At the end of June 1472, the Byzantine princess Sophia Palaiologos solemnly set off from Rome to Moscow: she was on her way to a wedding with Grand Duke Ivan III. This woman was destined to play an important role in the historical fate of Russia.
Byzantine princess
May 29, 1453 the legendary Constantinople, besieged by the Turkish army, fell. The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, died in battle defending Constantinople.
His younger brother Thomas Palaiologos, ruler of the small appanage state of Morea on the Peloponnese, fled with his family to Corfu and then to Rome. After all, Byzantium, hoping to receive military assistance from Europe in the fight against the Turks, signed the Union of Florence in 1439 on the unification of the Churches, and now its rulers could seek refuge from the papal throne. Thomas Palaiologos was able to take out the greatest shrines of the Christian world, including the head of the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called. In gratitude for this, he received a house in Rome and a good boarding house from the papacy.
In 1465, Thomas died, leaving three children - the sons of Andrei and Manuel and the youngest daughter Zoya. The exact date of her birth is unknown. It is believed that she was born in 1443 or 1449 in her father's possessions in the Peloponnese, where she received her primary education. The education of the royal orphans was taken over by the Vatican, entrusting them to Cardinal Bessarion of Nicaea. A Greek by birth, a former archbishop of Nicaea, he was an ardent supporter of the signing of the Union of Florence, after which he became a cardinal in Rome. He brought up Zoya Palaiologos in European Catholic traditions and especially taught that she should humbly follow the principles of Catholicism in everything, calling her "the beloved daughter of the Roman Church." Only in this case, he inspired the pupil, fate will give you everything. However, it turned out quite the opposite.
In those years, the Vatican was looking for allies to organize a new crusade against the Turks, intending to involve all European sovereigns in it. Then, on the advice of Cardinal Vissarion, the pope decided to marry Zoya to the recently widowed Moscow sovereign Ivan III, knowing about his desire to become the heir to the Byzantine basileus. This marriage served two political purposes. First, they expected that the Grand Duke of Muscovy would now accept the Union of Florence and submit to Rome. And secondly, it will become a powerful ally and recapture the former possessions of Byzantium, taking some of them as dowry. So, by the irony of history, this fateful marriage for Russia was inspired by the Vatican. It remained to obtain the consent of Moscow.
In February 1469, the ambassador of Cardinal Vissarion arrived in Moscow with a letter to the Grand Duke, in which he was invited to marry legally with the daughter of the Despot of Morea. In the letter, among other things, it was mentioned that Sophia (the name Zoya was diplomatically replaced with the Orthodox Sophia) had already refused two crowned suitors who were wooing her - the French king and the Duke of Mediolan, not wanting to marry the Catholic ruler.
According to the ideas of that time, Sophia was already considered an elderly woman, but she was very attractive, with amazingly beautiful, expressive eyes and delicate matte skin, which in Russia was considered a sign of excellent health. And most importantly, she was distinguished by a sharp mind and an article worthy of a Byzantine princess.
The Moscow sovereign accepted the offer. He sent his ambassador, the Italian Gian Battista della Volpe (he was nicknamed Ivan Fryazin in Moscow) to Rome to woo. The messenger returned a few months later, in November, bringing with him a portrait of the bride. This portrait, which seems to have begun the era of Sophia Paleolog in Moscow, is considered the first secular image in Russia. At least, they were so amazed by him that the chronicler called the portrait an “icon”, not finding another word: “And bring the princess on the icon.”
However, the matchmaking dragged on, because Metropolitan Philip of Moscow objected for a long time to the marriage of the sovereign with a Uniate woman, moreover, a pupil of the papal throne, fearing the spread of Catholic influence in Russia. Only in January 1472, having received the consent of the hierarch, Ivan III sent an embassy to Rome for the bride. Already on June 1, at the insistence of Cardinal Vissarion, a symbolic betrothal took place in Rome - the engagement of Princess Sophia and the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan, who was represented by the Russian ambassador Ivan Fryazin. In the same June, Sophia set off with an honorary retinue and the papal legate Anthony, who soon had to see firsthand the vain hopes placed by Rome on this marriage. According to Catholic tradition, a Latin cross was carried in front of the procession, which led to great confusion and excitement among the inhabitants of Russia. Upon learning of this, Metropolitan Philip threatened the Grand Duke: “If you allow in blessed Moscow to carry the cross in front of the Latin bishop, then he will enter the single gate, and I, your father, will go out of the city differently.” Ivan III immediately sent a boyar to meet the procession with an order to remove the cross from the sleigh, and the legate had to obey with great displeasure. The princess herself behaved as befits the future ruler of Russia. Having entered the Pskov land, she first of all visited an Orthodox church, where she kissed the icons. The legate had to obey here too: follow her to the church, and there bow to the holy icons and venerate the image of the Mother of God by order of the despina (from the Greek despot- "ruler"). And then Sophia promised the admiring Pskovites her protection before the Grand Duke.
Ivan III did not intend to fight for the "inheritance" with the Turks, much less to accept the Union of Florence. And Sophia was not at all going to Catholicize Russia. On the contrary, she showed herself to be an active Orthodox. Some historians believe that she did not care what faith she professed. Others suggest that Sophia, apparently raised in her childhood by the elders of Athos, opponents of the Union of Florence, was deeply Orthodox at heart. She skillfully hid her faith from the powerful Roman "patrons" who did not help her homeland, betraying her to the Gentiles for ruin and death. One way or another, this marriage only strengthened Muscovy, contributing to its conversion into the great Third Rome.
Kremlin Despina
Early in the morning of November 12, 1472, Sophia Paleolog arrived in Moscow, where everything was ready for the wedding celebration, timed to coincide with the name day of the Grand Duke - the day of memory of St. John Chrysostom. On the same day in the Kremlin, in a temporary wooden church, set up near the Assumption Cathedral under construction, so as not to stop worship, the sovereign married her. The Byzantine princess saw her husband for the first time then. Grand Duke was young - only 32 years old, good-looking, tall and stately. Especially remarkable were his eyes, "terrible eyes": when he was angry, women fainted from his terrible look. And before, Ivan Vasilyevich had a tough character, but now, having become related to the Byzantine monarchs, he turned into a formidable and powerful sovereign. This was a considerable merit of his young wife.
The wedding in a wooden church made a strong impression on Sophia Paleolog. The Byzantine princess, brought up in Europe, was different from Russian women in many ways. Sophia brought with her her ideas about the court and the power of power, and many Moscow orders were not to her liking. She did not like that her sovereign husband remained a tributary of the Tatar Khan, that the boyar entourage behaved too freely with their sovereign. That the Russian capital, built entirely of wood, stands with patched fortifications and dilapidated stone churches. That even the sovereign's mansions in the Kremlin are wooden, and that Russian women look at the world from the little window of the lighthouse. Sophia Paleolog not only made changes at court. Some Moscow monuments owe their appearance to her.
She brought a generous dowry to Russia. After the wedding, Ivan III adopted the Byzantine double-headed eagle as a coat of arms - a symbol of royal power, placing it on his seal. The two heads of the eagle face West and East, Europe and Asia, symbolizing their unity, as well as the unity (“symphony”) of spiritual and secular power. Actually, Sophia's dowry was the legendary "liberia" - a library allegedly brought on 70 carts (better known as the "library of Ivan the Terrible"). It included Greek parchments, Latin chronographs, ancient Eastern manuscripts, among which were the poems of Homer unknown to us, the works of Aristotle and Plato, and even the surviving books from the famous library of Alexandria. Seeing wooden Moscow, burned after a fire in 1470, Sophia was frightened for the fate of the treasure and for the first time hid the books in the basement of the stone church of the Nativity of the Virgin on Senya, the house church of the Moscow Grand Duchesses, built by order of St. Evdokia, the widow of Dmitry Donskoy. And, according to Moscow custom, she put her own treasury to be stored in the underground of the Kremlin Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist - the very first church in Moscow, which stood until 1847.
