Predecessor:
Successor:	Ivan IV the Terrible
Religion:	Orthodoxy
Birth:
Buried:	Archangel Cathedral in Moscow
Dynasty:	Rurikovich
	Sofia Paleolog
	1) Solomonia Yuryevna Saburova 2) Elena Vasilievna Glinskaya
	Sons: Ivan IV and Yuri

Biography

Internal affairs

Unification of Russian lands

Foreign policy

Annexations

Marriages and children

Vasily III Ivanovich (March 25, 1479 - December 3, 1533) - Grand Duke Moscow in 1505-1533, son of Ivan III the Great and Sophia Paleologus, father of Ivan IV the Terrible.

Biography

Vasily was the second son of Ivan III and the eldest son of Ivan's second wife Sophia Paleologus. Besides the eldest he had four younger brother:

• Yuri Ivanovich, Prince of Dmitrov (1505-1536)
• Dmitry Ivanovich Zhilka, Prince of Uglitsky (1505-1521)
• Semyon Ivanovich, Prince of Kaluga (1505-1518)
• Andrei Ivanovich, Prince of Staritsky and Volokolamsk (1519-1537)

Ivan III, pursuing a policy of centralization, took care of transferring all power through the line of his eldest son, while limiting the power of his younger sons. Therefore, already in 1470, he declared his eldest son from the first wife of Ivan the Young as his co-ruler. However, in 1490 he died of illness. Two parties were created at court: one grouped around the son of Ivan the Young, the grandson of Ivan III Dmitry Ivanovich and his mother, the widow of Ivan the Young, Elena Stefanovna, and the second around Vasily and his mother. At first, the first party gained the upper hand; Ivan III intended to crown his grandson as king. Under these conditions, a conspiracy matured in the circle of Vasily III, which was discovered, and its participants, including Vladimir Gusev, were executed. Vasily and his mother Sophia Paleolog fell into disgrace. However, the grandson's supporters came into conflict with Ivan III, which ended in the grandson's disgrace in 1502. On March 21, 1499, Vasily was declared Grand Duke of Novgorod and Pskov, and in April 1502, Grand Duke of Moscow and Vladimir and All Rus', autocrat, that is, he became co-ruler of Ivan III.

The first marriage was arranged by his father Ivan, who first tried to find him a bride in Europe, but ended up choosing from 1,500 girls presented to the court for this purpose from all over the country. The father of Vasily Solomonia's first wife, Yuri Saburov, was not even a boyar. The Saburov family descended from the Tatar Murza Chet.

Since the first marriage was fruitless, Vasily obtained a divorce in 1525, and at the beginning of the next year (1526) he married Elena Glinskaya, the daughter of the Lithuanian prince Vasily Lvovich Glinsky. Initially, the new wife also could not get pregnant, but eventually, on August 15, 1530, they had a son, Ivan, the future Ivan the Terrible, and then a second son, Yuri.

Internal affairs

Vasily III believed that nothing should limit the power of the Grand Duke, which is why he enjoyed the active support of the Church in the fight against the feudal boyar opposition, harshly dealing with all those who were dissatisfied. In 1521, Metropolitan Varlaam was exiled due to his refusal to participate in Vasily’s fight against Prince Vasily Ivanovich Shemyachich, the Rurik princes Vasily Shuisky and Ivan Vorotynsky were expelled. Diplomat and statesman Ivan Bersen-Beklemishev was executed in 1525 because of criticism of Vasily’s policies, namely because of open rejection of Greek novelty, which came to Rus' with Sophia Paleologus. During the reign of Vasily III, the landed nobility increased, the authorities actively limited the immunity and privileges of the boyars - the state followed the path of centralization. However, the despotic features of government, which were fully manifested already under his father Ivan III and grandfather Vasily the Dark, only intensified even more in the era of Vasily.

In church politics, Vasily unconditionally supported the Josephites. Maxim Grek, Vassian Patrikeev and other non-covetous people were sentenced to Church cathedrals some to death, others to imprisonment in monasteries.

During the reign of Vasily III, a new Code of Law was created, which, however, has not reached us.

As Herberstein reported, at the Moscow court it was believed that Vasily was superior in power to all the monarchs of the world and even the emperor. On front side his seal bore the inscription: “Great Sovereign Basil, by the grace of God, Tsar and Lord of All Rus'.” On back side it read: “Vladimir, Moscow, Novgorod, Pskov and Tver, and Yugorsk, and Perm, and many lands of the Sovereign.”

