The holy fool's prediction
Begging God for an heir, the king built many churches, toured holy places - everything was in vain. During one of their walks, the royal couple met a holy fool, who, looking at the tear-stained Tsarina Elena Glinskaya, said: “Don’t cry, soon you will give birth to a son, Titus of the broad mind.”
The holy fool's prediction came true. On August 25, 1530, on the day of memory of St. Titus, the queen gave birth to a son, Ivan. He was destined to write into the history of the country the conquest of Kazan, the Astrakhan Khanate, and access to the Baltic coast. Many of these events turned bloody, others - victorious. The figure of Ivan the Terrible still causes fierce controversy. Even his birth is surrounded by facts that are more than mysterious and ambiguous. But he might not have been born...
(By the way, a few months later the queen’s second son, Yuri, was born. He was not destined to live long. According to the chronicler, he was “stupid and simple” - he suffered from dementia.)
To commemorate the birth of his first son, Vasily built two churches in Kolomenskoye - the Beheading of John the Baptist and the Ascension. These were temples of unprecedented courage and amazing beauty. The construction of these churches was accompanied by both tragic and mysterious events. In the tragedy that took place here 500 years ago, everything was intertwined: fortitude and baseness; the illusory quality of joy and the depth of undeserved misfortune. However, everything is in order...
The Tsar's Bride
The search for a bride for the future Tsar Vasily began with his father, Ivan III. He decided to choose a bride for his son from the daughters of his subjects. This was the first bridal show in Rus'. Royal letters were sent to all cities, according to which parents had to present their daughters to the parade. Whoever hides his daughter-girl and does not bring her to the boyars will “be in great disgrace and execution.” Here is how the Roman historian Pavel Novokomsky describes the viewing of brides: “Wanting to get married, they order to select from the entire kingdom maidens distinguished by beauty and virtue, and present them to the court. Here they are assigned to be examined by reliable dignitaries and faithful noblewomen, so that the most intimate parts of the body are not left without detailed examination. Finally, after a long and painful wait, the one who pleases the king is declared worthy of marriage with him. Other rivals with her in beauty, modesty and modesty, by the grace of the tsar, are engaged to boyars and military dignitaries on the same day.”
More than five hundred brides were brought to Moscow. Of these, three hundred were chosen, out of three hundred two hundred, after a hundred, and finally only ten - examined by midwives. From these ten, Vasily chose a bride for himself - the daughter of an ordinary nobleman Vasily Saburov, who, after viewing the brides, became a boyar. The name of the royal bride was Solomonia. In September 1505, Vasily’s wedding took place, and a month later Tsar Ivan III died, leaving his son the throne and kingdom. Vasily ruled for a long time - 27 years.
At the very beginning of the reign Vasily III The most educated man of his time, the Greek monk Michael Trivolis, was invited to Moscow. In Rus' he was nicknamed Maxim the Greek. For his enlightenment he was brought close to the court. He was destined to live a long but martyr's life. The reason for this was the personal drama of the sovereign. From a purely family affair it turned into a state one. Many have fallen into this whirlpool famous people that era.
Divorce
King Vasily and Queen Solomonia lived in love and harmony for almost twenty years, but they had no heirs. They traveled to Holy places and made many gifts, contributions and donations. Many churches were built in prayer for children. But it was all in vain. And then Vasily decides to divorce his “barren wife.” Unheard of in those days! There were no cases of divorce in Rus' at that time. The reason for the second marriage could only be considered the death of the wife. The king understood that by divorcing his virtuous wife, beloved by the people, he was trampling on the law - both earthly and divine. But the intrigue grew, the intention was talked about not only in the boyars’ chambers, but also on the streets. Everyone was worried: what would happen to Solomonia?
In February 1522, Metropolitan Varlaam, who rebelled against the divorce of the Grand Duke, was overthrown and exiled. In his place, Abbot Daniel was installed as Metropolitan of All Rus' - by the will of the king alone, even without the participation of a church council. The new metropolitan, despite the prohibition of his spiritual “superiors” - the Patriarch of Constantinople, personally gave the king permission to divorce. Having learned about this, the enlightened monk Maxim the Greek and the boyars who were part of his “circle” stood up for Solomonia. This meant that the intelligentsia, the flower of society, rebelled against the tsar. However, Vasily did not stop here either.
