The reign of Vasily III (briefly). Brief biography of Vasily III

Vasily III Ivanovich baptized Gabriel, monasticism Barlaam (born March 25, 1479 - death December 3, 1533) - Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow (1505-1533), Sovereign of All Russia. Parents: father John III Vasilievich the Great, mother Byzantine princess Sophia Paleologue. Children: from the first marriage: George (presumably); from his second marriage: and Yuri.

Vasily 3 short biography (article review)

The son of John III from his marriage with Sophia Palaeologus, Vasily the Third was distinguished by pride and inaccessibility, he punished the descendants of appanage princes and boyars who dared to oppose him. He is "the last collector of the Russian land." After the annexation of the last appanages (Pskov, northern principality), he completely destroyed the appanage system. He fought twice with Lithuania, according to the teachings of the Lithuanian nobleman Mikhail Glinsky, who entered the service of him, and, finally, in 1514, he was able to take Smolensk from the Lithuanians. The war with Kazan and Crimea was difficult for Vasily, but ended with the punishment of Kazan: Trade was diverted from there to the Makaryevskaya fair, which was later transferred to Nizhny. Vasily divorced his wife Solomonia Saburova and married the princess, which made the boyars dissatisfied with him even more violent. From this marriage, Vasily had a son, Ivan IV the Terrible.

Biography of Vasily III

The beginning of the reign. Choosing a bride

The new Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily III Ivanovich began his reign by solving the "throne question" with his nephew Dmitry. Immediately after the death of his father, he ordered him to be chained "in iron" and put in a "cramped ward", where he died 3 years later. Now the tsar had no "legitimate" opponents in the rivalry for the grand prince's throne.

Vasily ascended the Moscow throne at the age of 26. Having shown himself in the future as a skilful politician, under his father he was preparing for the role of autocrat in the Russian state. It was not in vain that he abandoned a bride from among foreign princesses, and for the first time brides were arranged at the grand ducal palace for Russian brides. 1505, summer - 1,500 noble maidens were brought to the bride.

A special boyar commission, after careful selection, presented ten most worthy applicants to the heir to the throne. Vasily chose Salomonia - the daughter of boyar Yuri Saburov. This marriage will turn out to be unsuccessful - the monarch's couple had no children, and above all an heir son. In the first half of the 1920s, the problem of an heir for the grand ducal couple was aggravated to the limit. In the absence of an heir to the throne, Prince Yuri automatically became the main contender for the kingdom. Vasily's relationship with him was hostile. It is a well-known fact that the appanage prince himself and his entourage were under the watchful eye of informants. The transition to Yuri of the supreme power in the state generally promised a large-scale shake-up in the ruling elite of Russia.

According to the strictness of the tradition, the second marriage of an Orthodox Christian in Russia was possible only in two cases: the death or voluntary departure to the monastery of the first wife. The sovereign's wife was healthy and, contrary to the official announcement, she was not at all going to voluntarily go to the monastery. She fell into disgrace for Salomonia and was forcibly tonsured at the end of November 1525, completing this act of family drama, which for a long time split the Russian educated society.

Grand Duke Vasily III Ivanovich on the hunt

Foreign policy

Vasily the Third continued his father's policy of creating a unified Russian state, “followed the same rules in foreign and domestic policy; showed modesty in the actions of the monarchical power, but knew how to command; loved the benefits of peace, not being afraid of war and not missing the opportunity to acquire important for sovereign power; less famous for military happiness, more cunning dangerous for enemies; did not humiliate Russia, even exalted it ... ”(N. M. Karamzin).

At the very beginning of his reign, in 1506, he undertook an unsuccessful campaign against the Kazan Khan, which ended in the flight of the Russian army. Such a beginning greatly inspired the King of Lithuania Alexander, who, relying on the youth and inexperience of Basil III, offered him peace with the condition of returning the lands conquered by John III. A rather harsh and short answer was given to such a proposal - the Russian tsar only owns his own lands. But, in the letter sent to Alexander about his accession to the throne, Vasily rejected the complaints of the Lithuanian boyars against the Russians as unfair, and reminded about the inadmissibility of declining Elena (Alexander's wife and Vasily III's sister) and other Christians living in Lithuania to Catholicism.

Alexander realized that a young but strong king had ascended the throne. When Alexander died in August 1506, Vasily tried to offer himself as king of Lithuania and Poland in order to end the confrontation with Russia. However, Alexander's brother Sigismund ascended the throne, who did not want peace with Russia. Out of vexation, the sovereign tried to recapture Smolensk, but after several battles there were no winners, and a peace was concluded, according to which all the lands conquered under John III remained with Russia and Russia promised not to encroach on Smolensk and Kiev. As a result of this peace treaty, the Glinsky brothers first appeared in Russia - noble Lithuanian nobles who had a conflict with Sigismund and who came under the patronage of the Russian Tsar.