According to legend, she brought with her a “bone throne” as a gift to her husband: its wooden frame was all covered with ivory and walrus ivory plates with biblical themes carved on them. This throne is known to us as the throne of Ivan the Terrible: the tsar is depicted on it by the sculptor M. Antokolsky. In 1896, the throne was installed in the Assumption Cathedral for the coronation of Nicholas II. But the sovereign ordered to place it for Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (according to other sources - for his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna), and he himself wished to be crowned on the throne of the first Romanov. And now the throne of Ivan the Terrible is the oldest in the Kremlin collection.
Sophia brought with her several Orthodox icons, including, as they say, a rare icon of the Mother of God "Blessed Heaven". The icon was in the local rank of the iconostasis of the Kremlin Archangel Cathedral. True, according to another legend, this icon was brought to ancient Smolensk from Constantinople, and when Lithuania captured the city, this way they blessed the Lithuanian princess Sofya Vitovtovna for marriage with the great Moscow prince Vasily I. The icon, which is now in the cathedral, is a list from that ancient image, executed by order of Fyodor Alekseevich at the end of the 17th century. According to tradition, Muscovites brought water and lamp oil to the image of the Mother of God "Blessed Sky", which were performed medicinal properties, since this icon had a special, miraculous healing power. And even after the wedding of Ivan III, an image of the Byzantine emperor Michael III, the ancestor of the Palaiologos dynasty, with which the Moscow rulers intermarried, appeared in the Archangel Cathedral. Thus, the continuity of Moscow to the Byzantine Empire was affirmed, and the Moscow sovereigns appeared as the heirs of the Byzantine emperors.
After the wedding, Ivan III himself felt the need to rebuild the Kremlin into a powerful and impregnable citadel. It all started with the catastrophe of 1474, when the Assumption Cathedral, built by Pskov craftsmen, collapsed. Rumors immediately spread among the people that the trouble had befallen because of the “Greek”, who had previously been in “Latinism”. While they found out the reasons for the collapse, Sophia advised her husband to invite Italian architects, who were then the best masters in Europe. Their creations could make Moscow equal in beauty and majesty to European capitals and maintain the prestige of the Moscow sovereign, as well as emphasize the continuity of Moscow not only to the Second, but also to the First Rome. Scientists have noticed that the Italians went to the unknown Muscovy without fear, because despina could give them protection and help. Sometimes there is a statement that it was Sophia who suggested to her husband the idea of inviting Aristotle Fioravanti, whom she could hear about in Italy or even know him personally, because he was famous in his homeland as the “new Archimedes”. Like it or not, only the Russian ambassador Semyon Tolbuzin, sent by Ivan III to Italy, invited Fioravanti to Moscow, and he happily agreed.
In Moscow, a special, secret order awaited him. Fioravanti drew up a master plan for the new Kremlin being built by his compatriots. There is an assumption that an impregnable fortress was built to protect Liberia. In the Assumption Cathedral, the architect made a deep underground crypt, where they put a priceless library. It was this cache that Grand Duke Vasily III accidentally discovered many years after the death of his parents. At his invitation, in 1518, Maxim the Greek came to Moscow to translate these books, who allegedly managed to tell Ivan the Terrible, the son of Vasily III, about them before his death. Where this library ended up during the time of Ivan the Terrible is still unknown. They searched for her in the Kremlin, and in Kolomenskoye, and in Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, and at the site of the Oprichny Palace on Mokhovaya. And now there is an assumption that Liberia rests under the bottom of the Moscow River, in the dungeons dug from the chambers of Malyuta Skuratov.
The construction of some Kremlin churches is also associated with the name of Sophia Paleolog. The first of these was the Cathedral in the name of St. Nicholas Gostunsky, built near the bell tower of Ivan the Great. Previously, there was a Horde courtyard where the khan's governors lived, and such a neighborhood depressed the Kremlin despina. According to legend, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker himself appeared in a dream to Sophia and ordered to build an Orthodox church on that place. Sophia proved herself to be a subtle diplomat: she sent an embassy with rich gifts to the wife of the khan and, having told about the miraculous vision shown to her, asked to give her land in exchange for another - outside the Kremlin. Consent was obtained, and in 1477 the wooden Nikolsky Cathedral appeared, later replaced by a stone one and stood until 1817. (Recall that the first printer Ivan Fedorov was the deacon of this church). However, the historian Ivan Zabelin believed that, on the orders of Sophia Paleolog, another church was built in the Kremlin, consecrated in the name of Saints Cosmas and Damian, which did not survive to this day.
Traditions call Sophia Paleolog the founder of the Spassky Cathedral, which, however, was rebuilt during the construction of the Terem Palace in the 17th century and began to be called Verkhospassky at the same time - because of its location. Another legend says that Sophia Palaiologos brought to Moscow a temple image of the Savior Not Made by Hands of this cathedral. In the 19th century, the artist Sorokin painted from him the image of the Lord for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. This image miraculously survived to this day and is now located in the lower (stylobate) Church of the Transfiguration as its main shrine. It is known that Sophia Paleolog indeed brought the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands, with which her father blessed her. In the Kremlin Cathedral of the Savior on Bor, a salary from this image was kept, and on the lectern lay the icon of the All-Merciful Savior, also brought by Sophia.
Another story is connected with the Church of the Savior on Bor, which was then the cathedral church of the Kremlin Spassky Monastery, and Despina, thanks to which the Novospassky Monastery appeared in Moscow. After the wedding, the Grand Duke still lived in wooden mansions, now and then burning in the frequent Moscow fires. Once Sophia herself had to escape from the fire, and she finally asked her husband to build a stone palace. The sovereign decided to please his wife and fulfilled her request. So the Cathedral of the Savior on Bor, together with the monastery, was constrained by new palace buildings. And in 1490 Ivan III moved the monastery to the banks of the Moskva River, five miles from the Kremlin. Since then, the monastery has become known as Novospassky, and the Cathedral of the Savior on Bor has remained an ordinary parish church. Due to the construction of the palace, the Kremlin Church of the Nativity of the Virgin on Senya, which also suffered from a fire, was not restored for a long time. Only when the palace was finally ready (and this happened only under Vasily III), did it have a second floor, and in 1514 the architect Aleviz Fryazin raised the Nativity Church to new level, which is why it is still visible from Mokhovaya Street.
In the 19th century, during excavations in the Kremlin, a bowl with antique coins minted under the Roman emperor Tiberius was discovered. According to scientists, these coins were brought by someone from the numerous retinue of Sophia Palaiologos, in which there were natives of both Rome and Constantinople. Many of them took government posts, became treasurers, ambassadors, translators. A. Chicheri, the ancestor of Pushkin's grandmother, Olga Vasilievna Chicherina, and the famous Soviet diplomat, arrived in Russia in the retinue of Despina. Later, Sophia invited doctors from Italy for the family of the Grand Duke. The occupation of medicine was then very dangerous for foreigners, especially when it came to treating the first person of the state. A complete recovery of the highest patient was required, but in the event of the death of the patient, the life of the doctor himself was taken away.
So, the doctor Leon, discharged by Sophia from Venice, vouched with his head that he would cure the heir who suffered from gout - Prince Ivan Ivanovich the Younger, the eldest son of Ivan III from his first wife. However, the heir died, and the doctor was executed in Zamoskvorechye on Bolvanovka. The people blamed Sophia for the death of the young prince: the death of the heir could be especially beneficial for her, for she dreamed of the throne for her son Vasily, who was born in 1479.
