his works acted as an ideologist of strong state power and “ancient piety.” This was facilitated by the increased authority of the Grand Duke in Western Europe. In the treaty (1514) with the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian III, Vasily III was even named king. Vasily III was cruel to his opponents: in 1525 and 1531. Maxim the Greek was twice condemned and imprisoned in a monastery.
At the end of the 15th century, in the Russian lands united around Moscow, the concept began to emerge, according to which the Russian state was the legal successor of the Byzantine Empire. Several decades later, the thesis “Moscow is the Third Rome” will become a symbol of the state ideology of the Russian state.
A major role in the formation of a new ideology and in the changes that were taking place within Russia at that time was destined to be played by a woman whose name was heard by almost everyone who has ever come into contact with Russian history. Sofia Paleolog, wife of Grand Duke Ivan III, contributed to the development of Russian architecture, medicine, culture and many other areas of life.
There is another view of her, according to which she was the “Russian Catherine de Medici,” whose machinations set the development of Russia on a completely different path and brought confusion into the life of the state.
The truth, as usual, is somewhere in the middle. Sofia Paleologus did not choose Russia - Russia chose her, a girl from the last dynasty of Byzantine emperors, as a wife for the Grand Duke of Moscow.
Byzantine orphan at the papal court
Thomas Paleologus, Sophia's father. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Zoya Paleologina, daughter despot (this is the title of the position) of the Morea Thomas Palaiologos, was born in a tragic time. In 1453, the Byzantine Empire, the heir of Ancient Rome, collapsed under the blows of the Ottomans after a thousand years of existence. The symbol of the death of the empire was the fall of Constantinople, in which he died Emperor Constantine XI, brother of Thomas Paleologus and uncle of Zoe.
Despotate of Morea, a province of Byzantium ruled by Thomas Palaiologos, lasted until 1460. Zoe lived these years with her father and brothers in Mystras, the capital of Morea, a city located next to Ancient Sparta. After Sultan Mehmed II captured the Morea, Thomas Palaiologos went to the island of Corfu, and then to Rome, where he died.
Children from the royal family of the lost empire lived at the court of the Pope. Shortly before his death, Thomas Palaiologos converted to Catholicism to gain support. His children also became Catholics. After baptism according to the Roman rite, Zoya was named Sophia.
Vissarion of Nicea. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
The 10-year-old girl, taken into the care of the papal court, had no opportunity to decide anything on her own. Her mentor was appointed Cardinal Vissarion of Nicaea, one of the authors of the union, which was supposed to unite Catholics and Orthodox Christians under the common authority of the Pope.
They planned to arrange Sophia's fate through marriage. In 1466 she was offered as a bride to the Cypriot King Jacques II de Lusignan, but he refused. In 1467 she was offered as a wife Prince Caracciolo, a noble Italian rich man. The prince expressed his consent, after which the solemn betrothal took place.
Bride on the “icon”
But Sophia was not destined to become the wife of an Italian. In Rome it became known that the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III was widowed. The Russian prince was young, only 27 years old at the time of the death of his first wife, and it was expected that he would soon look for a new wife.
Cardinal Vissarion of Nicea saw this as a chance to promote his idea of Uniatism to Russian lands. From his submission in 1469 Pope Paul II sent a letter to Ivan III in which he proposed 14-year-old Sophia Paleologus as a bride. The letter referred to her as an “Orthodox Christian,” without mentioning her conversion to Catholicism.
Ivan III was not devoid of ambition, which his wife would later often play on. Having learned that the niece of the Byzantine emperor had been proposed as a bride, he agreed.
Victor Muizhel. “Ambassador Ivan Fryazin presents Ivan III with a portrait of his bride Sophia Paleolog.” Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Negotiations, however, had just begun - all the details needed to be discussed. The Russian ambassador, sent to Rome, returned with a gift that shocked both the groom and his entourage. In the chronicle, this fact was reflected with the words “bring the princess on the icon.”
The fact is that at that time secular painting did not exist in Russia at all, and the portrait of Sophia sent to Ivan III was perceived in Moscow as an “icon”.
Sophia Paleolog. Reconstruction based on the skull of S. Nikitin. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
However, having figured out what was what, the Moscow prince was pleased with the appearance of the bride. In historical literature there are various descriptions of Sophia Paleolog - from beauty to ugly. In the 1990s, studies were carried out on the remains of the wife of Ivan III, during which her appearance was restored. Sophia was a short woman (about 160 cm), inclined to be overweight, with strong-willed facial features that could be called, if not beautiful, then quite pretty. Be that as it may, Ivan III liked her.
