Dmitry Donskoy - one of the most famous princes of Russia, became famous thanks to his military exploits, in particular, his victory over the Golden Horde in the Battle of Kulikovo. The Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Donskoy did a lot to unite the lands of Russians.
Russian lands, it was decided to unite around Moscow. This was the beginning of the struggle for the overthrow of the Mongol yoke. The sons of Dmitry Donskoy continued the work of his father in collecting Russian lands. After his death, the throne was inherited by the eldest son Vasily, and later, after the reign of Basil I, a serious struggle began for the throne of the Grand Duke.
Dmitry Donskoy
Dmitry Donskoy was a great Russian commander who became famous thanks to his military victories.
The Russian prince was named Donskoy for his victory in the Battle of Kulikovo. In that battle Dmitry showed courage, courage and talent of the commander. This battle was a turning point in relations between the Russian principalities and the Golden Horde. After it, the Russians stopped paying tribute to the Mongols.
It was also during the reign of Dmitry Donskoy that the Moscow principality became the political center of Russia. This was an important starting point in all of Russian history.
Dmitry Donskoy won several strategically important victories over the Golden Horde. However, Russia still occupied a subordinate position in relation to the Mongol khanate.
During the reign of Dmitry Donskoy, a white stone Kremlin was built in Moscow. Before that, Moscow was built of wood.
Family life of Dmitry Donskoy
The prince married on the recommendation of the patriarch Sergius of Radonezh to Evdokia - the daughter of the Suzdal prince. The couple lived together for 22 years.
The family life of Dmitry Donskoy was calm and prosperous. His wife, Princess Evdokia Dmitrievna, was a good and loyal woman and, having lost her husband, strove to raise children in reverence for his father and with a memory of his exploits. Before his death, the prince bequeathed to his wife to protect the children and instruct them. And the children instructed the children to love, respect and obey their mother, as well as live peacefully and in harmony with each other, strive to resolve conflicts peacefully.
There were only twelve children of Dmitry Donskoy: four daughters and eight sons. At the same time, two sons died in infancy, and another son died at an early age, leaving no offspring.
For that time it was normal. Child mortality was high.
The other five sons of Dmitry Donskoy grew up strong and ambitious. But, nevertheless, despite the disputes and the division of the principalities, none of them raised arms to each other.
The sons of Dmitry Donskoy, Vasily I and Yuri, became the most significant and vivid characters in the story.
Heir
Vasily I Dmitrievich was the eldest son of Prince Dmitry and Princess Evdokia. Vasily the First continued the activities of his father to strengthen the territory of the Russian principalities, as well as its expansion.
Prince Vasily very early began his princely and military activities. At the age of twelve, the young heir went with his father to the Horde, but there he was captured by the Mongol Khan Tokhtamysh. This was during the reign of Dmitry Donskoy. Khan demanded a ransom from Dmitry, but he refused to pay. Therefore, Vasily spent more than three years in captivity with the Horde.
During the hunt of the khan, he still managed to escape from captivity along with his retinue.
Prince Vasily was hiding from the khan in Lithuania, where he met his future wife Sophia.
After staying in Lithuania, the prince returned to Moscow.
Before his death, Dmitry Donskoy appointed Vasily his heir.
Heir's domestic policy
The main tendency of Vasily’s domestic policy was to strengthen the position of the Moscow prince. The principalities of many appanage princes acquired the status of counties. Feudal land tenure was actively developing. And the county princes themselves were subordinate to the Moscow prince. Reforms in judicial policy have also been introduced. Some issues and disagreements between the feudal lords were now resolved centrally by the princely governors.
Basil I also bought labels for other principalities, expanding the territory of his own. For example, the Principality of Nizhny Novgorod, Tarusa, Gorodets and others. Buying labels from representatives of the Golden Horde, the prince also entered into military clashes with the princes. For example, the prince of Nizhny Novgorod Boris tried to defend his patrimonial right to the principality after Vasily bought the label, but was defeated.
Relations between the Moscow and Novgorod principalities were tense, sometimes even hostile.
The prince also took care of establishing internal trade routes between his principalities, which contributed to the development and economic prosperity.
What external events were accompanied by the reign of Vasily I
Dmitry Donskoy, despite his victories and exploits, did not put an end to the Tatar yoke. Therefore, Vasily’s policy was to establish peaceful relations with the Horde. However, in the Horde itself at this time there were events that were important for building relations with Russia.