By 1509, external relations were settled: letters were received from an old friend and ally of Russia - the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey, which confirmed the invariability of his attitude towards Russia; signed a 14-year peace treaty with Livonia, with the exchange of prisoners and the resumption of: the safety of movement in both powers and trade on the previous mutually beneficial terms. It was also important that, according to this treaty, the Germans broke off allied relations with Poland.

Domestic policy

Tsar Vasily believed that nothing should limit the power of the Grand Duke. He enjoyed the active support of the Church in the fight against the feudal boyar opposition, sharply cracking down on those who expressed dissatisfaction.

Now Vasily the Third could get involved in domestic politics. He turned his attention to Pskov, which proudly bore the name of “brother of Novgorod”. On the example of Novgorod, the sovereign knew where the boyar liberty could lead, and therefore he wanted to conquer the city of his power, without leading to a mutiny. The reason for this was the refusal of the landowners to pay tribute, everyone quarreled and the governor had no choice but to appeal to the court of the Grand Duke.

In January 1510, the young tsar went to Novgorod, where he received a large embassy of the Pskovites, which consisted of 70 noble boyars. The proceedings ended with the fact that all the Pskov boyars were imprisoned, since the tsar was dissatisfied with their audacity against the governor and injustice against the people. In this connection, the sovereign demanded that the Pskovites give up the veche and accept the sovereign governors in all their cities.

Noble boyars, feeling their guilt and not having the strength to confront the Grand Duke, wrote a letter to the people of Pskov, asking them to agree with the requirements of the Grand Duke. It was sad for the free Pskovites to gather for the last time on the square to the ringing of the veche bell. It was at this veche that the sovereign ambassadors announced their consent to submit to the imperial will. Vasily III arrived in Pskov, brought order there and appointed new officials; took the oath of loyalty to all residents and laid the foundation for a new church of St. Xenia, the commemoration of this saint fell on the day of the end of the liberty of the city of Pskov. Vasily sent 300 noble people of Pskov to the capital and left home a month later. The Pskov veche bell was soon followed after him.

By 1512, relations with the Crimean Khanate worsened. The clever and loyal Khan Mengli-Girey, who was a reliable ally of John III, grew old and decrepit, and his sons, the young princes Akhmat and Burnash-Girey, began to lead politics. Sigismund, who hated Russia even more than Alexander, was able to bribe the brave princes and incite them to campaigns against Russia. In particular, Sigismund raged, having lost in 1514 Smolensk, which had already been under Lithuania for 110 years.

Sigismund regretted that he had released Mikhail Glinsky to Russia, who diligently served the new land, and began to demand the return of the Glinsky. Especially M. Glinsky tried during the capture of Smolensk, he hired skilled foreign soldiers. Mikhail had the hope that, out of gratitude for his merits, the sovereign would make him the sovereign prince of Smolensk. However, the Grand Duke did not like and did not believe Glinsky - once he cheated, he would change the second time. And in general, Vasily fought with the inheritance. And so it happened: offended, Mikhail Glinsky went over to Sigismund, but fortunately, the governors were able to quickly catch him and, by order of the tsar, were sent in chains to Moscow.

1515 - the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey died, and his son Muhammad-Girey succeeded him to the throne, who, unfortunately, did not inherit many of his father's good qualities. During his reign (until 1523), the Crimean army acted either on the side of Lithuania or Russia - everything depended on who paid more.

The power of Russia of that era earned the respect of various countries. Ambassadors from Constantinople brought a letter and an affectionate letter from the famous and terrible for all of Europe Turkish Sultan Soliman. Good diplomatic relations with him frightened the eternal opponents of Russia - Mukhamet-Girey and Sigismund. The latter, without even arguing about Smolensk, made peace for 5 years.

Solomonia Saburova. Painting by P. Mineeva

Unification of Russian lands

Such a respite gave the Grand Duke time and strength to fulfill his and his great father's long-standing intention - to finally destroy the inheritance. And he succeeded. Ryazan's inheritance, ruled by the young prince John, was almost set aside from Russia, with the active participation of Khan Mukhamet. Imprisoned, Prince John fled to Lithuania, where he died, and the Ryazan principality, which was separate and independent for 400 years, merged into the Russian state in 1521. There remained the Seversk principality, where Vasily Shemyakin reigned, the grandson of the famous Dmitry Shemyaka, who messed up the power at the time. This Shemyakin, so similar to his grandfather, has long been suspected of friendship with Lithuania. 1523 - his correspondence with Sigismund was revealed, and this is already an open betrayal of the fatherland. Prince Vasily Shemyakin was thrown into a dungeon, where he died.

