Foundations of Muscovy

PROJECT PLAN
Daniilovichi of Moscow
Opponents of Daniilovichi
Territorial Expansion & Resurrection of the Fallen Art
Battle of Kulikovo
The Metropolitan moves to Moscow
Vanquish of the Golden Horde and Lithuania by Muscovy
Intradynastic Warfare of Muscovy
Rise of the mighty Eastern European Power
Questions

PHOTOS GALLERY
Construction of first Kremlin walls of Moscow - 1156
2. Founding of Holy Trinity Sergius Monastery -1337

DANIILOVICHI OF MOSCOW
A century after the Mongols destroyed Kiev, the institutions that had given cohesion both to Kievan Rus and to the post invasion principalities were
crumbling.
The dynasty’s complex rules of seniority and succession had been supplanted by the authority of the Mongols.
They had begun to confer the throne of Vladimir to the princes who were
most likely to fulfil their demands - the Daniilovichi of Moscow.
Daniilovich rule was not automatically accepted by the rest of the dynasty, even after the sound defeat of the legitimate heir, Alexander of Tver.

OPPONENTS OF DANIILOVICHI
In order to stay in power they also strengthened their own territorial,economic, and military base and transformed the distribution of power in the lands of northern Rus and laid the foundations for a new state–Muscovy
The adversaries of Daniilovichi were also Riurikids. Their domains known as apanages has been carved out of older and larger principalities. It was a practice particularly pronounced among the Rustov clan.
Their protests, however, made virtually no impression on the Mongol
khans, who maintained the Ivan Daniilovich & his sons Semen (1341–53)
and Ivan II (1353–59) in power

TERRITORIAL EXPANSION & RESURRECTION OF THE FALLEN ART
Dmitrii Donskoi later sponsored the construction of walled
monasteries and fortified the border.
Territorial expansion also brought a larger populace under
the direct rule of the Muscovite princes. Moscow’s economic
and tax base was broadened
Tver was the first to accumulate sufficient wealth to resume
the construction of stone cathedrals. Moscow followed, in
1326 Prince Ivan and Metropolitan Peter co sponsored the
construction of the Church of the Dormition
Those of the Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir
were painted with frescos at the commission of
Vasilii I by Andrei Rublev
CHURCH OF THE DORMITION

BATTLE OF KULIKOVO
The Battle of Kulikovo was fought between the armies of the Golden Horde, under the command of Mamai, and various Russian principalities, under the united command of Prince Dmitry of Moscow. The battle took place on 8 September 1380, at the Kulikovo Field near the Don River (now Tula Oblast, Russia) and was won by Dmitry, who became known as Donskoy, 'of the Don' after the battle.
Although the victory did not end Mongol domination over Rus, it is widely regarded by Russian historians as the turning point at which Mongol influence began to wane and Muscovite power began to rise. The process eventually led to Muscovite independence and the formation of the modern Russian state.

THE METROPOLITAN MOVES TO MOSCOW
The efforts of the Muscovite princes to consolidate their position within their growing realm benefited from the Church. The Church’s indirect endorsement of the Daniilovichi of Moscow provided a measure of domestically based
legitimacy.
In the early 14th century Metropolitan Maxim used his influence to discourage Iurii of Moscow from challenging the succession of Mikhail of Tver to the Vladimir throne.
The association of Peter with Moscow contributed to the city’s growing reputation as an ecclesiastical center.
For Metropolitan Peter and his successor Theognostus, the
most pressing political fortune was maintaining the integrity of
the metropolitanate of Kiev and all Rus.

THE METROPOLITAN MOVES TO MOSCOW
For Alexis and Cyprian, the metropolitans of the second half of
the 15th century, that issue became a preoccupation
In 1375, Cyprian was expected to succeed Alexis, but when Alexis died in 1378 and Cyprian arrived in Moscow, he was
humiliated and expelled by Prince Dmitrii. Dmitrii gave his
support to Pimen
The Laurentian Chronicle, copied by the monk Lavrentii in 1377, for example, incorporated the Primary Chronicle and a second component covering events to the
year 1305.
By the mid 15th century, Church texts characterized Dmitrii Donskoi as the hero of
Kulikovo and stressed his role as the prince who had gathered an army drawn from
many of the lands of Rus, to oppose the Tatars.

VANQUISH OF THE GOLDEN HORDE AND LITHUANIA BY MUSCOVY
By 1425, Muscovy had strengthened both its material and ideological foundations. The new domestic sources of legitimacy, remained secondary along as the Golden Horde continued to be powerful and to support the Daniilovichi
Vasilii I, who had married the daughter of the grand prince of
Lithuania, not only met Lithuania’s expansion with relative passivity,
but named Vitovt as one of the guardians of Vasilii II
After the death of Vasilii I in 1425 the balance of power
shifted. Lithuania and the Golden Horde, had imposed
internal order and external limits on the Rus lands
Over the next 20 years, The Golden Horde split into 4
divisions:- the khanate of Kazan, the Crimean khanate,
the khanate of Astrakhan and the remnant core- Golden
Horde

PHOTO GALLERY

INTRADYNASTIC WARFARE OF MUSCOVY
As Muscovy’s neighbours had weakened, the Daniilovichi
reverted their focus to intradynastic warfare. In the second half
of the 14th century the princes of Moscow had regularly
named their eldest sons as their heirs, in absence of his
brothers or eligible cousins.
However when Vasilii I died, he left not only his son Vasilii II, but
also his four brothers. As long as his son’s guardians, Vitovt of
Lithuania and Metropolitan Photius, were alive no one
questioned with his succession.
But in 1430-31, when both of Vasilii II's guardians died, the
eldest of Vasilii II’s uncles challenged him for the throne of Vladimir
VITOVT OF LITHUANIA

INTRADYNASTIC WARFARE OF MUSCOVY
Although Vasilii was awarded the patent, his uncle contested the decision and seized Moscow in 1433. When he died in 1434, his sons continued the war even though, they had no claim to the throne. The prolonged war was both brutal and decisive.
By the time it was concluded, Vasilii had blinded one cousin and had in turn been blinded by another;
he had been captured and released by the Tatars of Ulu Muhammed’s horde;
he had welcomed into his service two of the khan’s sons who assisted him against his cousins;
he had established Moscow’s control over the vast majority of the northern Rus lands and increased its authority over Novgorod; and he had subdued his relatives–apanage princes in Muscovy–and restricted succession to his own direct heirs.
The triumph of Vasilii II over his uncle and cousins enabled him and his heirs to continue virtually without restraint

RISE OF THE MIGHTY EASTERN EUROPEAN POWER
The principle of vertical succession, confirmed by the war, limited the division of lands
to the formation of apanage principalities for the grand prince’s immediate relatives.
By the mid 15th century the princes of Moscow had fashioned a new political
structure, centered around their own enlarged hereditary domain and their dynastic
line.
Built upon territorial, economic, military, and ideological foundations that displaced
both the traditional heritage of Kievan Rus and Tatar authority, the new state of
Muscovy was thus poised to exploit the disintegration of Golden Horde and the
reduction of Lithuanian expansion and to become a mighty Eastern European
power

QUESTIONS
Name the famous painting of Medieval Russia which were used to decorate Cathedral with Frescoes ?
Who freed Russia from the Golden Horde ?
Who won the battle of Kulikovo ?
How did vasilii 2 died ?
Which brothers of vasilii refused to lend him any support ?