Sofia paleologist and Ivan 3. Sofia paleologist. Biography. Historical role

The last flower of Byzantium

10 facts about the Russian Tsarina Sophia Paleolog / World History

How the Byzantine princess deceived the Pope, and what she changed in the life of Russia.

"Sofia". Still from the series

1. Sofia Paleolog was the daughter of the despot of Morea (now the Peloponnese Peninsula) Thomas Palaiologos and niece of the last emperor of the Byzantine Empire Constantine XI.

2. At birth, Sofia was named Zoey. She was born two years after Constantinople was captured by the Ottomans in 1453 and the Byzantine Empire ceased to exist. Five years later, Morea was also captured. Zoe's family was forced to flee, finding refuge in Rome. To receive the support of the Pope, Thomas Palaiologos converted to Catholicism with his family. With a change of faith, Zoya became Sophia.

3. Paleolog was appointed as Sofia’s immediate guardian Cardinal Vissarion of Nicaea, a supporter of union, that is, the unification of Catholics and Orthodox Christians under the authority of the Pope. Sofia's fate was supposed to be decided through a profitable marriage. In 1466 she was offered as a bride to the Cypriot King Jacques II de Lusignan, but he refused. In 1467 she was offered as a wife Prince Caracciolo, a noble Italian rich man. The prince expressed his consent, after which the solemn betrothal took place.

4. Sofia’s fate changed dramatically after it became known that Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III widowed and looking for a new wife. Vissarion of Nicea decided that if Sophia Paleologus became the wife of Ivan III, the Russian lands could be subordinated to the influence of the Pope.

Sofia Paleolog. Reconstruction based on the skull of S. Nikitin

5. On June 1, 1472, in the Basilica of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Rome, the betrothal of Ivan III and Sophia Paleologus took place in absentia. The Deputy Grand Duke was Russian Ambassador Ivan Fryazin. The wife was present as guests Ruler of Florence Lorenzo the Magnificent Clarice Orsini and Queen Katarina of Bosnia.

6. Representatives of the Pope were silent about Sophia Paleologue’s conversion to Catholicism during marriage negotiations. But they, too, were in for a surprise - immediately after crossing the Russian border, Sofia announced to Vissarion of Nicaea, who was accompanying her, that she was returning to Orthodoxy and would not perform Catholic rites. In fact, this was the end of the attempt to implement the union project in Russia.

7. The wedding of Ivan III and Sofia Paleologus in Russia took place on November 12, 1472. Their marriage lasted 30 years, Sofia gave birth to 12 children to her husband, but the first four were girls. Born in March 1479, the boy, named Vasily, later became the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily III.

8. At the end of the 15th century, a fierce struggle for the rights to succession to the throne unfolded in Moscow. The official heir was considered the son of Ivan III from his first marriage Ivan Molodoy, who even had the status of co-ruler. However, with the birth of her son Vasily, Sophia Paleologus became involved in the struggle for his rights to the throne. The Moscow elite split into two warring parties. Both fell into disgrace, but in the end, victory went to the supporters of Sofia Paleologus and her son.

9. Under Sofia Paleolog, the practice of inviting foreign specialists to Russia became widespread: architects, jewelers, coinmakers, gunsmiths, doctors. For the construction of the Assumption Cathedral, he was invited from Italy architect Aristotle Fioravanti. Other buildings on the Kremlin territory were also rebuilt. White stone was actively used at the construction site, which is why the expression “white stone Moscow”, which has survived for centuries, appeared.

10. In the Trinity-Sergius Monastery there is a silk shroud sewn by the hands of Sophia in 1498; her name is embroidered on the shroud, and she calls herself not the Grand Duchess of Moscow, but “the princess of Tsaregorod.” At her suggestion, Russian rulers began, first unofficially and then at the official level, to call themselves tsars. In 1514, in an agreement with Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I Sophia's son Vasily III was named Emperor of the Rus for the first time in the history of Rus'. This certificate is then used Peter I as proof of his rights to be coronated as emperor.

The wedding of Ivan III with Sophia Paleologus in 1472. Engraving from the 19th century.

Sofia Paleolog

How a Byzantine princess built a new empire in Russia

The niece of the last ruler of Byzantium, having survived the collapse of one empire, decided to revive it in a new place.

Mother of the Third Rome

At the end of the 15th century, in the Russian lands united around Moscow, the concept began to emerge, according to which the Russian state was the legal successor of the Byzantine Empire. Several decades later, the thesis “Moscow is the Third Rome” will become a symbol of the state ideology of the Russian state.

