1.
Grand Prince of Moscow
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This is a list of all reigning monarchs in the history of Russia. It includes titles Prince of Novgorod, Grand Prince of Kiev, Grand Prince of Vladimir, Grand Prince of Moscow, Tsar of All Rus, the land that is today known as Russia was populated by various East Slavic peoples from before the ninth century. Little is known of the Rus Khaganate beyond its existence, including the extent of its territory or any reliable list of its Khagans, traditionally, Russian statehood is traced to Rurik, a Rus leader of Holmgard, a different Rus state. Ruriks successor Oleg moved his capital to Kiev, founding the state of Kievan Rus, over the next several centuries, the most important titles were those of the Grand Prince of Kiev and Grand Prince of Novgorod whose holder could claim hegemony. By the early 11th century, however, the Rus state had fragmented into a series of petty principalities which warred constantly with each other, in 1097, the Council of Liubech formalized the federal nature of the Russian lands. By the 12th century, the Grand Duchy of Vladimir became the dominant principality, adding its name to those of Novgorod and Kiev, culminating with the rule of Alexander Nevsky. Following the Mongol conquests of the 13th century, all of the Russian principalities paid tribute to the Golden Horde, the Russians began to exert independence from the Mongols, culminating with Ivan the Great of Moscow ceasing tribute to the Horde, effectively declaring his independence. Last Grand Prince of Moscow Ivan the Terrible assumed the title Tsar of All Russias in 1547, in 1169 Vladimir-Suzdal troops took Kiev. This act underlined the importance of that city. After 1331, the title of the Grand Princes of Vladimir was assigned to the Princes of Moscow, daniels son Ivan I assumed the title of Vladimir himself, establishing Muscovy as the premier principality among the various Russian states. Later rulers of Muscovy would consolidate power, culminating with Ivan III who threw off the Mongol yoke and his son Vasili III completed the task of uniting all of Russia by eliminating the last few independent states in the 1520s. Vasilis son Ivan the Terrible formalized the situation by assuming the title Tsar of All Russias in 1547, dates are listed in the Old Style, which continued to be used in Russia until the revolution. Following the death of the Feodor I, the son of Ivan the Terrible, as Feodor left no male heirs, the Russian Zemsky Sobor elected his brother-in-law Boris Godunov to be Tsar. Devastated by famine, rule under Boris descended into anarchy, a series of impostors, known as the False Dmitriys, each claimed to be Feodors long deceased younger brother, however, only the first impostor ever legitimately held the title of Tsar. A distant Rurikid cousin, Vasili Shuyskiy, also took power for a time, as a child, Władysław was even chosen as Tsar by the Seven Boyars, though he was prevented by his father from formally taking the throne. The Time of Troubles is considered to have ended with the election of Michael Romanov to the throne, the Time of Troubles came to a close with the election of Michael Romanov as Tsar in 1613. Michael officially reigned as Tsar, though his father, the Patriarch Philaret initially held the real power, however, Michaels descendents would rule Russia, first as Tsars and later as Emperors, until the Russian Revolution of 1917. Peter the Great, a grandson of Michael Romanov, reorganized the Russian state along more Western lines, the Empire of Russia was declared by Peter the Great in 1721
2.