Some of the boyars paid with their heads. And soon the investigation began in the case of Maxim the Greek, who was one of the most respected and revered people in Rus'. As a result, by the hands of the church, he was condemned allegedly for heresy and exiled to the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery without the right to write or read. Is it possible to think of a more severe punishment for a scribe?
Accusation
After the exile of Maxim the Greek, the divorce from Solomonia seemed to the king a decided matter. But fate again prepared a trap. Conversations began among the people that the tsar, in collusion with the boyars, had decided to kill his wife. Rumors spread about a wife-killing king. Vasily understood: the only way to get rid of Solomonia was to discredit her in her eyes public opinion. It wasn't easy. In Solomonia they respected not only her grand ducal rank, but also her personal virtue, piety, and meekness. Only a serious offense could break this image. Or sin. And they found him.
In 1525, the king brought a “suit for infertility” against his legal wife. In addition, the queen was accused of trying to bewitch the king, resorting to the help of fortune-tellers and sorceresses, witchcraft and “conspiracies” - this sharply worsened her situation, since suspicion arose whether that witchcraft had caused damage to the Grand Duke? ! Solomonia's fate was decided. In November 1525, she was forcibly tonsured a nun with beatings. After the queen was dressed in black clothes, she said loudly and clearly: “God sees everything and will avenge me.” Moscow was shocked by both the injustice and the cruelty of the tsar and his slaves.
Pregnant nun
A few months later, rumors spread around Moscow: they say that Solomonia (now nun Sophia) gave birth to a son in the monastery and named him George. Maybe she was already pregnant before her tonsure? The Emperor became very angry and ordered an investigation into the veracity of the rumors. The rumors were confirmed. True, Solomonia refused to show the child to the king’s envoys, declaring that they “are not worthy for their eyes to see the prince, and when he puts on his greatness, he will avenge his mother’s insult.”
Who is the father of a child born in a monastery? Is it really a king who has been unable to produce a legitimate heir for twenty years? Or someone else who managed to bring the disgraced queen the joy of motherhood instead of the barren king? We will never know the truth. One thing is certain: in the fall of 1526, Vasily gave nun Sophia from the Suzdal Intercession Monastery a rich village.
In 1934, during excavations in the Intercession Monastery, where she conducted last years life debunked queen, archaeologists opened a small grave next to the tomb of the disgraced queen... A doll dressed in an expensive silk shirt was discovered there. Experts have established the time of burial - the middle of the 16th century. But why did the nun take the sin upon herself by making a fake grave? Is it not in order to hide the real child and ward off danger from him?
The birth of a child would mean the falsity of the royal claim, and then there would be no forgiveness for Vasily. An offended sense of justice among subjects could lead to unpredictable consequences. Was this not the reason for the falsification of the child’s burial?
Short-lived happiness of a rival
If the wife was tonsured a nun with his knowledge and consent, then according to church laws the tsar also had to take tonsure. But instead he chose a new wife. The choice of the king shocked people. The name of the bride caused indignation even among her closest and most loyal subjects. She became Elena Glinskaya, the niece of Prince Mikhail Glinsky, who had a strong reputation as an adventurer or, in any case, an immoral person. During the tsar's matchmaking with Glinskaya, her uncle was in prison for trying to hand over Smolensk back to Lithuania: he wanted to take revenge on the tsar for what he considered to be an insufficient reward. And his niece, a Polish foreigner, was supposed to take the Russian throne!
But Vasily did not want to listen to anyone. To the displeasure of the boyars, but to please his young wife, brought up in European traditions, he shaved off his beard and began preparations for the wedding. Her splendor was unprecedented at that time. As if the king wanted to emphasize the legality of his step with luxury and pomp.
Vasily could be understood. Elena Glinskaya was distinguished by rare beauty. Not long ago, forensic expert Sergei Nikitin reconstructed her appearance. She was a woman with regular, delicate facial features of the Polish-Lithuanian type. Large almond-shaped eyes stood out on his thin face. Glinskaya turned out to be red-haired: her braid and red eyelashes were preserved in the tomb.
Elena's triumph in the Moscow Kremlin was short-lived. Already a year after the wedding, evil tongues started talking about the fact that, they say, the young queen was barren, or the curse of the debunked Solomonia was coming true. Having learned about the birth of a son from Solomonia, Elena called the boyar Shigona to her and ordered to kill the baby... But he, according to legend, gave the child to one Ryazan boyar. It was he who allegedly staged the funeral of a child, instead of whom there was a doll in the coffin.