A major role in the formation of a new ideology and in the changes that were taking place within Russia at that time was destined to be played by a woman whose name was heard by almost everyone who has ever come into contact with Russian history. Sofia Paleolog, the wife of Grand Duke Ivan III, contributed to the development of Russian architecture, medicine, culture and many other areas of life.

There is another view of her, according to which she was the “Russian Catherine de Medici,” whose machinations set the development of Russia on a completely different path and brought confusion into the life of the state.

The truth, as usual, is somewhere in the middle. Sofia Paleolog did not choose Russia - Russia chose her, a girl from last dynasty Byzantine emperors, as a wife for the Grand Duke of Moscow.

Thomas Paleologus, Sophia's father

Byzantine orphan at the papal court

Zoe Paleologina, daughter of the despot (this is the title of the position) of Morea Thomas Paleologus, was born in a tragic time. In 1453, the Byzantine Empire, the heir of Ancient Rome, collapsed under the blows of the Ottomans after a thousand years of existence. The symbol of the death of the empire was the fall of Constantinople, in which Emperor Constantine XI, the brother of Thomas Palaiologos and Zoe’s uncle, died.

Despotate of Morea, a province of Byzantium ruled by Thomas Palaiologos, lasted until 1460. Zoe lived these years with her father and brothers in Mystras, the capital of Morea, a city located next to Ancient Sparta. After Sultan Mehmed II captured the Morea, Thomas Palaiologos went to the island of Corfu, and then to Rome, where he died.

Children from the royal family of the lost empire lived at the court of the Pope. Shortly before his death, Thomas Palaiologos converted to Catholicism to gain support. His children also became Catholics. After baptism according to the Roman rite, Zoya was named Sophia.

Vissarion of Nicaea

The 10-year-old girl, taken into the care of the papal court, had no opportunity to decide anything on her own. Cardinal Vissarion of Nicaea, one of the authors of the union, which was supposed to unite Catholics and Orthodox Christians under the common authority of the Pope, was appointed her mentor.

They planned to arrange Sophia's fate through marriage. In 1466, she was offered as a bride to the Cypriot king Jacques II de Lusignan, but he refused. In 1467, she was offered as a wife to Prince Caracciolo, a noble Italian rich man. The prince expressed his consent, after which the solemn betrothal took place.

Bride on the "icon"

But Sophia was not destined to become the wife of an Italian. In Rome it became known that the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III was widowed. The Russian prince was young, only 27 years old at the time of the death of his first wife, and it was expected that he would soon look for a new wife.

Cardinal Vissarion of Nicea saw this as a chance to promote his idea of Uniatism to Russian lands. From his submission in 1469 Pope Paul II sent a letter to Ivan III in which he proposed 14-year-old Sophia Paleologus as a bride. The letter referred to her as an “Orthodox Christian,” without mentioning her conversion to Catholicism.

Ivan III was not devoid of ambition, which his wife would later often play on. Having learned that the niece of the Byzantine emperor had been proposed as a bride, he agreed.

Victor Muizhel. “Ambassador Ivan Fryazin presents Ivan III with a portrait of his bride Sophia Paleolog”

Negotiations, however, had just begun - all the details needed to be discussed. The Russian ambassador, sent to Rome, returned with a gift that shocked both the groom and his entourage. In the chronicle, this fact was reflected with the words “bring the princess on the icon.”

The fact is that at that time secular painting did not exist in Russia at all, and the portrait of Sophia sent to Ivan III was perceived in Moscow as an “icon”.

Sophia Paleolog. Reconstruction based on the skull of S. Nikitin

However, having figured out what was what, the Moscow prince was pleased with the appearance of the bride. In historical literature there are various descriptions of Sophia Paleolog - from beauty to ugly. In the 1990s, studies were carried out on the remains of the wife of Ivan III, during which her appearance was restored. Sophia was a short woman (about 160 cm), inclined to be overweight, with strong-willed facial features that could be called, if not beautiful, then quite pretty. Be that as it may, Ivan III liked her.

Failure of Vissarion of Nicaea

The formalities were settled by the spring of 1472, when a new Russian embassy arrived in Rome, this time for the bride herself.

On June 1, 1472, an absentee betrothal took place in the Basilica of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. The deputy of the Grand Duke was the Russian ambassador Ivan Fryazin. The wife of the ruler of Florence, Lorenzo the Magnificent, Clarice Orsini, and Queen Katarina of Bosnia were present as guests. The father, in addition to gifts, gave the bride a dowry of 6 thousand ducats.

