Grand Prince of all Rus' Ivan III Vasilievich, Rurikid

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Ivan III Vasilyevich (Russian: Иван III Васильевич), also known as Ivan the Great. Born 22 January 1440, Moscow, died 27 October 1505, Moscow.

Ivan the Great, was a Grand Duke of Moscow and "Grand Prince of all Rus" (Великий князь всея Руси). Sometimes referred to as the "gatherer of the Russian lands", he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde over the Rus, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. He was one of the longest-reigning Russian rulers in history.

• Википедия

Ivan III Vasilyevich (Russian: Иван III Васильевич), also known as Ivan the Great.

Born: 22 January 1440, Moscow

Died: 27 October 1505, Moscow

Father:

Vasili II

Mother:

Maria of Borovsk

Spouses:

Maria of Tver

Sophia Paleologue

Issue:

Ivan Ivanovich

Vasili Ivanovich

Yury Ivanovich

Dmitry Ivanovich

Simeon Ivanovich

Andrey Ivanovich

Еlena Ivanovna

Feodosia Ivanovna

Eudokia Ivanovna

Predecessor : Vasily II Vasily II of Moscow

Successor: Vasily III Vasili III of Russia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_III_of_Russia

Ivan the Great, was a Grand Prince of Moscow and "Grand Prince of all Rus" (Великий князь всея Руси). Sometimes referred to as the "gatherer of the Russian lands", he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde over the Rus, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. He was one of the longest-reigning Russian rulers in history.

Ivan's parents were Vasily II and Maria of Borovsk. He was co-regent with his father during the later years of his life and succeeded him in 1462. Ivan tenaciously pursued the unifying policy of his predecessors. Nevertheless, he was cautious to the point of timidity. He avoided as far as possible any violent collision with his neighbors until all the circumstances were exceptionally favorable, always preferring to attain his ends gradually and circuitously. The Grand Duchy of Moscow had by this time become a compact and powerful state, whilst her rivals had grown weaker, a state of affairs very favorable to the speculative activity of a statesman of Ivan III's peculiar character. Before he died he made an impressive program for, centered around and directed by, Italian artists and craftsmen. His plan was able to make new buildings in Kremlin and the walls were strengthened and furnished with towers and gates. Ivan III reigned for forty three years, dying on October 27, 1505 and he left his empire to his son Vasili.

His first enterprise was a war with the Republic of Novgorod, which had fought a series of wars stretching back to at least the reign of Dmitry Donskoi over Moscow's religious and political sovereignty more generally and over Moscow's efforts to seize land in the Northern Dvina region more specifically. Alarmed at Moscow's growing power, Novgorod had negotiated with Lithuania in the hope of placing itself under the protection of Casimir IV, King of Poland and Grand Prince of Lithuania, a would-be alliance regarded by Moscow as an act of apostasy from orthodoxy. Ivan took the field against Novgorod in 1470, and after his generals had twice defeated the forces of the republic, at the Battle of Shelon River and on the Northern Dvina, both in the summer of 1471, the Novgorodians were forced to sue for peace, agreeing to abandon their overtures to Lithuania and ceding a considerable portion of their northern territories, and paying a war indemnity of 15,500 roubles.

The Palace of Facets (1487-91) was commissioned by Ivan from Italian architects.

Ivan visited Novgorod Central several times in the next several years, arresting a number of pro-Lithuanian boyars and confiscating their lands. In 1477, two Novgorodian envoys, claiming to have been sent by the archbishops and the entire city, addressed Ivan in public audience as Gosudar (sovereign) instead of the usual Gospodin (sir). Ivan at once seized upon this as a recognition of his sovereignty, and when the Novgorodians repudiated the envoys (indeed, one was killed at the veche and several others of the pro-Moscow faction were killed with him) and swore openly in front of the Moscow ambassadors that they would turn to Lithuania again, he marched against them. Deserted by Casimir IV and surrounded on every side by the Moscow armies, that occupied the major monasteries around the city, Novgorod recognized Ivan's direct rule over the city and its vast hinderland in a document signed and sealed by Archbishop Feofil of Novgorod (1470–1480) on 15 January 1478.

Destruction of Novgorod Republic by Ivan III

Subsequent revolts (1479–1488) were punished by the removal en masse of the richest and most ancient families of Novgorod to Moscow, Vyatka and other central Russian cities. Archbishop Feofil, too, was removed to Moscow for plotting against the grand prince. The rival republic of Pskov owed the continuance of its own political existence to the readiness with which it assisted Ivan against its ancient enemy. The other principalities were virtually absorbed, by conquest, purchase or marriage contract: Yaroslavl in 1463, Rostov in 1474, and Tver in 1485.

Ivan's refusal to share his conquests with his brothers, and his subsequent interference with the internal politics of their inherited principalities, involved him in several wars with them, from which, though the princes were assisted by Lithuania, he emerged victorious. Finally, Ivan's new rule of government, formally set forth in his last will to the effect that the domains of all his kinsfolk, after their deaths, should pass directly to the reigning grand duke instead of reverting, as hitherto, to the princes' heirs, put an end once and for all to these semi-independent princelings.