During the reign of Vasily the First between the Tatars there were constant skirmishes and wars, which greatly influenced the possibility of expanding the territory of Moscow Russia. Takhtamysh at that time united the Golden Horde, which had previously broken up into two khanates, and challenged the ruler of the Central Asian part of the Tatar population Timur, to whom, incidentally, he was indebted to his influential position in Sarai. Attacking the border lands of Timur, provoked a big battle. In this battle, Timur won, and Tokhtamysh stepped back.
Timur did not usurp the territory of the Golden Horde, limiting itself only to its plunder.
It was these events that influenced the receipt by Prince Vasily of a label on the reign in Nizhny Novgorod.
In 1395, Tokhtamysh repeated his invasion of the lands of Timur. Again there was a great battle, which, despite the initial successes of the Horde, nevertheless ended in their next defeat.
This time Timur did not limit himself to plundering the Horde, but went far into the territory of Russia. At the same time, part of the troops entered the territory of the Ryazan principality. Prince Vasily gathered his army near Kolomna, waiting for the attack of Timur. But in the end, Timur turned south to Azov, plundered Sarai and other cities of the Horde.
As a result, Tokhtamysh fled to Lithuania.
Events in Lithuania
Also around this time, Smolensk was captured by Vytautas, the Lithuanian prince. At the same time, Vasily spoke on the side of his father-in-law. Due to the old rivalry with the Ryazan principality, Vasily the First supported Lithuania in its raids on Ryazan.
As a result, Vitovt defeated the Principality of Ryazan and annexed it to his state.
When Tokhtamysh fled to Lithuania, Vytautas decided to restore him to the throne with the proviso that the Horde would become a vassal of Lithuania.
Therefore, Lithuania declared a crusade against the Horde. Vasily I also took the side of the Lithuanians at that time, pulling part of the Horde forces to his troops.
As a result, the battle was lost for Lithuania due to the numerical superiority of the Tatars.
Interacting with Vytautas in a kindred way, Vasily solved many problems, such as avoiding bloody clashes between the principalities.
However, there were also disadvantages of such interaction, which consisted in the concession to Lithuania of many southwestern Russian lands. Vitovt also had the opportunity to intervene in the internecine affairs of the Russian principalities, which played a role after the death of Vasily I in determining the role of the heir to the throne of the Grand Duke.
The war between Vitovt and Vasily
After the defeat of the Lithuanian side, the Ryazans made an attempt to recapture Smolensk back, however, it ended in failure, but weakened Vitovta.
In light of these events, Vasily participated in the return of Lithuania to Smolensk in order to prevent Ryazan from competing with Moscow.
But Vitovt, recovering from defeat, attacked the Pskov region, capturing the city of Kolozhe.
Prince Vasily in this situation felt the danger that hung over Moscow in the person of Vytautas, and declared war on him.
The war lasted from 1406 to 1408, but a decisive battle never happened. As a result, the princes concluded a peace treaty stopping the claims of the Lithuanian prince on Russian lands.
Until his death, the Russian and Lithuanian princes no longer clashed. In any case, not a single chronicle mentions any skirmishes between Russia and Lithuania after the famous standing on the Ugra.
Relations with the Horde after 1408
After 1408, because of civil strife and turmoil in the Golden Horde, weakened her, Vasily stopped going there and paying tribute.
He began to pursue a foreign policy more boldly, giving shelter to the sons of Tokhtamysh, who were not in the courtyard of the Horde, and also ignored the accession of a new Khan Kutluyev in the Horde without coming to his oath.
However, such a policy did not like Edigey, who decided to regain his influence over Moscow with a sudden raid. The Tatars suddenly approached Moscow, cunningly distorting their intentions for the messenger. Until recently, Moscow thought that Edigei was going to Lithuania.
Therefore, when it became clear that it was necessary to give battle, there was no time to assemble the army, and Vasily fled to Kostroma, leaving the capital in the care of Vladimir, brother of Dmitry Donskoy.
The Tatars plundered many nearby cities, but Moscow rebuffed by fortifying its walls. Edigey took a wait-and-see attitude, sending Tver for reinforcements subordinate to him. But the Tver prince did not want to participate in the battle against Moscow, he walked with the squad very slowly, as a result of which he did not reach his destination.
Basil, meanwhile, was collecting tribute in the north of Russia to pay off Edigheus. The buyback was expensive, 3,000 rubles for the retreat, which crippled the economic condition of Muscovite Russia.