Sofia Paleologue enters Moscow. Miniature of the Facial Chronicle Vault

On June 24, 1472, Sophia Paleologus's large convoy, together with the Russian ambassador, left Rome. The bride was accompanied by a Roman retinue led by Cardinal Vissarion of Nicaea.

We had to get to Moscow through Germany along the Baltic Sea, and then through the Baltic states, Pskov and Novgorod. Such a difficult route was caused by the fact that Russia once again began having political problems with Poland during this period.

From time immemorial, the Byzantines were famous for their cunning and deceit. Vissarion of Nicaea learned that Sophia Palaeologus inherited these qualities in full soon after the bride’s train crossed the Russian border. The 17-year-old girl announced that from now on she would no longer perform Catholic rites, but would return to the faith of her ancestors, that is, to Orthodoxy. All the cardinal's ambitious plans collapsed. Attempts by Catholics to gain a foothold in Moscow and strengthen their influence failed.

On November 12, 1472, Sophia entered Moscow. Here, too, there were many who treated her with caution, seeing her as a “Roman agent.” According to some reports, Metropolitan Philip, dissatisfied with the bride, refused to hold the wedding ceremony, which is why the ceremony was performed by Kolomna Archpriest Hosea.

But, be that as it may, Sophia Paleolog became the wife of Ivan III.

Fedor Bronnikov. “Meeting of Princess Sofia Palaeologus by Pskov mayors and boyars at the mouth of the Embakh on Lake Peipsi”

How Sophia saved Russia from the yoke

Their marriage lasted 30 years, she bore her husband 12 children, of whom five sons and four daughters lived to adulthood. Judging by historical documents, the Grand Duke was attached to his wife and children, for which he even received reproaches from high-ranking church officials who believed that this was detrimental to state interests.

Sophia never forgot about her origin and behaved as, in her opinion, the emperor’s niece should behave. Under her influence, the receptions of the Grand Duke, especially the receptions of ambassadors, were furnished with a complex and colorful ceremony, similar to the Byzantine one. Thanks to her, the Byzantine double-headed eagle migrated to Russian heraldry. Thanks to her influence, Grand Duke Ivan III began to call himself the “Russian Tsar.” With the son and grandson of Sophia Paleologus, this designation of the Russian ruler will become official.

Judging by the actions and deeds of Sophia, she, having lost her native Byzantium, seriously took up the task of building it in another Orthodox country. She was helped by her husband’s ambition, on which she successfully played.

When the Horde Khan Akhmat was preparing an invasion of Russian lands and in Moscow they were discussing the issue of the amount of tribute with which one could buy off misfortune, Sophia intervened in the matter. Bursting with tears, she began to reproach her husband for the fact that the country was still forced to pay tribute and that it was time to end this shameful situation. Ivan III was not a warlike man, but his wife’s reproaches touched him to the quick. He decided to gather an army and march towards Akhmat.

At the same time, the Grand Duke sent his wife and children first to Dmitrov, and then to Beloozero, fearing military failure.

But there was no failure - there was no battle on the Ugra River, where the troops of Akhmat and Ivan III met. After what is known as the “standing on the Ugra,” Akhmat retreated without a fight, and his dependence on the Horde ended completely.

Perestroika of the 15th century

Sophia inspired her husband that the sovereign of such a great power as he could not live in a capital with wooden churches and chambers. Under the influence of his wife, Ivan III began rebuilding the Kremlin. The architect Aristotle Fioravanti was invited from Italy to build the Assumption Cathedral. White stone was actively used at the construction site, which is why the expression “white stone Moscow”, which has survived for centuries, appeared.

Inviting foreign specialists in various fields has become a widespread phenomenon under Sophia Paleolog. The Italians and Greeks, who took up the positions of ambassadors under Ivan III, will begin to actively invite their fellow countrymen to Russia: architects, jewelers, coiners and gunsmiths. Among the visitors there were a large number of professional doctors.

Sophia arrived in Moscow with a large dowry, part of which was occupied by a library, which included Greek parchments, Latin chronographs, ancient Eastern manuscripts, including poems by Homer, works by Aristotle and Plato, and even books from the Library of Alexandria.

These books formed the basis of the legendary missing library of Ivan the Terrible, which enthusiasts are trying to search for to this day. Skeptics, however, believe that such a library did not actually exist.