Sophia was not loved in Moscow for her influence on the Grand Duke and for the changes in Moscow life - “great discords,” as the boyar Bersen-Beklemishev put it. She also interfered in foreign policy affairs, insisting that Ivan III stop paying tribute to the Horde Khan and free himself from his power. And as if once she said to her husband: “I refused my hand to rich, strong princes and kings, for faith I married you, and now you want to make me and my children tributaries; do you not have enough troops? As noted by V.O. Klyuchevsky, Sophia's skilful advice always met her husband's secret intentions. Ivan III really refused to pay tribute and trampled on the Khan's charter right in the Horde courtyard in Zamoskvorechye, where the Transfiguration Church was later erected. But even then the people "spoke" of Sophia. Before leaving for the great stand on the Ugra in 1480, Ivan III sent his wife with small children to Beloozero, for which he was credited with secret intentions to quit power and flee with his wife if Khan Akhmat took Moscow.
Having freed himself from the yoke of the Khan, Ivan III felt himself a sovereign sovereign. Through the efforts of Sophia, palace etiquette began to resemble Byzantine. The Grand Duke gave his wife a "gift": he allowed her to have her own "thought" of the members of the retinue and arrange "diplomatic receptions" in her half. She received foreign ambassadors and struck up a courteous conversation with them. For Russia, this was an unheard-of innovation. The treatment at the sovereign's court also changed. The Byzantine princess brought sovereign rights to her husband and, according to the historian F.I. Uspensky, the right to the throne of Byzantium, which the boyars had to reckon with. Previously, Ivan III loved “a meeting against himself”, that is, objections and disputes, but under Sophia he changed his treatment of the courtiers, began to keep himself inaccessible, demanded special respect and easily fell into anger, now and then disgracing himself. These misfortunes were also attributed to the pernicious influence of Sophia Paleolog.
Meanwhile, their family life was not cloudless. In 1483, Sophia's brother Andrei married his daughter to Prince Vasily Vereisky, the great-grandson of Dmitry Donskoy. Sophia presented her niece for the wedding with a valuable gift from the sovereign's treasury - an ornament that previously belonged to the first wife of Ivan III, Maria Borisovna, naturally believing that she had every right to make this gift. When the Grand Duke missed the jewelry to welcome his daughter-in-law Elena Voloshanka, who gave him a grandson Dmitry, such a storm broke out that Vereisky had to flee to Lithuania.
And soon storm clouds hung over the head of Sophia herself: strife began over the heir to the throne. Ivan III had a grandson Dmitry, born in 1483, from his eldest son. Sophia gave birth to his son Vasily. Which of them should have taken the throne? This uncertainty caused a struggle between the two court parties - supporters of Dmitry and his mother Elena Voloshanka and supporters of Vasily and Sophia Paleolog.
"Grekinya" was immediately accused of violating the legitimate succession to the throne. In 1497, enemies told the Grand Duke that Sophia wanted to poison his grandson in order to put her own son on the throne, that she was secretly visited by fortune-tellers preparing a poisonous potion, and that Vasily himself was participating in this conspiracy. Ivan III took the side of his grandson, arrested Vasily, ordered the soothsayer to drown him in the Moscow River, and removed his wife from himself, defiantly executing several members of her “thought”. Already in 1498, he married Dmitry in the Assumption Cathedral as heir to the throne. Scientists believe that it was then that the famous “Legend of the Princes of Vladimir” was born - a literary monument of the late 15th - early 16th centuries, which tells about the Monomakh's hat, which the Byzantine emperor Konstantin Monomakh allegedly sent with regalia to his grandson - Kiev prince Vladimir Monomakh. Thus, it was proved that the Russian princes had become related to the Byzantine rulers back in the days of Kievan Rus and that the descendant of the older branch, that is, Dmitry, had a legal right to the throne.
However, the ability to weave court intrigues was in Sophia's blood. She managed to achieve the fall of Elena Voloshanka, accusing her of adherence to heresy. Then the Grand Duke placed his daughter-in-law and grandson in disgrace and in 1500 named Vasily the legitimate heir to the throne. Who knows what path Russian history would have taken if not for Sophia! But Sophia did not have long to enjoy the victory. She died in April 1503 and was buried with honor in the Kremlin Ascension Monastery. Ivan III died two years later, and in 1505 Vasily III ascended the throne.
Nowadays, scientists have managed to restore her sculptural portrait from the skull of Sophia Paleolog. Before us appears a woman of outstanding mind and strong will, which confirms the numerous legends built around her name.
Sofia Paleolog went from the last Byzantine princess to the Grand Duchess of Moscow. Thanks to her intelligence and cunning, she could influence the policy of Ivan III, won in palace intrigues. Sophia also managed to put her son Vasily III on the throne.
Zoya Palaiologos was born around 1440-1449. She was the daughter of Thomas Palaiologos, brother of the last Byzantine Emperor Constantine. The fate of the whole family after the death of the ruler was unenviable. Thomas Palaiologos fled to Corfu and then to Rome. After a while, the children followed him. Paleologists were patronized by Pope Paul II himself. The girl had to convert to Catholicism and change her name from Zoya to Sophia. She received an education appropriate to her status, not bathed in luxury, but not in poverty either.
Sophia became a pawn in the political game of the Pope. At first he wanted to give her as a wife to the king of Cyprus, James II, 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 Paleolog was offered to him as his wife. The Pope did not mention that she was a Catholic, thereby wishing to expand the influence of the Vatican in Russia. Negotiations for marriage continued for three years. Ivan III was seduced by the opportunity to marry such an eminent person.
The betrothal in absentia took place on June 1, 1472, after which Sophia Paleolog went to Muscovy. Everywhere she was given all sorts of honors and organized holidays. At the head of her motorcade was a man who carried a Catholic cross. Upon learning of 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 miles 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 disliked. Despite this, Sophia had a huge influence on her husband. The annals describe in detail how Palaiologos persuaded Ivan III to free himself from Mongolian yoke.
Following the Byzantine model, Ivan III developed a complex judicial system. At the same time, for the first time, the Grand Duke began to call himself "Tsar and Autocrat of All Russia." It is believed that the image of the double-headed eagle, which later appeared on the coat of arms of Muscovy, Sophia Paleolog brought with her.
Sofia Paleolog and Ivan III had eleven children (five sons and six daughters). From his first marriage, the tsar had a son, Ivan Molodoy, the first contender for the throne. But he fell ill with gout and died. Another "obstacle" for the children of Sophia on the way to the throne was the son of Ivan the Young Dmitry. But he and his mother fell out of favor with the king and died in captivity. Some historians suggest that Palaiologos 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 Paleologus turned out to be successful politically and culturally. were able to leave a mark not only in the history of their country, but also become beloved queens in a foreign land.
