Predecessor: |
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Successor: |
Ivan IV the Terrible |
Religion: |
Orthodoxy |
Birth: |
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Buried: |
Archangel Cathedral in Moscow |
Dynasty: |
Rurikovich |
Sofia Paleolog |
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1) Solomonia Yuryevna Saburova 2) Elena Vasilievna Glinskaya |
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Sons: Ivan IV and Yuri |
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Biography
Internal affairs
Unification of Russian lands
Annexations
Marriages and children
Vasily III Ivanovich (March 25, 1479 - December 3, 1533) - Grand Duke Moscow in 1505-1533, son of Ivan III the Great and Sophia Paleologus, father of Ivan IV the Terrible.
Vasily was the second son of Ivan III and the eldest son of Ivan's second wife Sophia Paleologus. In addition to the eldest, he had four younger brothers:
Ivan III, pursuing a policy of centralization, took care of the transfer of full power through the line of his eldest son, with a limitation of power younger sons. Therefore, already in 1470, he declared his eldest son from the first wife of Ivan the Young as his co-ruler. However, in 1490 he died of illness. Two parties were created at court: one grouped around the son of Ivan the Young, the grandson of Ivan III Dmitry Ivanovich and his mother, the widow of Ivan the Young, Elena Stefanovna, and the second around Vasily and his mother. At first, the first party gained the upper hand; Ivan III intended to crown his grandson as king. Under these conditions, surrounded Vasily III a conspiracy matured, which was discovered, and its participants, including Vladimir Gusev, were executed. Vasily and his mother Sophia Paleologue fell into disgrace. However, the grandson's supporters came into conflict with Ivan III, which ended in the grandson's disgrace in 1502. On March 21, 1499, Vasily was declared Grand Duke of Novgorod and Pskov, and in April 1502, Grand Duke of Moscow and Vladimir and All Rus', autocrat, that is, he became co-ruler of Ivan III.
The first marriage was arranged by his father Ivan, who first tried to find him a bride in Europe, but ended up choosing from 1,500 girls presented to the court for this purpose from all over the country. The father of Vasily Solomonia's first wife, Yuri Saburov, was not even a boyar. The Saburov family descended from the Tatar Murza Chet.
Since the first marriage was fruitless, Vasily obtained a divorce in 1525, and at the beginning of the next year (1526) he married Elena Glinskaya, the daughter of the Lithuanian prince Vasily Lvovich Glinsky. Initially, the new wife also could not get pregnant, but eventually, on August 15, 1530, they had a son, Ivan, the future Ivan the Terrible, and then a second son, Yuri.
Vasily III believed that nothing should limit the power of the Grand Duke, which is why he enjoyed the active support of the Church in the fight against the feudal boyar opposition, harshly dealing with all those who were dissatisfied. In 1521, Metropolitan Varlaam was exiled due to his refusal to participate in Vasily’s fight against Prince Vasily Ivanovich Shemyachich, the Rurik princes Vasily Shuisky and Ivan Vorotynsky were expelled. Diplomat and statesman Ivan Bersen-Beklemishev was executed in 1525 because of criticism of Vasily’s policies, namely because of open rejection of Greek novelty, which came to Rus' with Sophia Paleologus. During the reign of Vasily III, the landed nobility increased, the authorities actively limited the immunity and privileges of the boyars - the state followed the path of centralization. However, the despotic features of government, which were fully manifested already under his father Ivan III and grandfather Vasily the Dark, only intensified even more in the era of Vasily.
In church politics, Vasily unconditionally supported the Josephites. Maxim the Greek, Vassian Patrikeev and other non-covetous people were sentenced at Church councils, some to death, some to imprisonment in monasteries.
During the reign of Vasily III, a new Code of Law was created, which, however, has not reached us.
As Herberstein reported, at the Moscow court it was believed that Vasily was superior in power to all the monarchs of the world and even the emperor. On front side his seal bore the inscription: “Great Sovereign Basil, by the grace of God, Tsar and Lord of All Rus'.” On the reverse side it read: “Vladimir, Moscow, Novgorod, Pskov and Tver, and Yugorsk, and Perm, and many lands of the Sovereign.”
