Rurikids of Moscow

House card

Seat

The Moscow Kremlin. [Historical record]

Arms / sigil

The mounted St George appears on Moscow coins from the late 14th century: two riders, Lithuania’s and Moscow’s, face each other across the Ugra. [Historical record]

Words

Sobirai i terpi. “Gather and endure.” [The saga’s invention]

Patron / burden

None canonical. The realm the Horde taught to collect tribute, so the Steppe-Hunger’s shadow lies on it lightly. [The saga’s suggestion]

Rurikids of Moscow

Rurikids of Moscow

Rurikids of Moscow · house — Image: Unknown author (17th century), Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Type

house

Status

Historical record

Note

Moscow’s ruling dynasty: Dmitry Donskoy, Vasily I (Vytautas’s son-in-law), Vasily II (his grandson).

Lineage

Rurikids ruling Moscow: Dmitry Donskoy (1350–89), victor of Kulikovo (8 Sep 1380); his son Vasily I (1371–1425), who married Sofija Vytautaitė on 9 Jan 1391; and Vasily II (1415–62), Vytautas’s grandson, blinded in 1446. [Historical record] Algirdas’s daughter Elena married Vladimir of Serpukhov, and his son Lengvenis married Dmitry’s daughter. Vasily I has his own page.

Feuds & alliances

Rival of Tver (the home of Uliana) and of Lithuania for the Rus’ lands. Dmitry negotiated with Uliana in 1384 over an Orthodox alternative to Krėva. Algirdas’s elder sons Andrius and Dmitrijus fought for Moscow at Kulikovo. Three wars between Vasily and his father-in-law (1406–08) end in the stand-off on the Ugra.

Fate across the books

  • II: Sofija is sent north as a pawn (1391); the Kęstutaičiai blood takes root in Moscow. III: Sofija rides between the camps at the Ugra (1408).

  • IV: Vasily I dies and ten-year-old Vasily II is placed under Vytautas’s protection; Sofija is regent.

  • V: Vasily II is blinded (1446). The blood the Order tried to wipe out sits on the Muscovite throne, the series’ bitterest irony.

Relations

Ally: Kęstutaičiai (Kęstutis’s line) (1391–1430) — Sofija married Vasily I (wars of 1406–08 notwithstanding).

Members: Vasily I of Moscow

Rules: Grand Principality of Moscow

Connections

graph LR
  kestutaiciai["Kęstutaičiai (Kęstutis's line)"]
  moscow["Grand Principality of Moscow"]
  rurikids["Rurikids of Moscow"]
  vasily1["Vasily I of Moscow"]
  rurikids -->|Rules| moscow
  vasily1 -->|Member of| rurikids
  kestutaiciai -->|Ally| rurikids
  style rurikids stroke-width:3px