The reign of Vasily is the era of the construction boom in Rus', which began during the reign of his father. The Archangel Cathedral was erected in the Moscow Kremlin, and the Ascension Church was built in Kolomenskoye. Stone fortifications are being built in Tula, Nizhny Novgorod, Kolomna, and other cities. New settlements, forts, and fortresses are founded.

Unification of Russian lands

Vasily, in his policy towards other principalities, continued the policy of his father.

In 1509, while in Veliky Novgorod, Vasily ordered the Pskov mayor and other representatives of the city, including all the petitioners who were dissatisfied with them, to gather with him. Arriving to him at the beginning of 1510 on the feast of Epiphany, the Pskovites were accused of distrust of the Grand Duke and their governors were executed. The Pskovites were forced to ask Vasily to accept themselves into his patrimony. Vasily ordered to cancel the meeting. At the last meeting in the history of Pskov, it was decided not to resist and to fulfill Vasily’s demands. On January 13, the veche bell was removed and sent to Novgorod with tears. On January 24, Vasily arrived in Pskov and dealt with it in the same way as his father did with Novgorod in 1478. 300 of the most noble families of the city were resettled to Moscow lands, and their villages were given to Moscow service people.

It was the turn of Ryazan, which had long been in Moscow’s sphere of influence. In 1517, Vasily called to Moscow the Ryazan prince Ivan Ivanovich, who was trying to enter into an alliance with the Crimean Khan, and ordered him to be put into custody (after Ivan was tonsured a monk and imprisoned in a monastery), and took his inheritance for himself. After Ryazan, the Starodub principality was annexed, in 1523 - Novgorod-Severskoye, whose prince Vasily Ivanovich Shemyachich was treated like the Ryazan principality - he was imprisoned in Moscow.

Foreign policy

At the beginning of his reign, Vasily had to start a war with Kazan. The campaign was unsuccessful, the Russian regiments commanded by Vasily’s brother, Prince of Uglitsky Dmitry Ivanovich Zhilka, were defeated, but the Kazan people asked for peace, which was concluded in 1508. At the same time, Vasily, taking advantage of the turmoil in Lithuania after the death of Prince Alexander, put forward his candidacy for the throne of Gediminas. In 1508, the rebellious Lithuanian boyar Mikhail Glinsky was received very cordially in Moscow. The war with Lithuania led to a rather favorable peace for the Moscow prince in 1509, according to which the Lithuanians recognized the capture of his father.

Began in 1512 new war with Lithuania. On December 19, Vasily Yuri Ivanovich and Dmitry Zhilka set out on a campaign. Smolensk was besieged, but it was not possible to take it, and the Russian army returned to Moscow in March 1513. On June 14, Vasily set out on a campaign again, but after sending the governor to Smolensk, he himself remained in Borovsk, waiting for what would happen next. Smolensk was again besieged, and its governor, Yuri Sologub, was defeated in open field. Only after that Vasily personally came to the troops. But this siege was also unsuccessful: the besieged managed to restore what was being destroyed. Having devastated the outskirts of the city, Vasily ordered a retreat and returned to Moscow in November.

On July 8, 1514, the army led by the Grand Duke again set out for Smolensk, this time his brothers Yuri and Semyon walked with Vasily. A new siege began on July 29. The artillery, led by gunner Stefan, inflicted heavy losses on the besieged. On the same day, Sologub and the clergy of the city came to Vasily and agreed to surrender the city. On July 31, the residents of Smolensk swore allegiance to the Grand Duke, and Vasily entered the city on August 1. Soon the surrounding cities were taken - Mstislavl, Krichev, Dubrovny. But Glinsky, to whom the Polish chronicles attributed the success of the third campaign, entered into relations with King Sigismund. He hoped to get Smolensk for himself, but Vasily kept it for himself. Very soon the conspiracy was exposed, and Glinsky himself was imprisoned in Moscow. Some time later, the Russian army, commanded by Ivan Chelyadinov, suffered a heavy defeat near Orsha, but the Lithuanians were never able to return Smolensk. Smolensk remained a disputed territory until the end of the reign of Vasily III. At the same time, residents of the Smolensk region were taken to the Moscow regions, and residents of the regions closest to Moscow were resettled to Smolensk.