The reign of Vasily is the era of the construction boom in Rus', which began during the reign of his father. The Archangel Cathedral was erected in the Moscow Kremlin, and the Ascension Church was built in Kolomenskoye. Stone fortifications are being built in Tula, Nizhny Novgorod, Kolomna, and other cities. New settlements, forts, and fortresses are founded.
Vasily, in his policy towards other principalities, continued the policy of his father.
In 1509, while in Veliky Novgorod, Vasily ordered the Pskov mayor and other representatives of the city, including all the petitioners who were dissatisfied with them, to gather with him. Arriving to him at the beginning of 1510 on the feast of Epiphany, the Pskovites were accused of distrust of the Grand Duke and their governors were executed. The Pskovites were forced to ask Vasily to accept themselves into his patrimony. Vasily ordered to cancel the meeting. At the last meeting in the history of Pskov, it was decided not to resist and to fulfill Vasily’s demands. On January 13, the veche bell was removed and sent to Novgorod with tears. On January 24, Vasily arrived in Pskov and dealt with it in the same way as his father did with Novgorod in 1478. 300 of the most noble families of the city were resettled to Moscow lands, and their villages were given to Moscow service people.
It was the turn of Ryazan, which had long been in Moscow’s sphere of influence. In 1517, Vasily called to Moscow the Ryazan prince Ivan Ivanovich, who was trying to enter into an alliance with the Crimean Khan, and ordered him to be put into custody (after Ivan was tonsured a monk and imprisoned in a monastery), and took his inheritance for himself. After Ryazan, the Starodub principality was annexed, in 1523 - Novgorod-Severskoye, whose prince Vasily Ivanovich Shemyachich was treated like the Ryazan principality - he was imprisoned in Moscow.
At the beginning of his reign, Vasily had to start a war with Kazan. The campaign was unsuccessful, the Russian regiments commanded by Vasily’s brother, Prince of Uglitsky Dmitry Ivanovich Zhilka, were defeated, but the Kazan people asked for peace, which was concluded in 1508. At the same time, Vasily, taking advantage of the turmoil in Lithuania after the death of Prince Alexander, put forward his candidacy for the throne of Gediminas. In 1508, the rebellious Lithuanian boyar Mikhail Glinsky was received very cordially in Moscow. The war with Lithuania led to a rather favorable peace for the Moscow prince in 1509, according to which the Lithuanians recognized the capture of his father.
In 1512 a new war with Lithuania began. On December 19, Vasily Yuri Ivanovich and Dmitry Zhilka set out on a campaign. Smolensk was besieged, but it was not possible to take it, and the Russian army returned to Moscow in March 1513. On June 14, Vasily set out on a campaign again, but after sending the governor to Smolensk, he himself remained in Borovsk, waiting to see what would happen next. Smolensk was again besieged, and its governor, Yuri Sologub, was defeated in the open field. Only after that Vasily personally came to the troops. But this siege was also unsuccessful: the besieged managed to restore what was being destroyed. Having devastated the outskirts of the city, Vasily ordered a retreat and returned to Moscow in November.
On July 8, 1514, the army led by the Grand Duke again set out for Smolensk, this time his brothers Yuri and Semyon walked with Vasily. A new siege began on July 29. The artillery, led by gunner Stefan, inflicted on the besieged heavy losses. On the same day, Sologub and the clergy of the city came to Vasily and agreed to surrender the city. On July 31, the residents of Smolensk swore allegiance to the Grand Duke, and Vasily entered the city on August 1. Soon the surrounding cities were taken - Mstislavl, Krichev, Dubrovny. But Glinsky, to whom the Polish chronicles attributed the success of the third campaign, entered into relations with King Sigismund. He hoped to get Smolensk for himself, but Vasily kept it for himself. Very soon the conspiracy was exposed, and Glinsky himself was imprisoned in Moscow. Some time later, the Russian army, commanded by Ivan Chelyadinov, suffered a heavy defeat near Orsha, but the Lithuanians were never able to return Smolensk. Smolensk remained a disputed territory until the end of the reign of Vasily III. At the same time, residents of the Smolensk region were taken to the Moscow regions, and residents of the regions closest to Moscow were resettled to Smolensk.