Having been widowed in 1467, twenty-seven-year-old Ivan Vasilyevich decided to marry again. His choice settled on the Greek princess Zoe Palaiologos, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI Dragas, who died in battle with the Turks during the storming of Constantinople on May 29, 1453. Zoya's father, Thomas Palaiologos, was the brother of the deceased. Fleeing from the Turks, he first settled on the island of Corfu with his two sons and daughter. After some time, leaving the children in Corfu, Thomas sailed to Rome, hoping to find protection from the Pope Nicholas V. Having reached Rome, he presented the pope with a priceless Christian shrine - the head of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called. The head of the apostle, with an extraordinary gathering of people, was laid in the church of St. Peter - the main sanctuary of the Catholic world, and Thomas Palaiologos was awarded papal patronage, honor and, which is very important, an annual pension of six thousand golden ecu. Thomas Palaiologos died three years later, without waiting for the children, who shortly before buried their mother in Corfu and were already sailing on a ship to Italy. When Andrei, Manuel and Zoya Palaiologos appeared in Rome, their father's pension passed to them and with it the goodwill of the new pope, Paul II, who took the Vatican throne in 1464. Zoya was offered his hand by the Cypriot king James II, but fate would have decreed otherwise: Ivan III became interested in Zoya, and the choice was made by her in favor of the Grand Duke of Moscow. It happened like this. In Moscow, at the Mint, the Italian Giovanni Battista della Volpe worked. He was familiar with Zoya and once told Ivan Vasilyevich about the charming niece of the last emperor of Byzantium. Ivan Vasilievich immediately sent the master to Rome to get a “parsuna” - that was the name of the portrait in Russia, changing the word “person” in his own way. Volpe fulfilled the order, brought both a portrait and, most importantly, consent to marriage, after which he again left for Rome for a bride. The new Pope Sixtus IV, who hoped for the assistance of Zoya - five minutes to the "Queen of Russia" - in the fight against the Ottoman Turks, gave her six thousand ducats, a large retinue and a convoy of one hundred horses and several dozen carts for the road. Having cheerfully and solemnly traveled through Italy, then crossing the Alps, Zoya arrived in Nuremberg, and then in Lübeck, the main city of the Hansa merchant union. From here, the "Russian Queen" with her retinue went to sea, and soon her squadron dropped anchor in Reval - present-day Tallinn. It was the last non-Russian city on the way to Moscow. Nearby was Pskov. On October 11, 1472, the best Pskov citizens and boyars met their future sovereign, who sent six large nasads to meet her - river boats with impaled, that is, high-raised sides. The decks of the embankments were covered with large carpets, and the ships themselves were filled with gifts. Having met Zoya on the eastern bank of the Embakh River, the Pskovites brought her “cups and horns gilded with honey and wine, and when they came to her they hit her with their foreheads,” the Pskov Chronicle reports. Having crossed Lake Peipus and Lake Pskov, the nasads climbed the Velikaya River and ended up in Pskov. Here, an instant and profound change took place with the pupil of popes and cardinals - the Tsargrad princess devoutly defended a long prayer service in the Trinity Cathedral of the Pskov Kremlin, arousing the delight of her future subjects with sincere Orthodox piety. Then, having passed through Novgorod the Great, Zoya entered Moscow on November 12, where everything was already prepared for the wedding ceremony. Zoya was struck by a strange paradox: the princes and boyars who met her were strewn with gold and precious stones, and the Church of the Assumption in the Kremlin - the first important temple of Moscow Russia, where the metropolitan served and the wedding took place - was wooden, like all the buildings inside the Kremlin. Metropolitan Gerontius, at a meeting with Sophia Fominichnaya (as Zoya was called in Russia), blessed her and the Orthodox Greeks who accompanied the princess, and then sent the bride to the mother of the Grand Duke, where she saw her future husband for the first time. There, the young people were betrothed and married on the same day. Sophia came from a country flooded with sun, into the slush and frosts of snow-covered Muscovy. Olive groves and vineyards gave way to swamps and snow-covered, bare and wet forests. Instead of the stone and marble of the palaces and castles of Europe, she was met by a thousand-mile hut Russia, where she sometimes traveled from village to village for many hours, or even several days. Sofya Fominichnaya brought to Moscow servants taught to read and write and various languages. They brought habitual for them, but unknown in Moscow, the orders and customs of the distant and mysterious Constantinople. With the advent of the Greeks in the Kremlin, subtle intrigues, ambiguous words, sly smiles, mysterious eyes crumbled. Sofya Fominichna underestimated the new, barbaric, as she considered, country, for this country and this court were no less insidious and cunning than Constantinople and Rome, and where from the very first days threads of intrigue were tied around it no less dangerous than in Byzantium or Italy, because they saw in her a dangerous rival, capable of sharing power and, most importantly, transferring it to a possible future heir, whom she was to give birth to her crowned husband. However, so far these were nothing more than empty dreams, because between her future son, who had not yet been in sight, Sofya Fominichna saw an invincible rival - the son of Ivan Vasilyevich and the late Maria Borisovna, Ivan Ivanovich.
Sofya Fominichna Paleolog - (nee Zoya Paleologin), Grand Duchess of Moscow, second wife of Ivan III, mother of Vasily III, grandmother of Ivan IV the Terrible. Descended from the imperial dynasty of Palaiologos.
Grand Duchess Sophia Paleolog (died in 1503 at the age of 50-60). Sculptural reconstruction based on the skull of S.A. Nikitina, 1994.
Her father, Thomas Palaiologos, was the brother of the last emperor of Byzantium, Constantine XI, and despot of the Morea (Peloponnese).
Thomas Palaiologos, Sophia's father (Fresco by Pinturicchio, Piccolomini Library).
Her maternal grandfather was Centurione II Zaccaria, the last Frankish prince of Achaia. Centurione came from a Genoese merchant family. His father was placed to rule Achaia by the Neapolitan king Charles III of Anjou. Centurione inherited power from his father and ruled in the principality until 1430, when the Despot of the Morea, Thomas Palaiologos, launched a large-scale offensive against his possessions. This forced the prince to retreat to his hereditary castle in Messenia, where he died in 1432, two years after the peace treaty, according to which Thomas married his daughter Catherine. After his death, the territory of the principality became part of the despotate.
Emperor John VIII, Sophia's uncle (fresco by Benozzo Gozzoli, Magi Chapel)
Emperor Constantine XI, Sophia's uncle (late icon)
Zoya's older sister Elena Paleologina Morejska (1431 - November 7, 1473) was the wife of the Serbian despot Lazar Brankovich from 1446, and after the capture of Serbia by the Muslims in 1459, she fled to the Greek island of Lefkada, where she took the veil. Thomas also had two surviving sons, Andrew Palaiologos (1453-1502) and Manuel Palaiologos (1455-1512).
Decisive in the fate of Zoe was the fall of the Byzantine Empire. Emperor Constantine died in 1453 during the capture of Constantinople, 7 years later, in 1460, Morea was captured by the Turkish Sultan Mehmed II, Thomas went to the island of Corfu, then to Rome, where he soon died. Zoya and her brothers, 7-year-old Andrei and 5-year-old Manuel, moved to Rome 5 years after their father. There she received the name "Sofia". Palaiologos settled at the court of Pope Sixtus IV (known for his patronage of Michelangelo, to whom he ordered the painting of the chapel of his name at the papal chambers). In order to gain support, Thomas converted to Catholicism in the last year of his life.
Sixtus IV
After the death of Thomas on May 12, 1465 (his wife Catherine died a little earlier in the same year), the well-known Greek scholar, Cardinal Bessarion of Nicaea, a supporter of the union, took care of his children. His letter has been preserved, in which he gave instructions to the teacher of orphans. It follows from this letter that the pope will continue to release 3600 ecu per year for their maintenance (200 ecu per month - for children, their clothes, horses and servants; plus it was necessary to save for a rainy day, and spend 100 ecu on the maintenance of a modest yard ). The court included a doctor, a professor of Latin, a professor of Greek, an interpreter and 1-2 priests.
Vissarion of Nicaea
A few words should be said about the deplorable fate of the brothers Sophia. After the death of Thomas, the crown of Palaiologos was inherited de jure by his son Andrew, who sold it to various European monarchs and died in poverty. During the reign of Bayezid II, the second son, Manuel, returned to Istanbul and surrendered to the mercy of the Sultan. According to some sources, he converted to Islam, started a family and served in the Turkish navy.
In 1466, the Venetian lordship offered the Cypriot king Jacques II de Lusignan her candidacy as a bride, but he refused. According to Fr. Pirlinga, the brilliance of her name and the glory of her ancestors were a poor bulwark against the Ottoman ships cruising the waters of the Mediterranean. Around 1467, Pope Paul II, through Cardinal Vissarion, offered her hand to Prince Caracciolo, a noble Italian rich man. She was solemnly engaged, but the marriage did not take place.
Ivan III Vasilievich. Engraving from "Cosmography" by A. Teve, 1575
Ivan III was widowed in 1467 - his first wife Maria Borisovna, Princess of Tverskaya died, leaving him his only son, heir - Ivan the Young.
Sophia's marriage to Ivan III was proposed in 1469 by Pope Paul II, presumably in the hope of strengthening the influence of the Catholic Church in Russia or, perhaps, bringing the Catholic and Orthodox churches closer together - to restore the Florentine connection of churches, as well as to involve Russia in a pan-European crusade against Turkey.