In 1518, Shah Ali Khan, who was friendly towards Moscow, became the Khan of Kazan, but he did not rule for long: in 1521 he was overthrown by his Crimean protege Sahib Giray. In the same year, fulfilling allied obligations with Sigismund, the Crimean Khan Mehmed I Giray announced a raid on Moscow. Together with him, the Kazan Khan emerged from his lands, and near Kolomna, the Crimeans and Kazan people united their armies together. The Russian army under the leadership of Prince Dmitry Belsky was defeated on the Oka River and was forced to retreat. The Tatars approached the walls of the capital. Vasily himself at that time left the capital for Volokolamsk to gather an army. Magmet-Girey did not intend to take the city: having devastated the area, he turned back to the south, fearing the Astrakhan people and the army gathered by Vasily, but taking a letter from the Grand Duke stating that he recognized himself as a loyal tributary and vassal of the Crimea. On the way back, having met the army of governor Khabar Simsky near Pereyaslavl of Ryazan, the khan began, on the basis of this letter, to demand the surrender of his army. But, having asked the Tatar ambassadors with this written commitment to come to his headquarters, Ivan Vasilyevich Obrazets-Dobrynsky (this was Khabar’s family name) retained the letter, and dispersed the Tatar army with cannons.

In 1522, the Crimeans were again expected in Moscow; Vasily and his army even stood on the Oka River. Khan never came, but the danger from the steppe did not pass. Therefore, in the same 1522, Vasily concluded a truce, according to which Smolensk remained with Moscow. The Kazan people still did not calm down. In 1523, in connection with another massacre of Russian merchants in Kazan, Vasily announced a new campaign. Having ruined the Khanate, on the way back he founded the city of Vasilsursk on Sura, which was supposed to become a new reliable place of trade with the Kazan Tatars. In 1524, after the third campaign against Kazan, Sahib Giray, an ally of the Crimea, was overthrown, and Safa Giray was proclaimed khan in his place.

In 1527, the attack of Islam I Giray on Moscow was repelled. Having gathered in Kolomenskoye, Russian troops took up defensive positions 20 km from the Oka. The siege of Moscow and Kolomna lasted five days, after which the Moscow army crossed the Oka and defeated the Crimean army on the Sturgeon River. The next steppe invasion was repulsed.

In 1531, at the request of the Kazan people, the Kasimov prince Jan-Ali Khan was proclaimed khan, but he did not last long - after the death of Vasily, he was overthrown by the local nobility.

Annexations

During his reign, Vasily annexed Pskov (1510), Smolensk (1514), Ryazan (1521), Novgorod-Seversky (1522) to Moscow.

Marriages and children

Wives:

• Solomonia Yuryevna Saburova (from September 4, 1505 to November 1525).
• Elena Vasilievna Glinskaya (from January 21, 1526).

Children (both from his second marriage): Ivan IV the Terrible (1530-1584) and Yuri (1532-1564). According to legend, from the first, after the tonsure of Solomonia, a son, George, was born.

After the death of Grand Duke Ivan III in 1505, Vasily III took the grand-ducal throne. He was born in 1479 in Moscow and was the second son of Ivan III and Sophia Paleologus, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor. Vasily became heir to the throne after the death of his older brother Ivan in 1490. Ivan III wanted to transfer the throne to his grandson Dmitry Ivanovich, but shortly before his death he abandoned this intention. Vasily III in 1505 married Solomonia Saburova, who came from an Old Moscow boyar family.

Vasily III (1505-1533) continued his father’s policy of creating a unified Russian state and expanding its borders. During his reign, the last Russian principalities were annexed, which had previously formally retained their independence: in 1510 - the lands of the Pskov Republic, in 1521 - the Ryazan principality, which in fact had long been completely dependent on Moscow.

Vasily III consistently pursued a policy of eliminating appanage principalities. He did not fulfill his promises to provide inheritance to noble immigrants from Lithuania (princes Belsky and Glinsky), and in 1521 he liquidated the Novgorod-Seversky principality - the inheritance of Prince Vasily Ivanovich, the grandson of Shemyaka. All other appanage principalities either disappeared as a result of the death of their rulers (for example, Starodubskoye), or were liquidated in exchange for the provision of high places to the former appanage princes at the court of Vasily III (Vorotynskoye, Belevskoye, Odoevskoye, Masalskoye). As a result, by the end of the reign of Vasily III, only the appanages that belonged to the brothers of the Grand Duke - Yuri (Dmitrov) and Andrei (Staritsa), were preserved, as well as the Kasimov principality, where pretenders to the Kazan throne from the Chingizid dynasty ruled, but with very limited rights of princes (they were it was forbidden to mint their own coins, judicial power was limited, etc.).