In 1518, Shah Ali Khan, who was friendly towards Moscow, became the Khan of Kazan, but he did not rule for long: in 1521 he was overthrown by his Crimean protege Sahib Giray. In the same year, fulfilling allied obligations with Sigismund, the Crimean Khan Mehmed I Giray announced a raid on Moscow. Together with him, the Kazan Khan emerged from his lands, and near Kolomna, the Crimeans and Kazan people united their armies together. Russian army under the leadership of Prince Dmitry Belsky, it was defeated on the Oka River and was forced to retreat. The Tatars approached the walls of the capital. Vasily himself at that time left the capital for Volokolamsk to gather an army. Magmet-Girey did not intend to take the city: having devastated the area, he turned back to the south, fearing the Astrakhan people and the army gathered by Vasily, but taking a letter from the Grand Duke stating that he recognized himself as a loyal tributary and vassal of the Crimea. On the way back, having met the army of governor Khabar Simsky near Pereyaslavl of Ryazan, the khan began, on the basis of this letter, to demand the surrender of his army. But, having asked the Tatar ambassadors with this written commitment to come to his headquarters, Ivan Vasilyevich Obrazets-Dobrynsky (this was Khabar’s family name) retained the letter, and dispersed the Tatar army with cannons.
In 1522, the Crimeans were again expected in Moscow; Vasily and his army even stood on the Oka River. Khan never came, but the danger from the steppe did not pass. Therefore, in the same 1522, Vasily concluded a truce, according to which Smolensk remained with Moscow. The Kazan people still did not calm down. In 1523, in connection with another massacre of Russian merchants in Kazan, Vasily announced a new campaign. Having ruined the Khanate, on the way back he founded the city of Vasilsursk on Sura, which was supposed to become a new reliable place of trade with the Kazan Tatars. In 1524, after the third campaign against Kazan, Sahib Giray, an ally of the Crimea, was overthrown, and Safa Giray was proclaimed khan in his place.
In 1527, the attack of Islam I Giray on Moscow was repelled. Having gathered in Kolomenskoye, Russian troops took up defensive positions 20 km from the Oka. The siege of Moscow and Kolomna lasted five days, after which the Moscow army crossed the Oka and defeated the Crimean army on the Sturgeon River. The next steppe invasion was repulsed.
In 1531, at the request of the Kazan people, the Kasimov prince Jan-Ali Khan was proclaimed khan, but he did not last long - after the death of Vasily, he was overthrown by the local nobility.
During his reign, Vasily annexed Pskov (1510), Smolensk (1514), Ryazan (1521), Novgorod-Seversky (1522) to Moscow.
Wives:
Children (both from his second marriage): Ivan IV the Terrible (1530-1584) and Yuri (1532-1564). According to legend, from the first, after the tonsure of Solomonia, a son, George, was born.
Vasily III (25.03.1479 - 3.12.1533) ascended the throne in October 1505.
According to the spiritual charter of Ivan III, he inherited his father’s title, the right to mint coins, and received control of 66 cities. Among these cities are centers such as Moscow, Tver, Novgorod.
His brothers inherited 30 cities. They also had to obey Ivan as their father. Vasily III tried to continue his father’s work in both domestic and foreign policy.
He wanted to show his power, autocracy, while he was deprived of the abilities and merits of his father.
Vasily III strengthened Russia's position in the west, and did not forget about the return of the lands of Rus', which were under the rule of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Levon Order.
During the first war between Lithuania and the Muscovite state in 1507 - 1508, the Polish king Sigismund I and the Grand Duke of Lithuania tried to unite the Muscovite opponents together. But they didn’t succeed.
The rebel Mikhail Glinsky was supported by Moscow and Lithuania was forced to sign an eternal peace treaty with the Russians. Yes, the parties existed in peace for only four years. Already in 1512, a new war began, which lasted almost ten years.