Thus, the dream was realized to unite Russia, fragmented into specific principalities, into a single whole under the rule of one tsar.

1523 - the Russian city of Vasilsursk was founded on the Kazan land, and this event marked the beginning of the decisive conquest of the Kazan kingdom. And although during the entire period of his reign, Vasily the Third had to fight with the Tatars and repel their raids, in 1531 the Kazan Khan Enaley became a novice of the Russian Tsar, recognizing his power.

Divorce and marriage

Everything went well in the Russian state, but Vasily III did not have an heir for 20 years of marriage. And various boyar parties began to form for and against the divorce from the sterile Saburova. The king needs an heir. 1525 - a divorce took place, and Solomonida Saburova was tonsured a nun, and in 1526 Tsar Vasily Ivanovich married Elena Vasilievna Glinskaya - the niece of the traitor Mikhail Glinsky, who in 1530 gave birth to the first son and heir to the throne, John IV (the Terrible ).

Elena Glinskaya - the second wife of Grand Duke Vasily III

Board results

The first signs of the prosperity of the Russian state were the successfully developing trade. The largest centers besides Moscow are Nizhny Novgorod, Smolensk and Pskov. The Grand Duke cared about the development of trade, which he constantly pointed out to his governors. Handicrafts also developed. In many cities, craft suburbs - settlements - arose. The country provided itself, for those times, with everything necessary and was ready to export more goods than to import what it needed. The wealth of Russia, the abundance of arable land, forest lands with precious furs, are unanimously noted by foreigners who visited Muscovy in
those years.

Under Vasily III, urban planning continued to develop, the construction of Orthodox churches. The Italian Fioravanti is building in Moscow, modeled on the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir, the Kremlin Assumption Cathedral, which becomes the main shrine of Moscow Russia. The cathedral will be an image for Russian masters of temple work for many decades.

Under Vasily III, the construction of the Kremlin was completed - in 1515 a wall was erected along the Neglinnaya River. The Moscow Kremlin is turning into one of the best fortresses in Europe. As the residence of the monarch, the Kremlin has become the symbol of the Russian state up to the present day.

Death

Vasily III always had enviable health and he was not seriously ill with anything, probably because it was so unexpected that an abscess on his leg led him to death 2 months later. He died on the night of December 3 to 4, 1533, having managed to give all the orders for the state, transferring power to his 3-year-old son John, and the guardianship of his mother, his boyars and his brothers - to Andrey and Yuri; and even before his last breath, he managed to take the schema.

Basil was called a kind and gentle sovereign, and therefore it is not surprising that his death was so sad for the people. All 27 years of his reign, the Grand Duke worked hard for the good and greatness of his state and was able to achieve a lot.

That night, for the history of the Russian state, "the last collector of the Russian land" passed away.

According to one of the legends, during the tonsure, Solomonia was pregnant, gave birth to a son, George, and handed him over to "safe hands", and it was announced to everyone that the newborn had died. Subsequently, this child will become the famous robber Kudeyar, who with his gang will rob rich carts. This legend was very interested in Ivan the Terrible. The hypothetical Kudeyar was his older half-brother, which means that he could lay claim to the royal throne. This story is most likely a folk fiction.

The second time Vasily III married a Lithuanian woman, the young Elena Glinskaya. Only 4 years later, Elena gave birth to her first child - Ivan Vasilyevich. As the legend says, at the hour of the baby's birth, it was as if a terrible thunderstorm broke out. Thunder struck from the clear sky and shook the earth to its foundations. The Kazan khansha, having learned about the birth of the heir, told the Moscow messengers: "A tsar was born to you, and he has two teeth: he will eat us (Tatars) with some, and you with others."

There was a rumor that Ivan was an illegitimate son, but this is unlikely: an examination of the remains of Elena Glinskaya showed that she had red hair. As you know, Ivan was also red-haired.

Vasily III was the first of the Russian tsars to shave off his chin hair. Legend has it that he trimmed his beard to look younger in the eyes of his young wife. In a beardless state, it did not last long.

Vasily Ivanovich
(baptized given the name Gabriel)
Lived: March 25, 1479 - December 4, 1533
Reign: 1505-1533

From a kind of Moscow grand dukes.

Russian Tsar. Grand Duke of Moscow and All Russia in 1505-1533.
Prince of Novgorod and Vladimir.

The eldest son and Sophia Palaeologus, niece of the last Byzantine emperor.

Vasily III Ivanovich - short biography

According to the existing marriage agreements, the children of the great Moscow prince and the Byzantine princess Sophia could not occupy the Moscow throne. But Sophia Palaeologus did not want to come to terms with this. In the winter of 1490, when the heir to the throne, Ivan Molodoy (the eldest son from the 1st marriage) fell ill, on the advice of Sophia, a doctor was called up, but after 2 months he died. At court, they suspected poisoning, but only the doctor was executed. The new heir to the throne was the son of the deceased heir, Dmitry.