The character of the government of Moscow under Ivan III changed essentially and took on a new autocratic form. This was due not merely to the natural consequence of the hegemony of Moscow over the other Russian lands but to new imperial pretensions. After the fall of Constantinople, orthodox canonists were inclined to regard the Grand Princes of Moscow as the successors by the Byzantine emperors. Ivan himself appeared to welcome the idea, and he began to style himself tsar in foreign correspondence.

This movement coincided with a change in the family circumstances of Ivan III. After the death of his first consort, Maria of Tver (1467), at the suggestion of Pope Paul II (1469), who hoped thereby to bind Russia to the holy see, Ivan III wedded Sophia Paleologue (also known under her original Greek and Orthodox name of Zoe), daughter of Thomas Palaeologus, despot of Morea, who claimed the throne of Constantinople as the brother of Constantine XI, last Byzantine emperor. Frustrating the Pope's hopes of re-uniting the two faiths, the princess endorsed Orthodoxy. Due to her family traditions, she encouraged imperial ideas in the mind of her consort. It was through her influence that the ceremonious etiquette of Constantinople (along with the imperial double-headed eagle and all that it implied) was adopted by the court of Moscow.

Ivan's son with Maria of Tver, Ivan the Young, died in 1490, leaving from his marriage with Helen of Moldavia an only child, Dmitry the Grandson. The latter was crowned as successor by his grandfather in 1497, but later Ivan reverted his decision in favour of Sophia's elder son Vasily who was ultimately crowned co-regent with his father (14 April 1502). The decision was dictated by the crisis connected with the Sect of Skhariya the Jew as well as by the imperial prestige of Sophia's descendants. Dmitry the Grandson was put into prison where he died, unmarried and childless, in 1509, already under the rule of his uncle.

The grand duke increasingly held aloof from his boyars. The old patriarchal systems of government vanished. The boyars were no longer consulted on affairs of state. The sovereign became sacrosanct, while the boyars were reduced to dependency on the will of the sovereign. The boyars naturally resented this revolution and struggled against it, at first with some success.

It was in the reign of Ivan III that the new Russian Sudebnik, or law code, was compiled by the scribe Vladimir Gusev. Ivan did his utmost to make his capital a worthy successor to Constantinople, and with that object invited many foreign masters and artificers to settle in Moscow. The most noted of these was the Italian Ridolfo di Fioravante, nicknamed Aristotle because of his extraordinary knowledge, who built several cathedrals and palaces in the Kremlin. This extraordinary monument of the Moscow art remains a lasting symbol of the power and glory of Ivan III.

It was in the reign of Ivan III that Russia rejected the Tatar yoke. In 1480 Ivan refused to pay the customary tribute to the grand Khan Ahmed. All through the autumn the Russian and Tatar hosts confronted each other on opposite sides of the Ugra, till the 11th of November, when Ahmed retired into the steppe.

Ivan III tearing the khan's letter to pieces

In the following year the grand khan, while preparing a second expedition against Moscow, was suddenly attacked, routed and slain by Ivak, the khan of the Nogay Horde, where upon the Golden Horde suddenly fell to pieces. In 1487 Ivan reduced the khanate of Kazan one of the offshoots of the Horde to the condition of a vassal-state, though in his later years it broke away from his suzerainty. With the other Muslim powers, the khan of the Crimean Khanate and the sultans of Ottoman Empire, Ivan's relations were pacific and even amicable. The Crimean khan, Meñli I Giray, helped him against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and facilitated the opening of diplomatic intercourse between Moscow and Istanbul, where the first Russian embassy appeared in 1495.

It was in Ivan’s reign that the Christian rulers in the Caucasus began to see the Russian monarchs as their natural allies against the Muslim regional powers. The first attempt at forging an alliance was made by Alexander I, king of a small Georgian kingdom of Kakheti, who dispatched two embassies, in 1483 and 1491, to Moscow. However, as the Russians were still too far from the Caucasus, neither of these missions had any effect on the course of events in the region.

From Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, gun-founders, gold- and silversmiths and (Italian) master builders were requested by Ivan.

In Nordic affairs, Ivan III concluded an offensive alliance with Hans of Denmark and maintained a regular correspondence with Emperor Maximilian I, who called him a "brother". He built a strong citadel in Ingria named Ivangorod after himself, which proved of great consequence to Russians in Russo-Swedish War, 1496-1499 the war with Sweden, which had been preceded by Ivan's detention of the Hanseatic merchants trading in Novgorod.