Speaking about the hostile and wary attitude of the Russians towards Sophia, it must be said that they were embarrassed by her independent behavior and active interference in state affairs. Such behavior was uncharacteristic for Sophia’s predecessors as grand duchesses, and simply for Russian women.

Battle of the Heirs

By the time of Ivan III’s second marriage, he already had a son from his first wife, Ivan the Young, who was declared heir to the throne. But with the birth of Sophia’s children, tension began to increase. The Russian nobility split into two groups, one of which supported Ivan the Young, and the second - Sophia.

The relationship between stepmother and stepson did not work out, so much so that Ivan III himself had to exhort his son to behave decently.

Ivan Molodoy was only three years younger than Sophia and had no respect for her, apparently considering his father’s new marriage a betrayal of his deceased mother.

In 1479, Sophia, who had previously given birth only to girls, gave birth to a son named Vasily. As a true representative of the Byzantine imperial family, she was ready to ensure the throne for her son at any cost.

By this time, Ivan the Young was already mentioned in Russian documents as his father’s co-ruler. And in 1483 the heir married daughter of the ruler of Moldavia, Stephen the Great, Elena Voloshanka.

The relationship between Sophia and Elena immediately became hostile. When in 1483 Elena gave birth to a son Dmitry, Vasily’s prospects for inheriting his father’s throne became completely illusory.

Female rivalry at the court of Ivan III was fierce. Both Elena and Sophia were eager to get rid of not only their competitor, but also her offspring.

In 1484, Ivan III decided to give his daughter-in-law a pearl dowry left over from his first wife. But then it turned out that Sophia had already given it to her relative. Grand Duke, angry at his wife’s arbitrariness, forced her to return the gift, and the relative herself, along with her husband, had to flee from the Russian lands for fear of punishment.

Death and burial of Grand Duchess Sophia Paleologue

The loser loses everything

In 1490, the heir to the throne, Ivan the Young, fell ill with “ache in his legs.” He was called from Venice especially for his treatment. doctor Lebi Zhidovin, but he could not help, and on March 7, 1490, the heir died. The doctor was executed by order of Ivan III, and rumors circulated in Moscow that Ivan the Young died as a result of poisoning, which was the work of Sophia Paleologue.

There is, however, no evidence of this. After the death of Ivan the Young, his son became the new heir, known in Russian historiography as Dmitry Ivanovich Vnuk.

Dmitry Vnuk was not officially declared the heir, and therefore Sophia Paleologus continued to try to achieve the throne for Vasily.

In 1497, a conspiracy by supporters of Vasily and Sophia was discovered. The angry Ivan III sent its participants to the chopping block, but did not touch his wife and son. However, they found themselves in disgrace, virtually under house arrest. On February 4, 1498, Dmitry Vnuk was officially proclaimed heir to the throne.

The fight, however, was not over. Soon, Sophia’s party managed to achieve revenge - this time the supporters of Dmitry and Elena Voloshanka were handed over to the executioners. The denouement came on April 11, 1502. Ivan III considered the new charges of conspiracy against Dmitry Vnuk and his mother convincing, sending them under house arrest. A few days later, Vasily was proclaimed co-ruler of his father and heir to the throne, and Dmitry Vnuk and his mother were placed in prison.

Birth of an Empire

Sophia Paleologus, who actually elevated her son to the Russian throne, did not live to see this moment. She died on April 7, 1503 and was buried in a massive white-stone sarcophagus in the tomb of the Ascension Cathedral in the Kremlin next to her grave Maria Borisovna, the first wife of Ivan III.

The Grand Duke, widowed for the second time, outlived his beloved Sophia by two years, passing away in October 1505. Elena Voloshanka died in prison.

Vasily III, having ascended the throne, first of all tightened the conditions of detention for his competitor - Dmitry Vnuk was shackled in iron shackles and placed in a small cell. In 1509, a 25-year-old high-born prisoner died.

In 1514, in an agreement with the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, Vasily III was named Emperor of the Rus for the first time in the history of Rus'. This letter is then used by Peter I as proof of his rights to coronation as emperor.

The efforts of Sophia Palaeologus, a proud Byzantine who set about building a new empire to replace the lost one, were not in vain.