Dmitry Donskoy
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He was the first prince of Moscow to openly challenge Mongol authority in Russia. His nickname, Donskoy, alludes to his victory against the Tatars in the Battle of Kulikovo. He is venerated as a Saint in the Orthodox Church with his feast day on 19 May, Dmitry ascended the throne of the Principality of Moscow at the age of 9. During his minority, Russias Metropolitan Aleksey ran the government, in 1360 Khizr-khan, Khan of the Golden Horde, transferred the title most prized among Russian princes, that of Grand Prince of Vladimir, to Dmitry Konstantinovich of Nizhniy Novgorod. In 1363, after that prince was deposed, Dmitry Ivanovich was crowned at Vladimir, three years later, he made peace with Dmitriy Konstantinovich and married his daughter Eudoxia. In 1376 their joint armies ravaged Volga Bulgaria, the most important event during Dmitrys early reign was start of building the Moscow Kremlin, it was completed in 1367. Thanks to the new fortress, the city withstood two sieges by Algirdas of Lithuania during the Lithuanian–Muscovite War, the war ended with the Treaty of Lyubutsk. In 1375, Dmitry settled, in his own favor, a conflict with Mikhail II of Tver over Vladimir, other princes of Northern Russia acknowledged his authority and contributed troops to the impending struggle against the Horde. By the end of his reign, Dmitry had more than doubled the territory of the Principality of Moscow, Mongol domination of parts of what is now Russia began to crumble during Dmitrys thirty-year reign. The Golden Horde was severely weakened by war and dynastic rivalries. Dmitry took advantage of this lapse in Mongol authority to challenge the Tatars. While he kept the Khans patent to collect taxes for all of Russia, Mamai, a Mongol general and claimant to the throne, tried to punish Dmitry for attempting to increase his power. In 1378 Mamai sent a Mongol army, but it was defeated by Dmitrys forces in the Battle of Vozha River, two years later Mamai personally led a large force against Moscow. Dmitry met and defeated it at the Battle of Kulikovo, the defeated Mamai was presently dethroned by a rival Mongol general, Tokhtamysh. That khan reasserted Mongol rule over parts of now is Russia. Dimitry, however, pledged his loyalty to Tokhtamysh and to the Golden Horde and was reinstated as Mongol principal tax collector, upon his death in 1389, Dimitry was the first Grand Duke to bequeath his titles to his son Vasiliy without consulting the Khan. He was married to Eudoxia of Nizhniy Novgorod and she was a daughter of Dmitry of Suzdal and Vasilisa of Rostov. They had at least twelve children, Daniil Dmitriyevich, married Fyodor Olegovich, Prince of Ryazan
3.
Moscow
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Moscow is the capital and most populous city of Russia, with 13.2 million residents within the city limits and 17.8 million within the urban area. Moscow has the status of a Russian federal city, Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, and scientific center of Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as the largest city entirely on the European continent. Moscow is the northernmost and coldest megacity and metropolis on Earth and it is home to the Ostankino Tower, the tallest free standing structure in Europe, the Federation Tower, the tallest skyscraper in Europe, and the Moscow International Business Center. Moscow is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia, the city is well known for its architecture, particularly its historic buildings such as Saint Basils Cathedral with its brightly colored domes. Moscow is the seat of power of the Government of Russia, being the site of the Moscow Kremlin, the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square are also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament also sit in the city and it is recognized as one of the citys landmarks due to the rich architecture of its 200 stations. In old Russian the word also meant a church administrative district. The demonym for a Moscow resident is москвич for male or москвичка for female, the name of the city is thought to be derived from the name of the Moskva River. There have been proposed several theories of the origin of the name of the river and its cognates include Russian, музга, muzga pool, puddle, Lithuanian, mazgoti and Latvian, mazgāt to wash, Sanskrit, majjati to drown, Latin, mergō to dip, immerse. There exist as well similar place names in Poland like Mozgawa, the original Old Russian form of the name is reconstructed as *Москы, *Mosky, hence it was one of a few Slavic ū-stem nouns. From the latter forms came the modern Russian name Москва, Moskva, in a similar manner the Latin name Moscovia has been formed, later it became a colloquial name for Russia used in Western Europe in the 16th–17th centuries. From it as well came English Muscovy, various other theories, having little or no scientific ground, are now largely rejected by contemporary linguists. The surface similarity of the name Russia with Rosh, an obscure biblical tribe or country, the oldest evidence of humans on the territory of Moscow dates from the Neolithic. Within the modern bounds of the city other late evidence was discovered, on the territory of the Kremlin, Sparrow Hills, Setun River and Kuntsevskiy forest park, etc. The earliest East Slavic tribes recorded as having expanded to the upper Volga in the 9th to 10th centuries are the Vyatichi and Krivichi, the Moskva River was incorporated as part of Rostov-Suzdal into the Kievan Rus in the 11th century. By AD1100, a settlement had appeared on the mouth of the Neglinnaya River. The first known reference to Moscow dates from 1147 as a place of Yuri Dolgoruky. At the time it was a town on the western border of Vladimir-Suzdal Principality
4.