The development of the local system continued, the total number of service people - landowners - was already about 30 thousand.

Basil III supported the expansion of the political role of the church. Many churches were built with his personal funds, including the Kremlin Annunciation Cathedral. At the same time, Vasily III completely controlled the church. This is evidenced, in particular, by his appointment of Metropolitans Varlaam (1511) and Daniel (1522) without convocation Local Council, that is, in violation of church law. This happened for the first time in the history of Rus'. And in former times, princes played an important role in the appointment of metropolitans, archbishops and bishops, but at the same time church canons were necessarily observed.

The accession of Varlaam to the metropolitan throne in the summer of 1511 led to the strengthening of the position of non-covetous people among the highest church hierarchs. By the beginning of the 20s, Vasily III lost interest in non-covetous people and lost hope of depriving the church of its land holdings. He believed that much more benefits could be derived from an alliance with the Josephites, who, although they held tightly to church possessions, were ready for any compromise with the Grand Duke. In vain Vasily III asked Metropolitan Varlaam, a non-covetous man by his convictions, to help him fraudulently lure to Moscow the last Novgorod-Seversk prince Vasily Shemyachich, who, without the metropolitan's safe conduct, resolutely refused to appear in the capital. Varlaam did not make a deal with the Grand Duke and, at the insistence of Vasily III, was forced to leave the metropolitan see. On February 27, 1522, the more accommodating abbot of the Valaam Monastery, Josephite Daniel, was installed in his place, becoming an obedient executor of the will of the Grand Duke. Daniil issued a “metropolitan letter of protection” to Vasily Shemyachich, who, upon entering Moscow in April 1523, was captured and imprisoned, where he ended his days. This whole story caused a storm of indignation in Russian society.

Contemporaries remembered Vasily III as a powerful man who did not tolerate objections and single-handedly made the most important decisions. He dealt harshly with those he disliked. Even at the beginning of his reign, many supporters of Prince Dmitry Ivanovich (grandson of Ivan III) fell into disgrace; in 1525, opponents of the divorce and second marriage of the Grand Duke, among them were the then leader of the non-covetous Vassian (Patrikeev), a prominent church figure, writer and translator Maxim Greek (now canonized), prominent statesman and diplomat P.N. Bersen-Beklemishev (he was brutally executed). In fact, Vasily’s brothers and their appanage yards were in isolation.

At the same time, Vasily III sought to substantiate the allegedly divine origin of the grand ducal power, relying on the authority of Joseph Volotsky, who in his works acted as an ideologist of strong state power and “ancient piety” (canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church), as well as on the ideas of “The Tale of princes of Vladimir”, etc. This was facilitated by the increased authority of the Grand Duke in Western Europe. In the treaty (1514) with the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian III, Vasily III was even named king.

Vasily III carried out an active foreign policy, although not always successful. In 1507-1508 he waged a war with the Principality of Lithuania, and Russian troops suffered a number of serious defeats in field battles, and the result was the preservation of the status quo. Vasily III managed to achieve success in Lithuanian affairs thanks to the events that unfolded in the lands subject to Lithuania.

At the court of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander Kazimirovich, the Glinsky princes, who descended from Mamai and owned vast lands in Ukraine (Poltava, Glinsk), enjoyed enormous influence. Sigismund, who replaced Alexander, deprived Mikhail Lvovich Glinsky of all his posts. The latter, together with his brothers Ivan and Vasily, raised a rebellion, which was hardly suppressed. The Glinskys fled to Moscow. Mikhail Glinsky had extensive connections at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian (it was the largest empire of that time, including almost half of Europe). Thanks to the mediation of Glinsky, Vasily III established allied relations with Maximilian, who opposed Poland and Lithuania. The most important success of Vasily III's military operations was the capture of Smolensk after two unsuccessful assaults. The war continued until 1522, when a truce was concluded through the mediation of representatives of the Holy Roman Empire. Although Lithuania did not recognize the loss of Smolensk, the city became part of the Russian state (1514).

