Moscow Prince Vasily 2 Dark ruled in an era when his principality was gradually becoming the core of a single Russian state. During the reign of this Rurikovich, there is also a major internecine war between him and his relatives - contenders for power in the Kremlin. This feudal conflict was the last in the history of Russia.
Family
The future Prince Vasily II Dark was the fifth son of Vasily I and Sofia Vitovtovna. On the maternal side, the child was a representative of the Lithuanian ruling dynasty. On the eve of his death, Vasily I sent a letter to his father-in-law Vytautas asking him to protect his young nephew.
The first four sons of the Grand Duke died in childhood or youth from a then frequent illness, which is known in the annals as "pestilence". Thus, Vasily 2 Dark remained the heir of Vasily I. From the state point of view, having a single offspring was only a plus, because it allowed the ruler not to divide his power among numerous children. Because of this specific custom, Kievan Rus has already perished and the Vladimir-Suzdal land has suffered for many years.
Political situation
The Moscow Principality was doubly necessarystay united because of foreign policy threats. Despite the fact that the grandfather of Vasily II Dmitry Donskoy defeated the Tatar-Mongol army on the Kulikovo field in 1380, Russia remained dependent on the Golden Horde. Moscow remained the main Slavic Orthodox political center. Its rulers were the only ones who could resist the khans, if not on the battlefield, then with the help of compromise diplomacy.
From the west, the Eastern Slavic principalities were threatened by Lithuania. Until 1430, Vitovt, the grandfather of Vasily II, ruled in it. During the decades of fragmentation of Russia, the Lithuanian rulers were able to annex the western Russian principalities (Polotsk, Galicia, Volyn, Kiev) to their possessions. Under Basil I, Smolensk lost its independence. Lithuania itself was increasingly oriented towards Catholic Poland, which led to inevitable conflict with the Orthodox majority and Moscow. Vasily II needed to balance between dangerous neighbors and maintain peace within his state. Time has shown that he did not always succeed.
Conflict with uncle
In 1425, Prince Vasily Dmitrievich died, leaving a ten-year-old son on the throne. Russian princes recognized him as the main ruler in Russia. Nevertheless, despite the expressed support, the position of little Vasily was extremely precarious. The only reason why no one dared to touch him was his grandfather, the powerful Lithuanian sovereign Vitovt. But he was quite an old man and died in 1430.
Followed by a whole chain of events that led to a major internecine war. The main cause of the conflict wasVasily II's uncle Yuri Dmitrievich is the son of the legendary Dmitry Donskoy. Before his death, the winner of Mamai, according to tradition, bequeathed inheritances to his youngest offspring. Understanding the danger of this tradition, Dmitry Donskoy limited himself to giving Yuri small towns: Zvenigorod, Galich, Vyatka and Ruza.
The children of the deceased prince lived in peace and helped each other. However, Yuri was known for his ambition and love of power. According to his father's will, he was to inherit the entire Moscow principality in the event of the premature death of his elder brother Vasily I. But he had five sons, the youngest of whom became the ruler of the Kremlin in 1425.
All this time, Yuri Dmitrievich remained an insignificant prince of Zvenigorod. The Moscow rulers managed to preserve their state and increase it due to the fact that the order of succession was legalized, according to which the throne passed from father to eldest son, bypassing younger brothers. In the 15th century, this order was a relative innovation. Prior to that, in Russia, power was inherited according to the law of the ladder, or the right of seniority (that is, uncles had priority over nephews).
Of course, Yuri was a supporter of the old order, since it was they who allowed him to become a legitimate ruler in Moscow. In addition, his rights were reinforced by a clause in his father's will. If we remove particulars and personalities, then in the Moscow principality under Vasily II, two systems of inheritance clashed, one of which was supposed to sweep away the other. Yuri was just waiting for the right moment to declare his claims. With the death of Vytautas, this opportunityintroduced herself.
Court in the Horde
During the years of the Tatar-Mongol rule, the khans issued labels for reigning, which gave the Rurikovich the right to occupy one or another throne. As a rule, this tradition did not interfere with the usual succession to the throne, unless the applicant was insolent to the nomads. Those who disobeyed the khan's decisions were punished by being attacked by a bloodthirsty horde.
Descendants of Dmitry Donskoy still received labels for reigning and paid tribute, even though the Mongols also began to suffer from their own civil strife. In 1431, the grown-up Vasily 2 the Dark went to the Golden Horde in order to obtain his permission to rule. At the same time, Yuri Dmitrievich went to the steppe with him. He wanted to prove to the Khan that he had more rights to the throne of Moscow than his nephew.