Andrey Sidorchik

*Extremist and terrorist organizations prohibited in Russian Federation: Jehovah's Witnesses, National Bolshevik Party, Right Sector, Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), Islamic State (IS, ISIS, Daesh), Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, Jabhat al-Nusra ", "Al-Qaeda", "UNA-UNSO", "Taliban", "Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people", "Misanthropic Division", "Brotherhood" of Korchinsky, "Trident named after. Stepan Bandera", "Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists" (OUN)

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SOFIA FOMINICHNA PALEOLOGIST(nee Zoya) (1443/1449–1503) - second wife of V. book Moscow Ivan III Vasilyevich, daughter of the ruler (despot) of the Morea (Peloponnese) Thomas Palaiologos, niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, who died during the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453. Born between 1443 and 1449 in the Peloponnese.

After 1453, Thomas of Morea moved with his family to Rome. There, Sophia received a good upbringing for that time at the court of the enlightened Pope Sixtus IV (known for his patronage of Michelangelo, to whom he ordered the painting of a chapel named after him at the papal chambers). The idea of a marriage between the grown-up Zoya and the widowed ruler of the Muscovite kingdom, Ivan III, who in 1467 buried his first wife Maria Borisovna, the daughter of the Prince of Tver, also belonged to the papal curia. The main goal of the marriage was to involve Rus' in a pan-European crusade against Turkey. Zoya was unsuccessfully wooed by the French and Milanese dukes, who wanted to become related to the noble Palaiologan family, but the curia’s headquarters were already focused on Moscow.

The papal legate sent to Russia in 1467, proposing marriage, was received with honors. Ivan III, who strengthened the grand-ducal power, hoped that kinship with the Byzantine house would help Muscovy increase its international prestige, which had noticeably weakened over two centuries of the Horde yoke, and help increase the authority of the grand-ducal power within the country.

The ambassador of Ivan III, Ivan Fryazin, sent along with the legate to Rome to “see the bride,” said that Zoya was short, plump, with beautiful big eyes and unusually white skin (clean skin as a sign of health was highly valued in Muscovy). Fryazin brought with him from Rome a portrait of the bride in the form of a parsuna (an image of a real person as a saint; the chronicler reports that Zoya was “painted on an icon”). Many contemporaries also spoke about the young woman’s sharp mind.

In March 1472, the second embassy to the pope ended with Zoya’s arrival in Moscow. Together with her, her dowry came to Russia, which included (in addition to many material values and jewelry) a huge “library” - Greek “parchments”, Latin chronographs, Hebrew manuscripts, which were later included, apparently, in the library of Ivan the Terrible. Many dowry carts were accompanied by the papal legate Anthony, dressed in a red cardinal's dress and carrying a four-pointed Catholic cross as a sign of hope for the Russian prince's conversion to Catholicism. Anthony’s cross was taken away upon entering Moscow by order of Metropolitan Philip, who did not approve of this marriage.

On November 12, 1472, having converted to Orthodoxy under the name of Sophia, Zoya was married to Ivan III. At the same time, the wife “Catholicized” her husband, and the husband “Orthodoxized” his wife, which was perceived by contemporaries as a victory of the Orthodox faith over “Latinism.”

On April 18, 1474, Sophia gave birth to her first daughter Anna (who died quickly), then another daughter (who also died so quickly that they did not have time to baptize her). Disappointments in family life compensated by activity in extra-household activities. Her husband consulted with her in making government decisions (in 1474 he bought half of the Rostov principality and concluded a friendly alliance with the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey). Baron Herberstein, who came to Moscow twice as the ambassador of the German Emperor under Vasily II, having heard enough of the boyars' talk, wrote about Sophia in his notes that she was an unusually cunning woman who had great influence on the prince.

Sophia actively participated in diplomatic receptions (Venetian envoy Cantarini noted that the reception organized by her was “very stately and affectionate”). According to the legend cited not only by Russian chronicles, but also by the English poet John Milton, in 1477 Sophia was able to outwit the Tatar khan by declaring that she had a sign from above about the construction of a temple to St. Nicholas on the spot in the Kremlin where the house of the khan’s governors stood, who controlled the yasak collections. and the actions of the Kremlin. This story presents Sophia as a decisive person (“she kicked them out of the Kremlin, demolished the house, although she did not build a temple”). In 1478, Rus' actually stopped paying tribute to the Horde; There were two years left before the complete overthrow of the yoke.

On March 25, 1479, Sophia gave birth to a son, the future Prince Vasily III Ivanovich.

