Ivan III was married for the first time to the daughter of the Grand Duke of Tver. The Grand Duchess Maria Borisovna was a humble and meek woman. Andrei Kurbsky called her a saint. It seems that she did not interfere in management affairs. The princess died when she was not even 30 years old. Immediately in the capital, word spread that she had been poisoned by the wife of the clerk Alexei Poluektov, who distinguished himself in Yaroslavl. Natalya Poluektova allegedly turned to the sorcerers and sent them the princess's belt for evil divination. But these were all rumors. Having learned about the fortune-telling, the sovereign will "take advantage" of the witch. Yet the alleged poisoners escaped execution.
Ivan III was in Kolomna, from where he hurried to the capital. Maria was buried in the Ascension Convent in the Kremlin. Poluektov was forbidden to appear at the court, and only six years later he was returned to the court.
Widowed early, Ivan III married the Greek princess Sophia (Zoya) Palaeologus. Sophia was the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, killed by the Turks on the walls of Constantinople in 1453. Her father Thomas Paleologus, ruler of the Moray, fled with his family to Italy, where he soon died. The Pope took the children of the sea despot under his protection. The guardians wooed Sophia to various possessors, but unsuccessfully. Contemporaries slandered about the fact that the princess was distinguished by excessive obesity. However, the main obstacle to her marriage was not her fullness. According to the ideas of the time, curvaceous forms and blush were the first signs of beauty. Zoe was refused because she was a dowry. Finally it was decided to try his luck at the court of the Moscow prince. The assignment was undertaken by a certain "Greek Yuri", in which you can recognize Yuri Trakhaniot,confidant of the Palaeologus family. He came to Moscow with a letter from the "curtain Vissarion", Zoya's tutor. The cardinal's envoy praised Ivan III for the bride's nobility, her adherence to Orthodoxy and her unwillingness to go "to Latinism."
On March 20, 1469, Ivan III invited his mother, the metropolitan and the boyars, and after the "thought" with them sent the Italian Volpe to Rome, who worked at the Moscow court as a financier. Volpe told the sovereign that Zoya had already refused the French king and other noble suitors.
Volpe's mission was a success. It could not be otherwise. The matchmaking initiative came from the Vatican. Nevertheless, negotiations for a Moscow marriage lasted three years. In September 1471, Pope's ambassador, Antonio Gilardi Fryazin, delivered to Moscow a portrait of the bride: “princess, written on the icon, bring it”.
Venice was in a hurry to use matchmaking for its own purposes. The Venetians attempted to conclude an alliance with Moscow and the Great Horde for a war with the Turks. For this purpose, Ambassador Trevisan was sent to Russia.
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Trevisan had instructions to notify Ivan III of the purpose of his mission. But he disobeyed the order and, on Volpe's advice, hid about her.
Relatives of Volpe Gilardi introduced Trevisan to the Muscovites as a "prince of the Venetian" and his nephew. The deception was apparently connected with the fact that Russia was on the verge of a decisive clash with the Horde and was in no way interested in the alliance of the Venetians with the khan.
Later, when the deception was revealed, Ivan III ordered to take Fryazin Volpe into custody, to put him in shackles, "and ordered to plunder his house, and to seize his wife and children", "and Trevisan would like to execute him." At the request of the papal ambassador, Trevisan was pardoned.
The exact time of the opal on Volpe is not entirely clear. On January 6, 1472, Ivan III released Volpe with an embassy in Rome. Before the ambassador's leave, Ivan III again conferred with his mother, brothers, the Metropolitan and boyars.
Pope Paul died, and the ambassadors were carrying letters addressed to Callista. Abroad, they learned that Paul's successor was not Callistus, but Sistyus. The ambassadors immediately changed the name of the pope in their charters.
Pope Sixtus IV and Cardinal Vissarion honored the Moscow ambassadors with a solemn welcome and released them along with the bride on June 20. The princess was accompanied by the papal ambassador, Bishop Antonio Bonumbre, Bishop of Ajaccio in Corsica. The Vatican hoped that the Moscow prince would follow the example of the last Byzantine emperor and accept the church union under the leadership of the pope. Zoe's marriage should have contributed to that outcome.
After traveling through Germany, the ambassadors reached Lübeck and on September 10 "boarded the ship." After eleven days of sailing on the stormy sea, Sophia arrived in Kolyvan (Revel), from where they got to Pskov.
Not far from the city, the bride changed her clothes - “wearing the royal ports”. In Pskov, Orthodox people drew attention to the fact that Antonio, the pope's legate, did not approach the Orthodox icons when visiting the Trinity Cathedral and only at the insistence of the princess made the sign of the cross.
The bride and her retinue entered Moscow on November 12. On the same day, Zoya Palaeologus was married to Ivan III. The ceremony took place in the unfinished wooden Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin.
From that moment on, Zoya was called Sophia Fominichna. The Muscovites warmly greeted the princess, but they were quite embarrassed by the fact that the bishop was walking in front of the princess with a large Latin "roof" (cross) in his hands. In the Duma, the boyars did not hide their indignation at the fact that the Orthodox capital was showing such honor to the "Latin faith". The Metropolitan announced that he would leave Moscow if the "kryzh" was not taken from the papal ambassador. The legate Bonumbra had to come to terms with the fact that the cross was taken from him and put in his own sleigh.
Antonio received an order from the Pope to do everything to unite the universal Christian church. The debate about faith was to take place in the Kremlin. The Metropolitan invited the scribe Nikita Popovich to help him. Antonio was ready to defend the idea of church union, but the story of the cross taught him caution. The ambassador was most concerned with the idea of how to get out of Russia without hindrance. When Antonio was brought to the Kremlin, the Metropolitan of Moscow presented his arguments in defense of Orthodoxy and turned a question to the legate. But he "does not give a single word of answer, but the speech:" there are no books with me. " The audience perceived his humility as a victory of the right faith over “Latinism”.
In Italy, they hoped that the marriage of Sophia Palaeologus would provide an alliance with Russia for a war with the Turks, who threatened Europe with new conquests. In an effort to persuade Ivan III to participate in the anti-Turkish league, Italian diplomats formulated the idea that Moscow should become the successor of Constantinople. In 1473 the Senate of Venice addressed the Grand Duke of Moscow with the words: "The Eastern Empire, seized by the Ottoman (Turks), should, after the termination of the imperial family in the male knee, belong to your splendid power due to your successful marriage." The idea expressed in the message of the senators fell on the prepared ground. But Muscovy found it difficult to play the role of successor to the powerful Eastern Roman Empire while it was under the heel of the Golden Horde.