Elena Glinskaya spent almost five years in difficult experiences and worries: she did not become pregnant. In any case, if not for the prediction of the holy fool from Kolomenskoye, her future could hardly be called prosperous.
AND family happiness the young queen did not taste it. Three years after the birth of his son Ivan, Vasily caught a cold while hunting and died. It was then that Glinskaya began to appear in public with her favorite, Ovchina-Telepnev-Obolensky. Evil tongues claimed that their romance began long before the queen was widowed, and that the father of Tsarevich Ivan was actually the queen’s lover, and not the barren Vasily. In April 1538, Glinskaya died suddenly, leaving behind an eight-year-old son. After her death, Ovchina-Telepnev was imprisoned and starved to death. Soon, Metropolitan Daniel was defrocked and exiled to a distant monastery, allowing the king to divorce Solomonia.
The disgraced queen was destined to outlive both her husband and her rival. Nun Sophia reposed in 1542. Decay did not touch her body. The relics of long-suffering Solomonia are still kept in the dungeon of the Suzdal Intercession Monastery.
For her righteous life, she was canonized and is now revered by the Church as St. Sophia of Suzdal.
Maxim Grek outlived all the participants in this drama. He lived in monastery prisons for about twenty years and only before his death he moved to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, where he was buried. Russian Orthodox Church canonized him in 1988.
Two ancient churches remind of the events of almost 500 years ago. The same ones built by Vasily III in Kolomenskoye. Today these are the two oldest churches not only in Moscow, but throughout Russia.
Irina MISHINA
Although his son, Ivan the Terrible, is remembered more often, it was Vasily III who largely determined both the vectors of state policy and the psychology of the Russian government, which was ready to do anything to preserve itself.
Vasily III came to the throne thanks to the successful struggle for power carried out by his mother, Sophia Paleologus. Vasily's father, Ivan III, declared his eldest son from his first marriage, Ivan the Young, as his co-ruler. In 1490, Ivan the Young suddenly died of illness and two parties began to fight for power: one supported Ivan the Young’s son Dmitry Ivanovich, the other supported Vasily Ivanovich. Sofia and Vasily overdid it. Their plot against Dmitry Ivanovich was discovered and they even fell into disgrace, but this did not stop Sofia. She continued to influence the authorities. There were rumors that she even cast a spell against Ivan III. Thanks to the rumors spread by Sofia, Dmitry Ivanovich's closest associates fell out of favor with Ivan III. Dmitry began to lose power and also fell into disgrace, and after the death of his grandfather he was shackled and died 4 years later. So Vasily III, the son of a Greek princess, became the Russian Tsar.
Vasily III chose his first wife as a result of a review (1500 brides) during his father’s lifetime. She became Solomonia Saburova, the daughter of a scribe-boyar. For the first time in Russian history the ruling monarch took as his wife not a representative of the princely aristocracy or a foreign princess, but a woman from the highest stratum of “service people.” The marriage was fruitless for 20 years and Vasily III took extreme, unprecedented measures: he was the first of the Russian tsars to exile his wife to a monastery. Regarding children and inheritance of power from Vasily, who was accustomed to fight for power by everyone possible ways, there was a “fad”. So, fearing that the possible sons of the brothers would become contenders for the throne, Vasily forbade his brothers to marry until he had a son. The son was never born. Who is to blame? Wife. Wife - to the monastery. We must understand that this was a very controversial decision. Those who opposed the dissolution of the marriage, Vassian Patrikeev, Metropolitan Varlaam and the Monk Maxim the Greek, were exiled, and for the first time in Russian history, a metropolitan was defrocked.
There is a legend that during her tonsure, Solomonia was pregnant, gave birth to a son, George, whom she handed over “to safe hands,” and announced to everyone that the newborn had died. Afterwards, this child became the famous robber Kudeyar, who with his gang robbed rich carts. Ivan the Terrible was very interested in this legend. The hypothetical Kudeyar was his older half-brother, which means he could lay claim to power. This story is most likely a folk fiction. The desire to “ennoble the robber”, as well as to allow oneself to believe in the illegitimacy of power (and therefore the possibility of its overthrow) is characteristic of the Russian tradition. With us, no matter what the ataman is, he is the legitimate king. Regarding Kudeyar, a semi-mythical character, there are so many versions of his origin that there would be enough for half a dozen atamans.
