Principality of Moscow

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Grand Duchy of Moscow
)
Principality of Moscow
Grand Duchy of Moscow
  • Великое княжество Московское
  • Velikoye knyazhestvo Moskovskoye
1282[1]–1547
Flag of Muscovy
Double-headed eagle on the seal of Ivan III of Muscovy
Territorial expansion of the Principality of Moscow, 1300–1547
  Core territory of Muscovy, 1300
  Territory of Vladimir-Suzdal, acquired by Muscovy by 1390
  Territory acquired by 1505 (Ivan III)
  Territory acquired by 1533 (Vasili III)
Status
  • Vassal state of the Golden Horde
  • (1282–1471)
  • Sovereign state
  • (1471–1547)
CapitalMoscow
Common languagesOld East Slavic, Russian
Religion
Russian Orthodox (official)[2]
Demonym(s)Muscovite
GovernmentAbsolute monarchy
Prince of Moscow 
• 1282–1303[1]
Daniel (first)
• 1533–1547
Ivan IV (last)
LegislatureVeche
History 
• Established
1282[1]
• Coronation of Ivan IV as tsar
16 January 1547
Area
1505[3]2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi)
Currencyruble, denga
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Vladimir-Suzdal
Principality of Yaroslavl
Principality of Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal
Novgorod Republic
Principality of Tver
Great Perm
Principality of Ryazan
Tsardom of Russia

The Principality of Moscow

Latin Moscovia),[8][5] was a principality of the Late Middle Ages centered on Moscow. It eventually evolved into the Tsardom of Russia in the early modern period. The princes of Moscow were descendants of the first prince Daniel, referred to in modern historiography as the Daniilovichi,[9] a branch of the Rurikids
.

In 1263, Daniel inherited the territory as an appanage of his father Alexander Nevsky, prince of Vladimir-Suzdal, but it was not until 1282 that Daniel is mentioned as an independent prince of Moscow.[10] Initially, Muscovy was a vassal state to the Golden Horde, paying the khans homage and tribute.[11] Moscow eclipsed and eventually absorbed its parent principality and later the other independent Russian principalities.[12] The Great Stand on the Ugra River in 1480 marked the end of nominal Tatar suzerainty over Russia,[13][11] though there were frequent uprisings and several successful military campaigns against the Mongols, such as an uprising led by Dmitry Donskoy against the ruler of the Golden Horde, Mamai, in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380.[14]

Ivan III ("the Great") further consolidated the state during his 43-year reign, campaigning against his major remaining rival power, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and by 1503, he had tripled the territory of his realm. Ivan's successor Vasili III also enjoyed military success, gaining Smolensk from Lithuania in 1512 and pushing Muscovy's borders to the Dnieper. Vasili's son Ivan IV ("the Terrible") was crowned tsar in 1547.[15]

Name

The Principality of Moscow

Ruthenia Alba.[21]

Simeon the Proud
(1340s), reads: "The seal of the Grand Duke Simeon of all Rus'".
The seal of Ivan III the Great (1490s), reads: "Ioan (John), by God's grace, the Sovereign of all Rus' and the Grand Duke".

As with many medieval states, the country had no "official" name, but rather official titles for their rulers. "The Prince (

Simeon the Proud took the title of Grand Duke of All Russia.[23]

Despite feudalism, the collective name of the Eastern Slavic land, Rus', was not forgotten,[24] though it then became a cultural and geographical rather than the political term, as there was no single political entity on the territory. Since the 14th century various Muscovite princes added "of all Rus'" (всея Руси, vseya Rusi) to their titles, after the title of Russian metropolitans, "the Metropolitan of all Rus'".[25] Dmitry Shemyaka (died 1453) was the first Muscovite prince who minted coins with the title "the Sovereign of all Rus'".[citation needed] Although initially both "Sovereign" and "all Rus'" was supposed to be rather honorific epithets,[25] since Ivan III is transformed into the political claim over the territory of all the former Kievan Rus', a goal that the Muscovite prince came closer to by the end of that century, uniting eastern Rus'.[24]

Such claims raised much opposition and hostility from its main rival, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which controlled a large (western) portion of the land of ancient Rus' and hence denied any claims and even the self-name of the eastern neighbour.