A papal legate sent to Russia in 1467, who proposed marriage, was received with honors. Ivan III, who strengthened the grand ducal power, hoped that kinship with the Byzantine house would help Muscovy increase international prestige, which had noticeably shaken over the two centuries of the Horde yoke, and help increase the authority of the grand ducal power within the country.
The ambassador of Ivan III, Ivan Fryazin, sent along with the legate to Rome in order to “see the bride”, said that Zoya was short, plump, with beautiful big eyes and unusually white skin (cleanliness of the skin as a sign of health was highly valued in Muscovy). With him from Rome, Fryazin brought a portrait of the bride in the form of a parsuna (images of a real person as a saint, the chronicler reports that Zoya was “painted on the icon”). Many contemporaries also talked about the sharp mind of a young woman.
Muyzhel Viktor Vasilievich (1880 -1924). "Ambassador Ivan Frezin presents Ivan III with a portrait of his bride Sophia Paleolog"
In March 1472, the second embassy to the pope ended with the arrival of Zoe in Moscow. Together with her, her dowry arrived in Russia, which included (in addition to many material assets and jewelry) a huge "library" - Greek "parchments", Latin chronographs, Hebrew manuscripts, which later, apparently, entered the library of Ivan the Terrible.
Meeting of the princess. 1883. Bronnikov Fedor Andreevich
Many wagons with dowry were accompanied by the papal legate Anthony, dressed in a red cardinal dress and carrying a four-pointed Catholic cross as a sign of hope for the conversion of the Russian prince to Catholicism. The cross was taken away from Anthony at the entrance to Moscow on the orders of Metropolitan Philip, who did not approve of this marriage.
The wedding of Ivan III with the Byzantine princess Sophia. Abeghyan M.
November 12, 1472, having converted to Orthodoxy under the name of Sophia, Zoya was married to Ivan III. At the same time, the wife “Catholicized” her husband, and the husband “orthodoxized” his wife, which was perceived by contemporaries as a victory of the Orthodox faith over “Latinism”.
On April 18, 1474, Sophia gave birth to the first (quickly deceased) daughter Anna, then another daughter (who also died so quickly that they did not have time to christen her). Disappointment in family life compensated by activities outside the home. Her husband consulted with her in making state decisions (in 1474 he bought out half of the Rostov principality, a friendly alliance was concluded with the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray). Baron Herberstein, who twice came to Moscow as the ambassador of the German emperor under Vasily II, after hearing a lot of boyar talk, wrote about Sophia in his notes that she was an unusually cunning woman who had a great influence on the prince.
Vision of the Rev. Sergius of Radonezh to Grand Duchess Sofia Palaiologos of Moscow. Lithography. Workshop of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. 1866. SPMZ. Sofia Paleolog. Plastic reconstruction S.A. Nikitin. Museums of the Moscow Kremlin. 1866
Sophia actively participated in diplomatic receptions (the Venetian envoy Cantarini noted that the reception organized by her was "very majestic and affectionate"). According to a legend cited not only by Russian chronicles, but also by the English poet John Milton, in 1477 Sophia was able to outwit the Tatar Khan, declaring that she had a sign from above about the construction of a church to St. and the actions of the Kremlin. This story presents Sophia as a resolute nature (“she put them out of the Kremlin, she demolished the house, although she did not build the temple”). In 1478 Russia actually stopped paying tribute to the Horde; two years remained before the complete overthrow of the yoke.
Shustov N. S. "John III overthrows the Tatar yoke, tearing the Khan's charter and ordering the death of the ambassadors." 1862
Basil the Great and led. book. Basil III", a fragment of the icon, State Historical Museum
In 1480, again on the “advice” of his wife, Ivan III went with the militia to the Ugra River (near Kaluga), where the army of the Tatar Khan Akhmat was stationed. "Standing on the Ugra" did not end with a battle. The onset of frost and lack of food forced the khan and his army to leave. These events ended Horde yoke. The main obstacle to strengthening the grand duke's power collapsed and, relying on his dynastic connection with "Orthodox Rome" (Constantinople) through his wife Sophia, Ivan III proclaimed himself the successor to the sovereign rights of the Byzantine emperors. The Moscow coat of arms with George the Victorious was combined with the double-headed eagle - the ancient coat of arms of Byzantium. This emphasized that Moscow is the heir of the Byzantine Empire, Ivan III is “the king of all Orthodoxy”, the Russian Church is the successor of the Greek one. Under the influence of Sophia, the ceremonial of the Grand Duke's court acquired an unprecedented splendor, similar to the Byzantine-Roman.
Standing on the Ugra. Miniature of the Chronicle (XVI century)
In 1483, Sophia's authority was shaken: she imprudently presented a precious family necklace ("sazhen") that had previously belonged to Maria Borisovna, the first wife of Ivan III, to her niece, the wife of the Vereisk prince Vasily Mikhailovich. The husband intended an expensive gift for his daughter-in-law Elena Stepanovna Voloshanka, the wife of his son Ivan the Young from his first marriage. In the conflict that arose (Ivan III demanded the return of the necklace to the treasury), but Vasily Mikhailovich chose to flee with the necklace to Lithuania. Taking advantage of this, the Moscow boyar elite, dissatisfied with the success of the prince's centralization policy, opposed Sophia, considering her the ideological inspirer of Ivan's innovations, which infringed on the interests of his children from his first marriage.
Sophia began a stubborn struggle to justify the right to the Moscow throne for her son Vasily. When her son was 8 years old, she even made an attempt to organize a conspiracy against her husband (1497), but he was uncovered, and Sophia herself was convicted on suspicion of magic and connection with the “witch woman” (1498) and, together with her son Vasily, was disgraced .
But fate was merciful to this indefatigable defender of the rights of her kind (during the years of her 30-year marriage, Sophia gave birth to 5 sons and 4 daughters). The death of the eldest son of Ivan III, Ivan the Young, forced Sophia's wife to change her anger to mercy and return the exiles to Moscow. To celebrate, Sophia ordered a church shroud with her name (“Tsarevna of Tsargorod, Grand Duchess of Moscow Sophia of the Grand Duke of Moscow”).
Shroud from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra
Feeling like a mistress in the capital again, Sophia managed to attract doctors, cultural figures and especially architects to Moscow; active stone construction began in Moscow. The architects Aristotle Fioravanti, Marco Ruffo, Aleviz Fryazin, Antonio and Petro Solari, who brought Sophia from her homeland and by her order, erected the Faceted Chamber, the Assumption and the Annunciation Cathedrals on the Cathedral Square of the Kremlin in the Kremlin; completed the construction of the Archangel Cathedral. Sophia's influence on her husband increased.
crucifixion. Sir. End of the 15th century Contribution of Grand Duchess Sophia Paleolog.
Boyar Bersen reproachfully said then, according to the chronicler:
“Our sovereign, locking himself up, does all sorts of things by the bed.” According to the great Russian historian V.O. Klyuchevsky, Sophia “cannot be denied influence on the decorative setting and backstage life of the Moscow court, on court intrigues and personal relationships; but she could act on political affairs only by suggestions that echoed the secret or vague thoughts of Ivan himself.
Sophia died on August 7, 1503 in Moscow two years earlier than Ivan III, having achieved many honors.
She was buried in a massive white stone sarcophagus in a tomb in the Kremlin, next to the grave of Maria Borisovna, the first wife of Ivan III. On the lid of the sarcophagus, “Sophia” was scratched with a sharp instrument.
Transfer of the remains of the Grand Duchesses and Empresses before the destruction of the Ascension Monastery. 1929
This cathedral was destroyed in 1929, and the remains of Sophia, as well as other women of the reigning house, were transferred to the underground chamber of the southern extension of the Archangel Cathedral.