For his second marriage, Vasily III married a Lithuanian, young Elena Glinskaya. “Just like his father,” he married a foreigner. Only four years later, Elena gave birth to her first child, Ivan Vasilyevich. According to legend, at the hour of the baby's birth, a terrible thunderstorm allegedly broke out. Thunder struck from the clear sky and shook the earth to its foundations. The Kazan Khansha, having learned about the birth of the tsar, announced to the Moscow messengers: “A tsar was born to you, and he has two teeth: with one he can eat us (Tatars), and with the other you.” This legend stands among many written about the birth of Ivan IV. There were rumors that Ivan was an illegitimate son, but this is unlikely: an examination of the remains of Elena Glinskaya showed that she had red hair. As you know, Ivan was also red-haired. Elena Glinskaya was similar to the mother of Vasily III, Sofia Paleologus, and she handled power no less confidently and passionately. After the death of her husband in December 1533, she became the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Moscow (for this she removed the regents appointed by her husband). Thus, she became the first after Grand Duchess Olga (if you don’t count Sofia Vitovtovna, whose power in many Russian lands outside the Moscow principality was formal) ruler of the Russian state.
Vasily III inherited from his father not only a love for strong-willed overseas women, but also a love for everything Italian. Italian architects hired by Vasily the Third built churches and monasteries, kremlins and bell towers in Russia. Vasily Ivanovich’s security also consisted entirely of foreigners, including Italians. They lived in Nalivka, a “German” settlement in the area of modern Yakimanka.
Vasily III was the first Russian monarch to get rid of chin hair. According to legend, he trimmed his beard to look younger in the eyes of Elena Glinskaya. He did not last long in a beardless state, but it almost cost Rus' independence. While the Grand Duke was flaunting his clean-shaven youth, the Crimean Khan Islyam I Giray, complete with armed, sparsely bearded fellow countrymen, came to visit. The case threatened to turn into a new one Tatar yoke. But God saved. Immediately after the victory, Vasily grew his beard again. So as not to wake up the dashing.
The reign of Basil III was marked by the struggle of the “non-possessors” with the “Josephites.” For a very short time, Vasily III was close to the “non-covetous”, but in 1522, instead of Varlaam, who had fallen into disgrace, the disciple of Joseph of Volotsky and the head of the Josephites, Daniel, was appointed to the metropolitan throne, who became an ardent supporter of strengthening the grand-ducal power. Vasily III sought to substantiate the divine origin of the grand ducal power, relying on the authority of Joseph Volotsky, who in his works acted as an ideologist of a strong state power and “ancient piety.” This was facilitated by the increased authority of the Grand Duke in Western Europe. In the treaty (1514) with the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian III, Vasily III was even named king. Vasily III was cruel to his opponents: in 1525 and 1531. Maxim the Greek was twice condemned and imprisoned in a monastery.
After the death of Grand Duke Ivan III in 1505, Vasily III took the grand-ducal throne. He was born in 1479 in Moscow and was the second son of Ivan III and Sophia Paleologus, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor. Vasily became heir to the throne after the death of his older brother Ivan in 1490. Ivan III wanted to transfer the throne to his grandson Dmitry Ivanovich, but shortly before his death he abandoned this intention. Vasily III in 1505 married Solomonia Saburova, who came from an Old Moscow boyar family.
Vasily III (1505-1533) continued his father’s policy of creating a unified Russian state and expanding its borders. During his reign, the last Russian principalities were annexed, which had previously formally retained their independence: in 1510 - the lands of the Pskov Republic, in 1521 - the Ryazan principality, which in fact had long been completely dependent on Moscow.
Vasily III consistently pursued a policy of eliminating appanage principalities. He did not fulfill his promises to provide inheritance to noble immigrants from Lithuania (princes Belsky and Glinsky), and in 1521 he liquidated the Novgorod-Seversky principality - the inheritance of Prince Vasily Ivanovich, the grandson of Shemyaka. All other appanage principalities either disappeared as a result of the death of their rulers (for example, Starodubskoye), or were liquidated in exchange for the provision of high places to the former appanage princes at the court of Vasily III (Vorotynskoye, Belevskoye, Odoevskoye, Masalskoye). As a result, by the end of the reign of Vasily III, only the appanages that belonged to the brothers of the Grand Duke - Yuri (Dmitrov) and Andrei (Staritsa), were preserved, as well as the Kasimov principality, where pretenders to the Kazan throne from the Chingizid dynasty ruled, but with very limited rights of princes (they were it was forbidden to mint their own coins, judicial power was limited, etc.).
