Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/109

Rh 1174-1510.] K U S S I A 91 reign of Ivan Kalita, or the Purse (1328-1340), still further strengthened the new principality. Tver was added, and the pre-eminence of Moscow was assured by the metropolitan coming to reside there. After Kalita came in succession his two sons, Simeon the Proud (1340- 1353) and Ivan II. (1353-1359). Simeon first took the title of grand-duke of all the Russias. He died of the Black Death, which was then devastating Europe. In spite of the efforts of these princes to maintain the supremacy of Moscow, on their death the hegemony of the Russian states went again for a time to Suzdal. It was Dmitri, surnamed Donskoi, the son of Ivan II., who won the battle of Kulikovo (lit. "the field of woodcocks") over Mamai, the Mongolian chief, in 1380. In spite of this, however, Toktamish their general invaded Russia, burned Moscow to the ground, and put to death a great number of the inhabitants. To Dmitri succeeded his son Vasilii or Basil (1389-1425), who was prince both of Moscow and Vladimir. He in turn was followed by Vasilii the Blind (1425-1462). We begin to touch firmer ground when we approach the reign of Ivan III., the son of Vasilii, who may be con- sidered the founder of the autocracy. We may take, there- fore, as our fourth division the period from 1462 to 1613, which will include the consolidation of the empire under the vigorous rule of Ivan III., Basil V., and Ivan IV., the usurpation of Boris Godunofi, the reign of the false Demetrius, and the troubles following upon it till the accession of the house of Romanoff in the person of Michael Ivan III. in the year 1613. Ivan III. reigned forty-three years, and had as much influence in the consolidation of Russia as Louis XI. had in that of France. It was the great age when throughout Europe absolute monarchies were being created on the ruins of feudalism. On his accession Ivan found himself surrounded by powerful neighbours to the east the great principality of Lithuania, to the south the Mongols ; Ryazan and Tver had not been annexed to the territory of Muscovy ; Novgorod and Pskoff were still republics. It was against Novgorod, a wealthy city and a member of the Hanseatic league, that his efforts were first directed. In consequence of its situation, and by its paying the tribute demanded, it had escaped from the ravages which other parts of Russia had under- gone. Taking advantage of the factions which harassed this city, he succeeded in creating a party subservient to his own interests, and as early as 1470 had got the con- trol of the government of the city, which a rival faction was anxious to transfer to the Poles. In 1478 the republic of Novgorod ceased to exist ; the chief opponents of Ivan were transported to Moscow, and their goods confiscated. The veche, as the public assembly was called, was terminated for ever, and the bell which had summoned the mutinous citizens carried off triumphantly to Moscow. In 1495 the tyrant was so foolish as to confiscate the goods of many of the German merchants who traded at Novgorod. In consequence of this nearly all the foreigners left the city, and its prosperity rapidly declined. It is now a decayed provincial town, interesting only to the antiquary. In 1489 Vyatka, a daughter city of Pskoff, was annexed and lost thereby its republican constitution. In 1464 by giving the hand of his sister to the prince of Ryazan Ivan made sure of the proximate annexation of that apanage. He seized Tver and joined it to his dominions, when the grand-prince Michael had allied him- self with Lithuania. The system of apanages in Russia had now to come to an end. But Ivan, who had married the niece of the Byzantine emperor, and assumed as his cognizance the two-headed eagle, was also to come into col- lision with the hereditary enemies of Russia, the Mongols. The great power of the Golden Horde had been broken up ; on its ruins had arisen the empires of Kazan and of Sarai or Astrakhan, the horde of the Nogais, and the khanate of the Crimea. In 1478, when Ahmed, the khan of the Great Horde, whose capital was Sarai, sent his ambassadors with his portrait, to which the Russian was to do homage, Ivan trampled it under foot, and put to death all the envoys, except one, who was deputed to take back the news to the khan. The reply of Ahmed to this outrage was a declara- tion of war ; and the two armies met on the banks of the Oka. Ivan, who, like Louis XI., was much more of a dip- lomatist than a soldier, according to the accounts of the chroniclers, was in great terror, and could not be induced to fight by the persuasions of his soldiers or the benedictions of his ecclesiastics. He had already, after the armies had been for some time encamped opposite to each other, given the signal of retreat, when, in consequence of a sudden panic the Mongols also retreated, and the armies fled from each other in mutual fear. This invasion, which occurred in the year 1480, was the last great inroad of the Asiatic enemies of Russia, but we shall find some even later than the days of Ivan the Terrible, in whose time Moscow was burned by these barbarians. Meanwhile Ivan went on in his career of annexation. In 1472 he conquered Permia, in 1489 Vyatka. Ten years afterwards he had extended his authority as far north as the Petchora. His good fortune seemed ever on the increase ; by a war with Alexander, king of Poland, he gained an accession of territory to the west as far as the river Desna. Upon peace being concluded, Alexander married Helen, the daughter of Ivan, but that monarch, on pretence that no regard had been paid to his daughter's religious scruples, declared war against his new son-in-law. The Polish monarch could not rely upon the fidelity of many of his vassals, as we find so often the case in Polish history, and suffered a complete defeat at the battle of the Vedrosha. On the other hand, in 1501 the Russians were routed at the battle of the Siritza, near Isborsk, by the grand-master of the Teutonic order, Hermann von Plettenberg. The order had been established in Lithuania as early as 1225 ; the Sword-bearers amalgamated with them in 1237. In 1472 Ivan had married a Byzantine princess, Sophia, daughter of Thomas, brother of the emperor Constantiue Palaeologus. This Thomas had fled to Rome after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. In consequence of this mar- riage, a great many Greeks came to Moscow, bringing Byzantine culture, such as it was, to Russia, and among other things a quantity of valuable manuscripts, which formed the nucleus of the synodal library. Italians also made their appearance in Russia, among others the cele- brated Aristotle Fioraventi of Bologna, the architect of so many buildings at Moscow. Ivan not only welcomed foreigners in his dominions, but entered into relations with many European powers, among others the Germans, the Venetians, and the Pope. His reign is remarkable, not only for the consolidation of the Russian autocracy, but also for legislation. In 1497 he issued his Sudebnik, or Book of Laws, the second Russian code after the -Russlcaia Pravda of Yaroslaff. Comparison of the two codes will show how much had been done by the Mongols to lower the Russian character. It is in the reign of Ivan that we first hear of the use. of the knout : an archimandrite and some noblemen were publicly knouted for being concerned in forging a will At his death Ivan bequeathed his Basil, throne to his second son Vasilii or Basil, passing over his grandson, the child of his eldest son Ivan, who had pre- deceased him ; he was evidently unwilling to commit his growing empire to the perils of a minority. Vasilii Ivan- ovich (1505-1533) fully carried out the programme of his father. He destroyed the independence of Pskoff in 1510, put an end to the veche or popular assembly, and carried