Things were not calm in the south either; the danger from the Tatars did not decrease. Although we remember that the Great Horde fell in 1502. Crimean and Tatar Tatars instilled fear in the residents of the southern and eastern outskirts of the Russian state. And if the attackers managed to bypass the border, then they headed to the center and even threatened Moscow.
Vasily III sent gifts to the khans to achieve peace with him. But at the same time, he did not forget to lead the army to the bank of the Oka River in order to protect himself from the uninvited guest. Defensive stone fortresses were also built in Tula, Kolomna, Kaluga, and Zaraysk.
Domestically, Vasily III succeeded. He decided to finally subjugate it (1510), conquered Ryazan (1521). The support of the Grand Duke is the service people, the boyars and nobles. During their service to the sovereign, they were allocated an estate. The peasants who lived on these lands, by order of the Grand Duke, were obliged to support the landowners.
Peasants plowed and sowed the land (corvée), mowed hay and harvested crops, grazed livestock and fished. Also, ordinary people gave away part of the products of their labor (food rent). The distribution of land, during the unification of Russian lands, took on the character of a system. And it was just not enough. The government even wanted to take away the monastery and church lands, but it didn’t work out. The Church promised support for the authorities if only they would leave the land.
Under Vasily III, the development of the manor system led to the emergence of manorial estates throughout Russia, except for the northern territories. The persistent and cautious king ruled his state with political stability. Economic growth was noticed, new cities were built, crafts developed. In large villages that were located on large roads, markets appeared - a place of trade for artisans.
In such villages, courtyards of “uncultivated peasants” arose, that is, the courtyards of those who gave up plowing the land and took up crafts and trade. These were blacksmiths, tailors, shoemakers, coopers and others. It must be said that the population was small; in Moscow, for example, it was about 100 thousand people. There were even fewer people in other cities.
Under Vasily III, the unification of the Russian principalities into one state was completed. In addition to the Russians, the state included Mordovians, Karelians, Udmurts, Komi and many other nationalities. The Russian state was multinational. The authority of the Russian state grew in the eyes of Eastern and European rulers. The Moscow “autocracy” was firmly entrenched in Russia. After the death of Vasily III, came, which was followed by the crowning of his son Vasily to the royal throne.
Relations between the Russian state and the Crimean and Kazan khanates were tense. In 1505, the Kazan Khan invaded Russian lands, and Vasily III decided to “punish” him. Russian troops were sent to Kazan. Khan admitted his dependence on Moscow, as was the case under Ivan III.
In 1521, the Crimean Khan, whose army included Nogais and Cossacks, and the Kazan Khan, who refused to obey the Grand Duke of Moscow, simultaneously moved towards Moscow. Both troops united near Kolomna, very close to Moscow. The Crimean Khan demanded that the Russians pay tribute again. Vasiliy III drew up a letter in which he agreed with this requirement. The Khan's troops retreated to Ryazan and demanded that the gates be opened. The grand ducal letter of submission to the Crimean Khan was sent to the city governor. However, the Ryazan voivode did not surrender the city and refused to return this charter to the khan. Having devastated the earth from Nizhny Novgorod and Voronezh to the Moscow River, taking many prisoners, the Khan's troops retreated.
In 1515-1516 The Crimean army reached Tula and devastated the Meshchera lands.
In 1524, the troops of the Crimean Khan captured Astrakhan. Having learned about this, the Kazan Khan killed all the Russian merchants and the Moscow ambassador. Then Vasily III reconciled with the Crimean Khan and in the same year opposed Kazan. Ambassadors of Kazan arrived in Moscow. Negotiations began. They dragged on for several years.
During this time, the Crimean Khan made another attempt to reach Moscow. But in 1527 it was defeated on the Oka River. In 1530, Russian troops from Nizhny Novgorod went to Kazan and captured the city. Moscow's protégé became the ruler of the Khanate.
After this, there was a temporary calm on the borders.
