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Principality of Tver

Coordinates:57°00′N36°00′E/ 57.000°N 36.000°E/57.000; 36.000
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Principality of Tver
Тверское княжество
1246–1485
Seal of Principality of Tver
Seal
Principality of Tver (blue) in 1389
Principality of Tver (blue) in 1389
StatusPrincipality
CapitalTver
57°00′N36°00′E/ 57.000°N 36.000°E/57.000; 36.000
Common languagesRussian
Religion
Russian Orthodoxy
GovernmentAbsolute monarchy
Prince
• 1247–1271
Yaroslav
• 1461–1485
Mikhail III
History
• Established
1246
• Annexation
1485
Area
• Total
28,450 km2(10,980 sq mi)
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Vladimir-Suzdal
Grand Principality of Moscow

ThePrincipality of Tver(Russian:Тверское княжество,romanized:Tverskoye knyazhestvo;Latin:Tferiae)[1]was a Russianprincipalitywhich existed between the 13th and the 15th centuries with its capital inTver.The principality was located approximately in the area currently occupied byTver Oblastand the eastern part ofSmolensk Oblastin Russia.

It was one of the states established after the fall ofKievan Rus'.Originally part of thePereyaslavl-Zalesskyprincipality, Tver became an independent principality whenYaroslav Yaroslavichwas given the western slice of his father's patrimony.[2]During the 14th century, Tver rivaled thePrincipality of Moscowwith the aim to become the center of the unified Russian state.[3]Eventually it lost, decayed, and in 1485, it was annexed by Moscow.[4]

History[edit]

Origins[edit]

Execution of Mikhail at the Golden Horde, byVasily Vereshchagin.

In the 1230s or the 1240s,Yaroslav Vsevolodovich,thegrand prince of Vladimir,detached the city of Tver from thePereyaslavl-Zalesskyprincipality (where it previously belonged), and gave it to his sonAlexander Nevsky.[5]In 1246, another son of Yaroslav,Yaroslav Yaroslavich,became theprince of Tver,and the principality was ruled by his descendants until 1485, when it was abolished.[6]

In 1264, Yaroslav was appointed the grand prince of Vladimir, which at the time meant he was the supreme authority of all of modern-daynorthwest Russia.In the 13th century, the Principality of Tver was less dependent from theGolden Hordethan other Russian principalities were, and its population grew.[5]The combination of these two factors led to the rivalry between Tver and Moscow, each of which were trying to become the most influential Russian principality.

Abishopricwas founded during the reign of Yaroslav, sometime before his death in 1271.[2]No other important events are known to have occurred in the principality during the reigns of Yaroslav and his son Sviatoslav, who died in the first half of the 1280s.[2]

Emergence and decline as a great power[edit]

In 1285,Mikhail of Tver,a son of Yaroslav of Tver, succeeded his father and became the prince of Tver. In 1305 he became the grand prince of Vladimir as well; however,Özbeg Khanof the Golden Horde decided that Tver became too strong, and supported Moscow against Tver. This led to a military campaign led byYuri Danilovichof Moscow against Mikhail, supported by Özbeg in 1317. Mikhail met Yuri's army at a small village called Bortenevo, where he was victorious. In the same encounter, Özbeg's sister and Yuri's wife, Konchaka, was captured by Mikhail and made aprisoner of war.Konchaka later died in captivity in Tver, where Yuri was able to blame Mikhail for the death of the khan's sister. Mikhail was summoned to the Golden Horde and tried there in 1318, where he faced a month of imprisonment and torture before being executed. His son and successor,Dmitry,was executed in the Golden Horde in 1326, and another son and also a prince of Tver,Aleksandr Mikhailovich,was executed there in 1339 as well together with his son Fyodor.

In 1327, ananti-Tatar uprisingin Tver was suppressed. The city of Tver was burned down, and the principality lost a considerable part of its population.[5]Tver never recovered, andIvan I of Moscowwas later granted the title of grand prince of Vladimir, in which Moscow became the preeminent Russian principality.[7]Moscow remained on good terms with the Tatars, and absorbed surrounding principalities.[5]The head of theRussian Orthodox Churchalso moved to Moscow, which gave it the status as the spiritual center and the seat of Russian Orthodoxy.[7]

In the 14th century, some parts of the principality were temporarily given away asappanages.This created the whole system of principalities dependent on Tver. These included Kashin, Kholm, and Zubtsov. Some of them became independent to the point that they conducted war with Tver.[5]

Rivalry with Moscow during the Great Troubles[edit]

During theGreat Troubles(1359–1381), theGolden Hordedescended into awar of successionwhich weakened it internally and externally, allowing theGrand Duchy of LithuaniaunderAlgirdas(Olgerd) to score a major victory at theBattle of Blue Waters(1362/3).[8]Thereafter, Tver sided with Lithuania against Moscow in theLithuanian–Muscovite Warof 1368–1372.[8]In 1371,Mikhail II of Tverwas the last prince of Tver ever appointed as the grand prince of Vladimir. The reign of Mikhail is usually considered as the last period when Tver still could rival Moscow and oppose the Golden Horde. When Algirdas sued for peace with Moscow andretreated in 1372,Tver swifted its allegiance to the powerful Mongol warlordMamai.[8]In 1375, Mamai again granted Mikhail II theyarlikof grand prince of Vladimir.[9]But the same year, a Muscovite-led expedition besieged Tver for four weeks, forcing Mikhail to sign a treaty recognisingDmitry Donskoyas his "elder brother" and the rightful grand prince of Vladimir, and to pledge military support in the case of a conflict.[10][11]

