Forgotten reformer Vasily the Dark

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Forgotten reformer Vasily the Dark

Which of the Moscow Rurikovichs will a casual passer-by remember?

Like Dmitry Donskoy and Ivan the Terrible. Perhaps also Ivan Kalita. If you're lucky - Ivan the Third Great. And that's all.



And meanwhile story the rise of Moscow and the descendants of Alexander Nevsky ruling there is rich and interesting. And her struggle with Tver and Lithuania, and relations with the Horde, on which we were in vassal dependence. There were many, and yet the decisive step from the appanage principality to the center was no longer Vladimir, but Muscovite Rus, made by a man who was forced to do so by life and circumstances. And the happiness of Moscow that he was both smart and decisive, having managed to withstand, and carry out serious reforms in the conditions of a feudal war, and leave the foundation of the future empire to his son, his great-grandson will take the title of tsar.

How did it begin


And it all began with the marriage of the son of Dmitry Donskoy, Vasily I and Sophia Vitovtovna, daughter of Vitovt Gedeminovich, Grand Duke of Lithuania. The marriage was primarily political, Moscow and Lithuania fought for primacy in Russia. And the outcome of the struggle between Orthodox and Russian Lithuania and Orthodox and Russian Moscow was not obvious. Be that as it may, this marriage brought peace and a son - Basil, the same one who was born in 1415 and survived the only one of the four.

In 1425, the father of the ten-year-old Vasily II dies and begins ...

In Russia then the system of inheritance was not settled, and the ladder law was firmly in memory, when power was received not by the eldest son, but by the eldest in the family, plus there was a will of Dmitry Donskoy, in which, in the event of the death of Vasily I, power passed to Yuri, his younger brother.

Although the first five years everything was quiet, the father of our hero, knowing the history of the Rurikovichs, indicated in his will that he was transferring his son under the patronage of his grandfather, Vitovt, which, of course, turned Moscow into a vassal of Lithuania, but saved the life of the family. But Vitovt died in 1430, and an appeal to the Horde, which often acted as an arbiter in such disputes, did not give anything, the Tatars gave a label to the reign of Vasily. The war between uncle and nephew became inevitable and inevitable. On the side of Yuri Zvenigorodsky there was experience, the glory of the commander and intelligence, on the side of Vasily - the devotion of Muscovites, who understood that the city had risen thanks to its princes, and would collapse down if an outsider came.

Three times Vasily was kicked out of Moscow - two times his uncle did it, the third time his son, cousin Dmitry Shemyak. Once again Vasily was defeated by the Tatars, even Kolomna became the residence of Vasily, where most of the Muscovites moved. And all three times relatives came to Moscow, but could not subdue it. To assess the relationship between the descendants of Dmitry Donskoy - Vasily II ordered to gouge one eye out of his cousin, also Vasily, in 1434, and in 1446 his cousins ​​blinded Vasily himself after a parody of the trial:

“Why do you love Tatars and give them Russian cities to feed them? Why do you shower the unbelievers with Christian silver and gold? Why do you exhaust the people with taxes? Why did you blind our brother, Vasily the Kosoy? "

After which he received the nickname Dark. Most of his long reign, 37 years old, is civil strife and war. At the same time, constantly fighting and trying to hold on to something much more than the throne - the unity of the just incipient Muscovite Russia, he changed the state itself, adjusting it to new realities and turning, albeit a strong, but one of the appanage principalities into a state capable of uniting all Russian lands ... Even in defeats, Vasily found benefit: having lost to the Tatars, he gave them Gorodets Meshchersky to feed them, and the Moscow princes did not have a more faithful ally than the Kasimov Tatars, and against the Horde and against any other enemy.


Having an extremely weakened state by turmoil and strife, he made a profitable peace with Lithuania and Poland. In 1456 Novgorod, which was leaning towards Lithuania, recognized its dependence on Moscow. It also happened with the Horde, since 1449 Moscow did not pay tribute to the khans, and repelled the raids of the Tatars. The very fact that during this period Muscovite Rus not only withstood, but also strengthened is worthy of surprise, but the fact that in the process of strife the destinies (in fact, the foundation of strife) were eliminated and the prince's autocracy was strengthened is undoubted proof of his political talents.

The problem of the church was also solved: using the Florentine union, Vasily the Dark eliminated the metropolitan - the protege of Constantinople and appointed his own. This was the first step towards the inclusion of Orthodoxy in the state mechanism as one of its effective instruments, and the Moscow princes as the only defenders of Orthodoxy.

Vasily was also involved in the army, his voivode Fyodor Basenok divided the sovereign's courtyard into a palace, which took over the functions of economic and administrative central government and expansion of territories.

Vasily also took care of the descendants. The last ten years of his life, his son Ivan is a co-ruler, there is no doubt that it will not be in the old days, not even put forward, the new order of succession to the throne, which does not produce feudal strife, is being introduced into life. The son, Ivan the Great Vasilievich, will consolidate this order.

