Grand Principality of Moscow¶

Overview¶

[Historical record] Rurikid princes of Moscow, rising as the Horde’s tribute-collectors. Dmitry Donskoy (1359-89) won Kulikovo (1380), but Tokhtamysh burned Moscow in Aug 1382. Vasily I (1389-1425) married Sofija, Vytautas’s daughter, in 1391; he stood off Vytautas on the Ugra in 1408 and made Vytautas guardian of his son in his 1423 testament. Vasily II (1425-62) was blinded in the civil war of 1446 and restored.

Grand Principality of Moscow


Type	faction
Note	Grand Principality of Moscow; rising Orthodox power under Dmitry Donskoy and Vasily I.

Wants (by book)¶

Book	Goal	Leverage	Red line
I	An Orthodox marriage draft with Jogaila (1384)	Dmitry’s daughter	A Catholic Lithuania
II	Smolensk and Novgorod; marriage to Sofija	Horde favour; the dowry (II ch. 8)	A Lithuanian metropolitan of Kyiv
III	The Ugra border (1408)	Vasily I’s army	Lithuanian control of Pskov or Novgorod
IV	Hold the regency of Vasily II under Vytautas	Sofija; the bead (IV ch. 15)	Vytautas’s crown, seen as a threat
V	Survive the civil war	Sofija’s bead warm in Moscow while the slab bead is deaf (V ch. 25, 29)	The blinding of Vasily II, 1446

Patron Force¶

None canonical. [The saga’s suggestion] The Steppe-Hunger’s shadow, since Moscow learned rule as the Horde’s tributary.

Internal tensions¶

Dynastic rivalry between Vasily II and his uncle Yuri’s sons; Metropolitan Photius against the Kyiv metropolitan Gregory Tsamblak; Novgorod and Pskov playing Moscow off against Vilnius. The Kęstutaičiai blood survives only here: Sofija’s grandson, the blinded Vasily II (V ch. 29 coda).

Notable members¶

Vasily I, Sofija.

Relations

Ruled by: Rurikids of Moscow · Vasily I of Moscow (1389–1425)

Connections¶

graph LR
  moscow["Grand Principality of Moscow"]
  rurikids["Rurikids of Moscow"]
  vasily1["Vasily I of Moscow"]
  vasily1 -->|Rules| moscow
  rurikids -->|Rules| moscow
  style moscow stroke-width:3px