Grand Principality of Moscow
The Grand Principality of Moscow, or Muscovy, known as the Principality of Moscow before 1389, was a late medieval Russian monarchy. Its capital was the city of Moscow. Originally established as an appanage principality in the 13th century, the grand principality was transformed into a centralized Russian state in the late 15th century.
Moscow became a separate principality when Daniel, the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky, received the city and surrounding area as an appanage. By the end of the 13th century, Moscow had become one of the leading principalities within the Vladimir grand principality, alongside Tver. A struggle between the princes of Moscow and Tver began after Mikhail of Tver became grand prince in 1304. Yury contested the title and was later made grand prince in 1318 by the khan of the Golden Horde, who held suzerainty over the princes. However, Yury would lose the title four years later.
Ivan I regained the title of grand prince and was able to collect tribute for the khan from other Russian princes, which increased Moscow's wealth. The seat of the Russian Orthodox Church was also moved from Vladimir to Moscow, establishing it as the spiritual center of Russian Orthodoxy.reigned|1340|1353reigned|1353|1359sfn|Gonneau|2022|p=374reigned|1359|1389sfnm|1a1=Fennell|1y=2023|1pp=197,306|1loc="During the reign of Semen and... Ivan II the ground was prepared for the first 'gathering of the Russian lands' under Ivan II's son Dmitry Donskoy and for the latter's conversion of the principality of Moscow into the grand principality of Moscow, Vladimir and All Rus'"|2a1=Kuchkin|2y=2013|2p=310|3a1=Fennell|3y=2014|3p=129|3loc="In his final will drawn up shortly before his death on 19 May 1389... he included a clause bequeathing his 'patrimony the grand principality' to his eldest son Vasily. It meant that the grand principality... was now the inalienable possession of the house of Moscow, universally recognized, both in north-east Russia and in the Horde – indeed, it had been stipulated in treaties with Ol'gerd and with Mikhail of Tver'... From now on until the extinction of the House of Moscow in 1598 not only the titles of grand prince of Vladimir and grand prince of Moscow but also the lands of Vladimir and Moscow were legally recognized as the possessions of Dmitry's direct descendants"|4a1=Feldbrugge|4y=2017|4p=823|4loc="At the end of his reign, Dmitrii Donskoi united the grand principalities of Vladimir and Moscow"|5a1=Gorsky|5y=2025|5p=85sfnm|1a1=Riasanovsky|1a2=Steinberg|1y=2019|1pp=73–74|2a1=Ziegler|2y=2009|2p=23|3a1=Crummey|3y=2014|3p=51|3loc="Important as these changes are, they pale before Dmitrii's most celebrated feat, his rebellion against the Golden Horde. Later chroniclers and historians have often exaggerated the importance of his victories. Nevertheless, Dmitrii's triumphs gave the princes of Moscow great prestige within Russia and made them more clearly than before the military leaders of the nation"sfnm|1a1=Riasanovsky|1a2=Steinberg|1y=2019|1p=74|1loc="As
Moscow grew and as civil strife swept through the Golden Horde, Mongol hegemony in Russia experienced its first serious challenge since the time of the invasion"|2a1=Ziegler|2y=2009|2p=23reigned|1389|1425sfn|Riasanovsky|Steinberg|2019|p=75reigned|1425|1462sfnm|1a1=Riasanovsky|1a2=Steinberg|1y=2019|1pp=75–76|2a1=Wickham|2y=2016|2p=184|3a1=Ziegler|3y=2009|3pp=23–24|4a1=Shevzov|4y=2012|4p=19reigned|1462|1505sfnm|1a1=Dukes|1y=1998|1p=42|1loc="By the accession of Ivan III in 1462, Moscow had become the political as well as the religious centre of the Russian lands. A considerable amount of ingathering remained to be accomplished... Ivan III's reign marks 'an important stage' in this process"|2a1=Riasanovsky|2a2=Steinberg|2y=2019|2pp=77–79|2loc="Under Ivan III 'the gathering of Russia' proceeded apace... All in all, Ivan III's successes in other Russian states and in foreign wars enormously increased his domain... Ivan III has been called the first national Russian sovereign"|3a1=Wickham|3y=2016|3p=184|4a1=Ziegler|4y=2009|4p=24|5a1=Kuchkin|5y=2013|5p=310|5loc="После успешного похода на Новгород... Иван III Васильевич стал официально титуловаться 'великим князем всея Руси'. М. в. к. трансформировалось в Рус. гос-во"sfnm|1a1=Riasanovsky|1a2=Steinberg|1y=2019|1p=35|1loc="The long reign of Ivan III, from 1462 to 1505, has generally been considered, together with the following reign of Vasilii III, as the termination of the appanage period and the beginning of a new age in Russian history, that of Muscovite Russia"|2a1=Sashalmi|2y=2022|2p=61|2loc="Muscovite Russia "|3a1=Ziegler|3y=2009|3p=24|3loc="Ivan III... continued the process of gathering the Russian lands together, expanding and centralizing the Muscovite state and effectively ending the Appanage period... Governing and defending an enlarged Russia required the creation of a small bureaucracy and more professional armed forces"sfnm|1a1=Riasanovsky|1a2=Steinberg|1y=2019|1p=78|2a1=Dukes|2y=1998|2p=45|3a1=Crummey|3y=2014|3p=99|3loc="The 'stand