Failure of Vissarion of Nicaea
The formalities were settled by the spring of 1472, when a new Russian embassy arrived in Rome, this time for the bride herself.
On June 1, 1472, an absentee betrothal took place in the Basilica of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. The Deputy Grand Duke was Russian Ambassador Ivan Fryazin. Present as guests were wife of the ruler of Florence, Lorenzo the Magnificent, Clarice Orsini And Queen Katarina of Bosnia. The father, in addition to gifts, gave the bride a dowry of 6 thousand ducats.
Sofia Paleologue enters Moscow. Miniature of the Front Chronicle. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
On June 24, 1472, Sophia Paleologus's large convoy, together with the Russian ambassador, left Rome. The bride was accompanied by a Roman retinue led by Cardinal Vissarion of Nicaea.
We had to get to Moscow through Germany along the Baltic Sea, and then through the Baltic states, Pskov and Novgorod. Such a difficult route was caused by the fact that Russia once again began having political problems with Poland during this period.
From time immemorial, the Byzantines were famous for their cunning and deceit. Vissarion of Nicaea learned that Sophia Palaeologus inherited these qualities in full soon after the bride’s train crossed the Russian border. The 17-year-old girl announced that from now on she would no longer perform Catholic rites, but would return to the faith of her ancestors, that is, to Orthodoxy. All the cardinal's ambitious plans collapsed. Attempts by Catholics to gain a foothold in Moscow and strengthen their influence failed.
On November 12, 1472, Sophia entered Moscow. Here, too, there were many who treated her with caution, seeing her as a “Roman agent.” According to some reports, Metropolitan Philip, dissatisfied with the bride, refused to hold the wedding ceremony, which is why the ceremony was held Kolomna archpriest Hosiya.
But, be that as it may, Sophia Paleolog became the wife of Ivan III.
Fedor Bronnikov. “Meeting of Princess Sofia Palaeologus by Pskov mayors and boyars at the mouth of the Embakh on Lake Peipsi.” Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
How Sophia saved Russia from the yoke
Their marriage lasted 30 years, she bore her husband 12 children, of whom five sons and four daughters lived to adulthood. Judging by historical documents, the Grand Duke was attached to his wife and children, for which he even received reproaches from high-ranking church officials who believed that this was detrimental to state interests.
Sophia never forgot about her origin and behaved as, in her opinion, the emperor’s niece should behave. Under her influence, the receptions of the Grand Duke, especially the receptions of ambassadors, were furnished with a complex and colorful ceremony, similar to the Byzantine one. Thanks to her, the Byzantine double-headed eagle migrated to Russian heraldry. Thanks to her influence, Grand Duke Ivan III began to call himself the “Russian Tsar.” With the son and grandson of Sophia Paleologus, this designation of the Russian ruler will become official.
Judging by the actions and deeds of Sophia, she, having lost her native Byzantium, seriously took up the task of building it in another Orthodox country. She was helped by her husband’s ambition, on which she successfully played.
When the Horde Khan Akhmat was preparing an invasion of Russian lands and in Moscow they were discussing the issue of the amount of tribute with which one could buy off misfortune, Sophia intervened in the matter. Bursting with tears, she began to reproach her husband for the fact that the country was still forced to pay tribute and that it was time to end this shameful situation. Ivan III was not a warlike man, but his wife’s reproaches touched him to the quick. He decided to gather an army and march towards Akhmat.
At the same time, the Grand Duke sent his wife and children first to Dmitrov, and then to Beloozero, fearing military failure.
But there was no failure - there was no battle on the Ugra River, where the troops of Akhmat and Ivan III met. After what is known as the “standing on the Ugra,” Akhmat retreated without a fight, and his dependence on the Horde ended completely.
Perestroika of the 15th century
Sophia inspired her husband that the sovereign of such a great power as he could not live in a capital with wooden churches and chambers. Under the influence of his wife, Ivan III began rebuilding the Kremlin. For the construction of the Assumption Cathedral, he was invited from Italy architect Aristotle Fioravanti. White stone was actively used at the construction site, which is why the expression “white stone Moscow”, which has survived for centuries, appeared.
Inviting foreign specialists in various fields has become a widespread phenomenon under Sophia Paleolog. The Italians and Greeks, who took up the positions of ambassadors under Ivan III, will begin to actively invite their fellow countrymen to Russia: architects, jewelers, coiners and gunsmiths. Among the visitors there were a large number of professional doctors.