Grand Duchy of Moscow
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The Grand Duchy of Moscow, or Grand Principality of Moscow, was a late medieval Rus principality centered on Moscow and the predecessor state of the early modern Tsardom of Russia. The state originated with Daniel I, who inherited Moscow in 1283, eclipsing and it later annexed the Novgorod Republic in 1478 and the Grand Duchy of Tver in 1485. After the Mongol invasion of Rus, Muscovy was a vassal to the Mongol ruled Golden Horde until 1480. By his marriage to the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, he established Muscovy as the state of the Roman Empire. Ivans successor Vasili III also enjoyed success, gaining Smolensk from Lithuania in 1512. Vasilis son Ivan IV was an infant at his fathers death in 1533 and he was crowned in 1547, assuming the title of tsar together with the proclamation of Tsardom of Russia. As with many states the country had no particular official name. The Duke of Moscow or the Sovereign of Moscow were common short titles, in rivalry with other duchies Moscow dukes also designated themselves as the Grand Dukes, claiming a higher position in the hierarchy of Russian dukes. During the territorial growth and later acquisitions, the title became rather lengthy. Since the 14th century various Moscow dukes added of all Rus to their titles, after the title of Russian metropolitans, Dmitry Shemyaka was the first Moscow duke who minted coins with the title the Sovereign of all Rus. Under the Polish-Lithuanian influence the country began to be called Muscovy in Western Europe, the first appearances of the term were in an Italian document of 1500. Initially Moscovia was the Latinized name of the city of Moscow itself, not of the state, later it acquired its meaning and has been used alongside of the older name. The term Muscovy persisted in the West until the beginning of the 18th century and is used in historical contexts. When the Mongols invaded the lands of Kievan Rus in the 13th century, the first ruler of the principality of Moscow, Daniel I, was the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky of Vladimir-Suzdal. He started to expand his principality by seizing Kolomna and securing the bequest of Pereslavl-Zalessky to his family, daniels son Yuriy controlled the entire basin of the Moskva River and expanded westward by conquering Mozhaisk. He then forged an alliance with the overlord of the Rus principalities, Uzbeg Khan of the Golden Horde, the Khan allowed Yuriy to claim the title of Grand Duke of Vladimir-Suzdal, a position which allowed him to interfere in the affairs of the Novgorod Republic to the north-west. Yuriys successor, Ivan I, managed to retain the title of Grand Duke by cooperating closely with the Mongols and by collecting tribute and taxes from other Rus principalities on their behalf. This relationship enabled Ivan to gain regional ascendancy, particularly over Moscows chief rival, the city of Tver
5.
Sophia of Lithuania
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Sophia was the only daughter of Vytautas the Great of Lithuania and his first wife, Anna. On 21 January 1391, while her father was engaged in the Lithuanian Civil War and she was the longest serving consort of Russia. After Vasilis death in 1425 she became regent for their ten-year-old son Vasili II and her father supported Vasilis claim to the throne, which was disputed by his uncle, Yuri of Zvenigorod. Sophia was buried in the Ascension Convent, the sarcophagus was moved in 1929 to the Cathedral of the Archangel by Soviet authorities and her husband was a son of Vladymir, Prince of Kiev. His paternal grandparents were Algirdas and Maria of Vitebsk, vasilisa Vasilievna, wife of Alexander Ivanovich Brukhaty, Prince of Suzdal, and Alexander Daniilovich Vzmetenj, Prince of Suzdal. Simeon Vasilievich Maria Vasilievna, wife of Yuri Patrikievich and her husband was a son of Patrikas, Prince of Starodub, and his wife, Helena. Vasily II of Moscow Her listing, along with her husband, in Medieval lands by Charles Cawley
6.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
7.