Some of the Russian princes, who had previously become dependent on the Grand Duke of Lithuania, were dissatisfied with the infringement of Orthodoxy and the strengthening of Catholicism. Even under Ivan III, some border princes went into the service of the Moscow prince (this is how the Odoevsky, Vorotynsky, Velsky, Vyazemsky princes appeared in Moscow Rus'). Under Vasily III, the Lithuanian prince Mikhail Glinsky went over to the side of Moscow. All this led to a worsening of relations between the Russian state and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland. The wars lasted with varying degrees of success. Material from the site
In 1508, Russian troops besieged Minsk. The Polish king Sigismund I offered peace. Vasily III retained all the lands that Ivan III had acquired, as well as the cities and estates of those princes who went into the service of the Grand Duke of Moscow, the sovereign of all Rus'.
In 1513, Vasily III, having learned about the agreement between Lithuania and the Crimean Khanate, started a war and besieged Smolensk. In 1514, after two unsuccessful campaigns, Smolensk was taken. But in the same year, the troops of Vasily III were defeated near Orsha. Inspired by the victory, the enemy approached Smolensk and besieged it. The city defended itself courageously. The Lithuanians had to retreat. Lengthy negotiations began. Only in 1522 was peace concluded for five years. Smolensk remained behind Russian state. The border with Lithuania began to pass along the Dnieper River.
The 16th century is perhaps one of the most difficult and interesting periods in Russian history. At this time, the Principality of Moscow, which united the lands of scattered principalities, formed into a single centralized Russian state.
Naturally, the emergence of a strong state on the political map of Europe could not but affect its relations with its neighbors. As the Russian state developed and became established, the foreign policy objectives of its rulers changed.
The basic principles of foreign policy developed under Ivan III and were continued by his son Vasily III and grandson Ivan IV (the Terrible), so this work will examine Russian foreign policy throughout the century.
The purpose of the work is to identify the directions of Russian foreign policy throughout the 16th century.
1. Characterize the foreign policy objectives of the Muscovite kingdom under Ivan III that had developed at the beginning of the period under review.
2. Consider the main directions of foreign policy under Vasily III.
3. Identify the results of the foreign policy of Ivan IV the Terrible and its further development.
The main directions of Russian foreign policy in the 16th century took shape under the great sovereign of Moscow, Prince Ivan III:
Baltic (northwestern),
Lithuanian (western),
Crimean (southern),
Kazan and Nogai (southeast).
The most important result of the activities of Ivan III was the achievement of territorial unity of the Russian lands. The unification of Russian lands around Moscow made it possible to intensify foreign policy activities.
By the beginning of the 16th century, as a result of the Russian-Lithuanian wars of 1492-1494 and 1500-1503, dozens of Russian cities were included in the Moscow state - Vyazma, Chernigov, Starodub, Putivl, Rylsk, Novgorod-Seversky, Gomel, Bryansk, Dorogobuzh and others. In 1503, a six-year truce was concluded with Lithuania and the Livonian Order.
A.N. Sakharov described the results of the reign of Ivan III as follows: “It is difficult to overestimate the significance of the era of Ivan III in the foreign policy history of Russia. The country has become important element Eastern and Northern European subsystem of states. The Western direction is becoming—and for a long time—leading in Russian diplomacy. The internal difficulties of the Principality of Lithuania, the peculiarities of the course of Casimir the Old were perfectly used by the Moscow government: the western border was pushed back more than a hundred kilometers, almost all of the Verkhovsky principalities and the Seversk land (captured at one time by Lithuania) came under the rule of Moscow. Important and independent part The Baltic issue became part of Russian foreign policy: Russia sought guarantees of equal conditions - legal and economic - for the participation of Russian merchants in maritime trade. Relations with Italy, Hungary, and Moldova provided a powerful influx of specialists in various fields into the country and greatly expanded the horizon of cultural communication.
Vasily III, who took over his father's state in October 1505, continued the policy of Ivan III, aimed at strengthening Russia's position in the west and returning Russian lands that were under the rule of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Livonian Order.
At the beginning of 1507, the newly elected Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Sigismund I (the Old) managed to enlist the support of the Crimean and Kazan Khanates in the fight against Moscow. The hostilities began in March 1507 in the west (Chernigov) and south (the troops of the Crimean Khan attacked Kozelsk, Belev, Odoev).