on the Ugra' did not end the 'Tatar yoke' because... it had ended decades earlier. At the same time, even the most sceptical of scholars recognize that the events of 1480 soon assumed great symbolic significance. In the minds of later Russian writers, the failure of Ahmed's campaign showed unmistakably that Muscovy's ruler had become a fully independent sovereign"|4a1=Gonneau|4y=2022|4p=373|5a1=Galeotti|5y=2024|5p=95|5loc="No longer would there be even the fiction of Tatar dominion over the Russians"reigned|1505|1533sfnm|1a1=Riasanovsky|1a2=Steinberg|1y=2019|1p=79|2a1=Dukes|2y=1998|2p=45|3a1=Wickham|3y=2016|3p=184|3loc="... Ivan III and his successor Vasiliy III had taken over every other independent Russian principality"|4a1=Ziegler|4y=2009|4p=24|4loc="Vasili III... continued the process of consolidation, expansion, and centralization pursued by his father"|5a1=Wren|5a2=Stults|5y=2009|5pp=79,88|5loc="The gathering of the Russian soil continued under Vasily, and the growing state absorbed the last of the appanages"reigned|1533|1584sfnm|1a1=Riasanovsky|1a2=Steinberg|1y=2019|1p=116|2a1=Wickham|2y=2016|2p=184|3a1=Crummey|3y=2014|3pp=137,147|4a1=Mukherjee|4y=2025|4p=83
Name
The English names Moscow and Muscovy, for the city, the principality, and the river, are derived from post-classical Latin,, and ultimately from the Old Russian fully vocalized accusative form. Moscow is first mentioned under the year 1147 in the locative case. The modern Russian form, Moskva, first appears in the 14th century.The oldest endonyms used in documents were Rus and Russkaya zemlya. The 14th-century Zadonshchina, which belongs to the Kulikovo cycle of works, stresses the unity of the Russian princes and describes the principalities of Moscow, Novgorod, and others as being part of the "Russian land". A new form of the name became common by the 15th century; the vernacular Rus was transformed into Rosiya or Rusiya, and borrowed from, or. Following the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, the name Rosiya, derived from the Byzantine term and initially used in ecclesiastical circles, began appearing in the official titles of secular rulers. In the 1480s, the scribes Ivan Cherny and Mikhail Medovartsev referred to Russia as Rosia ; Medovartsev also mentioned the scepter "of Russian lordship".
In the 14th century, the grand princes of Moscow began to style themselves as the rulers of all Russia. During his consolidation of territories, Ivan III adopted the title of sovereign of all Russia. After rejecting Mongol suzerainty, he also styled himself as autocrat. In his foreign correspondence, he adopted the title of tsar and rejected the offer of kingship by the Holy Roman Emperor; however, it would not be until 1547 that the title of tsar became official with the coronation of his grandson, Ivan IV. Ivan III also laid claim to the legacy of Kievan Rus', which led to conflicts with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. From the 16th century, the Russian state was also known in Western Europe as Muscovy as a result of Polish–Lithuanian influence, and the use of both names persisted until the early 18th century.
Other formal names used in historiography for the grand principality following its merger with Vladimir include the Grand Principality of All Russia, the Grand Principality of Moscow, Vladimir and All Rus, and the Grand Principality of Vladimir-Moscow or the Grand Principality of Moscow-Vladimir.
History
Origins
Moscow is first mentioned in chronicles under the year 1147, as part of the principality of Rostov-Suzdal. The importance of Moscow greatly increased during the second half of the 12th century, and it was converted into a fortified gorod in the 1150s. On the death of Vsevolod III in 1212, Moscow appears to have been passed to his son Yury, who succeeded his father as the grand prince of Vladimir. During the Mongol invasions of 1237–1238, Moscow was sacked following the destruction of Ryazan. The city is not mentioned again until the late 13th century.The first prince of Moscow was Daniel, the youngest son of Aleksandr Nevsky, and he was given Moscow as an otchina, where he established a local branch of Rurikid princes. Until 1271, the principality was ruled by the governors of Daniel's uncle Yaroslav. Daniel himself is first mentioned under the year 1282 as taking part in a feudal war between his two older brothers. The 16th-century Book of Royal Degrees says that Daniel was given Moscow on his father's death in 1263. The size of the original territory of the Moscow principality is not known, but it likely encompassed the basin of the upper Moskva River, stretching approximately between the eastern influx of the Gzhelka and the western influx of the Ruza. The northeast of the territory consisted of the basin of the upper Klyazma.
By the turn of the century, Moscow was one of the leading principalities within Vladimir-Suzdal. Daniel defeated Ryazan in 1301, after which Kolomna and Serpukhov were incorporated into the Moscow principality. Pereyaslavl was also temporarily annexed to Moscow, and after Daniel's death, his sons seized Mozhaysk in 1304. At this point, the territory of the principality had increased almost three-fold and included the entire Moskva River along with its tributaries, allowing Moscow to become self-sufficient. Its southern border included a large stretch of the Oka, from Serpukhov to the east of Kolomna, which gave it some protection from Tatar incursions. To the east, there was a dense forest zone which functioned as a natural barrier. Moscow also had access to the northern areas of Ryazan and direct access to Vladimir. It was also provided with a river network that facilitated trade.