The development of the local system continued, the total number of service people - landowners - was already about 30 thousand.
Basil III supported the expansion of the political role of the church. Many churches were built with his personal funds, including the Kremlin Annunciation Cathedral. At the same time, Vasily III completely controlled the church. This is evidenced, in particular, by his appointment of Metropolitans Varlaam (1511) and Daniel (1522) without convening a Local Council, that is, in violation of the norms of church law. This happened for the first time in the history of Rus'. And in former times, princes played an important role in the appointment of metropolitans, archbishops and bishops, but at the same time church canons were necessarily observed.
The accession of Varlaam to the metropolitan throne in the summer of 1511 led to the strengthening of the position of non-covetous people among the highest church hierarchs. By the beginning of the 20s, Vasily III lost interest in non-covetous people and lost hope of depriving the church of its land holdings. He believed that much more benefits could be derived from an alliance with the Josephites, who, although they held tightly to church possessions, were ready for any compromise with the Grand Duke. In vain Vasily III asked Metropolitan Varlaam, a non-covetous man by his convictions, to help him fraudulently lure to Moscow the last Novgorod-Seversk prince Vasily Shemyachich, who, without the metropolitan's safe conduct, resolutely refused to appear in the capital. Varlaam did not make a deal with the Grand Duke and, at the insistence of Vasily III, was forced to leave the metropolitan see. On February 27, 1522, the more accommodating abbot of the Valaam Monastery, Josephite Daniel, was installed in his place, becoming an obedient executor of the will of the Grand Duke. Daniil issued a “metropolitan letter of protection” to Vasily Shemyachich, who, upon entering Moscow in April 1523, was captured and imprisoned, where he ended his days. This whole story caused a storm of indignation in Russian society.
Contemporaries remembered Vasily III as a powerful man who did not tolerate objections and single-handedly made the most important decisions. He dealt harshly with those he disliked. Even at the beginning of his reign, many supporters of Prince Dmitry Ivanovich (grandson of Ivan III) fell into disgrace; in 1525, opponents of the divorce and second marriage of the Grand Duke, among them were the then leader of the non-covetous Vassian (Patrikeev), a prominent church figure, writer and translator Maxim Greek (now canonized), prominent statesman and diplomat P.N. Bersen-Beklemishev (he was brutally executed). In fact, Vasily’s brothers and their appanage yards were in isolation.
At the same time, Vasily III sought to substantiate the supposedly divine origin of the grand ducal power, relying on the authority of Joseph Volotsky, who in his works acted as an ideologist of strong state power and “ancient piety” (canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church), as well as on the ideas of “The Tale of Princes of Vladimir” and others. This was also facilitated by the increased authority of the Grand Duke in Western Europe. In the treaty (1514) with the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian III, Vasily III was even named king.
Vasily III pursued an active foreign policy, although it was not always successful. In 1507-1508 he waged a war with the Principality of Lithuania, and Russian troops suffered a number of serious defeats in field battles, and the result was the preservation of the status quo. Vasily III managed to achieve success in Lithuanian affairs thanks to the events that unfolded in the lands subject to Lithuania.
At the court of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander Kazimirovich, the Glinsky princes, who descended from Mamai and owned vast lands in Ukraine (Poltava, Glinsk), enjoyed enormous influence. Sigismund, who replaced Alexander, deprived Mikhail Lvovich Glinsky of all his posts. The latter, together with his brothers Ivan and Vasily, raised a rebellion, which was hardly suppressed. The Glinskys fled to Moscow. Mikhail Glinsky had extensive connections at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian (it was the largest empire of that time, including almost half of Europe). Thanks to the mediation of Glinsky, Vasily III established allied relations with Maximilian, who opposed Poland and Lithuania. The most important success of Vasily III's military operations was the capture of Smolensk after two unsuccessful assaults. The war continued until 1522, when a truce was concluded through the mediation of representatives of the Holy Roman Empire. Although Lithuania did not recognize the loss of Smolensk, the city became part of the Russian state (1514).