On the eve of Dmitry's 15th birthday, Sophia Paleologue and her son conceived a conspiracy to assassinate the official heir to the throne. But the boyars exposed the conspirators. Some supporters of Sophia Palaeologus were executed, and Vasily Ivanovich was put under house arrest. Sophia managed with great difficulty to restore good relations with her husband. His son was also forgiven by the father.

Soon the positions of Sophia and her son were so strengthened that Dmitry himself and his mother Elena Voloshanka fell into disgrace. Vasily was proclaimed heir to the throne. Until the death of the Grand Duke of Moscow, Vasily Ivanovich was considered the Grand Duke of Novgorod, and in 1502 he also received the great Vladimir reign from his father.

Prince Vasily III Ivanovich

In 1505, the dying father asked his sons to make peace, but as soon as Vasily Ivanovich became the Grand Duke, he immediately ordered Dmitry to be put in a dungeon, where he died in 1508. The accession of Vasily III Ivanovich to the grand-ducal throne caused discontent among many boyars.

Like his father, he continued the policy of "collecting lands", strengthening
grand-ducal power. During his reign, Pskov (1510), Ryazan and Uglich princedoms (1512, Volotsk (1513), Smolensk (1514), Kaluga (1518), and Novgorod-Seversky principality (1523) ceded to Moscow.

The successes of Vasily Ivanovich and his sister Elena were reflected in the agreement between Moscow and Lithuania and Poland in 1508, according to which Moscow retained the acquisitions of his father in the western lands beyond Moscow.

Since 1507, constant raids of the Crimean Tatars to Russia began (1507, 1516-1518 and 1521). The Moscow ruler hardly reached an agreement with Khan Mengli-Girey about peace.

Later, the Kazan and Crimean Tatars began to raid Moscow together. The prince of Moscow in 1521 made a decision to build fortress cities in the region of the "wild field" (in particular, Vasilsursk) and the Great Zasechnaya line (1521-1523) in order to strengthen the borders. He also invited Tatar princes to the Moscow service, giving them vast lands.

The chronicles indicate that Prince Vasily III Ivanovich received the ambassadors of Denmark, Sweden, Turkey, and discussed with the Pope the possibility of a war against Turkey. At the end of the 1520s. began relations between Muscovy and France; in 1533, ambassadors arrived from Sultan Babur, the Hindu sovereign. Trade relations linked Moscow with Italy and Austria.

Politics in the reign of Vasily III Ivanovich

In his domestic policy, he enjoyed the support of the Church in the struggle against the feudal opposition. The land nobility also increased, the authorities actively limited the privileges of the boyars.

The years of the reign of Vasily III Ivanovich was marked by the rise of Russian culture, the wide spread of the Moscow style of literary writing. Under him, the Moscow Kremlin turned into an impregnable fortress.

According to the stories of contemporaries, the prince was of a tough disposition and did not leave a grateful memory of his rule in folk poetry.

The Grand Duke of Moscow and All Russia Vasily Ivanovich died on December 4, 1533 from blood poisoning, which was caused by an abscess on his left thigh. In agony, he managed to get a monk's hair under the name of Barlaam. He was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. 3-year-old Ivan IV (the future Tsar the Terrible) was declared heir to the throne, son of Vasily Ivanovich, and Elena Glinskaya was appointed regent.

Vasily was married twice.
His wives:
Saburova Solomonia Yurievna (from September 4, 1506 to November 1525).
Glinskaya Elena Vasilievna (since January 21, 1526).

The Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily Ivanovich III (1505 - 1533, born 1479) is most famous for the fact that during his reign the gathering of the fragmented estates of North-Eastern Russia into a single state was completed. Under Vasily III, the veche city of Pskov (1510) and the last specific principalities - Ryazan (1517) and Chernigov-Seversky (1517-1523) were annexed to Moscow. Vasily continued the domestic and foreign policy of his father, Ivan III, whom he resembled with a harsh, autocratic character. Of the two main church parties of that time, in the first years of his reign, predominance belonged to non-possessors, but then it passed to the Josephites, whom Basil III supported until his death.