Al-Moskobiya Detention Centre located there.[citation needed
]

During his reign, Ivan III the Great claimed the title of "Tsar of all Russia".[26]

Origin

When the

pillaged it in 1293, the outpost's remote, forested location offered some security from Mongol attacks and occupation, while a number of rivers provided access to the Baltic and Black Seas and to the Caucasus region.[28] Muscovites, Suzdalians and other inhabitants were able to maintain their Slavic, pagan, and Orthodox traditions for the most part under the Tatar yoke.[citation needed
]

Ivan Kalita in the early 14th century, depicted by 19th century painter Apollinary Vasnetsov
.

More important to the development of the state of Moscow, however, was its rule by a series of

Uzbeg Khan of the Golden Horde, and married the khan's sister. The khan allowed Yuriy to claim the title of Grand Duke of Vladimir-Suzdal, a position which allowed him to interfere in the affairs of the Novgorod Republic to the northwest.[citation needed
]

By the early 14th century, Moscow had improved its standing against other towns within its parent principality of Vladimir-Suzdal, and by the 1320s, it emerged as the most influential, largely due to decisions made by the Mongol khan; aside from this, the Metropolitan of Kiev and all Rus' started to be based in Moscow too.[27] In 1325, Metropolitan Peter (died 1326) transferred his residence from Kiev to Vladimir and then to Moscow, further enhancing the prestige of the new principality.[30]

Yuriy's successor,

Moscow Kremlin.[citation needed
]

Dmitry Donskoy

, 1849

Ivan's successors continued the "gathering of the Russian lands" to increase the population and wealth under their rule. In the process, their interests clashed with the expanding Grand Duchy of Lithuania, whose subjects were predominantly East Slavic and Orthodox. Grand Duke Algirdas of Lithuania allied himself by marriage with Tver and undertook three expeditions against Moscow (1368, 1370, 1372) but was unable to take it. The main bone of contention between Moscow and Vilnius was the large city of Smolensk.[citation needed]

In the 1350s, the country and the royal family were hit by the

Rus' Orthodox Church, which experienced a resurgence in influence, due to the monastic reform of St. Sergius of Radonezh.[citation needed
]

Educated by

Metropolitan Alexis, Dmitri posed as a champion of Orthodoxy and managed to unite the warring principalities of Rus' in his struggle against the Horde. He challenged Khan's authority and defeated his commander Mamai in the epic Battle of Kulikovo (1380). However, the victory did not bring any short-term benefits; Tokhtamysh in 1382 sacked Moscow hoping to reassert his vested authority over his vassal, the Grand Prince, and his own Mongol hegemony, killing 24,000 people.[citation needed
]

Nevertheless, Dmitri became a national hero. The memory of

Vasily I without bothering to obtain the Khan's sanction.[citation needed
]

Vasily I and Vasily II

Andrei Rublev's famous icon of the Trinity

Tamerlane, he desisted from paying tribute to the Khan but was forced to pursue a more conciliatory policy after Edigu's incursion on Moscow in 1408. Married to the only daughter of the Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania, he attempted to avoid open conflicts with his powerful father-in-law, even when the latter annexed Smolensk. The peaceful years of his long reign were marked by the continuing expansion to the east (annexation of Nizhny Novgorod and Suzdal, 1392) and to the north (annexation of Vologda, Veliky Ustyug, and Perm of Vychegda, 1398). Nizhny Novgorod was given by the Khan of the Golden Horde as a reward for Muscovite's help against a rival.[33]

The reforms of St. Sergius triggered a cultural revival, exemplified by the icons and frescoes of the monk

Vladimir of Serpukhov and his descendants, was firmly anchored to the Moscow principality.[citation needed
]

The situation changed with the ascension of Vasily I's successor,

Olug Moxammat of Kazan, and blinded in 1446, Vasily II eventually managed to triumph over his enemies and pass the throne to his son. At his urging, a native bishop was elected as Metropolitan of Moscow, which was tantamount to a declaration of independence of the Russian Orthodox Church from the Patriarch of Constantinople (1448).[citation needed
]

Ivan III

Great Stand on the Ugra River, 1480. Illustration from a 16th-century Russian miniature.