The eastern policy of Vasily III was quite complex, where the central factor was the relationship of the Russian state with the Kazan Khanate. Until 1521, under the khans Mohammed Edin and Shah Ali, Kazan was a vassal of Moscow. However, in 1521, the Kazan nobility expelled the protege of Vasily III of Kasimov Khan Shah-Ali and invited the Crimean prince Sahib-Girey to the throne. Relations between Moscow and Kazan have deteriorated sharply. The Kazan Khanate essentially abandoned obedience to the Russian state. Both sides began using military force. Kazan raids resumed, that is, military campaigns on Russian lands, organized by the top of the Kazan Khanate to capture booty and prisoners, as well as an open demonstration of force. In 1521, Kazan military leaders took part in the great Crimean campaign against Moscow; Kazan troops made 5 raids on the eastern regions of the Russian state (Meshchera, Nizhny Novgorod, Totma, Uneka). Kazan raids were also undertaken in 1522 (two) and in 1523. To defend the eastern border, in 1523 the Russian fortress Vasilsursk was built on the Volga at the mouth of the Sura. However, Moscow did not abandon its attempts to restore its control over the Kazan Khanate and return the obedient Shah Ali Khan to the Kazan throne. For this purpose, a number of campaigns were made against Kazan (in 1524, 1530 and 1532), however, they were not successful. True, in 1532 Moscow still managed to place Khan Jan-Ali (Yenaley), Shah-Ali’s brother, on the Kazan throne, but in 1536, as a result of another palace conspiracy, he was killed, and Safa-Girey became the new ruler of the Kazan Khanate - representative of the Crimean dynasty, hostile to the Russian state.
Relations with the Crimean Khanate also worsened. Moscow's ally, Khan Mengli-Girey, died in 1515, but even during his lifetime, his sons actually got out of the control of their father and independently carried out raids on Russian lands. In 1521, Khan Magmet-Girey inflicted a serious defeat on the Russian army, besieged Moscow (Vasily III was even forced to flee the city), later Ryazan was besieged, and only the skillful actions of the Ryazan governor Khabar Simsky (who successfully used artillery) forced the khan to retreat back to Crimea. Since that time, relations with Crimea have become one of the most pressing problems of Russian foreign policy for centuries.
The reign of Vasily III was almost marked by a dynastic crisis. Vasily’s marriage to Solomonia Saburova was childless for more than 20 years. The dynasty of Moscow princes could be interrupted, especially since Vasily III forbade his brothers Yuri and Andrei to marry. In 1526, he forcibly tonsured Solomonia into a monastery and the next year married Princess Elena Vasilyevna Glinskaya, who was half her husband’s age. In 1530, the fifty-year-old Grand Duke gave birth to a son, Ivan, the future Tsar Ivan IV.
The imperious Prince Vasily 3 ruled the Moscow state from 1505 to 1533 and was the son of Ivan 3 Vasilyevich and Sophia Paleologus. Historians call the Grand Duke also a collector of Russian lands, but unlike his father, he did not have his talents. What Vasily III did not complete was completed. Under his rule, several territories were annexed - among them the Ryazan and Novgorod-Seversk principalities.
In royal weddings, the wedding was scheduled after lunch. Neither the groom nor his chosen one ate anything that day. After the wedding, the newlyweds were served wine, everyone ate, drank and congratulated the newlyweds. Then the royal bed awaited the newlyweds, and the wedding party extended their fun. There was no music then: only surnas were blown, there were tambourines and nakroms. The next day, to the simple accompaniment of timpani and tambourines, the young people were led to the soap shops.
The wedding ceremony took place over several days. Everyone congratulated and gave gifts, and the king generously rewarded his subjects on these joyful days. For several days the clergy were treated, the tsar donated money, and sent letters of prayer to remote cities. He himself went with the young queen to pray in. The people around him believed that Vasily 3 loved and respected his wife.
And everything would have been fine, but the tragedy was that they had no children. Years passed, but the princess still did not have a child. Documents have been preserved that tell how the queen looked for various healers and healers, whatever she ordered - and all in vain.
Vasily’s situation was complicated by the fact that he did not want to leave his older brother Yuri, whom he could not stand and had conflicts with him. The relationship with the other brother was not bad, but there was no mutual love between them.
After 20 years, Vasily 3 looked after another betrothed - the young beauty Princess Elena Glinskaya. It was decided to divorce Solomonia.
A ritual was forcibly performed over Solomonia under the name of Sophia and the Nativity Monastery was sent to the Mother of God. She resisted being tonsured, then one of the boyars hit her with a whip because she was resisting the royal wave. Only then did the brave woman, putting on the robe of a nun, answer that God would punish the king.