Results


Summing up the results - Vasily the Dark stopped strife, destroyed the inheritance, strengthened the church, making it part of the state apparatus, rebuilt the state machine itself and consolidated a new order of succession. In addition, he achieved tremendous success in foreign policy and laid the foundation for the rise of Moscow under Ivan the Great.

Why was it forgotten?

Well, firstly, with the light hand of Kostomarov, who made the Grand Duke a weak-willed puppet:

Using his eyesight, Vasily was the most insignificant sovereign, but since he lost his eyes, all the rest of his reign is distinguished by firmness, intelligence and decisiveness. It is obvious that the name of the blind prince was ruled by smart and active people. Such were the boyars: the princes Patrikeevs, Ryapolovskys, Koshkins, Pleshcheevs, Morozovs, glorious governors: Striga-Obolensky and Theodore Basenok, but most of all Metropolitan Jonah.

Secondly, the era of feudal wars does not paint anyone. And the squabble of the descendants of Alexander Nevsky is not something that they would forget, they just tried not to stick out, as well as the fact that Vasily Temny was a vassal of Lithuania for five years.

Well, Ivan Vasilyevich, who built the building on a ready-made foundation, and received all the glory for this.

There are more than enough reasons to remember the brilliant son and mention in a couple of lines in the textbook an equally brilliant father.

And Vasily the Dark died stupidly - he fell ill with tuberculosis and as a treatment he was prescribed the burning of tinder on his body, gangrene developed from burns ... But he left, I think, calmly - his son was left with a strong state, a strong army and bureaucratic apparatus, the support of the church, and most importantly - lack of rivals from relatives.

It remained to reunite everything lost over the centuries after the Mongol invasion and turn the state into an empire.
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27 comments
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  1. +8
    1 June 2021 05: 52
    In agony and suffering, the Russian state appeared. what
    I thank the author for his work on the history of Russia. hi
  2. +2
    1 June 2021 06: 16
    On the side of Yuri Zvenigorodsky was experience, the glory of the commander and the mind
    In other words, Vasily Dark did not possess these qualities, except for the devotion of Muscovites.
    1. +1
      1 June 2021 15: 11
      Lesh, greetings. "In addition to the devotion of Muscovites," agree that the devotion of Muscovites was very much
      1. +2
        1 June 2021 15: 41
        Generals and just smart smile
  3. +3
    1 June 2021 06: 17
    a photo. Personal seal of Vasily II.

    the print given by the author, which depicts a driver ruling four horses galloping in different directions - not the main one, but the so-called. "spiritual" - exclusively for family and oprichnina letters.
  4. +2
    1 June 2021 06: 21
    scheme Vasily II the Dark - ancestors
  5. +4
    1 June 2021 06: 22
    R times Vasily kicked out from Moscow - twice uncle did it, third time his son, cousin Dmitry Shemyaka. To assess the relationship between the descendants of Dmitry Donskoy - Vasily II ordered gouge out one cousin's eye, also to Vasily, in 1434, and in 1446 his cousins blinded Vasily himself

    Warm family relationship, yes ... recourse
    1. +6
      1 June 2021 06: 47
      Immediately after coming to power, Ivan III decided to show that the jokes were bad with him, and ordered to blind the famous voivode Fyodor Basenok - a mysterious story, the reasons for which the chronicler does not mention.
      1. +3
        1 June 2021 13: 57
        "the reasons for which the chronicler does not mention", we once said in this case: "for the old, for 10 years in advance"
    2. +5
      1 June 2021 07: 49
      Quote: Olgovich

      Warm family relationship, yes ... recourse

      They took an example from Byzantium. There, after the death of the emperor, his son (not necessarily the eldest), sitting on the throne and putting on a crown, usually ordered his brothers, especially half-hearted ones, but it happened that his relatives were also blind and / or emasculated. So, just in case, so that there could be no disputes over a chair and a headdress, even in principle.
      1. 0
        1 June 2021 08: 58
        Quote: Nagan
        to argue for a chair

        probably, after all, the table.
        1. +2
          1 June 2021 10: 47
          Quote: Olgovich
          Quote: Nagan
          to argue for a chair

          probably, after all, the table.

          This is a chair -
          They sit on it.
          This is the table -
          They eat after him.

          © S. Marshak,
          "Cat house"
          lol
          1. +1
            2 June 2021 06: 14
            Quote: Nagan

            Here it is table -
            For neitherm eat.

            © S. Marshak,
            "Cat house"

            on the table, oddly enough for you, sovereigns SIT:

            Dahl:
            Table, old. and the church. -the throne, the capital, the place of residence and the rank of the sovereign or saint, the pulpit. Sitting on the table is to be the sovereign, saint. I'll take Costantia's table, Prologue. Table of the great reign, chronicle. Paki with a prayer brought the archbishop Moses to his table in Saint Sethia, Novg. chronicle.
            1. +1
              2 June 2021 07: 48
              Well, if the calmness is high, then yes, you are right.
              1. -1
                2 June 2021 08: 43
                Quote: Nagan
                Well, if the calmness is high, then yes, you are right.