The Lord of the Golden Horde Ulu-Mohammed decided the dispute in favor of Vasily Vasilyevich. Yuri suffered his first defeat, but was not going to give in. In words, he recognized his nephew as his "elder brother" and returned to his native inheritance to wait for a new opportunity to strike. Our history knows many examples of perjury, and in this sense, Yuri Dmitrievich did not differ much from many of his contemporaries and predecessors. At the same time, Vasily also broke his promise. At the khan's court, he promised his uncle to compensate the city of Dmitrov, but he never did.
Beginning of civil strife
In 1433, the eighteen-year-old Moscow prince got married. Maria, the daughter of a specific ruler, became the wife of Vasily IIYaroslav Borovsky (also from the Moscow dynasty). Numerous relatives of the prince were invited to the celebrations, including the children of Yuri Dmitrievich (he himself did not appear, but remained in his Galich). Dmitry Shemyaka and Vasily Kosoy will still play their serious role in the internecine war. In the meantime, they were guests of the Grand Duke. In the midst of the wedding, a scandal erupted. The mother of Vasily II Sofya Vitovtovna saw a belt on Vasily Kosom, which allegedly belonged to Dmitry Donskoy and was stolen by servants. She tore off a piece of clothing from the boy, which caused a serious quarrel between relatives. The offended sons of Yuri Dmitrievich urgently retreated and left for their father, on the way having committed a pogrom in Yaroslavl. The episode with the stolen belt has become the property of folklore and a popular plot in legends.
A domestic quarrel became the very reason that the Zvenigorod prince was looking for to start a serious war against his nephew. Learning about what happened at the feast, he gathered a loyal army and went to Moscow. Russian princes again prepared to shed the blood of their subjects for the sake of personal interests.
The army of the Grand Duke of Moscow was defeated by Yuri on the banks of the Klyazma. Soon my uncle also occupied the capital. Vasily received Kolomna as compensation, where, in fact, he ended up in exile. Finally, Yuri fulfilled his old dream of his father's throne. However, having achieved the desired, he made several fatal mistakes. The new prince went into conflict with the capital's boyars, whose influence in the city was extremely great. The support of this estate and their money were then very important attributes of power.
Whenthe Moscow aristocracy realized that its new ruler began to squeeze old people out of office and replace them with his own candidates, dozens of key supporters fled to Kolomna. Yuri found himself in isolation and was cut off from the capital's army. Then he decided to make peace with his nephew and agreed to return the throne to him after several months of reign.
But Vasily wasn't much smarter than his uncle either. Returning to the capital, he began open repressions against those boyars who supported Yuri in his claims to power. Opponents made the same mistakes, not taking into account the sad experience of their opponents. Then the sons of Yuri declared war on Vasily. The Grand Duke was again defeated near Rostov. His uncle again became the ruler of Moscow. However, a few months after the next castling, Yuri died (June 5, 1434). Persistent rumors circulated around the capital that he had been poisoned by one of his close associates. According to Yuri's will, his eldest son Vasily Kosoy became the prince.
Vasily Kosoy in Moscow
All the time of Yuri's reign in Moscow, Vasily Vasilyevich 2 was on the run, unsuccessfully fighting against his sons. When Kosoy informed his brother Shemyaka that he now rules in Moscow, Dmitry did not accept this change. He made peace with Vasily, according to which, if the coalition succeeded, Shemyak would receive Uglich and Rzhev. Now the two princes, who used to be adversaries, have united their armies in order to expel the eldest son of Yuri Zvenigorodsky from Moscow.
Vasily Kosoy, having learned about the approach of the enemytroops, fled from the capital to Novgorod, having previously taken with him his father's treasury. He reigned in Moscow for only one summer month in 1434. On the run, the exile gathered an army with the money he had taken and went with it towards Kostroma. First, he was defeated near the Kotorosl River near Yaroslavl, and then again at the Battle of the Cherekha River in May 1436. Basil was taken prisoner by his namesake and barbarously blinded. It was because of his injury that he received the nickname Oblique. The former prince died in captivity in 1448.
War with the Kazan Khanate
For some time peace was established in Russia. Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily II tried to prevent war with his neighbors, but he failed. The reason for the new bloodshed was the Kazan Khanate. By this time, the unified Golden Horde was divided into several independent uluses. The largest and most powerful was the Kazan Khanate. The Tatars killed Russian merchants and periodically organized trips to the border areas.
In 1445, an open war broke out between the Slavic princes and the Kazan Khan Mahmud. On July 7, a battle took place near Suzdal, in which the Russian squad suffered a crushing defeat. Mikhail Vereisky and his cousin Vasily 2 Dark were taken prisoner. The years of the reign of this prince (1425-1462) were full of episodes when he completely lost power. And now, being in the Khan's captivity, he was briefly cut off from the events in his homeland.
Tatar hostage
While Vasily remained a hostage of the Tatars, the rulerMoscow was Dmitry Shemyaka - the second son of the late Yuri Zvenigorodsky. During this time, he acquired numerous supporters in the capital. Meanwhile, Vasily Vasilyevich persuaded the Kazan Khan to let him go free. However, he had to sign an enslaving contract, according to which he had to pay a huge indemnity and, even worse, give several of his cities to the Tatars to feed.