Neither Russia nor Lithuania had the strength for a decisive confrontation, and in September 1508 an agreement was concluded with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania on “eternal peace”, according to which the previously captured Seversky lands (the territory of the former Chernigov principality) were ceded to Russia. The Livonian Order did not support Sigismund in the fight against Russia; moreover, in 1509 he concluded a truce with Russia for a period of 14 years.
In 1508, it was possible to regulate relations with the Kazan Khanate, which did not take part in the Russian-Lithuanian conflict.
The “eternal” peace with Lithuania lasted only four years: in 1512, hostilities resumed. Having secured the support of the Livonian and Teutonic orders, Vasily III moved his troops to Smolensk. After a 6-week siege, the Russian troops retreated to set out on the campaign again in June 1513. The city was besieged by an 80,000-strong army armed with cannons and arquebuses. In addition, a 24,000-strong group fought in the Polotsk lands, an 8,000-strong army besieged Vitebsk, and a 14,000-strong army tried to capture Orsha 1 . Only in late autumn did the Russian troops go home. In preparation for the third campaign, Vasily III used his diplomacy, which managed to agree on a coalition with the Holy Roman Empire. According to the agreement, a member of the coalition, the Austrian Archduke Maximilian, recognized the power of Moscow over the Belarusian and Ukrainian lands, and Vasily recognized the rights of Vienna to the territory of Poland. At the end of May 1514, a new campaign against Smolensk began. A two-month siege with constant shelling from 300 guns bore fruit, and the city was taken on July 31. Inspired by the victory, Vasily III began an offensive deep into the Belarusian lands. He captured Mstislavl, Krichev and Dubrovna. Only at the Berezina was he stopped by the advance detachment of Sigismund I. On September 8, 1514, in the general battle of Orsha, Supreme Hetman K. Ostrozhsky defeated the 80,000-strong Russian army, thereby destroying the coalition of Vasily III with Maximilian I.
In subsequent years, hostilities continued with varying success until the summer of 1520, when the embassy of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania arrived to negotiate with Vasily III. Negotiations lasted two years. Only in 1522 did a large embassy headed by the Polotsk governor P. Kishka sign a compromise agreement on a five-year truce and the transfer of Smolensk to the Moscow state.
The peace treaty with the western neighbor was partly dictated by the not entirely calm situation on the southern and southeastern borders of Rus'. Russia did not have enough strength for a new military campaign, so the main ways for Moscow to achieve its goals became diplomatic and dynastic. Russia maintained regular diplomatic contacts with Denmark, Sweden, the German and Ottoman empires. In an effort to maintain peaceful relations with Crimea, the Russian state tried to establish a Russian protectorate over Kazan. Until 1521, it was possible to maintain some stability in relations with the Kazan and Crimean khanates.
During these years Western Europe sought Russia's participation in the anti-Turkish coalition. Vasily III avoided participating in it, but, being interested in ties with the German Empire, did not give a negative answer. At the same time, he tried to maintain stable trade relations with Turkey, especially since trade with the East was predominant.
On the night of December 3-4, 1533, Vasily III dies. His heir was only in his fourth year, and the problem of succession to supreme power suddenly arose. While Ivan Vasilyevich’s mother, Elena Glinskaya, was alive, the Glinsky group was in power. After her poisoning, the Shuiskys seized power in Moscow. In general, the 30-40s of the 16th century were replete with irreconcilable internal political clashes, which could not but affect Russia’s international positions. In the war with Lithuania in 1534-1537, some cities and territories had to be ceded. To strengthen the fortresses along the western border, large material and human resources were required. But the main pain, the main concern was Kazan, after a Moscow protege was killed in 1535. Relations with those European countries with which they had previously developed intensively have practically frozen. The relationship between foreign policy sweetness and internal tensions has become obvious.
Vasily Ivanovich
(at baptism the name Gabriel was given)
Years of life: March 25, 1479 - December 4, 1533
Reign: 1505-1533
From the family of Moscow Grand Dukes.