Vasily III. Miniature from the Royal Titular

The former, purely service personnel of the Moscow boyars, as the Russian North-East was unified, was replenished with recent appanage princes, people much more influential and pretentious. In this regard, Vasily treated the boyars with suspicion and distrust, consulting with him only for show, and even then rarely. He conducted the most important affairs not with the help of boyars, but with the help of ordinary clerks and nobles (like his close butler Shigona Podzhogin). Vasily treated such rootless nominees rudely and unceremoniously (clerk Dolmatov paid with imprisonment for refusing to go to the embassy, ​​and Bersen-Beklemishev was executed for contradicting the Grand Duke). During the reign of Vasily III, the conflict between the grand-ducal power and the boyars, which, during the reign of his son, Ivan the Terrible, led to the horrors of the oprichnina, began to gradually intensify. But Vasily behaved very restrainedly with the boyars. Neither of noble representatives of the boyar class were not executed under him. Basil for the most part limited himself to taking from the boyars (Shuisky, Belsky, Vorotynsky, Mstislavsky) letters of oath that they would not leave for Lithuania. Only Prince Vasily Kholmsky fell into disgrace with him (for which, it is not known).

Unification of Moscow Russia under Ivan III and Vasily III

But to close relatives capable of challenging his power by dynastic kinship, Vasily treated with the usual severity of his predecessors. Vasily's rival, his nephew Dmitry Ivanovich (grandson of Ivan III from his eldest son, Ivan), died in prison. For his brothers, Yuri and Andrei, Vasily III established strict supervision. Andrew was allowed to marry only when Vasily III himself became the father of two children. Vasily's brothers hated his favorites and the new order.

Not wanting to transfer the throne to either Yuri or Andrei, Vasily, after a long childless marriage, divorced his first wife, the barren Solomonia Saburova, and married (1526) Elena Vasilyevna Glinskaya, niece of the famous Western Russian nobleman Mikhail Glinsky. From her, his sons Ivan (in 1530, the future Ivan the Terrible) and Yuri (1533) were born. Solomonia Saburova was imprisoned in the Suzdal Pokrovsky Monastery, and opponents of divorce (Metropolitan Varlaam, as well as the leaders of the non-covetants Vassian Kosoy Patrikeev and the famous Byzantine scholar Maxim the Greek) also suffered.

Solomonia Saburova. Painting by P. Mineeva

Foreign policy of Vasily III

After the death of his son-in-law, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander (1506), Vasily decided to take advantage of the turmoil that arose among the noble lords of Lithuania. Between them, Mikhail Glinsky, who was insulted by Alexander's brother and successor, Sigismund, stood out for his education, military glory, wealth and land holdings. Mikhail Glinsky, in response, went into the service of Vasily III. This circumstance, as well as the ill-treatment in Lithuania of Vasily's sister (Alexander's wife) Elena, who died in 1513, as was suspected of poisoning, triggered a war between Lithuania and Moscow. In the course of it, Glinsky lost all his former Lithuanian possessions, in return for which he received Medyn and Maloyaroslavets from Vasily. Sigismund's alliance with the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey in 1512 caused the second war between Basil III and Lithuania. On August 1, 1514, Vasily, with the assistance of Glinsky, took Smolensk from the Lithuanians, but on September 8 of the same year, the commander of Sigismund, Prince Ostrozhsky, inflicted a heavy defeat on the Moscow army at Orsha. However, according to the armistice of 1522, concluded with the mediation of the ambassador of the German emperor Maximilian I, Herberstein, Smolensk remained with Moscow.

Crimean Tatar archer

In addition to Lithuania, the main concern of the reign of Vasily III was Tatar relations, especially Crimean ones. Submitting at the end of the 15th century to the powerful Turkey, Crimea began to receive strong support from it. The raids of the Crimean Tatars more and more worried the Moscow state (the raid on the Oka in 1507, on the Ryazan Ukraine in 1516, on the Tula in 1518, the siege of Moscow in 1521). Russia and Lithuania took turns lashing out at the Crimean robbers and dragging them into their mutual squabbles. The reinforced Crimean khans tried to subjugate Kazan and Astrakhan in order to restore the former Golden Horde - from the Upper Volga region and the Urals to the Black and Caspian seas. Vasily III in every possible way opposed the annexation of Kazan to the Crimea, which in 1521 led to the most dangerous raid of the Tatars to Russia from the south and east. However, Kazan, torn apart by internal strife, was more and more subordinate to Moscow (the siege of Kazan in 1506, peace with its khan, Mohammed-Amin in 1507, the appointment from Moscow of the Kazan king Shah Ali (Shigaleya) in 1519. and Dzhan-Ali in 1524, the construction by Vasily on the border with the Kazan possessions of a powerful fortress of Vasilsursk in 1524, etc.). By this constant pressure on Kazan, Vasily also anticipated the accomplishments of Ivan the Terrible. In 1523, the Crimean Khan Muhammad-Girey captured Astrakhan, but was soon killed there by the Nogais.

Vasily 3 (reigned 1505-1533) were marked by the final collection of Russian lands around Moscow. It was under Vasily III that the process of uniting the lands around Moscow was completed and the process of creating the Russian state continued to take shape.