Rurik dynasty
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The Rurik dynasty or Rurikids was a dynasty founded by the Varangian prince Rurik, who established himself in Novgorod around the year AD862. They ruled until 1610 and the Time of Troubles, following which they were succeeded by the Romanovs and they are one of Europes oldest royal houses, with numerous existing cadet branches. The Rurikid dynasty was founded in 862 by Rurik, a Varangian prince, come and reign as princes and have authority over us. Three brothers came with their kin and all the Rus in response to this invitation, Rurik set up rule in Novgorod, giving more provincial towns to his brothers. The Rurikid Dynasty DNA Project of FamilyTreeDNA commercial genetic genealogy company reports that Y-DNA testing of the descendants of Rurikids suggests their non-Slavic origin, Rurik and his brothers founded a state that later historians called Kievan Rus′. By the middle of the century, Kievan Rus′ had dissolved into independent principalities. The dynasty followed agnatic seniority and the izgoi principle, in addition, a line of Polotsk princes assimilated themselves with the princes of Lithuania. In the 10th century the Council of Liubech made some amendments to a succession rule, vsevolods line eventually became better known as the Monomakhovychi and was the predominant one. The line of Svyatoslav later became known as Olegovychi and often claim to the lands of Chernihiv. The Izyaslavychi who ruled Turov and Volhynia were eventually replaced by a Monomakhovychi branch, the Rurikid dynasty… attempted to impose on their highly diverse polity the integrative concept of russkaia zemlia and the unifying notion of a Rus′ people. But Kievan Rus′ was never really a unified polity and it was a loosely bound, ill-defined, and heterogeneous conglomeration of lands and cities inhabited by tribes and populous groups whose loyalties were primarily territorial. This caused the Rurik dynasty to effectively dissolve into several sub-dynasties ruling smaller states in the 10th and 11th centuries and these were the Olgoviches of Severia who ruled in Chernigov, Yuryeviches who controlled Vladimir-Suzdal, and Romanoviches in Galicia-Volhynia. The Olgoviches descended from Oleg I of Chernigov, a son of Sviatoslav II of Kiev and they continued to rule until the early 14th century when they were torn apart by the emerging Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Grand Duchy of Moscow. Vsevolod I of Kiev was the father of Vladimir II Monomakh, two of Vladimir IIs sons were Mstislav I of Kiev and Yuri Dolgorukiy. The Romanoviches were the line of Roman the Great, descended from Mstislav I of Kiev through his son Iziaslav II of Kiev and his grandson Mstislav II of Kiev, father of Roman the Great. The older Monomakhovychi line that ruled Principality of Volhynia, they were crowned kings of Galicia and Volhynia. Romanovychi displaced the line of Izyaslavychi from Turov and Volhynia as well as Rostyslavychi from Galicia. The last were two brothers of Romanovychi, Andrew and Lev II, who ruled jointly and were trying to repel Mongol incursions
8.
Eudoxia of Moscow
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Eudoxia of Moscow —monastic name Euphrosyne— was a Grand Duchess of Muscovy and wife of Dmitry Donskoy. Eudoxia was a daughter of Dmitry Konstantinovich, Grand Prince of Nizhny Novgorod and her maternal grandparents were Konstantin Vasilievich, Prince of Rostov and Maria of Moscow. Maria was a daughter of Ivan I of Moscow and his first wife Yelena, on 18 January 1367, Eudoxia married Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy. In 1382, she stayed in Moscow in the absence of her husband, after the birth of her son Andrey Dmitriyevich, she attempted to leave Moscow, but was detained by the Muscovites, who agreed to let her go only after long negotiations. After her husbands death, Eudoxia became known for her piety, in 1393, she founded the Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos, the oldest surviving building in Moscow. The church was dedicated to the Virgins Nativity, because on this feast her husband defeated the Tatars in the Battle of Kulikovo, four years later, Eudoxia established the Ascension Monastery next to the Frolovskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin. Later in her life, Eudoxia Dmitriyevna took the veil at the Ascension Monastery under the name of Yefrosiniya, rzhev monasticism in just a few weeks, July 7,1407 the nun Euphrosyne died, and her relics were buried in the cathedral under construction, Ascension Convent. She was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church, Eudoxia and Dmitri Donskoi had at least 12 children, Daniil Dmitrievich. Married Fyodor Olegovich, Prince of Ryazan, yury Dmitrievich, Duke of Zvenigorod and Galich. Claimed the throne of Moscow against his nephew Vasily II of Moscow, married Ivan Vsevolodich, Prince of Kholm. Her husband was a son of Patrikei, Prince of Starodub, the marriage solidified his role as a Boyar attached to Moscow. On 15 August 2007, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church instituted the Order of St. Euphrosyne, named after Eudoxia, the award was established to commemorate the 600th anniversary of Euphrosynes death. The Order of St. Euphrosyne will be the second womens decoration of the Russian Orthodox Church after the Order of Saint Catherine, cawley, Charles, Her listing, along with her husband. Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bain, Robert Nisbet (1911). "Basil s.v. Basil I. Dmitrevich". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 468.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the 