The outward expansion of the grand principality in the 14th and 15th centuries was accompanied by internal consolidation. By the 15th century, the rulers of Moscow considered the entire territory of the former

Rurikid stock still claimed specific territories, but Ivan III (the Great; r. 1462–1505) forced the lesser princes to acknowledge the grand prince of Moscow and his descendants as unquestioned rulers with control over military, judicial, and foreign affairs.[citation needed
]

Moscow gained full sovereignty over a significant part of Rus' by 1480 when the overlordship of the

Vasili III (r. 1505–33), later conquered it.[citation needed
]

Having consolidated the core of Russia under his rule, Ivan III became the first Moscow ruler to adopt the titles of

Russo-Lithuanian Wars that ended only in 1503, Ivan III was able to push westward, and the Moscow state tripled in size under his rule.[citation needed
]

The reign of the Tsars started officially with

Tsar of Russia, but in practice, it started with Ivan III, who completed the centralization of the state (traditionally known as "the gathering of the Russian lands").[citation needed
]

Court

Moscow Kremlin

The court of the Moscow princes combined ceremonies and customs inherited from

tysyatsky and veche, were gradually abolished to consolidate power in the hands of the ruling prince. A new elaborate system of court precedence, or mestnichestvo, predicated the nobleman's rank and function on the rank and function of his ancestors and other members of his family. The highest echelon of hereditary nobles was composed of boyars.[citation needed
] They fell into three categories:

Rurikid and Gediminid boyars, whose fathers and grandfathers were independent princelings, felt that they were kin to the grand prince and hence almost equal to him. During the times of dynastic troubles (such as the years of Ivan IV's minority), boyardom constituted an internal force that was a permanent threat to the throne. An early form of the monarch's conflict with the boyars was the oprichnina policy of Ivan the Terrible.[citation needed]

During such conflicts, Ivan,

dvoryanin). The name comes from the Russian word dvor, meaning tsar's dvor, i.e., The Court. Hence the expression pozhalovat ko dvoru, i.e., to be called to (serve) The Court.[citation needed
]

Relations with the Horde

Medieval Russian principalities, including Muscovy (blue), Novgorod, Tver, Pskov, Ryazan and Rostov, and Golden Horde (yellow) around 1470

Relations between the Moscow principality and the Horde were mixed.[35] In the first two decades of the 13th century Moscow gained the support of one of the rivalling Mongol statesmen, Nogai, against the principalities that were oriented towards Sarai khans. After the restoration of unity in the Golden Horde in the early 14th century, it generally enjoyed the favour of the Khans until 1317 but lost it in 1322–1327.[35] The following thirty years, when the relations between the two states improved, allowed Moscow to achieve sufficient economic and political potential. Further attempts to deprive its rulers of the status of grand dukes of Vladimir were unsuccessful after the Khanate sank into internecine war and proved to be fruitless during the reign of a relatively powerful khan such as Mamai, whereas Tokhtamysh had no other choice but to recognize the supremacy of Moscow over northern and eastern Russian lands.[35] The traditional Mongol principle of breaking up larger concentrations of power into smaller ones failed, and the following period is characterized by the lack of support from the Horde.[35]

Although Moscow recognized khans as the legitimate authority in the early years of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, despite certain acts of resistance and disobedience, it refused to acknowledge their suzerainty in the years 1374–1380, 1396–1411, 1414–1416 and 1417–1419, even despite the growing might of the Golden Horde.[36] The power of the Horde over Moscow was greatly limited in the reign of Dmitri Donskoi, who gained recognition of the Grand Principality of Vladimir as a hereditary possession of Moscow princes: while the Horde collected tribute from his land, it could no longer have a serious impact on the internal structure of northern Russian lands.[37] In the years of Vasily II and Ivan III, the Grand Principality of Moscow acquired the idea of tsardom from the fallen Byzantine Empire, which was incompatible with the recognition of the suzerainty of the khan, and started to declare its independence in diplomatic relations with other countries.[38] This process was complete by the reign of Ivan III.[36]

