Sofia Paleolog went from the last Byzantine princess to the Grand Duchess of Moscow. Thanks to her intelligence and cunning, she could influence the policies of Ivan III and won palace intrigues. Sophia also managed to place her son Vasily III on the throne.
Zoe Paleologue was born around 1440-1449. She was the daughter of Thomas Palaiologos, who was the brother of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine. The fate of the entire family after the death of the ruler turned out to be unenviable. Thomas Palaiologos fled to Corfu and then to Rome. After some time, the children followed him. The paleologists were patronized by Pope Paul II himself. The girl had to convert to Catholicism and change her name from Zoe to Sophia. She received an education appropriate to her status, without basking in luxury, but without poverty either.
Sophia became a pawn in the political game of the Pope. At first he wanted to give her as a wife to King James II of Cyprus, but he refused. The next contender for the girl's hand was Prince Caracciolo, but he did not live to see the wedding. When the wife of Prince Ivan III died in 1467, Sophia Paleologue was offered to him as his wife. The Pope kept silent about the fact that she was a Catholic, thereby wanting to expand the influence of the Vatican in Rus'. Negotiations for marriage continued for three years. Ivan III was seduced by the opportunity to have such an eminent person as his wife.
The betrothal in absentia took place on June 1, 1472, after which Sophia Paleologus went to Muscovy. Everywhere she was given all kinds of honors and celebrations were held. At the head of her cortege was a man who carried a Catholic cross. Having learned about this, Metropolitan Philip threatened to leave Moscow if the cross was brought into the city. Ivan III ordered to take away the Catholic symbol 15 versts from Moscow. Dad's plans failed, and Sophia returned to her faith again. The wedding took place on November 12, 1472 in the Assumption Cathedral.
At court, the newly-made Byzantine wife of the Grand Duke was not liked. Despite this, Sophia had a huge influence on her husband. The chronicles describe in detail how Paleologue persuaded Ivan III to free himself from the Mongol yoke.
Following the Byzantine model, Ivan III developed a complex judicial system. It was then for the first time that the Grand Duke began to call himself “the Tsar and Autocrat of All Rus'.” It is believed that the image of the double-headed eagle, which subsequently appeared on the coat of arms of Muscovy, was brought by Sophia Paleologus with her.
Sophia Paleolog and Ivan III had eleven children (five sons and six daughters). From his first marriage, the tsar had a son, Ivan the Young, the first contender for the throne. But he fell ill with gout and died. Another “obstacle” for Sophia’s children on the path to the throne was Ivan the Young’s son Dmitry. But he and his mother fell out of favor with the king and died in captivity. Some historians suggest that Paleologus was involved in the deaths of the direct heirs, but there is no direct evidence. Ivan III's successor was Sophia's son Vasily III.
The Byzantine princess and princess of Muscovy died on April 7, 1503. She was buried in a stone sarcophagus in the Ascension Monastery.
The marriage of Ivan III and Sophia Paleologue turned out to be successful politically and culturally. were able to leave a mark not only in the history of their country, but also to become beloved queens in a foreign land.
The first wife of Ivan III, Princess Maria Borisovna of Tver, died on April 22, 1467. After her death, Ivan began to look for another wife, further away and more important. On February 11, 1469, ambassadors from Rome appeared in Moscow to propose that the Grand Duke marry the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine II, Sophia Paleologus, who lived in exile after the fall of Constantinople. Ivan III, having overcome religious disgust, ordered the princess from Italy and married her in 1472. So, in October of the same year, Moscow met its future empress. The wedding ceremony took place in the still unfinished Assumption Cathedral. The Greek princess became the Grand Duchess of Moscow, Vladimir and Novgorod.
This princess, then known in Europe for her rare plumpness, brought to Moscow “a very subtle mind and received very important importance here.” She was an “extraordinarily cunning woman who had great influence on the Grand Duke, who, at her suggestion, did a lot.” Thus, It was her influence that is attributed to Ivan III’s determination to throw off the Tatar yoke. However, Sophia could only inspire what she valued and what was understood and appreciated in Moscow. She, with the Greeks she brought, who had seen both Byzantine and Roman styles, could give valuable instructions on how and according to what models to introduce the desired changes, how to change the old order, which did not correspond so much to the new position of the Moscow sovereign. Thus, after the sovereign’s second marriage, many Italians and Greeks began to settle in Russia, and Greek-Italian art began to flourish, along with Russian art itself.
Feeling himself in a new position next to such a noble wife,
heiress of the Byzantine emperors, Ivan replaced the previous ugly Kremlin environment. Craftsmen imported from Italy built a new Assumption Cathedral, the Chamber of Facets and a new stone palace on the site of the former wooden mansion. Moreover, many Greeks who came to Russia with the princess became useful with their knowledge of languages, especially Latin, which was then necessary in external state affairs. They enriched Moscow church libraries with books saved from Turkish barbarism and “contributed to the splendor of our court by imparting to it the magnificent rituals of Byzantine.”