In December 1994, in connection with the transfer of the remains of the princely and royal wives to the basement chamber of the Archangel Cathedral, a sculptural portrait of Sophia was restored from the well-preserved skull of Sophia by M.M. Gerasimov’s student S.A. Nikitin.
Sculptural reconstruction based on the skull of S.A. Nikitin
There are various versions regarding the role of Sophia Paleolog in the history of the Russian state:
From Western Europe artists and architects were called in to decorate the palace and the capital. New temples, new palaces were erected. The Italian Alberti (Aristotle) Fioaventi built the Assumption and Annunciation Cathedrals. Moscow was adorned with the Palace of Facets, the Kremlin towers, the Terem Palace, and, finally, the Archangel Cathedral was built.
For the sake of the marriage of her son Vasily III, she introduced the Byzantine custom - a review of brides.
Third Rome
This new vessel, the new Third Rome, is Moscow. - Liberation from the Mongol yoke, the unification of scattered small destinies into a large Muscovite state; the marriage of Tsar John III to Sophia Palaiologos, the niece (and, as it were, heiress) of the last Byzantine emperor; successes in the East (the conquest of the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan) - all this justified in the eyes of contemporaries the idea that Moscow had the right to such a role. On this basis, the custom of crowning Moscow sovereigns, the adoption of the royal title and the Byzantine coat of arms, the establishment of the patriarchate, the emergence of three legends:
A) about the barm and the royal crown received by Vladimir Monomakh from the Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomakh (official link - in 1547);
b) about the origin of Rurik from Pruss, brother of the Roman Caesar Augustus, and
c) about the white hood: this hood, as a symbol of church independence, was given by Emperor Constantine the Great to Pope Sylvester, and the latter's successors, in the consciousness of their unworthiness, handed it over to the Patriarch of Constantinople; from him he passed to the Novgorod lords, and then to the Moscow metropolitans. The first two Romes perished, the third will not perish, and the fourth will not happen.
This thought found a literary expression in the elder of the Pskov Eleazarov Monastery Philotheus, in the epistles to the vel. Prince Vasily III, clerk Misyur Munekhin and Ivan the Terrible. The new position brought new obligations. Autocratic-tsarist, autocephalous-Orthodox Russia must preserve the right faith and fight against its enemies. At one time, the Latin West itself supported it in this direction: the popes of Rome tried to raise the Moscow sovereigns against the Turks, propagating the idea that the Russian tsars were the legitimate heirs of Byzantium; Venice acted in the same spirit. The theory of the Third Rome until the end of the 17th century, namely before the wars with Turkey, did not leave the sphere of abstract questions: but even later it never acquired the character of a specific political program, although some reflection of it can be heard: weaker - in government statements during liberation wars between Russia and Turkey on the Balkan Peninsula, stronger - in the views of the Slavophiles.
Helena (or Anna) (1474), died in infancy
Helena (1475), died in infancy
Theodosius (1475-?).
Elena Ivanovna (May 19, 1476-1513) - wife of the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Alexander Jagiellon.
Elena Ioannovna (May 19, 1476, Moscow - January 20, 1513, Vilna) - daughter of Grand Duke Ivan III Vasilyevich and Sophia Paleolog, Grand Duchess of Lithuania (from 1494), Queen of Poland (from 1501). At the end of the Russo-Lithuanian War of 1487-1494, as a sign of reconciliation between the two powers, she married the Lithuanian Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon, who pledged to preserve the Orthodox faith for her. Thanks to this, Elena Ivanovna was able to become the patroness of the Orthodox in the Lithuanian state. In 1499, violating these obligations, Alexander tried to convert her to Catholicism, which caused a mass transition of Orthodox feudal lords to Moscow Russia and the beginning of a new Russian-Lithuanian war of 1500–1503.
Elena Ioannovna
Elena Ivanovna and Alexander had no children. After the death of Alexander, her brother, the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily III, tried with the help of Elena to take the Polish-Lithuanian throne. However, Sigismund I became king, which negatively affected the fate of the dowager queen. In 1512 she undertook failed attempt“move off” to Moscow, was arrested, and soon died at the age of 37 - most likely a violent death.
Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily III (March 25, 1479 - December 3, 1533)
Yuri Ivanovich (March 23, 1480-1536) - Prince Dmitrovsky.
Yuri Ivanovich (March 23, 1480-1536) - the second son of the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III from his marriage to Sophia Paleolog. Specific prince Dmitrovsky. At his expense, the Assumption Cathedral in the city of Dmitrov was built and has survived to this day. From documents that have come down to our time, it is known that Yuri was surrounded in Dmitrov by spies who reported to Moscow about all his steps and plans. It is also known that Yuri wanted to leave for Lithuania, because of contradictions with his brother Grand Duke Vasily III, but with the mediation of Joseph Volotsky, the brothers reconciled. Immediately after the death of Vasily III in 1534, Yuri was arrested and died in prison, due to the fact that he had the greatest rights to the throne, after the death of his older brother Vasily III, during the regency of Elena Glinskaya under the young Ivan IV. His inheritance was attached to the Moscow principality. He was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
Dmitry Zhilka (October 6, 1481 - February 14, 1521) - Prince of Uglich.
Dmitry Ivanovich Zhilka (October 6, 1481 - February 14, 1521) - specific prince of Uglitsky, son of Ivan III Vasilyevich.
Sent by his father to the Poles with a large army, he took (1500 or 1502) Orsha, burned the suburbs of Vitebsk, incinerated all the volosts to Polotsk and Mstislavl, but due to lack of food was forced to abandon the idea of taking Smolensk. After the death of his father in 1506, he received his inheritance - Uglich with a parish. In 1506, he led the Russian army on a campaign against Kazan, due to a series of command errors, almost the entire Russian army died. In 1518 he went to Smolensk with his brother, Vasily III Ivanovich. In 1513, he went "according to the Crimean news" from Borovsk near Kashira. When the Russian troops finally took Smolensk (1514), Dmitry Ivanovich Zhilka at that time in Serpukhov guarded Moscow from the Tatars. On the death of Dmitry:37 his inheritance was annexed to Moscow.
Evdokia (February 1483 / ca. 1492-1513) - from January 25, 1506, the wife of the Tatar prince Khuday-Kul (Kudaikula), baptized Peter Ibragimovich.
Feodosia (May 29, 1485-February 12, 1505) - from 1500, the wife of the prince and Moscow governor Vasily Danilovich Kholmsky.
Simeon Ivanovich (March 21, 1487 - June 26, 1518) - Prince of Kaluga.
Simeon (Semyon) Ivanovich (March 21, 1487 - June 26, 1518) - Prince of Kaluga from 1504 to 1518, the fourth son of the Grand Duke of Moscow and All Russia Ivan III and Sophia (Zoya) Fominichna Paleolog, niece of the last emperor of Byzantium Constantine XI.
In the Patriarchal, or Nikon Chronicle, it is recorded that on March 21, 1487, at 7 o'clock in the morning, the fourth son, named Simeon, was born to the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III. In 1504, according to the spiritual diploma of his father, Simeon got the cities of Bezhetsky Verkh, Kaluga, Kozelsk and Kozelsk volosts: Kozelsky: Serenesk, yes Lyudimesk, yes Korobki, and Vyrki, on the Vyrka on the river of the Senish volost, yes Sytichi, yes Vyino, and with other places, yes Lipitsy, yes Vzdybanov, yes Upper Serena, yes Lugan, yes Mestilovo, yes Ktsyn , yes Khvostovichi, yes Poryski, yes Boryatin, yes Oren, yes Khosttsi, yes Zheremin, yes Snykhovo, yes Ivanovskoye Babina, the village of Neznanovo, and with other places, with everything that gravitated towards those volost and village ... ".
