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Vasily III Ivanovich took the throne
On October 27 1505 to the Russian throne came the son of Ivan III Great and Byzantium princess Sophia Paleologue — Vasily III Ivanovich.
Vasily Ivanovich was born in 1479. After the death of the throne’s successor, Ivan the Young, son of Ivan III from his first marriage in 1490, began the struggle for succession, and Vasily III became the winner. He was firstly made the Grand Prince of Novgorod and Pskov, and then the co-ruler of Ivan III, and after his death he freely seized the throne.
Vasily III was called the “last collector of the Russian land”, as completing his father’s policy aimed at consolidation and centralization of the Russian state, he persistently and steadily subdued Russian lands to the power of the Grand Prince of Moscow, continuing a stubborn political struggle with a feudal opposition. As a result it was Vasily III who finally abolished the system of appanage principalities. During last years of his rule Russia represented a unified state. He consolidated numerous independent Russian principalities into a unified Moscovite state by annexing Pskov (1510), Volotsk principality (1513), Ryazan (1521) and Novgorod-Seversky principalities (1522).
Vasily III was the follower of his father’s policy in relation to Lithuania and Poland as well. The ultimate aim of this policy was annexation all the west Russian lands to Moscow, while primary goals were capturing of separate towns and oblasts, submission of border small princes, assertion of Orthodox interests in the Lithuanian state. In 1514 during the Russian-Lithuanian war (1512-1522) was seized Smolensk.
In 1518-1522 the Grand prince of Moscow carried out the struggle with Crimean and Kazan Tatars, who undertook raids against Russian lands. Having suffered defeat by Kazan, Vasily III set up a fortress near it called Vasilsursk, which became a support in the struggle with Kazan Khanate.
The Grand Prince Vasily Ivanovich was married twice. The first marriage with Solomonia Yurievna Saburova was childless, and in 1526 Vasily III married the princess Yelena Vasilyevna Glinskaya. In 1530 was born their son — future Tsar Ivan IV.
The Grand Prince of Moscow Vasily III Ivanovich died in Moscow on December 4 1533 and was buried in the Cathedral of the Archangel in the Moscow Kremlin.
Lit: Артамонов В. И. Василий III. М., 1995; Зимин A. A. События 1499 г. и борьба политических группировок при дворе Ивана III // Новое о прошлом нашей страны. М., 1967; Казакова Н. А. Вассиан Патрикеев и его сочинения. М.; Л., 1960; Пресняков А. Е. Завещание Василия III // Сб. статей по русской истории, посвящённый С. Ф. Платонову. М., 1922; Скрынников Р. Г. Третий Рим. СПб., 1994. Гл. 3: Русское государство при Василии III; То же [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://www.rummuseum.ru/lib_s/skrynn03.php; Смирнов И. И. Восточная политика Василия III // Исторические записки. 1948. Т. 27; Шишов А. В. Василий III: последний собиратель земли Русской. М., 2007.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Карамзин Н. М. История государства Российского. Кн. 2. Т. 7. СПб., 1842;
Соловьёв С. М. История отношений между русскими князьями Рюрикова дома. М., 1847. С. 575.