The further extension of the Moscow dominion was facilitated by the death of Casimir IV in 1492, when Poland and Lithuania once more parted company. The throne of Lithuania was now occupied by Casimir's son Alexander, a weak and lethargic prince so incapable of defending his possessions against the persistent attacks of the Russians that he attempted to save them by a matrimonial compact, and wedded Helena, Ivan's daughter. But the clear determination of Ivan to appropriate as much of Lithuania as possible at last compelled Alexander in 1499 to take up arms against his father-in-law. The Lithuanians were routed at Vedrosha ( 14 July 1500), and in 1503 Alexander was glad to purchase peace by ceding to Ivan Chernigov, Starodub, Novgorod-Seversky and sixteen other towns.

(A somehow different article in english follows the text in spanish.)

IIván III Vasilevich (Иван III Васильевич) (22 de Enero de 1440 - 27 de Octubre de 1505), también conocido como Iván el Grande, fue duque moscovita y el primero en adoptar el título de "Gran Duque de todas las Rusias". En ocasiones se refieren a él como el "unificador de las tierras Rusas", ya que cuadriplicó su territorio, reivindicando a Moscú como la tercera Roma. Construyó el Kremlin de Moscú y creo instituciones para asegurar la autocracia. Fue también el protagonista del reinado más largo de la historia de Rusia.

Tabla de contenidos

1 Antecedentes

2 Ampliando los territorios de Rusia

3 Políticas externas

4 Política interna

Antecedentes 

Los padres de Iván fueron Vasily II y Maria de Borovsk. Fue corregente con su padre al final del reinado de este y le sucedió en 1462, continuando tenazmente la política unificadora de sus predecesores. Sin embargo era muy cauto rozando la timidez propia de muchos de los príncipes de la casa de Rurik. Evitaba en lo posible los enfrentamientos violentos con sus vecinos excepto cuando las circunstancias le eran excepcionalmente favorables, prefiriendo siempre conseguir sus objetivos de forma gradual e indirectamente. Moscovia se convirtió en este tiempo en un fuerte y poderoso estado, mientras que sus rivales se habían debilitado, una situación muy favorable para las actividades especulativas de un estadista del peculiar carácter de Iván III.

Ampliando los territorios de Rusia  

Su primera empresa fue la guerra contra la República de Novgorod, que, alarmada ante la creciente dominación de Moscovia, se puso bajo la protección de Casimiro IV, rey de Polonia, una alianza que Moscú interpreto como una apostasía de la ortodoxia. Aunque hubiese utilizado cualquier excusa la religión parecía la mejor, así que Iván inició la guerra contra Novgorod en 1470, y tras las dos derrotas infringidas por sus generales a las tropas de la República de Novgorod, en Shelona y en el Dvina, durante el verano de 1471, Novgorod se vio forzada a pactar una paz por la que abandonaba para siempre su alianza con Polonia, cedía una considerable porción de sus colonias en el norte y pagaba una indemnización de 15.500 rublos.

Tras ello Iván buscó continuamente un pretexto para apoderarse deNovgorod totalmente,pero aunque violó con frecuencia sus antiguos privilegios en materias de pequeña importancia, la actitud de la república era tan cuidadosa que la oportunidad no se dio hasta 1477. En ese año los embajadores de Novgorod, por su cuenta y riesgo, se dirigieron a él en audiencia pública como Gosudar (soberano) en vez de Gospodin (señor) como era habitual. Iván interpretó esto como un reconocimiento de su soberanía, y cuando el Novgorod desdijo a sus embajadores, marchó contra la ciudad. Abandonada por Casimiro IV, y rodeada por las tropas moscovitas, que incluían un contingente Tártaro, la república reconoció a Iván como autócrata, y entregó el 14 de Enero de 1478 todas sus prerrogativas y posesiones (incluyendo el conjunto desde la Rusia norteña de Laponia a los Urales). Las rebeliones que siguieron (1479-1488) fueron castigadas trasladando en masa a las familias más ricas y más antiguas de Novgorod a Moscú, a Vyatka y a otras ciudades rusas centrales. Después de esto, Novgorod, como estado independiente, dejó de existir. La república rival de Pskov debió la continuación de su propia existencia política a la ayuda que prestó a Iván contra su antigua enemiga. Los otros principados fueron absorbidos virtualmente, por conquista, compra o unión: Yaroslavl en 1463, Yaroslavl en 1474, y Tver en 1485.

Iván se negó a compartir sus conquistas con sus hermanos, y su interferencia en la política interna de sus principados provocaron varias guerras contra ellos, de las cuales, a pesar del apoyo de Lituania, salió victorioso. Finalmente, la nueva ley del gobierno de Iván, dispuesta formalmente en su última voluntad, establecía que todos los dominios de todos sus parientes, después de sus muertes, debían pasar directamente al Gran Duque reinante en vez de, como hasta ahora, a los herederos de los príncipes, con lo que puso fin a la semi-independencia de los principados.