But the main significance of this marriage was that the marriage to Sophia Paleologus contributed to the establishment of Russia as the successor to Byzantium and
proclamation of Moscow as the Third Rome, the stronghold of the Orthodox
Christianity. Already under the son of Ivan III, the idea of the Third Rome
took root in Moscow. After his marriage to Sophia, Ivan III ventured for the first time
show the European political world the new title of Sovereign of All Rus'
and forced him to admit it. If earlier the address “Mr.” expressed
a relationship of feudal equality (or, in extreme cases, vassalage),
then “lord” or “sovereign” are subjects of citizenship. This term meant the concept
about a ruler who does not depend on any external force, who does not pay anyone
tribute Thus, Ivan could accept this title only by ceasing to be
tributary of the Horde khan. The overthrow of the yoke removed the obstacle to this,
and the marriage with Sophia provided historical justification for this. So, "feeling
itself both in terms of political power and Orthodox Christianity,
finally, and by marriage, the successor of the fallen house of the Byzantine
emperors, the Moscow sovereign also found a visual expression of his
dynastic connection with them: from the end of the 15th century. appears on his seals
Byzantine coat of arms - double-headed eagle.
Thus, the marriage of Ivan and Sophia had a highly political significance, 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 shares them with her husband.”
Her personality has always worried historians, and opinions about her varied to the contrary: some considered her a witch, others idolized her and called her a saint. Several years ago, director Alexey Andrianov presented his interpretation of the phenomenon of the Grand Duchess in the serial film “Sofia,” which was broadcast on the Rossiya 1 TV channel. We'll figure out what's true and what's in it.
The film novel “Sofia,” which has made its presence known on the wide screen, stands out from other historical domestic films. It covers a distant era that had not even been filmed before: the events in the film are dedicated to the beginning of the formation of Russian statehood, in particular the marriage of the Great Moscow Prince Ivan III with the last heir to the Byzantine throne.
A little excursion: Zoya (that’s what the girl was named at birth) was proposed as a wife to Ivan III at the age of 14. Pope Sixtus IV himself really hoped for this marriage (he hoped to strengthen Catholicism in Russian lands through marriage). Negotiations lasted a total of 3 years and were ultimately crowned with success: at the age of 17, Zoya was engaged in absentia in the Vatican and sent along with her retinue on a journey through Russian lands, which only after inspecting the territories ended with her arrival in the capital. The Pope’s plan, by the way, completely fell apart when the newly minted Byzantine princess was baptized in a short time and received the name Sophia.
The film, of course, does not reflect all historical vicissitudes. In 10 hour-long episodes, the creators tried to contain, in their opinion, the most important of what happened in Rus' at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries. It was during this period that, thanks to Ivan III, Rus' finally freed itself from the Tatar-Mongol yoke, the prince began to unite the territories, which ultimately led to the formation of a solid, strong state.
The fateful time became so in many ways thanks to Sofia Paleolog. She, educated and culturally enlightened, did not become a mute addition to the prince, capable only of procreating the family and the princely surname, as was the custom in that distant time. The Grand Duchess had her own opinion on everything and could always voice it, and her husband invariably rated it highly. According to historians, it was probably Sofia who put into Ivan III’s head the idea of uniting the lands under a single center. The princess saw unprecedented power in Rus', believed in its great goal, and, according to the hypothesis of historians, the famous phrase “Moscow is the third Rome” belongs to her.
The niece of the last emperor of Byzantium, Sophia also “gave” Moscow the coat of arms of her dynasty - that same double-headed eagle. It was inherited by the capital as an integral part of its dowry (along with the book library, which later became part of the legacy of the great library of Ivan the Terrible). The Assumption and Annunciation Cathedrals were designed and created thanks to the Italian Alberti Fioravanti, whom Sofia personally invited to Moscow. In addition, the princess summoned artists and architects from Western Europe to ennoble the capital: they built palaces and erected new churches. It was then that Moscow was decorated with the Kremlin towers, the Terem Palace and the Archangel Cathedral.
Of course, we cannot know what the marriage of Sofia and Ivan III really was like; unfortunately, we can only guess about this (we only know that, according to various hypotheses, they had 9 or 12 children). A serial film is, first of all, an artistic perception and understanding of their relationship; it is, in its own way, the author’s interpretation of the princess’s fate. In the film novel, the love line is brought to the fore, and all other historical vicissitudes seem to be an accompanying background. Of course, the creators do not promise absolute authenticity; it was important for them to make a sensual picture that people will believe in, whose characters will sympathize with, and sincerely worry about their serial fate.