Most historians agree that Vasily 3, as a ruler and personality, was much inferior to his father, Ivan 3. It is hard to say for sure whether this is so or not. The fact is that Vasily continued the business (and successfully) started by his father, but did not have time to start his own important business.

End of specific system

Ivan 3 transferred all power to Vasily 3, and ordered his younger sons to obey their older brother in everything. Vasily 3 got 66 cities (30 other sons), as well as the right to determine and conduct the country's foreign policy and mint coins. The specific system was preserved, but the power of the Grand Duke over others became stronger and stronger. Very accurately described the system of Russia of that period, Joseph Volotsky (church leader), who called the reign of Basil 3 the rule over "All Russian land sovereign sovereign." Sovereign sovereign- and so it was in fact. There were sovereigns who owned the inheritance, but there was a single sovereign over them.

In the fight against the inheritance, Vasily 3 showed cunning - he forbade his brothers, the owners of the inheritance, to marry. Accordingly, those did not have children and their power was withering away, and the lands passed into subordination to Moscow. By 1533, only 2 estates were seated: Yuri Dmitrovsky and Andrei Staritsky.

Domestic policy

Unification of lands

The internal politics of Vasily III continued the path of his father, Ivan III: the unification of the Russian lands around Moscow. The main undertakings in this regard were as follows:

• Submission of independent principalities.
• Strengthening the borders of the state.

In 1510, Vasily 3 subjugated Pskov. In many ways, the Pskov prince Ivan Repnya-Obolensky, who was a cruel and unprincipled man, contributed to this. The Pskovites did not like him, they staged riots. As a result, the prince was forced to turn to the main sovereign, asking him to pacify the citizens. After that, there are no exact sources. It is only known that Vasily III arrested the ambassadors who were sent to him from the townspeople, and offered them the only solution to the problem - subordination to Moscow. On that and decided. To gain a foothold in this region, the Grand Duke sends 300 of the most influential families of Pskov to the central regions of the country.

In 1521 the Ryazan principality submitted to the power of Moscow, in 1523 the last southern principalities. Thus, the Sami, the main task of domestic policy during the reign of Vasily III was solved - the country was united.

Map of the Russian state under Vasily 3

A map on which the last stages of the unification of the Russian lands around Moscow are indicated. Most of these changes took place during the reign of Prince Vasily Ivanovich.

Foreign policy

The expansion of the Russian state under Vasily III also turned out to be quite extensive. The country managed to strengthen its influence, despite its fairly strong neighbors.

Western direction

War of 1507-1508

In 1507-1508 there was a war with Lithuania. The reason was that the borderline Lithuanian principalities began to swear allegiance to Russia. The last to do this was Prince Mikhail Glinsky (before that the Odoevsky, Belsky, Vyazemsky and Vorotynsky). The reason for the reluctance of the princes to be part of Lithuania is rooted in religion. Lithuania forbade Orthodoxy and forcibly implanted Catholicism in the local population.

In 1508, Russian troops besieged Minsk. The siege was successful and Sigismund I asked for peace. As a result, all the lands that were annexed by Ivan 3 were assigned to Russia. It was a great breakthrough and an important step in foreign policy and in strengthening the Russian state.

War of 1513-1522

In 1513, Vasily 3 learns that Lithuania has agreed with the Crimean Khanate and is preparing for a military campaign. The prince decided to play ahead and laid siege to Smolensk. The assault on the city was heavy and the city repulsed two attacks, but in the end, in 1514, Russian troops still took the city. But in the same year, the Grand Duke lost the battle of Orsha, which allowed the Lithuanian-Polish troops to approach Smolensk. The city could not be taken.

Minor battles continued until 1525, when peace was signed for 5 years. As a result of the peace, Russia retained Smolensk, and the border with Lithuania now ran along the Dnieper River.

South and East directions

The eastern and southern directions of the external policy of Prince Vasily Ivanovich should be considered together, since the Crimean Khan and the Kazan Khan acted together. Back in 1505, the Kazan Khan invaded the Russian lands with plunder. In response, Vasily 3 sends an army to Kazan, forcing the enemy to again swear allegiance to Moscow, as it was under Ivan 3.

1515-1516 - the Crimean army reaches Tula, devastating lands along the road.

1521 - the Crimean and Kazan khans began a military campaign against Moscow at the same time. Having reached Moscow, the Crimean Khan demanded that Moscow pay tribute, as it was before, and Vasily 3 agreed, since the enemy was numerous and powerful. After that, the khan's army went to Ryazan, but the city did not surrender, and they returned to their lands.

1524 - the Crimean Khanate captures Astrakhan. All Russian merchants and the governor were killed in the city. Vasily 3 concludes a truce and sends an army to Kazan. Kazan ambassadors arrive in Moscow for negotiations. They dragged on for several years.