                and you are right.
  6. +5
    1 June 2021 06: 51
    Vasily II Vasilyevich rejected the union between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, proclaimed in 1439 by the Florentine Council, deposed the Moscow Metropolitan Isidore, who signed this union. On his instructions, in 1448, a council of bishops elected Jonah to the metropolitan throne without further confirmation by the Patriarch of Constantinople. Thus, the Grand Duke emphasized the independence of the Moscow Metropolitanate and his disagreement with the policy pursued by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which supported the decisions of the Council of Florence. He rejected the intervention of Pope Pius II in the affairs of the Orthodox Church.
  7. -3
    1 June 2021 08: 15
    It remained to reunite everything lost over the centuries after the Mongol invasion
    epigone Samsonov ...
  8. +2
    1 June 2021 09: 19
    Most of his long reign, 37 years

    Not a single stupid person will last so long in power, which characterizes Vasily as a very intelligent person.
    1. +3
      1 June 2021 11: 14
      It is obvious that the name of the blind prince was ruled by smart and active people.

      This is more believable.
      1. +4
        1 June 2021 17: 04
        At Basil the Dark, the rear was guarded by one lady, whom God, as if in mockery, gave to be born a woman and not a man. Intelligent, strong, stubborn with an iron will and unbending character. This is the owner Princess Sofya Vitovtovna, the only daughter of Vitovt, and also Vasily's own mother. It is enough to give only two facts about her will:
        1-fact. “I had a daughter, a girl,” Vitovt complained later, “and I had no power over her; there were suitors who asked a lot for her hand in marriage, but I could not marry her off to anyone I wanted, neither to Jagailo nor to Svidrigailo. She chose a groom for herself out of love. "
        links: 1.Valery Pazdnyakoў. Sof'ya Vitaўtana // Sluggish princes of Lithuania: Entsyklapedyya. At 3 volumes - Minsk: Belarusian Entsyklapedia. - 2005.
        2.Sophia Vitovtovna // Big biographical encyclopedia.
        3. Tver Chronicles. Old Russian texts and translations

        2-fact In 1451, Sophia led the defense of the Moscow principality from the Tatars. When they left, she informed her son about this, who at that time was hiding behind the Volga.
        She left the guardianship of her son Sophia at a ripe old age - she voluntarily went to the Ascension Monastery under the name Euphrosinia (in the schema of Syncliticium)
  9. +4
    1 June 2021 14: 12
    Comrades, for some reason I trust Kostomarov more. He was a serious historian and did not make hasty conclusions.
    Blind Vasily had to trust someone from his entourage. And so that the author does not say here, but the prince's inner circle was from the patriots. After all, a blind ruler is a rogue's dream
  10. +1
    1 June 2021 14: 55
    Vasily Dark did not demonstrate anything particularly outstanding. He allowed a thirty-year feudal massacre in the country, the power of the Horde only increased under him, outright lost the political struggle to Uncle Yuri, suffered from the Tatars. The only thing in which he managed to show himself was that he gathered a decent environment around him and did not allow the country to be pulled apart in pieces. Well, his son Ivan turned out to be good, what can I say. smile
    And if he was dying, maybe calmly, it was only because he himself had no living brothers and except for his son no one could claim the throne. smile
    1. +3
      1 June 2021 21: 07
      Allowed thirty years of feudal slaughter in the country
      Allowed it how? Before him there was no feudal massacre, but did they come here? The feudal massacre was constantly for a rare respite and it was not necessary to allow it, it did not stop at that moment.
      1. +2
        1 June 2021 21: 09
        Just think, before him, the last massacre with the participation of Moscow was under his grandfather in 1375 - when Tver was pacified.
        Quote: Torins
        The feudal massacre was constant

        Interesting. Let's take a closer look - who is with whom, what are the results ...
        1. +2
          1 June 2021 23: 18
          Everything with everyone, I'm not just specifically about the Moscow principality, I'm talking about the situation with the Russian principalities in general. Even if it was calm in Moscow itself at some point in time, it was not calm among its neighbors.
          1. +1
            1 June 2021 23: 42
            And Vasily is not responsible for the neighbors. On the contrary, if there is order in Moscow, but straining the neighbors, this is a plus for the Moscow ruler.
            And what was there for the neighbors? What kind of constant wars?
            Vasily plunged Moscow into dynastic strife, which stopped the process of unification for at least thirty years.
  11. 0
    2 June 2021 09: 34
    Quote: Trilobite Master
    Vasily Dark did not demonstrate anything particularly outstanding. He allowed a thirty-year feudal massacre in the country, the power of the Horde only increased under him, outright lost the political struggle to Uncle Yuri, suffered from the Tatars. The only thing in which he managed to show himself was that he gathered a decent environment around him and did not allow the country to be pulled apart in pieces. Well, his son Ivan turned out to be good, what can I say. smile

    In my opinion, it is quite worthy for a blind loser to consider him, if not Great, then at least successful. Yes, there were no stories hypertrophied by the descendants of the Peipsi and Kulikovo stories, but Nevryuev's men and other Ryazan pogroms are not observed. As for Yuri, victories did not help him strategically. Bloodlust was not enough.

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