However, the filmmakers paid enormous attention to everything regarding details. In this regard, it is possible and necessary to learn about history in a film: historically accurate sets were created specifically for filming (the decoration of the prince’s palace, the secret offices of the Vatican, even the smallest household items of the era), costumes (of which more than 1000 were made, mostly by hand). For the filming of “Sofia,” consultants and experts were hired so that even the most fastidious and attentive viewer would not have any questions about the film.
In the film novel, Sofia is a beauty. Actress Maria Andreeva - the star of the popular Spiritless - at not quite 30, on the screen (at the date of filming) she really looks 17. But historians have confirmed that in fact Paleologue was not a beauty. However, ideals change not only over centuries, even over decades, and therefore it is difficult for us to talk about it. But the fact that she suffered from excess weight (according to her contemporaries, even critically) cannot be omitted. However, the same historians confirm that Sofia was indeed a very smart and educated woman for her time. Her contemporaries also understood this, and some of them, either out of envy or because of their own ignorance, were sure that Paleologue could only become so smart thanks to connections with dark forces and the devil himself (based on this controversial hypothesis, one federal TV channel even directed the film “The Witch of All Rus'”).
However, Ivan III in reality was also unprepossessing: short, hunchbacked and not distinguished by beauty. But the filmmakers obviously decided that such a character would not evoke a response in the souls of the audience, so the actor for this role was selected from among the country's main heartthrobs, Evgeny Tsyganov.
Apparently, the director wanted to please the eye of the fastidious viewer first of all. In addition, for him, the viewer craving spectacle, they created an atmosphere of real historical action: large-scale battles, massacres, natural disasters, betrayal and court intrigue, and in the center - a beautiful love story of Sophia Palaeologus and Ivan III. The viewer can only stock up on popcorn and enjoy the beauty of a well-filmed romantic story.
Photo: Getty Images, stills from the serial film
On the radio "Echo of Moscow" I heard a fascinating conversation with the head of the archaeological department of the Kremlin Museums, Tatyana Dmitrievna Panova, and expert anthropologist Sergei Alekseevich Nikitin. They spoke in detail about their latest works. Sergei Alekseevich Nikitin very competently described Zoya (Sophia) Fominichna Palaeologus, who arrived in Moscow on November 12, 1473 from Rome from the most prominent Orthodox authority and then a cardinal under Pope Vissarion of Nicaea to marry the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan Vasilyevich the Third. About Zoya (Sofya) Paleologus as a bearer of the exploded Western European subjectivity and about her role in the history of Russia, see my previous notes. Interesting new details.
Doctor of Historical Sciences Tatyana Dmitrievna admits that on her first visit to the Kremlin Museum she experienced a strong shock from the image of Sophia Paleologus reconstructed from the skull. She could not move away from the appearance that struck her. Something in Sofia’s face attracted her - interestingness and harshness, a certain zest.
On September 18, 2004, Tatyana Panova spoke about research in the Kremlin necropolis. “We open every sarcophagus, remove the remains and remains of funeral clothes. I must say that, for example, we have anthropologists working for us, of course, they make a lot of interesting observations on the remains of these women, since the physical appearance of people of the Middle Ages is also interesting, we, in general, , we don’t know much about him, and what diseases people had back then. But in general, there are a lot of interesting questions. But in particular, one of the interesting areas is the reconstruction of portraits of sculpted people of that time from the skulls. But you yourself know, we have a secular painting appears very late, only at the end of the 17th century, and here we have already reconstructed 5 portraits today. We can see the faces of Evdokia Donskaya, Sofia Paleolog - the second wife of Ivan III, Elena Glinskaya - the mother of Ivan the Terrible. Sofia Paleolog - Ivan's grandmother Ivan the Terrible, and Elena Glinskaya is his mother. Then now we have a portrait of Irina Godunova, for example, which was also successful due to the fact that the skull was preserved. And the last work is the third wife of Ivan the Terrible - Marfa Sobakina. Still a very young woman" (http://echo.msk.ru/programs/kremlin/27010/).
Then, as now, there was a turning point - Russia had to respond to the challenge of subjectization, or to the challenge of breakthrough capitalism. The heresy of the Judaizers could well have prevailed. The struggle at the top flared up in earnest and, as in the West, took the form of a struggle for succession to the throne, for the victory of one party or another.
Thus, Elena Glinskaya died at the age of 30 and, as it turned out from studies of her hair, a spectral analysis was carried out - she was poisoned with mercury salts. The same thing - the first wife of Ivan the Terrible, Anastasia Romanova, also turned out to have a huge amount of mercury salts.