Políticas externas  

Durante el reinado de Iván III Moscovia rechazó el yugo de los tártaros. En 1480 Iván rechazó pagar el tributo acostumbrado al gran Khan Ahmed. Sin embargo, cuando el gran khan marchó contra él, su determinación comenzó a fallar, y solamente las severas exhortaciones del obispo de Rostov, Vassian, le indujeron a presentar batalla. Durante todo el otoño las huestes rusas y de tártaras se enfrentaron en los lados opuestos del Ugra, hasta el 11 de noviembre, cuando Ahmed se retiró a la estepa.

El año siguiente el gran khan, mientras preparaba una segunda expedición contra Moscú, fue atacado y asesinado por Ivaq, el khan de la Horda de Nogay, con lo cual la Horda de Oro se hizo pedazos. En 1487 Iván redujo el Janato de Kazán (uno de los sucesores de la Horda) a la condición de vasallo, aunque en sus años últimos se rompió su poder feudal sobre el mismo. Con las otras fuerzas musulmanas, el khan del Khanato de Crimea y los sultanes del Imperio Otomano, las relaciones eran pacíficas e incluso amistosas. El khan de Crimea, Meñli I Giray, le ayudó contra el Gran Ducado de Lituania y facilitó las relaciones diplomáticas entre Moscú y Estambul, a donde acudió primera embajada rusa en 1495.

En cuanto a lo asunto nórdico, Iván III concluyó una alianza ofensiva con Hans de Dinamarca y mantuvo una correspondencia regular con el emperador Maximiliano I, que lo llamó “hermano”. Construyó una ciudadela en Ingria (renombrada Ivangorod), que fue muy útil en la guerra contra Suecia, que había sido precedida por la detención por parte de Iban de los comerciantes de la liga Hanseática que negociaban en Novgorod.

La expansión de los dominios moscovitas fue facilitada por la muerte de Casimiro IV en 1492, cuando Polonia y Lituania se repartió entre sus herederos. El trono de Lituania fue ocupado por su hijo Alexander, príncipe débil y apático tan incapaz de defender sus posesiones contra los ataques persistentes de los moscovitas que procuró evitarlos mediante un acuerdo matrimonial, desposando a Elena, hija de Iván. Pero la determinación de Iván para apropiarse de Lituania de cualquier modo obligó a Alexander en 1499 a tomar partido contra su suegro. Los lituanos se dirigieron a Vedrosha (el 14 de Julio de 1500) y en 1503 Alexander se conformó alegremente con comprar la paz cediendo a Iván Chernigov, Starodub, Novgorod-Seversky y dieciséis ciudades más.

Política interna  

El carácter del gobierno de Moscovia bajo Iván III cambió profundamente y adquirió una forma autocrática que no había tenido nunca antes. Esto era debido no simplemente a la consecuencia natural de la hegemonía de Moscú sobre las otras tierras rusas, sino al crecimiento simultáneo de los nuevos y exóticos principios que aparecen en un terreno abonado para ellos. Después de la caída de Constantinopla, los patriarcas ortodoxos se inclinaron a considerar a los grandes Duques de Moscovia como los sucesores de los emperadores bizantinos.

Este movimiento coincidió con un cambio en las circunstancias de la familia de Iván III. Después de la muerte de su primera esposa, Maria de Tver (1467), siguiendo la sugerencia de papa Pablo II (1469), que esperaba de tal modo atar Rusia a la Santa Sede, Iván III desposó a Sofía Paleologue (también conocida bajo su nombre griego y ortodoxo original de Zoe), hija de Tomás Palaeologus, el déspota de Morea, que demandó el trono de Constantinopla como hermano de Constantino XI, anterior emperador de Bizancio. Frustrando las esperanzas del papa de unificar la fe, la princesa se convirtió a la ortodoxia. Debido a sus tradiciones de familia, despertó ideas imperiales en la mente de su esposo. Era tal su influencia que la etiqueta ceremoniosa de Constantinopla (junto con el águila doble imperial y su implicación) fue adoptada por la corte de Moscú.

El gran duque en adelante mantuvo a distancia de sus boyardos. Los viejos sistemas del gobierno patriarcal desaparecieron. Los boyardos no fueron consultados más sobre asuntos del estado. El soberano se convirtió en sacrosanto, mientras que los boyardos fueron reducidos al nivel de los siervos absolutamente dependientes de la voluntad del soberano. Los boyardos naturalmente resentidos promovieron una revolución, al principio con un cierto éxito. Pero la segunda esposa de Iván prevaleció, siendo su hijo Vasily, y no el hijo de Maria de Tver, Iván, el que fue nombrado corregente con su padre (el 14 de Abril de 1502).

En el reinado de Iván III el Sudebni, o código de la ley, fue compilado por el escribano Vladimir Gusev. Iván hizo lo posible para hacer de su capital una sucesora digna a Constantinopla, y con ese objeto invitó a muchos artistas y maestros extranjeros que radicaran en Moscú. El más conocido de estos era el italiano Ridolfo di Fioravante, apodado "Aristóteles" debido a su conocimiento extraordinario, y que construyó varias catedrales y palacios en el Kremlin. Este monumento extraordinario del arte moscovita sigue siendo un símbolo duradero de la fuerza y de la gloria de Iván III.