This caused a wave of indignation in Russia. Despite the grumbling of many residents of the country, Vasily 2 Dark began to rule in Moscow again. The policy of concessions to the Horde could not but lead to disastrous consequences. In addition, the prince came to the Kremlin at the head of the khan's army, which was given to him by the Tatars, in order to surely return the throne.
Dmitry Shemyaka retired to his Uglich after his opponent's return. Very soon, Moscow supporters began to flock to him, among whom were boyars and merchants, dissatisfied with Vasily's behavior. With their help, the Uglich prince organized a coup, after which he again began to rule in the Kremlin.
In addition, he enlisted the support of some specific princes who had previously refrained from conflict. Among them were the ruler of Mozhaisk Ivan Andreevich and Boris Tverskoy. These two princes helped Shemyaka treacherously capture Vasily Vasilyevich in the sacred walls of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. On February 16, 1446, he was blinded. The massacre was justified by the fact that Vasily went to an agreement with the hated Horde. In addition, he himself once ordered to blind his enemy. Thus, Shemyaka avenged the fate of his older brother Vasily Kosoy.
After blinding
After this episode, Vasily 2 Dark was sent into exile for the last time. In short, his tragic fate gained him supporters among the wavering aristocracy. Blinding also brought to reason most of the princes outside the Muscovite state, who became ardent opponents of Shemyaka. Vasily 2 Dark took advantage of this. Why the Dark One got his nickname is known from the chronicles, which explain this epithet with blindness. Despite the injury, the prince remained active. His son Ivan (future Ivan III) became his eyes and ears, helping in all state affairs.
By order of Shemyaka, Vasily and his wife were kept in Uglich. Maria Yaroslavna, like her husband, did not lose heart. When supporters began to return to the exiled prince, a plan was ripened to capture Moscow. In December 1446, Vasily, together with the army, occupied the capital, it happened at the moment when Dmitry Shemyaka was away. Now the prince finally and until his death established himself in the Kremlin.
Our history has known many civil strife. Most often they ended not in compromise, but in the complete victory of one of the parties. The same thing happened in the middle of the 15th century. Shemyaka gathered an army and prepared to continue the fight against the Grand Duke. A few years after Vasily's return to Moscow, on January 27, 1450, there was a battle near Galich, which historians consider the last internecine battle in Russia. Shemyaka suffered an unconditional defeat and soon fled to Novgorod. This city often became a haven for exiles from the Rurik dynasty. The inhabitants did not extradite Shemyaka, and he died a natural death in 1453. However, it is possible that he was secretly poisoned by Vasily's agents. Thus ended the last civil strife in Russia. Since then, the specific princes had neither the means nor the ambition to resist the central government.
Peace with Poland and Lithuania
At a young age, Prince Vasily II the Dark did not differ in foresight. He did not spare his subjects in the event of war and often made strategic mistakes that caused bloodshed. Blinding greatly changed his character. He became humble, calm, and maybe even wise. Having finally established himself in Moscow, Vasily began to arrange peace with his neighbors.
The main danger was the Polish king and the Lithuanian prince Casimir IV. In 1449, an agreement was concluded between the rulers, according to which they recognized the established borders and promised not to support their neighbor's competitors within the country. Casimir, like Vasily, faced the threat of civil war. His main opponent was Mikhail Sigismundovich, who relied on the Orthodox part of Lithuanian society.
Treaty with the Novgorod Republic
In the future, the reign of Vasily 2 the Dark continued in the same vein. Due to the fact that Novgorod sheltered Shemyaka, the republic was isolated, which, according to the agreement, was supported by the Polish king. With the death of the rebellious prince, ambassadors arrived in Moscow with a request to lift the trade embargo and other decisions of the prince, because of which the life of the townspeople was greatly complicated.
In 1456 betweenthe parties signed the Yazhelbitsky peace. He secured the vassal position of the Novgorod Republic from Moscow. The document again de jure confirmed the leading position of the Grand Duke in Russia. Later, the agreement was used by Vasily's son Ivan III to annex the rich city and the entire northern region to Moscow.
Results of the Board
The last years of his life Vasily the Dark spent in relative peace and silence. He died in 1462 from tuberculosis and improper treatment for this scourge. He was 47 years old, 37 of which he (intermittently) was a Moscow prince.
Vasily managed to liquidate small destinies within his state. He increased the dependence of other Russian lands on Moscow. An important church event took place under him. By order of the prince, Bishop Jonah was elected metropolitan. This event was the beginning of the end of the dependence of the Moscow Church on Constantinople. In 1453, the capital of Byzantium was taken by the Turks, after which the actual center of Orthodoxy moved to Moscow.