Since Sophia Paleologus was a student of Greek and Renaissance culture, she gave Rus' a powerful impulse for subjectivity. The biography of Zoya (she was nicknamed Sophia in Rus') Paleolog managed to recreate by collecting information bit by bit. But even today even the exact date of her birth is unknown (somewhere between 1443 and 1449). She is the daughter of the Morean despot Thomas, whose possessions occupied the southwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula, where Sparta once flourished, and in the first half of the 15th century in Mystras, under the auspices of the famous herald of the Right Faith, Gemist Plethon, there was a spiritual center of Orthodoxy. Zoya Fominichna was the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, who died in 1453 on the walls of Constantinople while defending the city from the Turks. She grew up, figuratively speaking, in the hands of Gemist Pleton and his faithful disciple Vissarion of Nicaea.
Morea also fell under the blows of the Sultan's army, and Thomas moved first to the island of Corfu, then to Rome, where he soon died. Here, at the court of the head of the Catholic Church, where Vissarion of Nicea firmly established himself after the Union of Florence in 1438, Thomas’s children, Zoe and her two brothers, Andreas and Manuel, were raised.
The fate of the representatives of the once powerful Palaiologan dynasty was tragic. Manuel, who converted to Islam, died in poverty in Constantinople. Andreas, who dreamed of returning the family's former possessions, never achieved his goal. Zoe's elder sister, Elena, the Serbian queen, deprived of the throne by the Turkish conquerors, ended her days in one of the Greek monasteries. Against this background, the fate of Zoe Paleologue looks prosperous.
The strategically-minded Vissarion of Nicaea, who plays a leading role in the Vatican, after the fall of the Second Rome (Constantinople), turned his attention to the northern stronghold of Orthodoxy, to Muscovite Rus', which, although it was under the Tatar yoke, was clearly gaining strength and could soon emerge as a new world power . And he led a complex intrigue to marry the heiress of the Byzantine emperors Palaiologos to the widowed Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III shortly before (in 1467). Negotiations dragged on for three years due to the resistance of the Moscow Metropolitan, but the will of the prince prevailed, and on June 24, 1472, Zoe Palaeologus’s large convoy left Rome.
The Greek princess crossed all of Europe: from Italy to northern Germany, to Lubeck, where the cortege arrived on September 1. Further navigation in the Baltic Sea turned out to be difficult and lasted 11 days. From Kolyvan (as Tallinn was then called in Russian sources) in October 1472, the procession headed through Yuryev (now Tartu), Pskov and Novgorod to Moscow. Such a long journey had to be made due to bad relations with the Kingdom of Poland - the convenient land road to Rus' was closed.
Only on November 12, 1472 did Sophia enter Moscow, where on the same day her meeting and wedding with Ivan III took place. Thus began the “Russian” period in her life.
She brought with her devoted Greek assistants, including Kerbush, from whom the Kashkin princes came. She also brought a number of Italian things. We also got embroideries from her that set the pattern for future “Kremlin wives.” Having become the mistress of the Kremlin, she tried to largely copy the images and customs of her native Italy, which was experiencing a monstrously powerful explosion of subjectivity in those years.
Vissarion of Nicea had previously sent a portrait of Zoe Paleologus to Moscow, which impressed the Moscow elite as a bomb exploding. After all, a secular portrait, like a still life, is a symptom of subjectivity. In those years, every second family in the same most advanced “capital of the world” Florence had portraits of their owners, and in Rus' they were closer to subjectivity in the “Judaizing” Novgorod than in the more mossy Moscow. The appearance of a painting in Rus', unfamiliar with secular art, shocked people. From the Sofia Chronicle we know that the chronicler, who first encountered such a phenomenon, was unable to renounce church tradition and called the portrait an icon: “...and the princess was written on the icon.” The fate of the painting is unknown. Most likely, she died in one of the many fires in the Kremlin. No images of Sophia have survived in Rome, although the Greek woman spent about ten years at the papal court. So we will probably never know what she was like in her youth.
Tatyana Panova in the article “Personification of the Middle Ages” http://www.vokrugsveta.ru/publishing/vs/column/?item_id=2556 notes that secular painting appeared in Rus' only at the end of the 17th century - before that it was under strict church ban. That's why we don't know what famous characters from our past looked like. “Now, thanks to the work of specialists from the Moscow Kremlin Museum-Reserve and forensic experts, we have the opportunity to see the appearance of three legendary female grand duchesses: Evdokia Dmitrievna, Sofia Paleolog and Elena Glinskaya. And reveal the secrets of their lives and deaths.”
The wife of the Florentine ruler Lorenzo Medici, Clarissa Orsini, found the young Zoe Paleologue very pleasant: “Short in stature, the oriental flame sparkled in her eyes, the whiteness of her skin spoke of the nobility of her family.” A face with a mustache. Height 160. Full. Ivan Vasilyevich fell in love at first sight and went with her to the marriage bed (after the wedding) on the same day, November 12, 1473, when Zoya arrived in Moscow.
