Russian khas ivan kalita

Ivan I Danilovich Kalita of Moscow (Иван I Данилович Калита)

Introduction of Ivan Danilovich
Ivan I, in full Ivan Danilovich, byname Ivan Moneybag, Russian Ivan Kalita, (born 1304?—died March 31, 1340, Moscow), grand prince of Moscow (1328–40) and grand prince of Vladimir (1331–40) whose policies increased Moscow’s power and made it the richest principality in northeastern Russia.
The son of Prince Daniel of Moscow, Ivan succeeded his brother Yury as prince (1325) and then as grand prince (1328) of Moscow.

History about Ivan
Determined to persuade the Khan of the Golden Horde, the overlord of all the Russian princes, to make him grand prince of Vladimir, he cooperated with the Khan in an expedition against his chief rival, Grand Prince Alexander of Tver, whose subjects had revolted against the Khanate (1327).
Despite his efforts, when Alexander was deposed as grand prince, Ivan was not chosen to replace him until 1331; and he was never given authority over the major principalities of Tver, Suzdal, and Ryazan.

History about Ivan
Nevertheless, Ivan maintained cordial relations with the Khan; and, while collecting tribute for the Tatars throughout his domain, he acquired a reputation for thrift and financial shrewdness that earned him the nickname Kalita (“Moneybag”).
Preferring to expand his realm by purchasing territory rather than conquering it, Ivan enlarged Moscow; he also increased its influence over the neighbouring principalities, and, by forming a close alliance with the metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose seat was transferred to Moscow in 1326, he made Moscow the spiritual centre of the Russian lands.

History about Ivan
After the death of his elder brother Yuri III, Ivan inherited the Grand Principality of Moscow.
Ivan participated in the struggle to get the title of Grand Prince of Vladimir-Suzdal which could be obtained with the approval of a khan of the Golden Horde.
The main rivals of the princes of Moscow in this struggle were the princes of Tver - Mikhail Yaroslavich, Dmitri Mikhailovich of Tver, and Aleksandr Mikhailovich, all of them having obtained the title of Grand Prince of Vladimir-Suzdal and being deprived of it.
All of them were murdered by the Golden Horde.

History about Ivan
In 1328 Ivan Kalita received the approval of khan Muhammad Ozbeg to become the Grand Prince of Vladimir-Suzdal with the right to collect taxes from all Russian lands.
According to the Russian historian Kluchevsky, the rise of Moscow under Ivan I Kalita was determined by three factors.
The first one was that the Grand Principality of Moscow was situated in the middle of other Russian principalities.
it was protected from any invasions from the East and from the West. Compared to its neighbors, the principalities of Ryazan and Smolensk, Moscow was less often devastated.

Ivan Kalita - politics outside morality

History about Ivan
The relative safety of the Moscow region resulted in the second factor of the rise of Moscow – an influx of working and tax-paying people who were tired of constant raids and who actively relocated to Moscow from other Russian regions.
The third factor was a trade route from Novgorod to the Volga River.
Ivan Kalita intentionally pursued the policy of relocation of people to his principality by an invitation of people from other places and by purchase of Russian people captured by Mongols during their raids.
He managed to eliminate all the thieves in his lands, thus insuring the safety of traveling merchants.

History about Ivan
Internal peace and order together with the absence of Mongolian raids to the Moscow principality was mentioned in Russian chronicles as “great peace, silence, and relief of Russian land.”
Ivan made Moscow very wealthy by maintaining his loyalty to the Horde (hence, the nickname Kalita, or moneybag)
He used this wealth to give loans to neighbouring Russian principalities.
These cities gradually fell deeper and deeper into debt, a condition that would allow Ivan's successors to annex them.
The people called Ivan the ‘gatherer of the Russian lands’.

In one way or another a number of cities and villages joined the Moscow principality - Uglich in 1323.
the Beloozero in 1328-1338, the Halych in 1340.
Ivan's greatest success, however, was convincing the Khan in Sarai that his son, Simeon Ivanovich, should succeed him as the Grand Prince of Vladimir; from then on, the important position almost always belonged to the ruling house of Moscow.
The Head of the Russian Church - Metropolitan Peter, whose authority was extremely high, moved from Vladimir to Moscow to Prince Ivan Kalita.
In Ivan’s will "the golden captain" was mentioned for the first time; this cap is identified with the well-known Monomakh’s crown.