Vasily 2 - in brief (article review)
Vasily 2 Vasilievich (Dark) - (born March 10, 1415 - death on March 27, 1462) Son of Vasily 1 Dmitrievich. Grand Duke of Moscow. Under Vasily II, a long internecine war was fought. A coalition of appanage princes under the leadership of his uncle, the Galician prince Yuri Dmitrievich and his sons Vasily Kosy and Dmitry Shemyaka, opposed him. Along with this, a struggle was waged against Kazan and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Grand Ducal throne several times passed to the Galician princes (1433-1434), who enjoyed the support of Novgorod and Tver.
Vasily was blinded in 1446 by Dmitry Shemyaka (hence "Dark"), but ultimately won in the early 50s. 15th century victory.
Vasily the Dark was able to liquidate almost all the small estates within the Moscow principality, strengthening the grand-ducal power. As a result of the campaigns of 1441-1460. the dependence on Moscow of the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod principality, Novgorod the Great, Pskov, and Vyatka has significantly increased.
By order of Vasily II, the Russian Bishop Jonah (1448) was elected Metropolitan, which marked the proclamation of the independence of the Russian Church from the Patriarch of Constantinople and contributed to the strengthening of the international position of Russia.
Biography of Vasily 2 Dark
Origin. Inheritance
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1425, February 27 - the Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow Vasily 1 Dmitrievich died, leaving his inheritance, "inventions" and the Grand Duchy to his only son Vasily, who at that time was not yet 10 years old. The beginning of Basil's reign was marked by an epidemic of plague and a severe drought in 1430-1448. The position of the young Grand Duke on the throne was fragile. He had uncles, appanage princes Yuri, Andrei, Peter and Konstantin Dmitrievich. The eldest of them, Yuri Dmitrievich, himself claimed the great reign. Prince Yuri believed that the order of inheritance could not be established by Vasily 1, because it was determined by the spiritual father of their father, Dmitry Donskoy. Yuri Dmitrievich believed that, in accordance with this will, after the death of Vasily, it was he, Prince Yuri, who should have inherited the Grand Duke's throne, as the eldest of the family of Ivan Kalita.
Power struggle
In the struggle for power, Yuri Dmitrievich relied, on the one hand, on the support of his brother-in-law, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Svidrigail Olgerdovich, and on the other, on the intercession of his friend, the influential Horde Murza Tegini, to the khan. However, the Moscow boyars, headed by the talented diplomat Ivan Dmitrievich Vsevolozhsky, were well versed in the current balance of power. Ivan Dmitrievich was able to turn the majority of the Horde Murzas against Tegini, which means he made them supporters of his prince.
Judgment in the Horde
When, at the trial of the khan, Yuri Dmitrievich began to substantiate his claims to the great reign, referring to the ancient ancestral law, the Moscow diplomat was able to achieve the khan's decision in his favor with one phrase, saying: “Prince Yuri is looking for a great reign according to his father's will, and Prince Vasily by your grace."
The khan, very pleased with such a manifestation of obedience on the part of the Muscovites, ordered to issue a label to Vasily and even ordered Yuri Dmitrievich, as a sign of submission to the khan's will, to lead the horse by the bridle with the Grand Duke sitting on it.
The beginning of civil strife
The following episode served as the reason for the continuation of the war. 1433 - during the wedding of Vasily Vasilyevich, his mother, Sofya Vitovtovna, tore a precious golden belt from another Vasily - the son of Yuri Dmitrievich. A little earlier, one of the old boyars told Sophia that this belt once belonged to Dmitry Donskoy, and then it was stolen and ended up in the family of Yuri Dmitrievich. The scandal, to be sure, is higher than loud: the prince appeared at the wedding feast in a stolen thing! Of course, Vasily Yuryevich and his brother Dmitry Shemyaka immediately left Moscow. Their father, Yuri Dmitrievich, took advantage of this occasion and moved an army against his nephew.
In the battle on the Klyazma, the smaller army of the Grand Duke was defeated by Yuri Dmitrievich, and Vasily himself was captured and sent by Yuri to Kolomna. On Holy Week in 1434, Yuri Dmitrievich entered Moscow, but he turned out to be an unwanted guest there. The next year, Yuri again defeated the army of the Grand Duke and once again entered Moscow, which he had to leave earlier because of the hostility of the boyars and nobles. The mother and wife of a Moscow prince who fled to Nizhny Novgorod were captured. Suddenly, Yuri died.