The eastern policy of Vasily III was quite complex, where the central factor was the relationship of the Russian state with the Kazan Khanate. Until 1521, under the khans Mohammed Edin and Shah Ali, Kazan was a vassal of Moscow. However, in 1521, the Kazan nobility expelled the protege of Vasily III of Kasimov Khan Shah-Ali and invited the Crimean prince Sahib-Girey to the throne. Relations between Moscow and Kazan have deteriorated sharply. Khanate of Kazan essentially abandoned obedience to the Russian state. Both sides began using military force. Kazan raids resumed, that is, military campaigns on Russian lands, organized by the top of the Kazan Khanate to capture booty and prisoners, as well as an open demonstration of force. In 1521, Kazan military leaders took part in the great Crimean campaign against Moscow; Kazan troops made 5 raids on the eastern regions of the Russian state (Meshchera, Nizhny Novgorod, Totma, Uneka). Kazan raids were also undertaken in 1522 (two) and in 1523. To defend the eastern border, in 1523 the Russian fortress Vasilsursk was built on the Volga at the mouth of the Sura. However, Moscow did not abandon its attempts to restore its control over the Kazan Khanate and return the obedient Shah Ali Khan to the Kazan throne. For this purpose, a number of campaigns were made against Kazan (in 1524, 1530 and 1532), however, they were not successful. True, in 1532 Moscow still managed to place Khan Jan-Ali (Yenaley), Shah-Ali’s brother, on the Kazan throne, but in 1536, as a result of another palace conspiracy, he was killed, and Safa-Girey became the new ruler of the Kazan Khanate - representative of the Crimean dynasty, hostile to the Russian state.

Relations with the Crimean Khanate also worsened. Moscow's ally, Khan Mengli-Girey, died in 1515, but even during his lifetime, his sons actually got out of the control of their father and independently carried out raids on Russian lands. In 1521, Khan Magmet-Girey inflicted a serious defeat on the Russian army, besieged Moscow (Vasily III was even forced to flee the city), later Ryazan was besieged, and only the skillful actions of the Ryazan governor Khabar Simsky (who successfully used artillery) forced the khan to retreat back to Crimea. Since that time, relations with Crimea have become one of the most pressing problems of Russian foreign policy for centuries.

The reign of Vasily III was almost marked by a dynastic crisis. Vasily’s marriage to Solomonia Saburova was childless for more than 20 years. The dynasty of Moscow princes could be interrupted, especially since Vasily III forbade his brothers Yuri and Andrei to marry. In 1526, he forcibly tonsured Solomonia into a monastery and the next year married Princess Elena Vasilyevna Glinskaya, who was half her husband’s age. In 1530, the fifty-year-old Grand Duke gave birth to a son, Ivan, the future Tsar Ivan IV.

Vasily III (25.03.1479 - 3.12.1533) ascended the throne in October 1505.

According to the spiritual charter of Ivan III, he inherited his father’s title, the right to mint coins, and received control of 66 cities. Among these cities are centers such as Moscow, Tver, Novgorod.

His brothers inherited 30 cities. They also had to obey Ivan as their father. Vasily III tried to continue his father’s work in both domestic and foreign policy.

He wanted to show his power, autocracy, while he was deprived of the abilities and merits of his father.

Vasily III strengthened Russia's position in the west, and did not forget about the return of the lands of Rus', which were under the rule of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Levon Order.

During the first war between Lithuania and the Muscovite state in 1507 - 1508, the Polish king Sigismund I and the Grand Duke of Lithuania tried to unite the Muscovite opponents together. But they didn’t succeed.

The rebel Mikhail Glinsky was supported by Moscow and Lithuania was forced to sign an eternal peace treaty with the Russians. Yes, the parties existed in peace for only four years. Already in 1512, a new war began, which lasted almost ten years.

Things were not calm in the south either; the danger from the Tatars did not decrease. Although we remember that the Great Horde fell in 1502. Crimean and Tatar Tatars instilled fear in the residents of the southern and eastern outskirts of the Russian state. And if the attackers managed to bypass the border, then they headed to the center and even threatened Moscow.

Vasily III sent gifts to the khans to achieve peace with him. But at the same time, he did not forget to lead the army to the bank of the Oka River in order to protect himself from the uninvited guest. Defensive stone fortresses were also built in Tula, Kolomna, Kaluga, and Zaraysk.