In 1480, again on the “advice” of his wife, Ivan III went with the militia to the Ugra River (near Kaluga), where the army of the Tatar Khan Akhmat was stationed. The “stand on the Ugra” did not end with the battle. The onset of frost and lack of food forced the khan and his army to leave. These events put an end to the Horde yoke. The main obstacle to strengthening the grand-ducal power collapsed and, relying on his dynastic connection with “Orthodox Rome” (Constantinople) through his wife Sophia, Ivan III proclaimed himself the successor to the sovereign rights of the Byzantine emperors. The Moscow coat of arms with St. George the Victorious was combined with a double-headed eagle - the ancient coat of arms of Byzantium. This emphasized that Moscow is the heir of the Byzantine Empire, Ivan III is “the king of all Orthodoxy,” and the Russian Church is the successor of the Greek Church. Under the influence of Sophia, the ceremony of the Grand Duke's court acquired unprecedented pomp, similar to the Byzantine-Roman one.

In 1483, Sophia’s authority was shaken: she imprudently gave a precious family necklace (“sazhenye”) that had previously belonged to Maria Borisovna, the first wife of Ivan III, to her niece, the wife of Prince Vasily Mikhailovich of Verei. The husband intended an expensive gift for his daughter-in-law Elena Stepanovna Voloshanka, the wife of his son Ivan the Young from his first marriage. In the conflict that arose (Ivan III demanded the return of the necklace to the treasury), but Vasily Mikhailovich chose to escape with the necklace to Lithuania. Taking advantage of this, the Moscow boyar elite, dissatisfied with the success of the prince’s centralization policy, opposed Sophia, considering her the ideological inspirer of Ivan’s innovations, which infringed on the interests of his children from his first marriage.

Sophia began a stubborn struggle to justify the right to the Moscow throne for her son Vasily. When her son was 8 years old, she even made an attempt to organize a conspiracy against her husband (1497), but it was discovered, and Sophia herself was condemned on suspicion of magic and connection with a “witch woman” (1498) and, together with her son Vasily, fell into disgrace .

But fate was merciful to this irrepressible defender of the rights of her family (over the years of her 30-year marriage, Sophia gave birth to 5 sons and 4 daughters). The death of Ivan III's eldest son, Ivan the Young, forced Sophia's husband to change his anger to mercy and return those exiled to Moscow. To celebrate, Sophia ordered a church shroud with her name (“Princess of Tsargorod, Grand Duchess of Moscow Sophia of the Grand Duke of Moscow”).

Feeling like a mistress in the capital again, Sophia managed to attract doctors, cultural figures and especially architects to Moscow; Active stone construction began in Moscow. The architects Aristotle Fioravanti, Marco Ruffo, Aleviz Fryazin, Antonio and Petro Solari, who came from Sophia’s homeland and at her order, erected the Chamber of Facets in the Kremlin, the Assumption and Annunciation Cathedrals on the Kremlin’s Cathedral Square; The construction of the Archangel Cathedral was completed. Sophia's influence on her husband increased. Boyar Bersen reproachfully said then, according to the chronicler: “Our sovereign, having locked himself in, is doing all sorts of things by the bed.” According to the great Russian historian V.O. Klyuchevsky, Sophia “cannot be denied influence on the decorative environment and behind-the-scenes life of the Moscow court, on court intrigues and personal relationships; but she could act on political affairs only through suggestions that echoed the secret or vague thoughts of Ivan himself.”

Sophia died on August 7, 1503 in Moscow two years earlier than Ivan III, having achieved many honors. She was buried in the Moscow Ascension nunnery of the Kremlin.

In December 1994, in connection with the transfer of the remains of the princely and royal wives to the basement chamber of the Archangel Cathedral, her sculptural portrait was restored from Sophia’s well-preserved skull by M.M. Gerasimov’s student S.A. Nikitin.

Lev Pushkarev, Natalya Pushkareva

On the radio "Echo of Moscow" I heard a fascinating conversation with the head of the archaeological department of the Kremlin Museums, Tatyana Dmitrievna Panova, and expert anthropologist Sergei Alekseevich Nikitin. They spoke in detail about their latest works. Sergei Alekseevich Nikitin very competently described Zoya (Sophia) Fominichna Palaeologus, who arrived in Moscow on November 12, 1473 from Rome from the most prominent Orthodox authority and then a cardinal under Pope Vissarion of Nicaea to marry the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan Vasilyevich the Third. About Zoya (Sofya) Paleologus as a bearer of the exploded Western European subjectivity and about her role in the history of Russia, see my previous notes. Interesting new details.

Doctor of Historical Sciences Tatyana Dmitrievna admits that on her first visit to the Kremlin Museum she experienced a strong shock from the image of Sophia Paleologus reconstructed from the skull. She could not move away from the appearance that struck her. Something in Sofia’s face attracted her - interestingness and harshness, a certain zest.

