Russian principality (1246?1485)
The
Principality of Tver
(
Russian
:
Тверское княжество
,
romanized
:
Tverskoye knyazhestvo
;
Latin
:
Tferiae
)
[1]
was a
principality
which existed between the 13th and the 15th centuries with its capital in
Tver
. It was one of the states established after the decay of the
Kievan Rus'
. During the 14th century, Tver rivaled the
Principality of Moscow
with the aim to become the center of the united Russian state.
[2]
[3]
Eventually it lost, decayed, and in 1485, it was annexed by Moscow.
[4]
The principality was located approximately in the area currently occupied by
Tver Oblast
and the eastern part of
Smolensk Oblast
in Russia.
History
[
edit
]
Origins
[
edit
]
Execution of Mikhail at the Golden Horde, by
Vasily Vereshchagin
.
In the 1230s or the 1240s,
Yaroslav Vsevolodovich
, the
grand prince of Vladimir
, detached the city of Tver from the
Pereyaslavl-Zalessky
principality (where it previously belonged), and gave it to his son
Alexander Nevsky
.
[5]
In 1246, another son of Yaroslav,
Yaroslav of Tver
, became the
prince of Tver
, and the principality was ruled by his descendants until 1485, when it was abolished.
[4]
In 1264, Yaroslav was appointed the grand prince of Vladimir, which at the time meant he was the supreme authority of all of today's
northwest Russia
. In the 13th century, the Principality of Tver was less dependent from the
Golden Horde
than other Russian principalities were, and its population grew up.
[5]
The combination of these two factors led to the rivalry between Tver and Moscow, each of which were trying to become the most influential Russian principality.
Emergence as a great power
[
edit
]
In 1285,
Mikhail of Tver
, a son of Yaroslav of Tver, succeeded his father and became the Prince of Tver. In 1305 he became the Grand Prince of Vladimir as well, however,
Ozbeg Khan
of the Golden Horde decided that Tver became too strong, and supported Moscow against Tver. This led to a military campaign led by
Yuri Danilovic
of Moscow against Mikhail, supported by Ozbeg in 1317. Mikhail met Yuri's army at a small village called Bortenevo, where he was victorious. In the same encounter, Ozbeg's sister and Yuri's wife, Konchaka, was captured by Mikhail and made
prisoner of war
. Konchaka later died in captivity in Tver, where Yuri was able to blame Mikhail for the death of the khan's sister. Mikhail was summoned to the Golden Horde and tried there in 1318, where he faced a month of imprisonment and torture before being executed. His son and successor,
Dmitry of Tver
, was executed in the Golden Horde in 1326, and another son and also a prince of Tver,
Aleksandr Mikhailovich of Tver
, was executed there in 1339 as well together with his son Fyodor. In 1327, there was an
anti-Tatar uprising
in the Principality of Tver, which was suppressed. The city of Tver was burned down, and the principality lost a considerable part of its population. Tver never recovered from that, and eventually Moscow, which managed to remain on good terms with Tatars, absorbed all surrounding principalities and eventually became the capital of Russia.
[5]
In the 14th century, some parts of the principality were temporarily given away as
appanage
. This created the whole system of principalities dependent on Tver. These included Kashin, Kholm, and Zubtsov. Some of them became independent to the point that they conducted war with Tver.
[5]
Rivalry with Moscow during the Great Troubles
[
edit
]
During the
Great Troubles
(1359?1381), the
Golden Horde
descended into a
war of succession
which weakened it internally and externally, allowing the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
under
Algirdas
(Olgerd) to score a major victory at the
Battle of Blue Waters
(1362/3).
Thereafter, Tver sided with Lithuania against Moscow in the
Lithuanian?Muscovite War (1368?1372)
.
In 1371,
Mikhail II of Tver
was the last prince of Tver ever appointed as the grand prince of Vladimir. The reign of Mikhail is usually considered as the last period when Tver still could rival Moscow and oppose the Golden Horde. When Algirdas sued for peace with Moscow and
retreated in 1372
, Tver swifted its allegiance to the powerful Mongol warlord
Mamai
.
In 1375, Mamai again granted Mikhail II the
yarlik
of grand prince of Vladimir.
But the same year, a Muscovite-led expedition besieged Tver for four weeks, forcing Mikhail to sign a treaty recognising
Dmitry Donskoy
as his "elder brother" and the rightful grand prince of Vladimir, and to pledge military support in the case of a conflict.
However, no troops of Tver were sent to reinforce Dmitry Donskoy's anti-Mamai coalition at the
Battle of Kulikovo
in 1380.
The symbolic victory had little practical effect, as
Tokhtamysh
defeated and killed Mamai at the
Battle of the Kalka River
in 1381, causing Dmitry Donskoy to flee and leaving the Muscovites to their fate when
Tokhamysh besieged and sacked Moscow in 1382
.
In the face of this violent repression, the princes of Tver, Nizhny Novgorod and others immediately submitted to Tokhtamysh.
Dmitry of Moscow did so as well, minting coins after 1382 stating proudly "Grand Prince Dimitry Ivanovich" on one side, but submissively "Sultan Tokhtamysh: Long may he live" on the other.
Thus, Moscow was still not able to command Tver, Nizhny Novgorod, the Novgorod Republic or Ryazan in the aftermath of Kulikovo and the sack of Moscow.
Lithuanian vassalage
[
edit
]
In the early 15th century, the power of the Golden Horde was waning, while Lithuania rapidly gained strength.
Initially pushed back in 1399 at the
Battle of the Vorskla River
when he sought to expand Lithuanian control over the Pskov and Novgorod republics,
Vytautas
(Vitovt) gained direct control over Smolensk (1404), indirect control over certain Novgorodian holdings (1408, 1428), an alliance with
Boris of Tver
(1427) and Ryazan (1430), and considerable influence over the Muscovite court as
Vasily I
's father-in-law between 1406 and 1430.
When the
Muscovite War of Succession
(1425?1453) broke out, the principalities of Tver, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Ryazan, Novgorod and Pskov were all still independent of Moscow, and usually in alliance with Lithuania against Moscow, which however did have more territory and resources than the other northeastern Rus' principalities by 1425.
Halperin (1977) observed that the Muscovite War of Succession weakened Muscovy so much that its old rival, the Principality of Tver, once again felt strong enough to challenge its sole claim to represent the "Rus' Land" (русская земля). Although the
Word of Praise
(
pokhval'noe slovo
) to
Boris of Tver
never claimed the myth of the Rus' Land exclusively for itself instead, it did suggest that the "Tverian Land" (Тферськая земля) and "Muscovite Land" (Московская земля) were equals within a larger "Rus' Land", and went as far as having foreigners say that grand prince Boris Aleksandrovich of Tver was 'the greatest prince of the Rus' Land'.
[18]
Muscovite annexation
[
edit
]
In the subsequent 1425?1533 period, the Daniilovichi nevertheless managed to gain the economic and military overhand, switch the order of dynastic succession from the chaotic
horizontal
to
vertical inheritance
, reincorporate all Suzdalian appanages, and during wars with Lithuania even annex Ryazan, Novgorod, Pskov, and Smolensk into the Muscovite realm.
In the 1470s,
Mikhail III of Tver
had to sign a number of treaties with Moscow (ruled by
Ivan III of Russia
) which essentially discriminated against Tver. When Mikhail II tried to compensate for the treaties by seeking an alliance with Lithuania, the army of Ivan III swiftly conquered Tver in 1485. The principality was then annexed by Muscovy.
[5]
Tver was given to his son
Ivan the Young
as an
appanage
.
[21]
List of princes
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Bibliography
[
edit
]