Domestically, Vasily III succeeded. He decided to finally subjugate it (1510), conquered Ryazan (1521). The support of the Grand Duke is the service people, the boyars and nobles. During their service to the sovereign, they were allocated an estate. The peasants who lived on these lands, by order of the Grand Duke, were obliged to support the landowners.

Peasants plowed and sowed the land (corvée), mowed hay and harvested crops, grazed livestock and fished. Also, ordinary people gave away part of the products of their labor (food rent). The distribution of land, during the unification of Russian lands, took on the character of a system. And it was just not enough. The government even wanted to take away the monastic and church lands, but it didn’t work out. The Church promised support for the authorities if only they would leave the land.

Under Vasily III, the development of the local system led to the emergence landowners' estates throughout Russia, except for the northern territories. The persistent and cautious king ruled his state with political stability. Economic growth was noticed, new cities were built, crafts developed. In large villages that were located on big roads, markets appeared - a place of trade for artisans.

In such villages, courtyards of “uncultivated peasants” arose, that is, the courtyards of those who gave up plowing the land and took up crafts and trade. These were blacksmiths, tailors, shoemakers, coopers and others. It must be said that the population was small; in Moscow, for example, it was about 100 thousand people. There were even fewer people in other cities.

Under Vasily III, the unification of the Russian principalities into one state was completed. In addition to the Russians, the state included Mordovians, Karelians, Udmurts, Komi and many other nationalities. Russian state was multinational. The authority of the Russian state grew in the eyes of Eastern and European rulers. The Moscow “autocracy” was firmly entrenched in Russia. After the death of Vasily III, came, which was followed by the crowning of his son Vasily to the royal throne.

The Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily III Ivanovich (1479-1534, Grand Duke from 1506) completed the unification of Russian lands around Moscow. Became the first autocratic ruler. He went down in history as a brave and intelligent ruler, but a tough, domineering, vindictive man with a difficult personal life from his youth to adulthood.

How Vasily III became king

At the age of 26, they decided to marry Prince Vasily. To choose a bride, his father, Grand Duke Ivan III, ordered the first beauties from all the Russian principalities to be collected in Moscow, since he was unable to find a bride for Vasily among the foreign ruling houses. 1,500 girls arrived in Moscow - very beautiful, noble and ignorant, of which 300 were gradually selected, then the 200, 100 and 10 best were shown to Vasily, who chose the daughter of eminent Moscow boyars, Solomonia Saburova. In 1505 the wedding took place, 4 months later Ivan III died, Vasily became the Grand Duke. The marriage was long and happy, but there were no children. The grand ducal couple traveled to monasteries, made rich deposits, but still there were no children, the marriage remained childless. Vasily III had four brothers to whom he did not want to leave the throne and did not allow them to marry. According to their father's will, the brothers received 30 cities into their possession, and Vasily - 66. Vasily III almost hated the brothers, who considered their father's will unfair, awaiting his death and the transfer of supreme power to one of them. Having fallen ill, Vasily III even intended to transfer the right of inheritance to the throne to the husband of his sister Evdokia - the Tatar prince Kuidakul, in Orthodoxy Peter, but he died suddenly (most likely, he was poisoned). Vasily III learned of rumors about his own infertility. He also learned that his wife had turned to fortune-tellers and witches several times so that they could save the grand-ducal couple from childlessness. The Church categorically forbade (and forbids) turning to fortune-tellers and sorcerers, and evaluates such actions as a great sin. Then such actions of the queen were assessed not only as a sin, but also as harm to her husband, who turned out to be a victim of damage. One of the fortune tellers confidently told the queen that they would never have children. Vasily III began to think about the inevitability of their divorce, and to resolve this issue he assembled a council of clergy and boyars. Moscow Metropolitan Daniel expressed his readiness to take the sin of the prince’s divorce upon his soul. Some boyars and clergy openly opposed divorce (Prince Patrikeev - monk Vassian Kosoy, monk Makrsim the Greek, Prince Semyon Kurbsky), all of them were severely punished and imprisoned for this. Most people were against the divorce, condemned the intention of Vasily III, but were afraid of his anger and remained silent.

Marriage of Vasily III and Solomonia Saburova

Vasily III was guided by state interests in his personal life. After difficult thoughts, Vasily III decided to divorce. With the permission of Metropolitan Daniel, he divorced and received the right to remarry. Ex-wife Vasily III imprisoned Solomonia Saburova in the Moscow Nativity Monastery in 1525, then she was taken to the Suzdal Intercession Monastery, where she lived for 14 years and died, having survived ex-husband and his new wife. The legend claims that Solomonia, abandoned by the king, allegedly secretly gave birth to a son and he was secretly raised in one of the boyar houses. According to another version, he allegedly became the famous robber Kudeyar.