Principality of Tver in the 14th century, during theGreat Troubles

However, no troops of Tver were sent to reinforce Dmitry Donskoy's anti-Mamai coalition at theBattle of Kulikovoin 1380.[10][12]The symbolic victory had little practical effect, asTokhtamyshdefeated and killed Mamai at theBattle of the Kalka Riverin 1381, causing Dmitry Donskoy to flee and leaving the Muscovites to their fate whenTokhamysh besieged and sacked Moscow in 1382.[13]In the face of this violent repression, the princes of Tver, Nizhny Novgorod and others immediately submitted to Tokhtamysh.[14]Dmitry of Moscow did so as well, minting coins after 1382 stating proudly "Grand Prince Dimitry Ivanovich" on one side, but submissively "Sultan Tokhtamysh: Long may he live" on the other.[14]Thus, Moscow was still not able to command Tver, Nizhny Novgorod, the Novgorod Republic or Ryazan in the aftermath of Kulikovo and the sack of Moscow.[15]

Lithuanian vassalage[edit]

In the early 15th century, the power of the Golden Horde was waning, while Lithuania rapidly gained strength.[16]Initially pushed back in 1399 at theBattle of the Vorskla Riverwhen he sought to expand Lithuanian control over the Pskov and Novgorod republics,[17]Vytautas(Vitovt) gained direct control over Smolensk (1404), indirect control over certain Novgorodian holdings (1408, 1428), an alliance withBoris of Tver(1427) and Ryazan (1430), and considerable influence over the Muscovite court asVasily I's father-in-law between 1406 and 1430.[18]When theMuscovite War of Succession(1425–1453) broke out, the principalities of Tver, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Ryazan, Novgorod and Pskov were all still independent of Moscow, and usually in alliance with Lithuania against Moscow, which however did have more territory and resources than the other northeastern Rus' principalities by 1425.[19]

The passages from thepokhval'noe slovo( "word of praise" ) toBoris of Tver,attributed to the monk Foma, have led to scholars to conclude that Tver held similar aspirations as Moscow to become the heir of theByzantine Empire.Scholars have also interpreted theSlovoas an expression of aspirations by Tver to become the center for the unification of the Russian land (russkaia zemlia). Charles Halperin instead argues that Foma did not suggest Tver as Constantinople's successor and that he also did not seek to identify Tver with the Russian land, as the concept had been taken over by Moscow, instead suggesting that the Tverian land (tferskaia zemlia) and Muscovite land (moskovskaia zemlia) were equals in the land, and questioning whether Moscow and the Russian land were one, as Muscovite texts seemed to have implied, such as in the retelling of events at theCouncil of Florencewhich define the Russian land as the area ruled byVasily II.[20]

Muscovite annexation[edit]

In the subsequent 1425–1533 period, the rulers of Moscow nevertheless managed to gain the economic and military overhand, switch the order of dynastic succession from the chaotichorizontaltovertical inheritance,reincorporate all Suzdalian appanages, and during wars with Lithuania even annex Ryazan, Novgorod, Pskov, and Smolensk into the Muscovite realm.[21]In the 1470s,Mikhail III of Tverhad to sign a number of treaties with Moscow (ruled byIvan III) which essentially discriminated against Tver. When Mikhail II tried to compensate for the treaties by seeking an alliance with Lithuania, the army of Ivan III swiftly conquered Tver in 1485. The principality was then annexed by Moscow.[22][5]Tver was given to his sonIvan the Youngas anappanage.[23]

Geography[edit]

The principality stretched fromKashinin the east toZubtsovin the west. The entirety of theShosha River,a tributary of theVolga,was included in the south, as well as theLama River,a tributary of the Shosha, which flowed fromVolok Lamsky,a Novgorodian outpost.[2]

Throughout its history as an independent principality, there is no information about any annexations made by the princes of Tver. Its boundaries were likely the same throughout the 13th to 15th centuries.[2]

List of princes[edit]

Main article:Prince of Tver

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toGrand Duchy of Tver.
  1. ^Introduction into the Latin epigraphy (Введение в латинскую эпиграфику).
  2. ^abcdeFennell 2014,p. 127.
  3. ^Figes, Orlando (2022).The Story of Russia.Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 43.ISBN978-1526631749.
  4. ^Chew, Allen F. (1 January 1970).An Atlas of Russian History: Eleven Centuries of Changing Borders.Yale University Press. p. 32.ISBN978-0-300-01445-7.
  5. ^abcdefТверское_княжество.Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
  6. ^"Tver".Encyclopædia Britannica.Retrieved19 April2015.
  7. ^abBorrero, Mauricio (2009).Russia: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present.Infobase Publishing. p. 178.ISBN978-0-8160-7475-4.
  8. ^abcHalperin 1987,pp. 72–73.
  9. ^Martin 2007,p. 234.
  10. ^abHalperin 1987,pp. 73–75.
  11. ^Martin 2007,p. 235.
  12. ^Martin 2007,p. 236.
  13. ^Halperin 1987,p. 74–75.
  14. ^abMartin 2007,p. 237.
  15. ^Martin 2007,p. 238.
  16. ^Martin 2007,p. 239.
  17. ^Martin 2007,p. 240.
  18. ^Martin 2007,pp. 240–241.
  19. ^Martin 2007,pp. 253–254, 262.
  20. ^Halperin, Charles J. (1977)."Tverian Political Thought in the Fifteenth Century".Cahiers du Monde russe et soviétique.18(3). EHESS: 267–273.ISSN0008-0160.JSTOR27669454.Retrieved17 March2024.
  21. ^Martin 2007,pp. 262–263.
  22. ^Martin 2007,p. 281.
  23. ^Bushkovitch, Paul (18 March 2021).Succession to the Throne in Early Modern Russia: The Transfer of Power 1450–1725.Cambridge University Press. p. 53.ISBN978-1-108-47934-9.

Bibliography[edit]

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