1527 - on the Oka River, the Russian army defeated the army of the Crimean Khan, thereby stopping constant raids from the south.

1530 - the Russian army sent to Kazan and took the city by storm. A ruler, a Moscow protege, was appointed in the city.

Key dates

• 1505-1533 - the reign of Vasily 3
• 1510 - annexation of Pskov
• 1514 - annexation of Smolensk

The king's wives

In 1505, Vasily 3 decided to marry. A real bride was arranged for the prince - 500 noble girls from all over the country came to Moscow. The choice of the prince focused on Solomnia Saburova. They lived together for 20 years, but the princess could not give birth to an heir. As a result, by the decision of the prince, Solomnia was tonsured a nun and sent to the Suzdal Women's Intercession Monastery.

In fact, Vasily 3 carried out a divorce from Solomon, violating all the laws of that time. Moreover, for this they even had to remove Metropolitan Barlaam, who refused to arrange a divorce. Ultimately, after the change of metropolitan, Solomonia was accused of witchcraft, after which she was tonsured a nun.

In January 1526, Vasily 3 married Elena Glinskaya. The Glinsky family was not the most noble, but Elena was beautiful and young. In 1530 she gave birth to her first son, who was named Ivan (the future Tsar Ivan the Terrible). Soon, another son was born - Yuri.

Hold power at any cost

For a long time, the reign of Vasily 3 seemed impossible, since his father wanted to transfer the throne to his grandson from his first marriage, Dmitry. Moreover, in 1498, Ivan 3 crowned Dmitry to reign, declaring him heir to the throne. The second wife of Ivan 3, Sophia (Zoya) Palaeologus, together with Vasily, organize a conspiracy against Dmitry in order to get rid of a competitor in the throne's inheritance. The conspiracy was discovered, and Vasily was arrested.

• In 1499, Ivan 3 pardons his son Vasily and releases him from prison.
• In 1502, Dmitry himself was accused and imprisoned, and Vasily was blessed to reign.

In the light of the events of the struggle for the rule of Russia, Vasily 3 clearly understood that power is important at any cost, and everyone who interferes with this is an enemy. For example, what words are in the annals:

I am the king and lord by right of blood. I did not ask for titles from anyone and did not buy them. There are no laws by which I have to obey someone. Believing in Christ, I reject any rights begged from others.

Prince Vasily 3 Ivanovich

Under Vasily III, the last semi-independent estates and principalities joined Moscow. The Grand Duke limited the privileges of the princely-boyar aristocracy. He became famous for the victorious war against Lithuania.

Childhood and youth

The future emperor of the Rus was born in the spring of 1479. They named the grand-ducal offspring in honor of Basil the Confessor, at baptism they gave the Christian name Gabriel. Vasily III is the first son born to her husband Sophia Palaeologus, and the second in seniority. At the time of his birth, his half-brother was 21 years old. Later, Sophia gave birth to her wife four more sons.

The path of Vasily III to the throne was thorny: Ivan the Young was considered the main heir and successor of the sovereign. The second rival to the throne was the son of Ivan the Young - Dmitry, who was favored by his august grandfather.

In 1490, the eldest son of Ivan III died, but the boyars did not want to see Vasily on the throne and sided with Dmitry and his mother Elena Voloshanka. The second wife of Ivan III, Sophia Palaeologus, and her son were supported by the clerks and boyar children who led the orders. Basil's supporters pushed him to a conspiracy, advising the prince to kill Dmitry Vnuk and, having seized the treasury, flee from Moscow.

The people of the sovereign uncovered the conspiracy, those involved were executed, and Ivan III put the rebellious son into custody. Suspecting his wife Sophia Palaeologus of bad intentions, the Grand Duke of Moscow began to be wary of her. Having learned that the witch doctors are coming to his wife, the emperor ordered to seize the "dashing women" and drown them under cover of night in the Moscow River.

In February 1498, Dmitry was crowned to reign, but a year later the pendulum swung in the opposite direction: the sovereign's mercy left his grandson. Vasily, at the behest of his father, took Novgorod and Pskov into reign. In the spring of 1502, Ivan III imprisoned his daughter-in-law Elena Voloshanka and grandson Dmitry, and blessed Vasily for the great reign and declared all Russia an autocrat.

Governing body

In domestic politics, Vasily III was an adherent of harsh rule and believed that power should not be limited to anything. He immediately dealt with the disaffected boyars and relied on the church in opposition to the opposition. But in 1521, Metropolitan Barlaam came under the hot hand of the Grand Duke of Moscow: for his unwillingness to take the side of the autocrat in the struggle against the appanage prince Vasily Shemyakin, the priest was exiled.

Vasily III considered criticism unacceptable. In 1525, he executed the diplomat Ivan Bersen-Beklemishev: the statesman did not accept the Greek innovations introduced into the life of Russia by the mother of the sovereign Sophia.