The arrival of a foreign woman was a significant event for Muscovites. The chronicler noted in the bride's retinue “blue” and “black” people - Arabs and Africans, never before seen in Russia. Sophia became a participant in a complex dynastic struggle for the succession to the Russian throne. As a result, her eldest son Vasily (1479-1533) became the Grand Duke, bypassing the legal heir Ivan, whose early death allegedly from gout remains a mystery to this day. Having lived in Russia for more than 30 years, giving birth to 12 children to her husband, Sofia Paleolog left an indelible mark on the history of our country. Her grandson Ivan the Terrible resembled her in many ways. Anthropologists and forensic experts helped historians find out details about this man that are not in written sources. It is now known that the Grand Duchess was small in stature - no more than 160 cm, suffered from osteochondrosis and had serious hormonal disorders, which caused her masculine appearance and behavior. Her death occurred from natural causes at the age of 55-60 years (the range of numbers is due to the fact that the exact year of her birth is unknown). But perhaps the most interesting was the work on recreating Sophia’s appearance, since her skull was well preserved. The method of reconstructing a sculptural portrait of a person has long been actively used in forensic investigative practice, and the accuracy of its results has been proven many times.
“I,” says Tatyana Panova, “was lucky enough to see the stages of recreating Sophia’s appearance, not yet knowing all the circumstances of her difficult fate. As this woman’s facial features appeared, it became clear how much life situations and illnesses hardened the character of the Grand Duchess. Otherwise and it could not have been - the struggle for her own survival and the fate of her son could not but leave traces. Sophia ensured that her eldest son became Grand Duke Vasily III. The death of the legal heir, Ivan the Young, at the age of 32 from gout is still in doubt in its naturalness. By the way, the Italian Leon, invited by Sophia, took care of the prince’s health. Vasily inherited from his mother not only the appearance, which was captured on one of the icons of the 16th century - a unique case (the icon can be seen in the exhibition of the State Historical Museum), but also a tough character Greek blood also showed in Ivan IV the Terrible - he is very similar to his royal grandmother with a Mediterranean type of face. This is clearly visible when you look at the sculptural portrait of his mother, Grand Duchess Elena Glinskaya."
As the forensic expert of the Moscow Bureau of Forensic Medicine S.A. Nikitin and T.D. Panova write in the article “Anthropological reconstruction” (http://bio.1september.ru/article.php?ID=200301806), the creation in mid-20th century Russian school of anthropological reconstruction and the work of its founder M.M. Gerasimov performed a miracle. Today we can peer into the faces of Yaroslav the Wise, Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky and Timur, Tsar Ivan IV and his son Fedor. To date, historical figures have been reconstructed: the researcher of the Far North N.A. Begichev, Nestor the Chronicler, the first Russian doctor Agapit, the first abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Varlaam, Archimandrite Polycarp, Ilya Muromets, Sophia Paleolog and Elena Glinskaya (grandmother and mother of Ivan the Terrible, respectively), Evdokia Donskaya (wife of Dmitry Donskoy), Irina Godunova (wife of Fyodor Ioanovich). A facial reconstruction carried out in 1986 from the skull of a pilot who died in 1941 in the battles for Moscow made it possible to establish his name. Portraits of Vasily and Tatyana Pronchishchev, participants of the Great Northern Expedition, have been restored. Developed by the school of M.M. Gerasimov’s methods of anthropological reconstruction are successfully used in solving criminal crimes.
And research into the remains of the Greek princess Sophia Paleologus began in December 1994. She was buried in a massive white stone sarcophagus in the tomb of the Ascension Cathedral in the Kremlin next to the grave of Maria Borisovna, the first wife of Ivan III. “Sophia” is scratched on the lid of the sarcophagus with a sharp instrument.
Necropolis of the Ascension Monastery on the territory of the Kremlin, where in the 15th–17th centuries. Russian Greats and appanage princesses and queens were buried; after the destruction of the monastery in 1929, it was rescued by museum workers. Nowadays the ashes of high-ranking persons rest in the basement chamber of the Archangel Cathedral. Time is merciless, and not all burials have reached us in full, but the remains of Sophia Paleologus are well preserved (almost a complete skeleton with the exception of some small bones).
Modern osteologists can determine a lot by studying ancient burials - not only the gender, age and height of people, but also the diseases they suffered during their lives and injuries. After comparing the skull, spine, sacrum, pelvic bones and lower extremities, taking into account the approximate thickness of the missing soft tissues and interosseous cartilage, it was possible to reconstruct Sophia’s appearance. Based on the degree of healing of the sutures of the skull and wear of the teeth, the biological age of the Grand Duchess was determined to be 50–60 years, which corresponds to historical data. First, her sculptural portrait was sculpted from special soft plasticine, and then a plaster cast was made and tinted to resemble Carrara marble.
Looking into Sophia’s face, you are convinced: such a woman could really be an active participant in the events evidenced by written sources. Unfortunately, in modern historical literature there is no detailed biographical sketch dedicated to her fate.