A year later, Simeon issued voivodship certificates for possessions in Bezhetsky Verkh and Belev. And the first Kaluga prince chose the mountainous bank of the Yachenka River near Kaluga as the place for the princely court. It was here, according to legend, that he built a wooden fortress in the spirit of Russian fortifications of the 15th-16th centuries. However, the possessions of the Kaluga specific prince did not represent a single whole. The parishes were scattered. The prince did not have the right to mint state coins, enter into farming, establish auctions, etc., thus Simeon Ivanovich was not an independent ruler and was completely dependent on his older brother, Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily III Ivanovich.
The great Russian historian N.M. Karamzin called Simeon Ivanovich a man with an ardent disposition, frivolous. This characteristic is probably due to the fact that the annals mention an interesting fact of Simeon's attempt to escape to Lithuania, undertaken half a century before the well-known similar act of Prince Andrei Mikhailovich Kurbsky, who was fleeing the revenge of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Probably, this step was caused by the disagreement of the Kaluga prince and his entourage with the policy of his elder brother, an attempt to free himself from his guardianship. In the Nikon Chronicle, referring this event to 1510, one can read: “... Then, in the winter of January, Prince Seme Ivanovich wanted to flee to Lithuania from his brother ... and the great prince, knowing that, sent an ambassador to him and ordered him to be at home and wanted to place his disgrace on him. Prince Semyon Ivanovich, for his guilt, began to beat the brow of the great sovereign, and the great prince ... gave him guilt, and changed all his people and the boyars ... ".
In 1512, the Crimean Tatars under the leadership of Khan Mengli-Girey attacked the Kaluga Principality, devastating Belev, Aleksin and Vorotynsk. Kaluga residents heroically defended their city. Simeon fought the Tatars on the Oka and defeated them, according to legend, thanks to the help of the holy fool Lawrence of Kaluga. For this feat, Prince Simeon and righteous Lawrence became locally venerated saints. In 1514, Simeon, together with the brothers Yuri and Vasily III, participated in the capture of Smolensk, which was heroically recaptured from Lithuania.
In 1518, Simeon, along with his brother Andrei, accompanied Vasily III, during a trip to "fun" in Volok Lamsky. Shortly thereafter, Simeon died suddenly. There are versions that the sudden death of Simeon could have been accelerated by Vasily III, in other words, he could have been poisoned with poison.
The specific prince of Kaluga Simeon Ivanovich died when he was only thirty-one years old. He was buried in the Grand Duke's tomb in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. He had no heirs, in connection with which, having existed for fourteen years, the Kaluga principality was declared escheated and included by the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily III in the Moscow possessions.
Andrei Staritsky (August 5, 1490 - December 11, 1537) - Prince of Staritsky.
There is no information about Andrei's early childhood. There is only a mention that he, along with the rest of the children of Ivan III, accompanied his father on a pilgrimage to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, then to Rostov and Yaroslavl
Andrei was only 14 years old when his older brother Vasily III ascended the throne. Like his other brothers, he was forbidden to marry until Basil produced an heir, that is, until 1530. On February 2, 1533, he married a princess from the Gediminovich family, Efrosinia Andreevna Khovanskaya. Their only child, Vladimir, was born later that year.
On December 3, 1533, Grand Duke Vasily III dies. Andrei was among the few people who listened to his last will, in the presence of Metropolitan Daniel brought a kiss of the cross for allegiance to the heir Ivan and his mother and ruler, Elena Glinskaya. After 40 days of mourning, Andrei turned to Elena Glinskaya with a request to expand his possessions. Elena refused, and the offended Prince Andrei left for Staritsa (in March 1534).
In Staritsa, many of those dissatisfied with the power of the Glinskys and their cruelties began to gather around Andrei. Then he learned that his only living brother Yuri died in prison, where he was imprisoned shortly after the death of Prince Vasily. To clarify the relationship from Moscow to Staritsa, on behalf of Elena, Prince V.V. traveled. Shuisky, and then Andrey himself went to Moscow for personal explanations. Despite mutual assurances of fidelity and love, mutual distrust only increased. In the future, Andrei did not respond to Elena's new invitations to visit Moscow.
In 1537, there were rumors that Andrei was going to flee to Lithuania. Elena sent her favorite, Prince Obolensky, to prevent Andrei's flight. After leaving Staritsa, Andrei stopped in the village of Bernovo, from where he sent letters to the boyar children with an appeal to go to his service. Many of the boyar children responded to the letter, making up a significant detachment. Andrei's immediate goal was to go to Novgorod and take possession of it. The detachment was stopped near Novgorod, Andrei agreed to lay down his arms and surrendered to the mercy of Obolensky.
In Moscow, he was tried and thrown into prison with his entire family. Andrei died a few months later and was buried with great honors in the Archangel Cathedral in Moscow. After his death, the Staritsky principality passed to his son Vladimir.
According to the historian N. M. Karamzin:
Prince Andrei Ioannovich, being of a weak character and not having any brilliant qualities, used outward signs of respect at the Court and in the council of the Boyars, who, in relations with other Powers, gave him the name of the first state trustee; but in fact he did not participate in the government in the least; he mourned the fate of his brother, trembled for himself and hesitated in indecision: either he wanted favors from the court, or he showed himself to be his immodest detractor, following the suggestions of his favorites.
In Staritsa Andrey restored the Holy Assumption Monastery: the Church of the Assumption was built Holy Mother of God, a brick church above the Holy Gates, a wooden bell tower, stone buildings for the rector and brethren.
By the middle of the 17th century, all her offspring had died out. Only the fate of the possible offspring of her great-great-granddaughter Anastasia Mstislavskaya and Simeon Bekbulatovich remains unknown.
***
History of Russian Goverment
Sophia Palaiologos (? -1503), wife (since 1472) of Grand Duke Ivan III, niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos. Arrived in Moscow on November 12, 1472; on the same day, her wedding with Ivan III took place in the Assumption Cathedral. Marriage with Sophia Paleolog helped to strengthen the prestige of the Russian state in international relations and the authority of the grand-ducal power within the country. For Sophia Paleolog in Moscow, special mansions and a courtyard were built. Under Sophia Palaiologos, the grand-ducal court was distinguished by its special splendor. Architects were invited from Italy to Moscow to decorate the palace and the capital. The walls and towers of the Kremlin, the Cathedral of the Assumption and the Annunciation, the Palace of Facets, and the Terem Palace were erected. Sophia Paleolog brought a rich library to Moscow. The dynastic marriage of Ivan III with Sophia Palaiologos owes its appearance to the ceremony of crowning the kingdom. The arrival of Sophia Palaiologos is associated with the appearance of an ivory throne in the dynastic regalia, on the back of which was placed the image of a unicorn, which became one of the most common emblems of Russian state power. Around 1490, an image of a crowned double-headed eagle first appeared on the main portal of the Faceted Chamber. The Byzantine concept of the sacredness of imperial power directly influenced the introduction by Ivan III of "theology" ("God's grace") in the title and in the preamble of state letters.
KURBSKY TO GROZNY ABOUT HIS GRANDMA
But the abundance of your Majesty's malice is such that it destroys not only friends, but, together with your guardsmen, the entire Russian holy land, the plunderer of houses and the murderer of sons! May God save you from this and may the Lord, the king of the ages, not allow it to be! After all, even then everything is going like a knife-edge, because if not sons, then you have killed your half-blooded and close-born brothers, overflowing the measure of bloodsuckers - your father and your mother and grandfather. After all, your father and mother - everyone knows how many they killed. In the same way, your grandfather, with your Greek grandmother, having renounced and forgotten love and kinship, killed his wonderful son Ivan, courageous and glorified in heroic enterprises, born from his first wife, St. Mary, Princess of Tver, and also his divinely crowned grandson born from him Tsar Demetrius, together with his mother, Saint Helen, - the first with a deadly poison, and the second with years of imprisonment in prison, and then by strangulation. But he was not satisfied with this!