Vasily III probably felt sorry for his divorced wife in his soul, at least partially reproaching himself for the sin of divorce, and as best he could (within the bounds of decency) showed concern for her and the city and monastery where she ended up. So, in the Suzdal Kremlin in 1528-1530. At the behest and with the assistance of Vasily III, the restoration of the Nativity Cathedral was carried out. For the proper maintenance of the divorced queen in the Suzdal Intercession Monastery, he allocated the village of Vysheslavskoye with peasants to the monastery. In the Intercession Monastery, by order of Vasily III, they built a gate church small room for a separate throne, intended only for one nun - Sophia, his divorced wife. In general, Vasily III somehow in advance singled out the Intercession Monastery from other women’s monasteries, almost guessing about its special role in the fate of the grand-ducal couple. During the first decade family life with Solomonia Saburova, he came to the Intercession Monastery, allocated significant funds, which laid the foundation for the monastery’s well-being and made it possible to begin detailed stone construction in it.

Marriage of Ivan III with Elena Glinskaya

The tsar's second wife was Elena Vasilyevna Glinskaya (1509-1538), in whose veins Lithuanian blood flowed. Her uncle Alexander fled from Lithuania to Russia. And this meant that the tsar’s chosen one came from a family of fugitives and traitors who had disgraced themselves in their homeland, in Lithuania. A very unpleasant fact: the great princes usually chose their wives from glorious boyar families or from respected families - royal, royal - outside Russia. Contemporaries wrote that Tsar Vasily III fell passionately in love with the young Elena Glinskaya, in order to please her, he decided on an unprecedented thing: he began to look younger and even shaved off his beard, used cosmetical tools. Two months after the divorce and tonsure of Solomonia Saburova, Tsar Vasily III married Elena Glinskaya (he was 48 years old, she was 18). The tsar, in love with his young wife, did not notice in her retinue her former lover, Prince Ivan Fedorovich Telepnev-Obolensky-Saburov-Ovchina (he was soon elevated to noble ranks of the state and, perhaps, is the father of the next tsar - Ivan IV, born in 1530) . For seven years the Tsar enjoyed life with his young wife, who bore him sons Ivan and Yuri (the former later became Tsar). The fate of the young queen was hardly enviable. Only after the death of her husband was she able, by adding more honorary positions to I.F. Telepnev-Obolensky, to somehow legitimize him as her practically official favorite; this happened for the first time in a grand-ducal family in Rus'. E.V. Glinskaya and her prince brothers and I.F. Telepnev-Obolensky after the death of Vasily III began to rule Moscow and Russia. But the fate of all of them was bad: Glinskaya was poisoned in 1538, Telepnev-Obolensky was starved to death in captivity, etc. This was retribution for feigned love for the king and the desire for power, profit, and wealth by any means.

Broadcast from the “Hour of Truth” series dedicated to Vasily III Ivanovich

The Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily Ivanovich III (1505 - 1533, born in 1479) is most famous for the fact that during his reign the gathering of the fragmented appanages of North-Eastern Rus' into a single state was completed. Under Vasily III, the veche city of Pskov (1510) and the last appanage principalities - Ryazan (1517) and Chernigov-Seversky (1517-1523) were annexed to Moscow. Vasily continued the domestic and foreign policies of his father, Ivan III, whom he resembled in his stern, autocratic character. Of the two main church parties of the time, in the first years of his reign, the predominance belonged to non-covetous people, but then it passed to the Josephites, whom Basil III supported until his death.

Vasily III. Miniature from the Tsar's title book

The former, purely service composition of the Moscow boyars, as the Russian North-East was unified, was replenished with recent appanage princes, people much more influential and demanding. In this regard, Vasily treated the boyars with suspicion and distrust, consulting with him only for show, and even then rarely. He conducted the most important affairs not with the help of the boyars, but with the help of humble clerks and nobles (like his close butler Shigona Podzhogin). Vasily treated such rootless nominees rudely and unceremoniously (deacon Dolmatov paid with imprisonment for refusing to go to the embassy, ​​and Bersen-Beklemishev was executed for contradicting the Grand Duke). During the reign of Vasily III, the conflict between the grand-ducal power and the boyars, which during the reign of his son, Ivan the Terrible, led to the horrors of the oprichnina, began to gradually intensify. But Vasily behaved with the boyars still very restrained. Neither of noble representatives of the boyar class were not executed under him. Vasily, for the most part, limited himself to taking oaths from the boyars (Shuisky, Belsky, Vorotynsky, Mstislavsky) that they would not leave for Lithuania. Only Prince Vasily Kholmsky fell into disgrace under him (for what, it is unknown).