Under the influence of Sophia Paleologue and her Greek-Italian entourage, Russian-Italian ties are intensifying. Grand Duke Ivan III invites qualified architects, doctors, jewelers, coiners and weapons manufacturers to Moscow. By decision of Ivan III, foreign architects were entrusted with the reconstruction of the Kremlin, and today we admire the monuments whose appearance in the capital is due to Aristotle Fiorovanti and Marco Ruffo, Aleviz Fryazin and Antonio Solari. Amazingly, many buildings from the late 15th – early 16th centuries. in the ancient center of Moscow have been preserved the same as they were during the life of Sophia Paleolog. These are the Kremlin temples (the Assumption and Annunciation Cathedrals, the Church of the Deposition of the Robe), the Chamber of Facets - the state hall of the Grand Duke's court, the walls and towers of the fortress itself.
The strength and independence of Sofia Paleologus were especially clearly manifested in the last decade of the Grand Duchess’s life, when in the 80s. XV century In a dynastic dispute at the court of the Moscow sovereign, two groups of feudal nobility emerged. The leader of one was the heir to the throne, Prince Ivan the Young, the son of Ivan III from his first marriage. The second was formed surrounded by “Greeks”. Around Elena Voloshanka, the wife of Ivan the Young, a powerful and influential group of “Judaizers” formed, which almost pulled Ivan III to their side. Only the fall of Dmitry (the grandson of Ivan III from his first marriage) and his mother Elena (in 1502 they were sent to prison, where they died) put an end to this protracted conflict.
The sculptural portrait-reconstruction resurrects Sophia’s appearance in the last years of her life. And today there is an amazing opportunity to compare the appearance of Sophia Paleolog and her grandson, Tsar Ivan IV Vasilyevich, whose sculptural portrait was recreated by M.M. Gerasimov back in the mid-1960s. It is clearly visible: the oval of the face, forehead and nose, eyes and chin of Ivan IV are almost the same as those of his grandmother. Studying the skull of the formidable king, M.M. Gerasimov identified significant features of the Mediterranean type in it and unambiguously connected this with the origin of Sophia Paleolog.
In the arsenal of the Russian school of anthropological reconstruction there are different methods: plastic, graphic, computer and combined. But the main thing in them is the search and proof of patterns in the shape, size and position of one or another detail of the face. When recreating a portrait, various techniques are used. These are also the developments of M.M. Gerasimov on the construction of eyelids, lips, wings of the nose and the technique of G.V. Lebedinskaya, concerning the reproduction of the profile drawing of the nose. The technique of modeling the general cover of soft tissues using calibrated thick ridges makes it possible to reproduce the cover more accurately and noticeably faster.
Based on the method developed by Sergei Nikitin for comparing the appearance of facial details and the underlying part of the skull, specialists from the Forensic Expert Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation created a combined graphical method. The pattern of the position of the upper limit of hair growth has been established, and a certain connection between the position of the auricle and the degree of severity of the “supramastoid ridge” has been identified. In recent years, a method has been developed to determine the position of the eyeballs. Signs have been identified that allow us to determine the presence and severity of epicanthus (Mongoloid fold of the upper eyelid).
Armed with advanced techniques, Sergei Alekseevich Nikitin and Tatyana Dmitrievna Panova identified a number of nuances in the fate of Grand Duchess Elena Glinskaya and the great-granddaughter of Sofia Paleolog - Maria Staritskaya.
Ivan the Terrible's mother, Elena Glinskaya, was born around 1510. She died in 1538. She is the daughter of Vasily Glinsky, who along with his brothers fled from Lithuania to Russia after a failed uprising in his homeland. In 1526, Elena became the wife of Grand Duke Vasily III. His tender letters to her have been preserved. In 1533-1538, Elena was regent for her young son, the future Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible. During her reign, the walls and towers of Kitai-Gorod were built in Moscow, a monetary reform was carried out (“Great Prince Ivan Vasilyevich of All Rus' and his mother Grand Duchess Elena ordered the old money to be remade into a new coinage, for the fact that there were a lot of cut-off money in the old money and mix..."), concluded a truce with Lithuania.
Under Glinskaya, two of her husband’s brothers, Andrei and Yuri, contenders for the grand ducal throne, died in prison. So the Grand Duchess tried to protect the rights of her son Ivan. The Ambassador of the Holy Roman Empire, Sigmund Herberstein, wrote about Glinskaya: “After the death of the sovereign, Mikhail (the princess’s uncle) repeatedly reproached his widow for her dissolute life; For this, she brought charges of treason against him, and the unfortunate man died in custody. A little later, the cruel woman herself died from poison, and her lover, nicknamed Sheepskin, was, as they say, torn to pieces and cut into pieces.” Evidence of the poisoning of Elena Glinskaya was confirmed only at the end of the 20th century, when historians studied her remains.