Predecesor:

Basilio II Príncipe de Moscovia

1462 - 1505 Sucesor:

Basilio III

Obtenido de "http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iv%C3%A1n_III_de_Rusia"

Ivan III Vasilevich (Russian: Иван III Васильевич) (22 January 1440, Moscow – 27 October 1505, Moscow), also known as Ivan the Great, was a Grand Prince of Moscow who first adopted a more pretentious title of the "grand duke of all the Russias." Sometimes referred to as the "gatherer of the Russian lands", he tripled the territory of his state, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid foundations for the Russian state. He was one of the longest-reigning Russian rulers in history.

Contents

1 Background

2 Gathering of Russian lands

3 Domestic policy

4 Foreign policy

5 Further reading

6 See also

7 References

8 External links

Background

Ivan's parents were Vasily II and Maria of Borovsk. He was co-regent with his father during the later years of his life and succeeded him in 1462. Ivan tenaciously pursued the unifying policy of his predecessors. Nevertheless, he was cautious to the point of timidity. He avoided as far as possible any violent collision with his neighbors until all the circumstances were exceptionally favorable, always preferring to attain his ends gradually and circuitously. The Grand Duchy of Moscow had by this time become a compact and powerful state, whilst her rivals had grown weaker, a state of affairs very favorable to the speculative activity of a statesman of Ivan III's peculiar character.

Gathering of Russian lands

His first enterprise was a war with the Republic of Novgorod, which had fought a series of wars stretching back to at least the reign of Dmitry Donskoi over Moscow's religious and political souvereignty more generally and over Moscow's efforts to seize land in the Northern Dvina region more specifically.[1] Alarmed at Moscow's growing power, Novgorod had negotiated with Lithuania in hopes of placing itself under the protection of Casimir IV, King of Poland and Grand Prince of Lithuania, a would-be alliance regarded at Moscow as an act of apostasy from orthodoxy.[2] Ivan took the field against Novgorod in 1470, and after his generals had twice defeated the forces of the republic, at The Battle of Shelon River and on the Northern Dvina, both in the summer of 1471, the Novgorodians were forced to sue for peace, agreeing to abandon their overtures to Lithuania and ceding a considerable portion of their northern territories, and paying a war indemnity of 15,500 roubles.

The Palace of Facets (1487-91) was commissioned by Ivan from Italian architects.Ivan visited Novgorod Central several times in the next several years, arresting a number of pro-Lithuanian boyars and confiscating their lands. In 1477, two Novgorodian envoys, claiming to have been sent by the archbishops and the entire city, addressed Ivan in public audience as Gosudar (sovereign) instead of the usual Gospodin (sir).[3] Ivan at once seized upon this as a recognition of his sovereignty, and when the Novgorodians repudiated the envoys (indeed, one was killed at the veche and several other of the pro-Moscow faction were killed with him) and swore openly in front of the Moscow ambassadors that they would turn to Lithuania again, he marched against them. Deserted by Casimir IV and surrounded on every side by the Moscow armies that occupied the major monasteries around the city the Novgorod recognized Ivan's direct rule over the city and its vast hinderland in a document signed and sealed by Archbishop Feofil of Novgorod (1470-1480) on January 15, 1478.[4]

Subsequent revolts (1479-1488) were punished by the removal en masse of the richest and most ancient families of Novgorod to Moscow, Vyatka and other central Russian cities. Archbishop Feofil, too, was removed to Moscow for plotting against the grand prince.[5] The rival republic of Pskov owed the continuance of its own political existence to the readiness with which it assisted Ivan against its ancient enemy. The other principalities were virtually absorbed, by conquest, purchase or marriage contract: Yaroslavl in 1463, Rostov in 1474, and Tver in 1485.

Ivan's refusal to share his conquests with his brothers, and his subsequent interference with the internal politics of their inherited principalities, involved him in several wars with them, from which, though the princes were assisted by Lithuania, he emerged victorious. Finally, Ivan's new rule of government, formally set forth in his last will to the effect that the domains of all his kinsfolk, after their deaths, should pass directly to the reigning grand duke instead of reverting, as hitherto, to the princes' heirs, put an end once and for all to these semi-independent princelings.

[edit] Domestic policy

Portrait from the 17th-century TitulyarnikThe character of the government of Moscow under Ivan III changed essentially and took on a new autocratic form. This was due not merely to the natural consequence of the hegemony of Moscow over the other Russian lands but to new imperial pretensions. After the fall of Constantinople, orthodox canonists were inclined to regard the Grand Princes of Moscow as the successors by the Byzantine emperors. Ivan himself appeared to welcome the idea, and he began to style himself tsar in foreign correspondence.