On September 18, 2004, Tatyana Panova spoke about research in the Kremlin necropolis. “We open every sarcophagus, remove the remains and remains of funeral clothes. I must say that, for example, we have anthropologists working for us, of course, they make a lot of interesting observations on the remains of these women, since the physical appearance of people of the Middle Ages is also interesting, we, in general, , we don’t know much about him, and what diseases people had back then. But in general, there are a lot of interesting questions. But in particular, one of the interesting areas is the reconstruction of portraits of sculpted people of that time from the skulls. But you yourself know, we have a secular painting appears very late, only at the end XVII century, and here we have already reconstructed 5 portraits today. We can see the faces of Evdokia Donskaya, Sofia Paleolog - this is the second wife of Ivan III, Elena Glinskaya - the mother of Ivan the Terrible. Sofya Paleolog is the grandmother of Ivan the Terrible, and Elena Glinskaya is his mother. Then now we have a portrait of Irina Godunova, for example, which was also possible due to the fact that the skull was preserved. And the last work is the third wife of Ivan the Terrible - Marfa Sobakina. Still a very young woman" (http://echo.msk.ru/programs/kremlin/27010/).

Then, as now, there was a turning point - Russia had to respond to the challenge of subjectization, or to the challenge of breakthrough capitalism. The heresy of the Judaizers could well have prevailed. The struggle at the top flared up in earnest and, as in the West, took the form of a struggle for succession to the throne, for the victory of one party or another.

Thus, Elena Glinskaya died at the age of 30 and, as it turned out from studies of her hair, a spectral analysis was carried out - she was poisoned with mercury salts. The same thing - the first wife of Ivan the Terrible, Anastasia Romanova, also turned out to have a huge amount of mercury salts.

Since Sophia Paleologus was a student of Greek and Renaissance culture, she gave Rus' a powerful impulse for subjectivity. The biography of Zoya (she was nicknamed Sophia in Rus') Paleolog managed to recreate by collecting information bit by bit. But even today even the exact date of her birth is unknown (somewhere between 1443 and 1449). She is the daughter of the Morean despot Thomas, whose possessions occupied the southwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula, where Sparta once flourished, and in the first half of the 15th century in Mystras, under the auspices of the famous herald of the Right Faith, Gemist Plethon, there was a spiritual center of Orthodoxy. Zoya Fominichna was the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, who died in 1453 on the walls of Constantinople while defending the city from the Turks. She grew up, figuratively speaking, in the hands of Gemist Pleton and his faithful disciple Vissarion of Nicaea.

Morea also fell under the blows of the Sultan's army, and Thomas moved first to the island of Corfu, then to Rome, where he soon died. Here, at the court of the head catholic church, where, after the Union of Florence in 1438, Vissarion of Nicea firmly settled, Thomas’s children, Zoe and her two brothers, Andreas and Manuel, were raised.

The fate of the representatives of the once powerful Palaiologan dynasty was tragic. Manuel, who converted to Islam, died in poverty in Constantinople. Andreas, who dreamed of returning the family's former possessions, never achieved his goal. Zoe's elder sister, Elena, the Serbian queen, deprived of the throne by the Turkish conquerors, ended her days in one of the Greek monasteries. Against this background, the fate of Zoe Paleologue looks prosperous.

The strategically-minded Vissarion of Nicaea, who plays a leading role in the Vatican, after the fall of the Second Rome (Constantinople), turned his attention to the northern stronghold of Orthodoxy, to Muscovite Rus', which, although it was under the Tatar yoke, was clearly gaining strength and could soon emerge as a new world power . And he led a complex intrigue to marry the heiress of the Byzantine emperors Palaiologos to the widowed Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III shortly before (in 1467). Negotiations dragged on for three years due to the resistance of the Moscow Metropolitan, but the will of the prince prevailed, and on June 24, 1472, Zoe Palaeologus’s large convoy left Rome.

The Greek princess crossed all of Europe: from Italy to northern Germany, to Lubeck, where the cortege arrived on September 1. Further navigation in the Baltic Sea turned out to be difficult and lasted 11 days. From Kolyvan (as Tallinn was then called in Russian sources) in October 1472, the procession headed through Yuryev (now Tartu), Pskov and Novgorod to Moscow. Such a long journey had to be made due to bad relations with the Kingdom of Poland - the convenient land road to Rus' was closed.