But a more plausible version, nevertheless, is about the voluntary tonsure and sorrow of Vasily 3. This is described in a public chronicle, which was written not without the participation of the king. A date was chosen for the tonsure, which was celebrated as memorable in the Saburov family. The choice of Sophia’s name is also not accidental - it is the name of Vasily 3’s mother.
She did not stay in the Moscow monastery for long and was soon sent to the white stone monastery of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary, which was located in Suzdal. Here Solomonia, known under the name Sophia, languished and died.
Soon a rumor spread that the princess was pregnant and gave birth to a baby in the monastic monastery. The king sent his associates to the monastery. The unfortunate woman tried to hide at the altar, but she was forcibly dragged out of the church and examined. The noble representatives of the prince decided that the nun had never been pregnant.
But the woman herself claimed that she had a son, George, who was with reliable people. She said that the king was not worthy to see her child, and when he grew up, he would repay his mother’s humiliation.
After much persuasion, the queen admitted that the child was born, but died immediately. The boyars were shown a small grave covered with a stone slab without an inscription. Everyone swore that this was the burial of the princess’s son.
They were afraid to open the burial because the baby died of smallpox, which was fatal disease. With this news, the boyars returned to Moscow, and of course, did not add joy to the childless
The people did not believe in the fairy tale about the voluntary imprisonment of the princess. Popularity Solomonia Saburova she was huge among the people, during her lifetime she was considered a martyr and when she died, she was worshiped as a saint. In 1934, they decided to liquidate the burial place under the Intercession Cathedral.
The turn came to the forgotten, nameless children's grave. Under the slab they found a dugout wooden block coated with lime. In the deck lay a rag doll, dressed in decayed, expensive clothes embroidered with pearls. There is only one explanation: someone, apparently, was obliged to make sure that a non-fictional child was buried.
The famous robber Kudeyar was considered the son of the queen, who was born secretly in a nunnery. Elena Glinskaya did not have children for a long time. A rumor spread throughout Rus' that it was not the Solomonids’ fault that their child was not born.
Only 4 years later, Glinskaya gave birth to Vasily 3 and two heirs: Ivan and Yuri. One of them, Ivan Vasilyevich became the future Tsar Ivan 4 the Terrible. He was neither in character nor in appearance like the king. Three years later, Vasily dies, leaving Ivan on the throne surrounded by boyars who did not like him and hated his mother.
Today tourists, when visiting the famous monastery, are often interested in Solomonia Saburova. "Who is she Grand Duchess? It turns out that we do not know such a queen, a Russian, holy woman.
Good luck everyone! See you again on the pages.
Grand Duke Vasily III Ioannovich, engraving by Andre Theve
Vasily III Ioannovich (March 25, 1479 – December 3, 1533) – Grand Duke of Moscow and Vladimir.
He was born into the family of the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III and his second wife Sophia Paleologue. At birth the child was named Gabriel.
He had one older brother and four younger ones, so all power had to go to. In addition, during that period, Ivan III was centralizing power, so he decided to limit power younger sons. In 1470, the prince appointed his eldest son as his co-ruler. But 20 years later, in 1490, Ivan Ivanovich died for an unknown reason.
After this, the question arose: who will become the next prince? Two camps emerged: the first advocated the appointment Dmitry Ivanovich(son of Ivan Ivanovich), and the second - for Vasily.
Initially, the majority was on the side of the first camp, most of the nobles supported Dmitry and Elena Stefanovna. They did not like Sophia and Vasily, but Vasily was able to enlist the support of the children of the boyars and clerks.
Clerk Fyodor Stromilov informed Vasily that Ivan III had chosen Dmitry as his successor, so he, together with Yaropkin, Poyark and other supporters, advised to kill Dmitry, take the treasury in Vologda and leave the capital. Vasily III agreed, but this conspiracy was not carried out; in December 1497, the Grand Duke became aware of it. After this, Ivan III took into custody his son and everyone who was involved in this conspiracy. Some of the conspirators were executed, others were sent to prison.
In addition, his wife also displeased the prince, since Sophia Paleologus often invited sorcerers to her place with a potion; Ivan III even began to fear that she wanted to poison him. All these women who came to Sophia were drowned.
On February 4, 1498, Dmitry was crowned grand prince; the solemn event took place in the Assumption Cathedral.
But a year later, a conflict arose between the princes Patrikeev and Ryapolovsky, they at that time were the main supporters of Dmitry, and Ivan III. The chronicles did not describe the reason for the quarrel, but the result was that the Ryapolovskys were executed. After this event, Ivan III appointed Vasily III Grand Duke of Novgorod and Pskov.