“The idea of the project that will be discussed,” recalls Tatyana Panova, “arose several years ago, when I participated in the examination of human remains discovered in the basement of an old Moscow house. In the 1990s, such finds quickly became surrounded by rumors about alleged executions by employees NKVD in Stalin's times. But the burials turned out to be part of a destroyed cemetery of the 17th-18th centuries. The investigator was glad to close the case, and Sergei Nikitin, who worked with me from the Bureau of Forensic Medicine, suddenly discovered that he and the historian-archaeologist had a common object for research - "remains of historical figures. Thus, in 1994, work began in the necropolis of Russian grand duchesses and queens of the 15th - early 18th centuries, which has been preserved since the 1930s in an underground chamber next to the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin."
And so the reconstruction of Elena Glinskaya’s appearance highlighted her Baltic type. The Glinsky brothers - Mikhail, Ivan and Vasily - moved to Moscow at the beginning of the 16th century after a failed conspiracy by the Lithuanian nobility. In 1526, Vasily’s daughter Elena, who, according to the standards of that time, had already spent too much time as a wench, became the wife of Grand Duke Vasily III Ivanovich. She died suddenly at 27-28 years of age. The princess's face had soft features. She was quite tall for women of that time - about 165 cm and harmoniously built. Anthropologist Denis Pezhemsky discovered a very rare anomaly in her skeleton: six lumbar vertebrae instead of five.
One of Ivan the Terrible’s contemporaries noted the redness of his hair. Now it is clear whose color the tsar inherited: the remains of Elena Glinskaya’s hair, red as red copper, were preserved in the burial. It was the hair that helped to find out the cause of the young woman’s unexpected death. This is extremely important information, because Elena’s early death undoubtedly influenced subsequent events in Russian history, and the formation of the character of her orphaned son Ivan, the future formidable king.
As you know, the human body is cleansed of harmful substances through the liver-kidney system, but many toxins accumulate and remain for a long time in the hair. Therefore, in cases where soft organs are not available for examination, experts perform a spectral analysis of the hair. The remains of Elena Glinskaya were analyzed by criminologist Tamara Makarenko, candidate of biological sciences. The results were stunning. In the objects of study, the expert found concentrations of mercury salts that were a thousand times higher than the norm. The body could not accumulate such quantities gradually, which means that Elena immediately received a huge dose of poison, which caused acute poisoning and caused her quick death.
Later, Makarenko repeated the analysis, which convinced her: there was no mistake, the picture of poisoning turned out to be so vivid. The young princess was exterminated using mercury salts, or sublimate, one of the most common mineral poisons of that era.
So, more than 400 years later, we managed to find out the cause of the death of the Grand Duchess. And thereby confirm the rumors about Glinskaya’s poisoning, given in the notes of some foreigners who visited Moscow in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Nine-year-old Maria Staritskaya was also poisoned in October 1569 along with her father Vladimir Andreevich Staritsky, cousin of Ivan IV Vasilyevich, on the way to Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, at the very height of the Oprichnina, when potential contenders for the Moscow throne were destroyed. The Mediterranean (“Greek”) type, clearly visible in the appearance of Sophia Paleologus and her grandson Ivan the Terrible, also distinguishes her great-granddaughter. A hump-shaped nose, full lips, a courageous face. And a tendency to bone diseases. Thus, Sergei Nikitin discovered signs of frontal hyperostosis (overgrowth of the frontal bone) on the skull of Sofia Paleolog, which is associated with the production of excess male hormones. And great-granddaughter Maria was diagnosed with rickets.
As a result, the image of the past became close and tangible. Half a millennium - but it seems like yesterday.
A Greek princess who had a significant impact on our country. From this time on, in fact, the establishment of an independent monarchical Russian state began.
Sofia Paleolog was born in the 40s of the 15th century, at birth had the name Zoya and was the heiress of an ancient Greek family that ruled Byzantium from the 13th to the 15th centuries. The Palaiologos family then moved to Rome.
Contemporaries noted the princess's oriental beauty, sharp mind, curiosity, and high level of education and culture. They tried to marry Sophia to King James 2 of Cyprus, and then to the Italian prince Caracciolo. Both marriages did not take place; there were rumors that Sophia allegedly refused the suitors because she did not want to give up her faith.
In 1469, Pope Paul 2 recommended Sophia as a wife to the widowed Grand Duke of Moscow. The Catholic Church hoped that this union would have an impact on Rus'.
But the wedding did not happen soon. The prince was in no hurry and decided to consult with the boyars and his mother Maria Tverskaya. Only then did he send his envoy to Rome, the Italian Gian Batista della Volpe, who in Rus' was simply called Ivan Fryazin.