Sofia Vitovtovna at the wedding of Grand Duke Vasily 2.
Historical portrait of Vasily the Dark
For the most part, historians consider Vasily 2 the Dark a completely ordinary person, not distinguished by any talents. The scale of this personality seems to be incommensurate with the "sea of troubles" that she had to overcome. The tragic fate of Vasily is noted by all researchers. Although, in fairness, it should be noted that the Grand Duke endured a lot of suffering through his own fault. And yet, the victory over numerous rivals - talented and insidious - is difficult to explain only by the rationality and experience of the advisers and the well-functioning state system. We must pay tribute to the persistence of Vasily the Dark, the ability to start the struggle again after defeat and the ability, in modern terms, to "select personnel." In that long-term war that Vasily had to wage with his enemies, the opposing sides did not hesitate in choosing their means,acting by cunning and force. It is hardly appropriate to whitewash both Vasily and his opponents.
Civil strife continues
Vasily 2 returned to Moscow, made peace with the sons of the deceased: Vasily, Dmitry Shemyaka and Dmitry Krasny. But the first of them broke his oath by attacking Moscow, but ended up in captivity and was blinded (which is why he received the nickname Squint). Shemyaka was detained in Moscow, where he arrived to invite Grand Duke Vasily 2 to his wedding. Later, the Trinity Abbot Zinovy could try them on.
In the meantime, an attempt was made to unite the Catholic and Orthodox churches. 1441, March - Metropolitan Isidore returned to Moscow from the Florentine church cathedral, where the act on the unification of Christian churches under the leadership of the Pope was adopted. The secular authorities and the clergy made an attempt to persuade him to abandon the union, but, seeing how the metropolitan was persisting, they imprisoned him in the Miracle Monastery, from where he fled to Tver, and then to Rome.
Captured by the Tatars. Blindness
1445 - Vasily 2 was captured by the Tatar princes Mahmutek and Yakub. Shemyaka asked the Tatars not to let go of the Grand Duke, but he was able to free himself by promising a huge ransom. In addition to money, he had to give several areas of his principality "to feed" the princes. But the "towns and volosts" handed out for feeding belonged to Moscow only formally. Prince Vasily managed to put the Kazan people who came with him, not only in the wilderness, but also on the disputed lands.
1446 - Dmitry captured Moscow and captured both Grand Duchesses. Vasily himself was captured in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery and blinded in Moscow, hence the nickname Dark.
Date of Dmitry Shemyaka and Vasily Dark.
After blinding
He received Vologda as his inheritance, but soon he again began to fight in alliance with the Tver prince Boris Alexandrovich, to whose daughter, Maria, his son Ivan was married. 1446, December - Vasily the Dark was able to regain the capital and the throne, but the war continued. 1450 - Dmitry Shemyaka arrived in Novgorod, where on July 18, 1453 he was blinded by the agents of Vasily 2. If earlier the princes were captured, dethroned and maimed their relatives, now the Grand Duke decided to kill his cousin, if, of course, the poisoning information is correct.
1456 - the Moscow army defeated the Novgorodians. The Novgorod Republic was forced to give up independence in foreign policy. When in January 1460 the Grand Duke with his sons Yuri and Andrey arrived in Novgorod to worship local shrines, the question of killing guests was discussed at the veche, and only Archbishop Jonah managed to dissuade the townspeople from this venture.
Death
Vasily 2 Dark suffered from dryness (tuberculosis). He was treated in the usual way at that time: several times to light tinder on various parts of the body. This, of course, did not help, and gangrene developed in the places of many burns. On March 27, Vasily 2 the Dark died, bequeathing to his eldest son and co-ruler Ivan the Grand Duchy of Vladimir and the most extensive inheritance. Prince Ivan, the future Ivan III, nicknamed the Great, received an efficient corporation at his disposal, which was completely devoid of internal competition. Very soon it will become the largest state in Europe.
Board results
• Centralization of the Grand Duke's power
• Subordination of small appanage principalities to the Moscow principality
• Increase of Moscow's influence on Suzdal, Pskov, Novgorod
• Maintaining religious independence