This movement coincided with a change in the family circumstances of Ivan III. After the death of his first consort, Maria of Tver (1467), at the suggestion of Pope Paul II (1469), who hoped thereby to bind Russia to the holy see, Ivan III wedded Sophia Paleologue (also known under her original Greek and Orthodox name of Zoe), daughter of Thomas Palaeologus , despot of Morea, who claimed the throne of Constantinople as the brother of Constantine XI, last Byzantine emperor. Frustrating the Pope's hopes of re-uniting the two faiths, the princess endorsed Orthodoxy. Due to her family traditions, she encouraged imperial ideas in the mind of her consort. It was through her influence that the ceremonious etiquette of Constantinople (along with the imperial double-headed eagle and all that it implied) was adopted by the court of Moscow.

Ivan's son with Maria of Tver, Ivan the Young, died in 1490, leaving from marriage with Helen of Wallachia an only child, Dmitry the Grandson. The latter was crowned as successor by his grandfather in 1497, but later Ivan reverted his decision in favour of Sophia's elder son Vasily who was ultimately crowned co-regent with his father (April 14, 1502). The decision was dictated by the crisis connected with the Sect of Skhariya the Jew as well as by the imperial prestige of Sophia's descendants. Dmitry the Grandson was put into prison where he died, unmarried and childless, in 1509, already under the rule of his uncle.

The grand duke increasingly held aloof from his boyars. The old patriarchal systems of government vanished. The boyars were no longer consulted on affairs of state. The sovereign became sacrosanct, while the boyars were reduced to dependency on the will of the sovereign. The boyars naturally resented this revolution and struggled against it, at first with some success.

It was in the reign of Ivan III that the new Russian Sudebnik, or law code, was compiled by the scribe Vladimir Gusev. Ivan did his utmost to make his capital a worthy successor to Constantinople, and with that object invited many foreign masters and artificers to settle in Moscow. The most noted of these was the Italian Ridolfo di Fioravante, nicknamed Aristotle because of his extraordinary knowledge, who built several cathedrals and palaces in the Kremlin. This extraordinary monument of the Moscow art remains a lasting symbol of the power and glory of Ivan III.

Foreign policy

It was in the reign of Ivan III that Russia rejected the Tatar yoke. In 1480 Ivan refused to pay the customary tribute to the grand Khan Ahmed. When, however, the grand khan marched against him, Ivan's courage began to fail, and only the stern exhortations of the high-spirited bishop of Rostov, Vassian, could induce him to take the field. All through the autumn the Russian and Tatar hosts confronted each other on opposite sides of the Ugra, till the 11th of November, when Ahmed retired into the steppe.

Ivan III tearing the khan's letter to piecesIn the following year the grand khan, while preparing a second expedition against Moscow, was suddenly attacked, routed and slain by Ivan, the khan of the Nogay Horde, whereupon the Golden Horde suddenly fell to pieces. In 1487 Ivan reduced the khanate of Kazan one of the offshoots of the Horde to the condition of a vassal-state, though in his later years it broke away from his suzerainty. With the other Muslim powers, the khan of the Crimean Khanate and the sultans of Ottoman Empire, Ivan's relations were pacific and even amicable. The Crimean khan, Meñli I Giray, helped him against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and facilitated the opening of diplomatic intercourse between Moscow and Istanbul, where the first Russian embassy appeared in 1495.

It was in Ivan’s reign that the Christian rulers in the Caucasus began to see the Russian monarchs as their natural allies against the Muslim regional powers. The first attempt at forging an alliance was made by Alexander I, king of a small Georgian kingdom of Kakheti, who dispatched two embassies, in 1483 and 1491, to Moscow. However, as the Russians were still too far from the Caucasus, neither of these missions had any effect on the course of events in the region.

In Nordic affairs, Ivan III concluded an offensive alliance with Hans of Denmark and maintained a regular correspondence with Emperor Maximilian I, who called him a "brother". He built a strong citadel in Ingria named Ivangorod after himself, which proved of great consequence to Russians in Russo-Swedish War, 1496-1499 the war with Sweden, which had been preceded by Ivan's detention of the Hanseatic merchants trading in Novgorod.

The further extension of the Moscow dominion was facilitated by the death of Casimir IV in 1492, when Poland and Lithuania once more parted company. The throne of Lithuania was now occupied by Casimir's son Alexander, a weak and lethargic prince so incapable of defending his possessions against the persistent attacks of the Russians that he attempted to save them by a matrimonial compact, and wedded Helena, Ivan's daughter. But the clear determination of Ivan to appropriate as much of Lithuania as possible at last compelled Alexander in 1499 to take up arms against his father-in-law. The Lithuanians were routed at Vedrosha (July 14, 1500), and in 1503 Alexander was glad to purchase peace by ceding to Ivan Chernigov,Starodub, Novgorod-Seversky and sixteen other towns.

[edit] Further reading

Much information on Ivan III and his court is contained in Sigismund von Herberstein's Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii (1549).