He is instructed on behalf of the king to negotiate and see the bride. The Italian returned back, not alone, but with a portrait of the bride. Three years later, Volpe left for the future princess. In the summer, Zoya and her large retinue set off on a journey to a northern, unknown country. In many cities through which the niece of the Greek emperor passed, the future princess of Rus' aroused great curiosity.
The townspeople noted her appearance, wonderful white skin and huge black, very beautiful eyes. The princess is dressed in a purple dress, topped with a brocade mantle lined with sables. On Zoya’s head, priceless stones and pearls sparkled in her hair; on her shoulder, a large clasp decorated with a large precious stone struck the eye with its beauty against the background of a luxurious outfit.
After the matchmaking, Ivan 3 was given a skillfully made portrait of the bride as a gift. There was a version that the Greek woman practiced magic and thereby bewitched the portrait. One way or another, the wedding of Ivan 3 and Sophia took place in November 1472 when Sophia arrived in Moscow.
The hopes of the Catholic Church for Sophia Paleolog didn't come true. Upon entering Moscow, the pope's representative was denied the solemn carrying of the Catholic cross, and subsequently his position at the Russian court did not play any role. The Byzantine princess returned to the Orthodox faith and became an ardent opponent of Catholicism.
In the marriage of Sophia and Ivan 3 there were 12 children. The first two daughters died in infancy. There is a legend that the birth of a son was predicted by Saint Sophia. During the pilgrimage of the Moscow princess to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the monk appeared to her and lifted up a male child. Indeed, Sophia soon gave birth to a boy, who later became the heir to the throne and the first recognized Russian Tsar - Vasily 3.
With the birth of a new contender for the throne, intrigue began at court, and a struggle for power ensued between Sophia and the son of Ivan 3 from his first marriage, Ivan the Young. The young prince already had his own heir - little Dmitry, but he was in poor health. But soon Ivan the Young fell ill with gout and died, the doctor who treated him was executed and rumors spread that the prince had been poisoned.
His son, Dimitri, the grandson of Ivan 3, was crowned Grand Duke and was considered the heir to the throne. However, during the course of Sophia’s intrigues, Ivan III’s grandfather soon fell into disgrace, was imprisoned and soon died, and the right of inheritance passed to Sophia’s son, Vasily.
As a Moscow princess, Sophia showed great initiative in her husband's state affairs. At her insistence, Ivan 3 in 1480 refused to pay tribute to the Tatar Khan Akhmat, tore up the letter and ordered the Horde ambassadors to be expelled.
The consequences were not long in coming - Khan Akhmat gathered all his soldiers and moved towards Moscow. His troops settled on the Ugra River and began to prepare for an attack. The gentle banks of the river did not provide the necessary advantage in battle; time passed and the troops remained in place, waiting for the onset of cold weather to cross the river on the ice. At the same time, unrest and uprisings began in the Golden Horde, perhaps this was the reason why the khan turned around his tumens and left Rus'.
Sophia Paleolog transferred her legacy of the Byzantine Empire to Rus'. Along with the dowry, the princess brought rare icons, a large library with the works of Aristotle and Plato, the works of Homer, and as a gift her husband received an ivory royal throne with carved biblical scenes. All this later passed on to their grandson -
Thanks to her ambitions and great influence on her husband, she introduced Moscow to the European order. Under her, etiquette was established in the princely court; the princess was allowed to have her own half of the palace and independently receive ambassadors. The best architects and painters of that time were summoned from Europe to Moscow.
The wooden capital of Sophia clearly lacked the former majesty of Byzantium. Buildings were erected that became the best decorations of Moscow: the Assumption, Annunciation, and Archangel Cathedrals. Also built: the Faceted Chamber for receiving ambassadors and guests, the State Courtyard, the Embankment Stone Chamber, and the towers of the Moscow Kremlin.
Throughout her entire life, Sophia considered herself a Tsaregorod princess; it was her idea to make a third Rome out of Moscow. After the marriage, Ivan 3 introduced into his coat of arms and printers the symbol of the Palaiologan family - the double-headed eagle. In addition, Rus' began to be called Russia, thanks to the Byzantine tradition.
Despite her apparent merits, the people and boyars treated Sophia with hostility, calling her “Greek” and “sorceress”. Many feared her influence on Ivan 3, since the prince began to have a tough disposition and demand complete obedience from his subjects.
Nevertheless, it was thanks to Sophia Paleologue that a rapprochement between Russia and the West took place, the architecture of the capital changed, private ties with Europe were established, and foreign policy was strengthened.
The campaign of Ivan 3 against independent Novgorod ended in its complete liquidation. The fate of the Novgorod Republic also predetermined its fate. The Moscow army entered the territory of the Tver land. Now Tver has “kissed the cross” by swearing allegiance to Ivan 3, and the Tver prince is forced to flee to Lithuania.
The successful unification of Russian lands created the conditions for liberation from Horde dependence, which happened in 1480.
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