Sophia arrived in Moscow with a large dowry, part of which was occupied by a library, which included Greek parchments, Latin chronographs, ancient Eastern manuscripts, including poems Homer, essays Aristotle And Plato and even books from the Library of Alexandria.
These books formed the basis of the legendary missing library of Ivan the Terrible, which enthusiasts are trying to search for to this day. Skeptics, however, believe that such a library did not actually exist.
Speaking about the hostile and wary attitude of the Russians towards Sophia, it must be said that they were embarrassed by her independent behavior and active interference in state affairs. Such behavior was uncharacteristic for Sophia’s predecessors as grand duchesses, and simply for Russian women.
Battle of the Heirs
By the time of Ivan III’s second marriage, he already had a son from his first wife - Ivan Molodoy, who was declared heir to the throne. But with the birth of Sophia’s children, tension began to increase. The Russian nobility split into two groups, one of which supported Ivan the Young, and the second - Sophia.
The relationship between stepmother and stepson did not work out, so much so that Ivan III himself had to exhort his son to behave decently.
Ivan Molodoy was only three years younger than Sophia and had no respect for her, apparently considering his father’s new marriage a betrayal of his deceased mother.
In 1479, Sophia, who had previously given birth only to girls, gave birth to a son, named Vasily. As a true representative of the Byzantine imperial family, she was ready to ensure the throne for her son at any cost.
By this time, Ivan the Young was already mentioned in Russian documents as his father’s co-ruler. And in 1483 the heir married daughter of the ruler of Moldavia, Stephen the Great, Elena Voloshanka.
The relationship between Sophia and Elena immediately became hostile. When in 1483 Elena gave birth to a son Dmitry, Vasily’s prospects for inheriting his father’s throne became completely illusory.
Female rivalry at the court of Ivan III was fierce. Both Elena and Sophia were eager to get rid of not only their competitor, but also her offspring.
In 1484, Ivan III decided to give his daughter-in-law a pearl dowry left over from his first wife. But then it turned out that Sophia had already given it to her relative. The Grand Duke, angry at his wife’s arbitrariness, forced her to return the gift, and the relative herself, along with her husband, had to flee from the Russian lands for fear of punishment.
Death and burial of Grand Duchess Sophia Paleologue. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
The loser loses everything
In 1490, the heir to the throne, Ivan the Young, fell ill with “ache in his legs.” He was called from Venice especially for his treatment. doctor Lebi Zhidovin, but he could not help, and on March 7, 1490, the heir died. The doctor was executed by order of Ivan III, and rumors circulated in Moscow that Ivan the Young died as a result of poisoning, which was the work of Sophia Paleologue.
There is, however, no evidence of this. After the death of Ivan the Young, his son became the new heir, known in Russian historiography as Dmitry Ivanovich Vnuk.
Dmitry Vnuk was not officially declared the heir, and therefore Sophia Paleologus continued to try to achieve the throne for Vasily.
In 1497, a conspiracy by supporters of Vasily and Sophia was discovered. The angry Ivan III sent its participants to the chopping block, but did not touch his wife and son. However, they found themselves in disgrace, virtually under house arrest. On February 4, 1498, Dmitry Vnuk was officially proclaimed heir to the throne.
The fight, however, was not over. Soon, Sophia’s party managed to achieve revenge - this time the supporters of Dmitry and Elena Voloshanka were handed over to the executioners. The denouement came on April 11, 1502. Ivan III considered the new charges of conspiracy against Dmitry Vnuk and his mother convincing, sending them under house arrest. A few days later, Vasily was proclaimed co-ruler of his father and heir to the throne, and Dmitry Vnuk and his mother were placed in prison.
Birth of an Empire
Sophia Paleologus, who actually elevated her son to the Russian throne, did not live to see this moment. She died on April 7, 1503 and was buried in a massive white-stone sarcophagus in the tomb of the Ascension Cathedral in the Kremlin next to her grave Maria Borisovna, the first wife of Ivan III.
The Grand Duke, widowed for the second time, outlived his beloved Sophia by two years, passing away in October 1505. Elena Voloshanka died in prison.
Vasily III, having ascended the throne, first of all tightened the conditions of detention for his competitor - Dmitry Vnuk was shackled in iron shackles and placed in a small cell. In 1509, a 25-year-old high-born prisoner died.
In 1514, in an agreement with Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I Vasily III was named Emperor of the Rus for the first time in the history of Rus'. This certificate is then used Peter I as proof of his rights to be coronated as emperor.
The efforts of Sophia Palaeologus, a proud Byzantine who set about building a new empire to replace the lost one, were not in vain.