The results of the reign of Vasily the First
Basil the First could not free Russia from the subordinate position to the Golden Horde. Despite military victories and some attempts to boycott the power of the khan, the prince eventually continued to pay tribute. But already after the expulsion of Edigheus, when he was overthrown, and on the throne, Karimberdey reigned.
The result of the domestic policy of Vasily the First was the expansion of territories subject to Moscow.
Yuri Dmitrievich Zvenigorodsky
The second oldest son of Dmitry Donskoy, Yuri, reigned in Zvenigorod, equipping him for himself and strengthening him. The prince patronized the representatives of art, building temples and palaces in the territory of his city.
During his reign, two stone cathedrals, Uspensky and Rozhdestvensky, were built in Zvenigorod, and the town of Zvenigorod was also erected.
Also, Yuri Dmitrievich was glorified as a successful warrior. With his squad, he participated in various military campaigns. One of his most successful military projects was a campaign on the Volga Bulgaria, from which he returned with wealth.
Yuri Zvenigorodsky was married to the daughter of the Prince of Smolensk, Anastasia Yuryevna, and had four sons.
The Prince of Zvenigorod during the life of Vasily lived in harmony with his brother, obeying him and cooperating, recognizing his primacy. Yuri was a pious husband and an exemplary Christian.
However, a sense of justice was also present in him, however, as was ambition. That is why he did not want to recognize the right of the young Vasily to the Grand Duke's throne.
The will of Vasily I and controversial issues
Prince Vasily had five sons, but four died at an early or young age. Remained the only heir to Prince Vasily II.
After the death of Vasily Dmitrievich, Princess Sophia could not fulfill the role of the ruler, because her authority was weak among the fraternities.
Vasily, with various tricks, agreed with the brothers that they would not claim the princely throne. Everyone except Yuri signed the contract.
It was decided to transfer the throne to Prince Vasily the Second, although at the time of the death of Basil I he was only ten years old. However, the Lithuanian ruler Vitovt supported his grandson at the throne.
After the death of Vasily, the throne was handed over to his son, and Metropolitan Photius, by order of Sophia and her close associates, passed through an messenger to Prince Yuri an invitation to swear in oath to the new Grand Duke.
Yuri did not agree to take the oath, and this entailed the struggle for a great reign in Russia.
The struggle for power after the death of Basil I
In 1419, Vasily I forced the brothers to sign an agreement to renounce the Moscow throne. Yuri was the only brother who did not succumb to persuasion and did not refuse claims to the principality.
After the death of Vasily I, the throne was to be occupied by his son Vasily II, but Yuri did not give up his legal right to inherit the throne and went to war against Vasily. But this feud was quickly resolved, since Vytautas was on the side of Basil the Second.
Only after the death of Vitovt, Yuri resumed his claim to the throne and invited Prince Vasily to go to the khan, so that he personally resolved their dispute. The dispute was resolved in favor of Vasily II, to whom the khan gave a label to Moscow and its suburbs.
Only in 1433, Yuri was still able to occupy Moscow, invading there with his troops and defeating Vasily the Second.
He gave Vasily II the inheritance of Kolomna, eventually making peace with him.
However, Vasily did not want to put up with defeat. Many boyars, previously subject to Yuri, as well as his sons, fled to Kolomna. He, realizing that his situation was fragile, decided to return the throne.
At the same time, an agreement was signed that Yuri recognizes the primacy of Vasily the Second and renounces the Moscow throne. Subsequently, he remained true to his promise even when his sons defeated Basil II and invited him to take the throne.
However, the Galicians took part in the battle, so Vasily, seeing this as a violation of obligations, moved to Galich. Yuri was forced to flee and gather troops for a retaliatory attack. He enlisted the support of Vyatchans and other principalities, which added to his squad of military power. In the battle that took place on the Brain River, Basil II was finally defeated and, in turn, fled.
The results of the reign of Yuri Dmitrievich
Yuri Zvenigorodsky did much to establish and develop autocracy in Russia, increasing the distance between the boyars and the prince.
Yuri Dmitrievich also carried out a monetary reform, coins began to be issued with the image of George the Victorious, who struck a snake with his spear, which symbolized the victory over the Mongols. However, there was no deliverance from the yoke of the Golden Horde during the reign of Yuri, which was short-lived. He died in 1434.