[edit] See also

Rulers of Russia family tree

[edit] References

^ Michael C. Paul, "Secular Power and the Archbishops of Novgorod up to the Muscovite Conquest," Kritika 8, No. 2 (2007):131-170.

^ Paul, "Secular Power," 261.

^ Paul, "Secular Power," 264.

^ Paul, "Secular Power," 268.

^ Paul, "Secular Power," 267.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

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Ivan III of RussiaSudebnik

Preceded by

Vasili II Grand Prince of Moscow

1462–1505 Succeeded by

Vasili III

Preceded by

Dmitry Shemyaka Heir to the Russian Throne

1440–1462 Succeeded by

Ivan Ivanovich

Ivan III of Russia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ivan III Vasilevich (Russian: Иван III Васильевич) (22 January 1440, Moscow – 27 October 1505, Moscow), also known as Ivan the Great, was a Grand Prince of Moscow and "Grand Prince of all Russia" (Великий князь всея Руси) Sometimes referred to as the "gatherer of the Russian lands", he tripled the territory of his state, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. He was one of the longest-reigning Russian rulers in history.

Background

Ivan's parents were Vasily II and Maria of Borovsk. He was co-regent with his father during the later years of his life and succeeded him in 1462. Ivan tenaciously pursued the unifying policy of his predecessors. Nevertheless, he was cautious to the point of timidity. He avoided as far as possible any violent collision with his neighbors until all the circumstances were exceptionally favorable, always preferring to attain his ends gradually and circuitously. The Grand Duchy of Moscow had by this time become a compact and powerful state, whilst her rivals had grown weaker, a state of affairs very favorable to the speculative activity of a statesman of Ivan III's peculiar character.

[edit]Gathering of Russian lands

His first enterprise was a war with the Republic of Novgorod, which had fought a series of wars stretching back to at least the reign of Dmitry Donskoi over Moscow's religious and political sovereignty more generally and over Moscow's efforts to seize land in the Northern Dvina region more specifically.[1] Alarmed at Moscow's growing power, Novgorod had negotiated with Lithuania in hopes of placing itself under the protection of Casimir IV, King of Poland and Grand Prince of Lithuania, a would-be alliance regarded at Moscow as an act of apostasy from orthodoxy.[2] Ivan took the field against Novgorod in 1470, and after his generals had twice defeated the forces of the republic, at The Battle of Shelon River and on the Northern Dvina, both in the summer of 1471, the Novgorodians were forced to sue for peace, agreeing to abandon their overtures to Lithuania and ceding a considerable portion of their northern territories, and paying a war indemnity of 15,500 roubles.

Ivan visited Novgorod Central several times in the next several years, arresting a number of pro-Lithuanian boyars and confiscating their lands. In 1477, two Novgorodian envoys, claiming to have been sent by the archbishops and the entire city, addressed Ivan in public audience as Gosudar (sovereign) instead of the usual Gospodin (sir).[3] Ivan at once seized upon this as a recognition of his sovereignty, and when the Novgorodians repudiated the envoys (indeed, one was killed at the veche and several other of the pro-Moscow faction were killed with him) and swore openly in front of the Moscow ambassadors that they would turn to Lithuania again, he marched against them. Deserted by Casimir IV and surrounded on every side by the Moscow armies that occupied the major monasteries around the city the Novgorod recognized Ivan's direct rule over the city and its vast hinderland in a document signed and sealed by Archbishop Feofil of Novgorod (1470-1480) on January 15, 1478.[4]

Subsequent revolts (1479-1488) were punished by the removal en masse of the richest and most ancient families of Novgorod to Moscow, Vyatka and other central Russian cities. Archbishop Feofil, too, was removed to Moscow for plotting against the grand prince.[5] The rival republic of Pskov owed the continuance of its own political existence to the readiness with which it assisted Ivan against its ancient enemy. The other principalities were virtually absorbed, by conquest, purchase or marriage contract: Yaroslavl in 1463, Rostov in 1474, and Tver in 1485.

Ivan's refusal to share his conquests with his brothers, and his subsequent interference with the internal politics of their inherited principalities, involved him in several wars with them, from which, though the princes were assisted by Lithuania, he emerged victorious. Finally, Ivan's new rule of government, formally set forth in his last will to the effect that the domains of all his kinsfolk, after their deaths, should pass directly to the reigning grand duke instead of reverting, as hitherto, to the princes' heirs, put an end once and for all to these semi-independent princelings.

[edit]Domestic policy

The character of the government of Moscow under Ivan III changed essentially and took on a new autocratic form. This was due not merely to the natural consequence of the hegemony of Moscow over the other Russian lands but to new imperial pretensions. After the fall of Constantinople, orthodox canonists were inclined to regard the Grand Princes of Moscow as the successors by the Byzantine emperors. Ivan himself appeared to welcome the idea, and he began to style himself tsar in foreign correspondence.