Over the years, the despotism of Vasily III intensified: the sovereign, increasing the number of land nobility, limited the privileges of the boyars. The son and grandson continued the centralization of Russia begun by Father Ivan III and grandfather Vasily the Dark.

In church policy, the new sovereign sided with the Josephites, who defended the monasteries' right to own land and property. Their non-covetous opponents were executed or imprisoned in monastic cells. During the reign of Father Ivan the Terrible, a new Code of Laws appeared, which has not survived to this day.

In the era of Vasily III Ivanovich, a construction boom fell, which was initiated by his father. The Archangel Cathedral appeared in the Moscow Kremlin, and the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Kolomenskoye.

The two-storey traveling palace of the tsar, one of the oldest monuments of civil architecture in the Russian capital, has also survived to this day. There were many such small palaces ("putinks"), in which Vasily III and the entourage accompanying the tsar rested before entering the Kremlin, but only the palace on Staraya Basmannaya has survived.

Opposite the "putinka" there is another architectural monument - the temple of Nikita the Martyr. It appeared in 1518 at the behest of Vasily III and was originally made of wood. In 1685, a stone church was built in its place. They prayed under the arches of the ancient temple, Fedor Rokotov,.

In foreign policy, Vasily III was noted as a collector of Russian lands. At the beginning of his reign, the Pskovites were asked to join them to the Moscow principality. The tsar dealt with them, as Ivan III had done with Novgorodians earlier: he resettled 3 hundred noble families from Pskov to Moscow, giving their estates to servicemen.

After the third siege in 1514, Smolensk was taken, for the conquest of which Vasily III used artillery. The annexation of Smolensk was the Tsar's largest military success.

In 1517, the tsar put into custody the last prince of Ryazan, Ivan Ivanovich, who had conspired with the Crimean Khan. Soon he was tonsured a monk, and his inheritance was "extended" to the Moscow principality. Then Starodubskoe and Novgorod-Severskoe princedoms surrendered.

At the beginning of his reign, Vasily III made peace with Kazan, and after breaking the agreement, he set out on a campaign against the khanate. The war with Lithuania was crowned with success. The result of the reign of the sovereign of all Russia Vasily Ivanovich was the strengthening of the country, they learned about it beyond the distant borders. Relations were established with France and India.

Personal life

Ivan III married his son a year before his death. It was not possible to find a noble spouse: Solomonia Saburova, a girl of a non-boyar family, was chosen as Vasily's wife.

At the age of 46, Vasily III was seriously concerned that his wife did not give him an heir. The boyars advised the tsar to divorce the barren Solomonia. Metropolitan Daniel approved the divorce. In November 1525, the Grand Duke parted with his wife, who was tonsured as a nun at the Nativity Convent.

After the tonsure, rumors flared up that the ex-wife imprisoned in the monastery gave birth to a son, Georgy Vasilyevich, but there is no convincing evidence of this. According to popular rumor, the grown-up son of Saburova and Vasily Ivanovich became a robber Kudeyar, sung in Nekrasov's "Song of the Twelve Thieves".

A year after the divorce, the nobleman opted for the daughter of the late Prince Glinsky. The girl conquered the king with her education and beauty. For the sake of the prince even shaved off his beard, which was contrary to Orthodox traditions.

4 years passed, and the second wife did not give the long-awaited heir to the king. The Emperor and his wife went to the Russian monasteries. It is believed that the prayers of Vasily Ivanovich and his wife were heard by the Monk Paphnutius Borovsky. In August 1530, Elena gave birth to her first child, Ivan, the future Ivan the Terrible. A year later, a second boy appeared - Yuri Vasilievich.

Death

The tsar did not enjoy fatherhood for long: when the first-born was 3 years old, the sovereign fell ill. On the way from the Trinity Monastery to Volokolamsk, Vasily III discovered an abscess on his thigh.

After the treatment, there was a short relief, but after a couple of months the doctor made a verdict that only a miracle could save Vasily: the patient began to get blood poisoning.

In December, the king died, blessing the firstborn to the throne. The remains are buried in the Moscow Archangel Cathedral.

Researchers assume that Vasily III died of cancer in the last stage, but in the 16th century, doctors did not know about such a disease.

Memory

• During the reign of Vasily III, a new Code of Law was created, the Archangel Cathedral, the Church of the Ascension of the Lord were built.
• In 2007, Alexey Shishov published his research "Vasily III: The Last Collector of the Russian Land."
• In 2009, the premiere of the series "Ivan the Terrible" by the director took place, in which the role of Vasily III went to the actor.
• In 2013, Alexander Melnik's book "The Moscow Grand Duke Vasily III and the Cults of Russian Saints" was published.