Assessment

The development of the modern-day Russian state is traced from Kievan Rus' through Vladimir-Suzdal and the Grand Principality of Moscow to the Tsardom of Russia, and then the Russian Empire.[39] The Moscow principality drew people and wealth to the northeastern part of Kievan Rus';[39] established trade links to the Baltic Sea, White Sea, Caspian Sea, and to Siberia; and created a highly centralized and autocratic political system. The political traditions established in Muscovy, therefore, exerted a powerful influence on the future development of Russian society.[citation needed]

Society

Class

Traveling by sleigh, Muscovy, mid-16th century, according to Sigismund von Herberstein

Culture

Muscovite Russia was culturally influenced by Slavic and Byzantine cultural elements. In Muscovite Russia

supernaturalism was a fundamental part of daily life.[40]

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISSN 0869-5687
    .
  2. .
  3. (PDF) from the original on 2020-07-07. Retrieved 2021-10-21.
  4. ^ a b Martin 2007, p. 208, 222, 228, 231.
  5. ^ a b c d Halperin 1987, p. 217.
  6. ^ A Short History of the USSR. Progress Publishers. 1965.
  7. ^ Florinsky, Michael T. (1965). Russia: a History and an Interpretation.
  8. ^ Introduction into the Latin epigraphy (Введение в латинскую эпиграфику) Archived 2021-03-10 at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ^ Martin 2007, p. 487.
  10. ISSN 0869-5687
    .
  11. ^
    ISBN 978-1285436401.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  12. ISBN 978-1305091726.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  13. .
  14. ^ Davies, B. Warfare, State and Society on the Black Sea Steppe, 1500–1700. Routledge, 2014, p. 5
  15. .
  16. .
  17. .
  18. ^ .
  19. ^ "Moscow, n.". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. December 2002. Retrieved 10 January 2021. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  20. ^ "Muscovy, n.". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. March 2003. Retrieved 10 January 2021. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  21. ^ "Andrew Miksys: White Russia in Color - Laimonas Briedis". www.lituanus.org. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  22. Konda, and others..." Сборник Русского исторического общества. Vol. 53. СПб. 1887. p. 19.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  23. .
  24. ^ a b c d e f Хорошкевич, А. Л. (1976). "Россия и Московия: Из истории политико-географической терминологии" [Khoroshkevich A. L. Russia and Muscovy: from the history of politico-geographic terminology]. Acta Baltico-Slavica. X: 47–57.
  25. ^ .
  26. . Retrieved 2023-05-16.
  27. ^ .
  28. ^ a b Library of Congress Country Studies – Russia
  29. . Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  30. ^ Compare: Trepanier, Lee (2010). "2: Muscovite Russia (ca. 1240 – ca. 1505)". Political Symbols in Russian History: Church, State, and the Quest for Order and Justice. G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series. Lanhan, Maryland: Lexington Books. p. 31. . Retrieved 2016-12-14. But the crucial year was 1326, when [Metropolitan] Peter became a resident of Moscow and began to build his burial vault. On December 20, 1326. Metropolitan Peter died and was buried by one of the bishops in the presence of Ivan I. Due to his residency and burial place, Metropolitan Peter had confirmed Moscow the future haven of the Russian Orthodox Church, although this official transfer would not take place until the reign of Alexis.
  31. ^ Martin J. Medieval Russia, 980–1584. 2007. Cambridge University Press. p. 196
  32. ^ Moss (2005)
  33. ^ Richard Pipes, Russia under the Old Regime (1995), p.80.
  34. ^ Trepanier, L. Political Symbols in Russian History: Church, State, and the Quest for Order and Justice. Lexington Books. 2010. p. 39
  35. ^ . Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  36. ^ . Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  37. . Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  38. . Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  39. ^ a b A Brief History of Russia by Michael Kort pg.xxiii
  40. ISSN 1920-0242
    .

Bibliography

Further reading

External links