This movement coincided with a change in the family circumstances of Ivan III. After the death of his first consort, Maria of Tver (1467), at the suggestion of Pope Paul II (1469), who hoped thereby to bind Russia to the holy see, Ivan III wedded Sophia Paleologue (also known under her original Greek and Orthodox name of Zoe), daughter of Thomas Palaeologus , despot of Morea, who claimed the throne of Constantinople as the brother of Constantine XI, last Byzantine emperor. Frustrating the Pope's hopes of re-uniting the two faiths, the princess endorsed Orthodoxy. Due to her family traditions, she encouraged imperial ideas in the mind of her consort. It was through her influence that the ceremonious etiquette of Constantinople (along with the imperial double-headed eagle and all that it implied) was adopted by the court of Moscow.

Ivan's son with Maria of Tver, Ivan the Young, died in 1490, leaving from his marriage with Helen of Moldavia an only child, Dmitry the Grandson. The latter was crowned as successor by his grandfather in 1497, but later Ivan reverted his decision in favour of Sophia's elder son Vasily who was ultimately crowned co-regent with his father (April 14, 1502). The decision was dictated by the crisis connected with the Sect of Skhariya the Jew as well as by the imperial prestige of Sophia's descendants. Dmitry the Grandson was put into prison where he died, unmarried and childless, in 1509, already under the rule of his uncle.

The grand duke increasingly held aloof from his boyars. The old patriarchal systems of government vanished. The boyars were no longer consulted on affairs of state. The sovereign became sacrosanct, while the boyars were reduced to dependency on the will of the sovereign. The boyars naturally resented this revolution and struggled against it, at first with some success.

It was in the reign of Ivan III that the new Russian Sudebnik, or law code, was compiled by the scribe Vladimir Gusev. Ivan did his utmost to make his capital a worthy successor to Constantinople, and with that object invited many foreign masters and artificers to settle in Moscow. The most noted of these was the Italian Ridolfo di Fioravante, nicknamed Aristotle because of his extraordinary knowledge, who built several cathedrals and palaces in the Kremlin. This extraordinary monument of the Moscow art remains a lasting symbol of the power and glory of Ivan III.

[edit]Foreign policy

It was in the reign of Ivan III that Russia rejected the Tatar yoke. In 1480 Ivan refused to pay the customary tribute to the grand Khan Ahmed. When, however, the grand khan marched against him, Ivan's courage began to fail, and only the stern exhortations of the high-spirited bishop of Rostov, Vassian, could induce him to take the field. All through the autumn the Russian and Tatar hosts confronted each other on opposite sides of the Ugra, till the 11th of November, when Ahmed retired into the steppe.

In the following year the grand khan, while preparing a second expedition against Moscow, was suddenly attacked, routed and slain by Ivak, the khan of the Nogay Horde, where upon the Golden Horde suddenly fell to pieces. In 1487 Ivan reduced the khanate of Kazan one of the offshoots of the Horde to the condition of a vassal-state, though in his later years it broke away from his suzerainty. With the other Muslim powers, the khan of the Crimean Khanate and the sultans of Ottoman Empire, Ivan's relations were pacific and even amicable. The Crimean khan, Meñli I Giray, helped him against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and facilitated the opening of diplomatic intercourse between Moscow and Istanbul, where the first Russian embassy appeared in 1495.

It was in Ivan’s reign that the Christian rulers in the Caucasus began to see the Russian monarchs as their natural allies against the Muslim regional powers. The first attempt at forging an alliance was made by Alexander I, king of a small Georgian kingdom of Kakheti, who dispatched two embassies, in 1483 and 1491, to Moscow. However, as the Russians were still too far from the Caucasus, neither of these missions had any effect on the course of events in the region.

From Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, gun-founders, gold- and silversmiths and (Italian) master builders were requested by Ivan. [6]

In Nordic affairs, Ivan III concluded an offensive alliance with Hans of Denmark and maintained a regular correspondence with Emperor Maximilian I, who called him a "brother". He built a strong citadel in Ingria named Ivangorod after himself, which proved of great consequence to Russians in Russo-Swedish War, 1496-1499 the war with Sweden, which had been preceded by Ivan's detention of the Hanseatic merchants trading in Novgorod.

The further extension of the Moscow dominion was facilitated by the death of Casimir IV in 1492, when Poland and Lithuania once more parted company. The throne of Lithuania was now occupied by Casimir's son Alexander, a weak and lethargic prince so incapable of defending his possessions against the persistent attacks of the Russians that he attempted to save them by a matrimonial compact, and wedded Helena, Ivan's daughter. But the clear determination of Ivan to appropriate as much of Lithuania as possible at last compelled Alexander in 1499 to take up arms against his father-in-law. The Lithuanians were routed at Vedrosha (July 14, 1500), and in 1503 Alexander was glad to purchase peace by ceding to Ivan Chernigov,Starodub, Novgorod-Seversky and sixteen other towns.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_III_of_Russia