On April 11, 1502, the ruler ordered Dmitry and Elena Stefanovna to be taken into custody, Dmitry Ivanovich lost his status as Grand Duke.
In 1505, the ruler died, and 4 years later Dmitry also died.
Ivan III was looking for a wife for his son; he instructed his eldest daughter Elena Ivanovna to find out if there were marriageable brides in Poland, Denmark and Germany. At that moment, Catherine was the wife of the Prince of Lithuania and the King of Poland. But all his attempts were unsuccessful. As a result, the bride Vasily was chosen from 1,500 noble maidens who were invited to the court from all over the Russian state.
The choice fell on Solomonia Yuryevna Saburova, and her father was not a boyar. Only after the wedding, which took place on September 4, 1505, he received this title. For the first time in the history of the state, the monarch did not marry a princess or a representative of the princely aristocracy.
But throughout their marriage, they had no children. Solomonia used all the remedies sent by healers from all over the world, but nothing helped. After 20 years of marriage, the Grand Duke began to worry about the lack of heirs, the boyars suggested that Vasily III divorce, this idea was supported by Metropolitan Daniel. In November 1525, a divorce was announced between the spouses, Solomonia was tonsured at the Nativity nunnery, giving her the name Sophia, and after some time she was transferred to the Suzdal Intercession Monastery.
There is also an opinion that at the time of the divorce Solomonia was pregnant. It is believed that she gave birth to Vasily’s son, George.
In January 1526, Vasily III married Elena Vasilievna Glinskaya. In the first years of marriage, she also could not get pregnant, but on August 25, 1530, their son was born. In 1532, Elena gave birth to her second child - Yuri Vasilievich.
The ruler was of the opinion that the power of the Grand Duke should be unlimited. He actively fought against the opposition boyars, expelled and executed them.
In the church sphere, Vasily supported the followers of Joseph of Volotsky; there was a struggle with non-covetous people - they were executed or sent to monasteries.
Vasily III continued his father's policy of centralizing the state. During his reign, he annexed Pskov, the Volotsk inheritance, the Ryazan and Novgorod-Seversk principalities.
Under Vasily, the immunity and privileges of the boyars were limited. The ruler consulted with the boyars on various issues more for show, since he made decisions himself.
The era of his reign is characterized by active construction. Under Vasily, the Archangel Cathedral in Moscow, the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Kolomenskoye, as well as stone fortifications in Nizhny Novgorod, Thule, etc.
From the very beginning of his reign, the prince was forced to start a war with Kazan. His army, led by Vasily's brother, failed in the campaign and was defeated, but the inhabitants of Kazan proposed to make peace, the treaty came into force in 1508.
After the death of Alexander, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, Vasily laid claim to the Lithuanian throne, but it went to Sigismund. The new ruler demanded the return of the lands that had been conquered by Ivan III. But the lands remained part of the Russian state.
In 1512 it began war with Lithuania. Two years later, Vasily captured Smolensk, after which Prince Mstislavsky went over to his side. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania tried to recapture Smolensk, in the battle Russian army under the leadership of Ivan Chelyadinov, it was defeated near Orsha. Smolensk did not return to the power of Lithuania, but the question of who owns this territory was never resolved. Only in 1520 the parties concluded a peace treaty for 5 years, Smolensk remained with Vasily.
The previous relations with Crimea have been preserved. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania incited Crimea to raid Russian lands, and Russian state– into Lithuanian. In 1521, the Tatars made another raid on Moscow. They reached Moscow while Vasily was away and forced the boyars to pay tribute, but on the way back the governor Khabar Simsky defeated their army.
When the prince was heading from the Trinity Monastery to Volokalamsk, a subcutaneous abscess appeared on his left thigh, which developed quite quickly. Doctors were unable to find out the cause and help Vasily III. The prince felt better for a while when they were able to clear the abscess, but then his condition noticeably worsened again. At the end of November 1533, Vasily was greatly weakened. Doctor Nikolai Glinskoy examined the patient and said that there was no hope for a cure. After this, the prince gathered several boyars, invited Metropolitan Daniel, wrote a will and appointed his son Ivan IV as his heir. Just before his death, Vasily aroused the desire to become a monk, Metropolitan Daniel tonsured him as a monk with the name Varlaam.
On December 5, 1533, Vasily III died due to blood poisoning. He was buried in the Archangel Cathedral in Moscow.