Unification of Muscovite Rus' under Ivan III and Vasily III

But Vasily treated close relatives who, due to dynastic kinship, could challenge his power with the usual severity of his predecessors. Vasily's rival, his nephew Dmitry Ivanovich (grandson of Ivan III from his eldest son, Ivan), died in prison. Vasily III established strict supervision over his brothers, Yuri and Andrei. Andrei was allowed to marry only when Vasily III himself became the father of two children. Vasily's brothers hated his favorites and the new order.

Not wanting to transfer the throne to either Yuri or Andrei, Vasily, after a long childless marriage, divorced his first wife, the barren Solomonia Saburova, and married (1526) Elena Vasilyevna Glinskaya, the niece of the famous Western Russian nobleman Mikhail Glinsky. From her he had sons Ivan (in 1530, the future Ivan the Terrible) and Yuri (1533). Solomonia Saburova was imprisoned in the Suzdal Intercession Monastery, and opponents of the divorce (Metropolitan Varlaam, as well as the leaders of non-covetous people Vassian Kosoy Patrikeev and the famous Byzantine scientist Maxim the Greek) also suffered.

Solomonia Saburova. Painting by P. Mineeva

Foreign policy of Vasily III

After the death of his son-in-law, Grand Duke Alexander of Lithuania (1506), Vasily decided to take advantage of the turmoil that arose among the noble lords of Lithuania. Among them, Mikhail Glinsky, who was insulted by Alexander's brother and successor, Sigismund, stood out for his education, military glory, wealth and land holdings. Mikhail Glinsky in response went into the service of Vasily III. This circumstance, as well as the poor treatment in Lithuania of Vasily’s sister (Alexander’s wife) Elena, who died in 1513, as was suspected of poison, caused a war between Lithuania and Moscow. During it, Glinsky lost all his former Lithuanian possessions, in return for which he received Medyn and Maloyaroslavets from Vasily. Sigismund's alliance with the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey caused the second war between Vasily III and Lithuania in 1512. On August 1, 1514, Vasily, with the assistance of Glinsky, took Smolensk from the Lithuanians, but on September 8 of the same year, Sigismund’s commander, Prince Ostrozhsky, inflicted a heavy defeat on the Moscow army at Orsha. However, according to the truce of 1522, concluded through the ambassador of the German Emperor Maximilian I, Herberstein, Smolensk remained with Moscow.

Crimean Tatar archer

Besides Lithuania, the main concern of the reign of Vasily III was Tatar relations, especially Crimean ones. Having submitted to powerful Turkey at the end of the 15th century, Crimea began to receive strong support from it. The raids of the Crimean Tatars alarmed the Moscow state more and more (raid on the Oka in 1507, on the Ryazan Ukraine in 1516, on the Tula in 1518, the siege of Moscow in 1521). Russia and Lithuania alternately gave gifts to the Crimean robbers and embroiled them in their mutual squabbles. The strengthened Crimean khans tried to subjugate Kazan and Astrakhan in order to restore the former Golden Horde– from the Upper Volga region and the Urals to the Black and Caspian seas. Vasily III did his best to oppose the annexation of Kazan to Crimea, which in 1521 led to the most dangerous Tatar raid on Rus' from the south and east. However, Kazan, torn apart by internal strife, became more and more subordinate to Moscow (the siege of Kazan in 1506, peace with its khan, Muhammad-Amen in 1507, the appointment from Moscow of the Kazan king Shah-Ali (Shigaleya) in 1519. and Jan-Ali in 1524, the construction by Vasily on the border with the Kazan possessions of the powerful fortress of Vasilsursk in 1524, etc.). With this constant pressure on Kazan, Vasily also anticipated the achievements of Ivan the Terrible. In 1523, the Crimean Khan Muhammad-Girey captured Astrakhan, but was soon killed there by the Nogais.