MARRIAGE OF IVAN III AND SOFIA PALEOLOG
May 29, 1453 the legendary Constantinople, besieged by the Turkish army, fell. The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, died in battle defending Constantinople. His younger brother Thomas Palaiologos, ruler of the small appanage state of Morea on the Peloponnese, fled with his family to Corfu and then to Rome. After all, Byzantium, hoping to receive military assistance from Europe in the fight against the Turks, signed the Union of Florence in 1439 on the unification of the Churches, and now its rulers could seek refuge from the papal throne. Thomas Palaiologos was able to take out the greatest shrines of the Christian world, including the head of the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called. In gratitude for this, he received a house in Rome and a good boarding house from the papacy.
In 1465, Thomas died, leaving three children - the sons of Andrei and Manuel and the youngest daughter Zoya. The exact date of her birth is unknown. It is believed that she was born in 1443 or 1449 in her father's possessions in the Peloponnese, where she received her primary education. The education of the royal orphans was taken over by the Vatican, entrusting them to Cardinal Bessarion of Nicaea. A Greek by birth, a former archbishop of Nicaea, he was an ardent supporter of the signing of the Union of Florence, after which he became a cardinal in Rome. He raised Zoya Palaiologos in European Catholic traditions and especially taught that she humbly follow the principles of Catholicism in everything, calling her "the beloved daughter of the Roman Church." Only in this case, he inspired the pupil, fate will give you everything. However, it turned out quite the opposite.
In February 1469, the ambassador of Cardinal Vissarion arrived in Moscow with a letter to the Grand Duke, in which he was invited to marry legally with the daughter of the Despot of Morea. In the letter, among other things, it was mentioned that Sophia (the name Zoya was diplomatically replaced with the Orthodox Sophia) had already refused two crowned suitors who were wooing her - the French king and the Duke of Mediolan, not wanting to marry the Catholic ruler.
According to the ideas of that time, Sophia was already considered an elderly woman, but she was very attractive, with amazingly beautiful, expressive eyes and delicate matte skin, which in Russia was considered a sign of excellent health. And most importantly, she was distinguished by a sharp mind and an article worthy of a Byzantine princess.
The Moscow sovereign accepted the offer. He sent his ambassador, the Italian Gian Battista della Volpe (he was nicknamed Ivan Fryazin in Moscow) to Rome to woo. The messenger returned a few months later, in November, bringing with him a portrait of the bride. This portrait, which seems to have begun the era of Sophia Paleolog in Moscow, is considered the first secular image in Russia. At least, they were so amazed by him that the chronicler called the portrait an “icon”, not finding another word: “And bring the princess on the icon.”
However, the matchmaking dragged on, because Metropolitan Philip of Moscow objected for a long time to the marriage of the sovereign with a Uniate woman, moreover, a pupil of the papal throne, fearing the spread of Catholic influence in Russia. Only in January 1472, having received the consent of the hierarch, Ivan III sent an embassy to Rome for the bride. Already on June 1, at the insistence of Cardinal Vissarion, a symbolic betrothal took place in Rome - the engagement of Princess Sophia and the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan, who was represented by the Russian ambassador Ivan Fryazin. In the same June, Sophia set off with an honorary retinue and the papal legate Anthony, who soon had to see firsthand the vain hopes placed by Rome on this marriage. According to Catholic tradition, a Latin cross was carried in front of the procession, which led to great confusion and excitement among the inhabitants of Russia. Upon learning of this, Metropolitan Philip threatened the Grand Duke: “If you allow in blessed Moscow to carry the cross in front of the Latin bishop, then he will enter the single gate, and I, your father, will go out of the city differently.” Ivan III immediately sent a boyar to meet the procession with an order to remove the cross from the sleigh, and the legate had to obey with great displeasure. The princess herself behaved as befits the future ruler of Russia. Having entered the Pskov land, she first of all visited an Orthodox church, where she kissed the icons. The legate had to obey here too: follow her to the church, and there bow to the holy icons and venerate the image of the Mother of God by order of the despina (from the Greek despot- "ruler"). And then Sophia promised the admiring Pskovites her protection before the Grand Duke.
Ivan III did not intend to fight for the "inheritance" with the Turks, much less to accept the Union of Florence. And Sophia was not at all going to Catholicize Russia. On the contrary, she showed herself to be an active Orthodox. Some historians believe that she did not care what faith she professed. Others suggest that Sophia, apparently raised in her childhood by the elders of Athos, opponents of the Union of Florence, was deeply Orthodox at heart. She skillfully hid her faith from the powerful Roman "patrons" who did not help her homeland, betraying her to the Gentiles for ruin and death. One way or another, this marriage only strengthened Muscovy, contributing to its conversion into the great Third Rome.
Early in the morning of November 12, 1472, Sophia Paleolog arrived in Moscow, where everything was ready for the wedding celebration, timed to coincide with the name day of the Grand Duke - the day of memory of St. John Chrysostom. On the same day in the Kremlin, in a temporary wooden church, set up near the Assumption Cathedral under construction, so as not to stop worship, the sovereign married her. The Byzantine princess saw her husband for the first time then. The Grand Duke was young - only 32 years old, handsome, tall and stately. Especially remarkable were his eyes, "terrible eyes": when he was angry, women fainted from his terrible look. And before he was distinguished by a tough character, and now, having become related to the Byzantine monarchs, he has turned into a formidable and powerful sovereign. This was a considerable merit of his young wife.
The wedding in a wooden church made a strong impression on Sophia Paleolog. The Byzantine princess, brought up in Europe, was different from Russian women in many ways. Sophia brought with her her ideas about the court and the power of power, and many Moscow orders were not to her liking. She did not like that her sovereign husband remained a tributary of the Tatar Khan, that the boyar entourage behaved too freely with their sovereign. That the Russian capital, built entirely of wood, stands with patched fortifications and dilapidated stone churches. That even the sovereign's mansions in the Kremlin are wooden, and that Russian women look at the world from the little window of the lighthouse. Sophia Paleolog not only made changes at court. Some Moscow monuments owe their appearance to her.
She brought a generous dowry to Russia. After the wedding, Ivan III adopted the Byzantine double-headed eagle as a coat of arms - a symbol of royal power, placing it on his seal. The two heads of the eagle face West and East, Europe and Asia, symbolizing their unity, as well as the unity (“symphony”) of spiritual and secular power. Actually, Sophia's dowry was the legendary "liberia" - a library allegedly brought on 70 carts (better known as the "library of Ivan the Terrible"). It included Greek parchments, Latin chronographs, ancient Eastern manuscripts, among which were the poems of Homer unknown to us, the works of Aristotle and Plato, and even the surviving books from the famous library of Alexandria. Seeing wooden Moscow, burned after a fire in 1470, Sophia was afraid for the fate of the treasure and for the first time hid the books in the basement of the stone church of the Nativity of the Virgin on Senya - the house church of the Moscow Grand Duchesses, built by order of St. Evdokia, the widow. And, according to the Moscow custom, she put her own treasury for preservation in the underground of the Kremlin Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist - the very first church in Moscow, which stood until 1847.
According to legend, she brought with her a “bone throne” as a gift to her husband: its wooden frame was all covered with ivory and walrus ivory plates with biblical themes carved on them. This throne is known to us as the throne of Ivan the Terrible: the tsar is depicted on it by the sculptor M. Antokolsky. In 1896, the throne was installed in the Assumption Cathedral for the coronation of Nicholas II. But the sovereign ordered to place it for Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (according to other sources - for his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna), and he himself wished to be crowned on the throne of the first Romanov. And now the throne of Ivan the Terrible is the oldest in the Kremlin collection.
Sophia brought with her several Orthodox icons, including, as is supposed, a rare icon of the Mother of God “Blessed Sky”… And even after the wedding of Ivan III, an image of the Byzantine emperor Michael III, the ancestor of the Palaiologos dynasty, with which the Moscow ones became related, appeared in the Archangel Cathedral. rulers. Thus, the continuity of Moscow to the Byzantine Empire was affirmed, and the Moscow sovereigns appeared as the heirs of the Byzantine emperors.
