The Story of Moscow

nder the

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a king who w

ory of Cam

ing to his possessions, and by purchase acquiring also Uglitch, Galitch and Bielozersk. Like his brother he kept on good terms with the Khan. At the command of Usbek he made war on Tver, Novgorod and Pskov. The Tartar Horde and the Muscovites fought in concert against Russian enemies. When Tver rose against t

ned. It was in Moscow that he lived and for Moscow he worked. In order to make it attractive to the metropolitan and to obtain for it the religious supremacy which had first belonged to Kiev, then to Vladimir, he built magnific

aptist; as also the dwellings of his drujni, followers and military companions. It was at his instigation too, that Sergius founded the Troitsa monastery in order to rival the Pecherskoi monastery and catacombs of Kiev. Ivan knew well the power of money and was free in using it; he was cunning, unscrupulous and discerning. He demanded and

states he enjoyed privileges denied to his seniors, and arrogated to himself the title and position of "Prince of all the Russias." He continued his father's policy in Moscow, engaging Greek

not the church supported him loyally. Moris, a monk, quelled a revolt; a fire destroyed the Kremlin; when he died the succession to the

s father in Moscow, and remained in the tutelage of the church for many years. It was to the prompting of Alexis even more than to that of his own kinsmen that the breach of the Tartar alliance is due. Dmitri availed himself of a divisi

ithuanians under Olgerd, his brother Kistut and his subsequently famous nephew Vitovt. "Olgerd camped before the walls, pillaged the churches and monasteries in the neighbourhood, but did not assault the Kremlin, the walls of which frightened him." Two years later he returned to the attack, b

tch, Serpukhov, Dmitrov, Mojaisk and other towns. After service in the cathedral they left by the Frolovski (Spasski) Nikolski and other gates in the east wall, escorted

the Muscovites. They wore a cross on their cowls and went into the thick of the battle. Peresvet was found dead on the field tightly grasping a Patsinak giant who had slain him. The armies met at Kulikovo on the Don, where Dm

ed the name of Donskoi to commemorate the victory. Sophronius, a priest of Riazan, who wrote an epic of the battle, a

to death. Then Tamerlane sent an envoy to Dmitri acquainting him with the fact that their common enemy had been van

nces who had promised him support failed to afford it, and Dmitri, unable to get 40,000 men together, was still waiting rei

with their prince and his companions, inviting those who had sought refuge in the Kremlin to come out and occupy their dwellings where they would not be molested. The besieged believed him, and, laden with presents and preceded by the clergy, they went out of the Kremlin to meet the enemy as friends. The Tartars at once fell upon them, killed Ostei and the other leaders, and forced a way into t

ave repented of his victory over the Tartars at Kulikovo, a barren victory after this desolation

ast of Russia. As the Horde withdrew the "Good companions" from Novgorod devastated the country round, but Vladimir and Moscow alike

1395, to escape an inroad of the Tartars, the celebrated ikon of the Virgin (see Frontispiece) was brought from Vladimir to Moscow, but the Tartars did not venture so far. This time they stopped

part round the Kremlin; now handsome gates with towers were added. Its finest church at this period was that of the Transfiguration, more usually styled "Spass na Boru," which, built in stone in 1330, had been considerably enlarged and a mo

xis, St Peter the Apostle, of Daniel, Simon, and Spasso-Preobrajenni (the Transfiguration). To commemorate the withdrawal of Tamerlane, Vasili founded the mon

ets of the house of Rurik, took up their r

h Mamai had brought Genoese gunners against Dmitri twenty years earlier. Ediger led the assault, and, though his forces had to retreat, the boyards of Moscow paid

nhabitants of the town, led by "Vladimir the Brave," successfully defended it; both pestilence and fa

of Vasili. "My Lord Tsar," he said to Ulu Mahomet, "let me speak, me, the slave of the Grand Prince. My master prays for the throne, which is thy property, having no other title but thy protection, thy investiture and thy iarlikh. Thou art master and can dispose of it at thy pleasure. My lord, th

fender of Moscow. The offended boyard went over to the side of Yuri and fanned his resentment. Yuri's two sons, Vasili, the squint-eyed, and Chemiaki were present at the marriage festivities of Vasili, whose mother

(ST SAVIOUR'

nduced their fath

sent to him at Kostroma inviting him to return to his own. On his return the people crowded round him "like bees round their queen." Later, Vasili, the squint-eyed, fell into the hands of Vasili II., who had his eyes put out; then at once repenting the act, set free his brother Chemiaki, and war again broke

his escape. During his absence, Chemiaki surprised the Kremlin and there captured the wife and mother of Vasili and took all the treasure. Hurrying after Vasili to Troitsa, he made him prisoner, brought him back to Moscow, and in 1446 put out his eyes in reveng

hich Chemiaki was held made the mild virtues of Vasili more prominent; for in the languag

t carried the Greeks with him in repudiating the union, is no part of this history. Isidor having accepted, introduced the Latin cross, made use of the name of the Pope in the services and so astonished the Russians that Vasili interfered. He reproached Isidor for his bad faith, and in dismay the prelate fled to Rome. In 1453 Mahomet II. entered Constantinople. Ther

of Byzantium, and this union, with a member of the race that had so long held sway over all orthodox Christianity, greatly influenced his policy. His wife, less patient than the Russians, found the Mongol yoke unbearable. "How long am I to be the slave of Tartars?" she would ask, and there is little doubt that it is to her

to Petchora on the Arctic Sea. He was a puzzle to his enemies, gaining victories over Lithuanians, Livonians and Siberians, without leaving the Kremlin. Stephen of Mol

by his wife. Cold, cruel and cunning, he brooked no opposition where he tho

k of the offender. He whipped Prince Oukhtomski, and ordered the archimandrite of a monastery to be flogged; mutilated the counsellors of his son, cowed the boyards, burnt alive Poles who had conspired against hi

ed the image of the Khan under foot, spat on the edict, and allowed this news to reach the Khan. When the enraged Tartars advanced towards Moscow, Ivan wished to remain in the city, but the inhabitants would have no shirking. "What! he has overtaxed us, refused to pay tribute to the Horde, and now that he has enraged the Khan, though he does

k." But this prompting did not suffice. Vassian at last lost patience, wrote a bellicose letter to Ivan, recounting the deeds of his heroic ancestors, from Igor Sviatoslaf to

ave orders for his forces to withdraw. Seeing the army in motion an inexplicable panic seized the Tartars, and they hastened away. Both armies were in flight, and no one pursuing. In such pitiful fashion did the Mongol supremacy terminate. For more than

made Alegam, its commander, a prisoner. In his boyhood Ivan had been imprisoned in K

stalled ruler of Kazan; but the leaders of the Khivan and Nogay Tartars, who were related to him, felt that Islam had been wronged, and despatched an envoy to Moscow praying for Alegam's release. Ivan declined, but did so graciously, and gave no offence. He made the env

itaia palace in the Kremlin. The device of St George and the Dragon, which Yuri Dolgoruki the founder of Moscow use

nced the claims of her own son Vasili; his daughter-in-law, Ivan's widow, her own son. Having proclaimed Dmitri heir, he threw Vasili into prison and degraded his wife