Russian Tsar. Grand Duke of Moscow and All Rus' in 1505-1533.
Prince of Novgorod and Vladimir.
Eldest son of Sophia Palaiologos, niece of the last Byzantine emperor.
According to existing marriage agreements, the children of the Grand Duke of Moscow and Byzantine princess Sophia could not occupy the Moscow throne. But Sophia Paleologue did not want to come to terms with this. In the winter of 1490, when the heir to the throne, Ivan the Young (the eldest son from his first marriage), fell ill, a doctor was called in on Sophia’s advice, but he died 2 months later. At court they suspected poisoning, but only the doctor was executed. The new heir to the throne was the son of the deceased heir, Dmitry.
On the eve of Dmitry's 15th birthday, Sophia Paleologus and her son hatched a plot to kill the official heir to the throne. But the boyars exposed the conspirators. Some supporters of Sophia Paleolog were executed, and Vasily Ivanovich was put under house arrest. Sophia managed to restore with great difficulty a good relationship with husband. The father and his son were forgiven.
Soon the positions of Sophia and her son became so strong that Dmitry himself and his mother Elena Voloshanka fell into disgrace. Vasily was proclaimed heir to the throne. Until the death of the Grand Duke of Moscow, Vasily Ivanovich was considered the Grand Duke of Novgorod, and in 1502 he also received from his father the great reign of Vladimir.
In 1505, the dying father asked his sons to make peace, but as soon as Vasily Ivanovich became the Grand Duke, he immediately ordered Dmitry to be put in a dungeon, where he died in 1508. Introduction by Vasily III Ivanovich to the grand-ducal throne caused discontent among many boyars.
Like his father, he continued the policy of “gathering lands”, strengthening 
grand ducal power. During his reign, Pskov (1510), the Ryazan and Uglich principalities (1512, Volotsk (1513), Smolensk (1514), Kaluga (1518), and the Novgorod-Seversky principality (1523) went to Moscow.
The successes of Vasily Ivanovich and his sister Elena were reflected in the agreement between Moscow and Lithuania and Poland in 1508, according to which Moscow retained his father’s acquisitions in western lands outside Moscow.
Since 1507, constant raids began Crimean Tatars to Rus' (1507, 1516–1518 and 1521). The Moscow ruler had difficulty negotiating peace with Khan Mengli-Girey.
Later, joint raids of Kazan and Crimean Tatars on Moscow began. The Prince of Moscow in 1521 decided to build fortified cities in the area of the “wild field” (in particular, Vasilsursk) and the Great Zasechnaya Line (1521–1523) in order to strengthen the borders. He also invited Tatar princes to Moscow service, giving them vast lands.
Chronicles indicate that Prince Vasily III Ivanovich received the ambassadors of Denmark, Sweden, and Turkey, and discussed with the Pope the possibility of war against Turkey. At the end of the 1520s. relations between Muscovy and France began; in 1533, ambassadors arrived from Sultan Babur, a Hindu sovereign. Trade relations connected Moscow with Italy and Austria.
In his domestic policy, he enjoyed the support of the Church in the fight against the feudal opposition. The landed nobility also increased, and the authorities actively limited the privileges of the boyars.
Years of reign of Vasily III Ivanovich was marked by the rise of Russian culture and the widespread spread of the Moscow style of literary writing. Under him, the Moscow Kremlin turned into an impregnable fortress.
According to the stories of his contemporaries, the prince was of a harsh disposition and did not leave a grateful memory of his reign in folk poetry.
The Grand Duke of Moscow and All Rus' Vasily Ivanovich died on December 4, 1533 from blood poisoning, which was caused by an abscess on his left thigh. In agony, he managed to become a monk under the name of Varlaam. He was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. 3-year-old Ivan IV was declared heir to the throne ( future king Grozny), son of Vasily Ivanovich, and Elena Glinskaya was appointed regent.
Vasily was married twice.
His wives:
Saburova Solomonia Yurievna (from September 4, 1506 to November 1525).
Glinskaya Elena Vasilievna (from January 21, 1526).