Only on November 12, 1472 did Sophia enter Moscow, where on the same day her meeting and wedding with Ivan III took place. Thus began the “Russian” period in her life.

She brought with her devoted Greek assistants, including Kerbush, from whom the Kashkin princes came. She also brought a number of Italian things. We also got embroideries from her that set the pattern for future “Kremlin wives.” Having become the mistress of the Kremlin, she tried to largely copy the images and customs of her native Italy, which was experiencing a monstrously powerful explosion of subjectivity in those years.

Vissarion of Nicea had previously sent a portrait of Zoe Paleologus to Moscow, which impressed the Moscow elite as a bomb exploding. After all, a secular portrait, like a still life, is a symptom of subjectivity. In those years, every second family in the same most advanced “capital of the world” Florence had portraits of their owners, and in Rus' they were closer to subjectivity in the “Judaizing” Novgorod than in the more mossy Moscow. The appearance of a painting in Rus', unfamiliar with secular art, shocked people. From the Sofia Chronicle we know that the chronicler who first encountered such a phenomenon could not rid himself of church tradition and called the portrait an icon: “...and bring the princess written on the icon.” The fate of the painting is unknown. Most likely, she died in one of the many fires in the Kremlin. No images of Sophia have survived in Rome, although the Greek woman spent about ten years at the papal court. So we will probably never know what she was like in her youth.

Tatyana Panova in the article “Personification of the Middle Ages” http://www.vokrugsveta.ru/publishing/vs/column/?item_id=2556 notes that secular painting appeared in Rus' only at the end of the 17th century - before that it was under strict church ban. That's why we don't know what they looked like famous characters from our past. “Now, thanks to the work of specialists from the Moscow Kremlin Museum-Reserve and forensic experts, we have the opportunity to see the appearance of three legendary female grand duchesses: Evdokia Dmitrievna, Sofia Paleolog and Elena Glinskaya. And reveal the secrets of their lives and deaths.”

The wife of the Florentine ruler Lorenzo Medici, Clarissa Orsini, found the young Zoe Paleologue very pleasant: “Short in stature, the oriental flame sparkled in her eyes, the whiteness of her skin spoke of the nobility of her family.” A face with a mustache. Height 160. Full. Ivan Vasilyevich fell in love at first sight and went with her to the marriage bed (after the wedding) on the same day, November 12, 1473, when Zoya arrived in Moscow.

The arrival of a foreign woman was a significant event for Muscovites. The chronicler noted in the bride's retinue “blue” and “black” people - Arabs and Africans, never before seen in Russia. Sophia became a participant in a complex dynastic struggle for the succession to the Russian throne. As a result, her eldest son Vasily (1479-1533) became the Grand Duke, bypassing the legal heir Ivan, whose early death allegedly from gout remains a mystery to this day. Having lived in Russia for more than 30 years, giving birth to 12 children to her husband, Sofia Paleolog left an indelible mark on the history of our country. Her grandson Ivan the Terrible resembled her in many ways. Anthropologists and forensic experts helped historians find out details about this man that are not in written sources. It is now known that the Grand Duchess was of small stature - no more than 160 cm, suffered from osteochondrosis and had serious hormonal disorders, which determined the masculinity of appearance and behavior. Her death occurred by natural reasons at the age of 55-60 years (the range of figures is due to the fact that exact year her birth). But perhaps the most interesting was the work on recreating Sophia’s appearance, since her skull was well preserved. The method of reconstructing a sculptural portrait of a person has long been actively used in forensic investigative practice, and the accuracy of its results has been proven many times.

“I,” says Tatyana Panova, “was lucky enough to see the stages of recreating Sophia’s appearance, not yet knowing all the circumstances of her difficult fate. As the features of this woman’s face appeared, it became clear how much life situations and illnesses hardened the character of the Grand Duchess. Otherwise and it could not have been - the struggle for her own survival and the fate of her son could not but leave traces. Sophia ensured that her eldest son became Grand Duke Vasily III. The death of the legal heir, Ivan the Young, at the age of 32 from gout is still in doubt in its naturalness. By the way, the Italian Leon, invited by Sophia, took care of the prince’s health. Vasily inherited from his mother not only the appearance, which was captured on one of the icons of the 16th century - a unique case (the icon can be seen in the exhibition of the State Historical Museum), but also a tough character Greek blood also showed in Ivan IV the Terrible - he is very similar to his royal grandmother with a Mediterranean type of face. This is clearly visible when you look at the sculptural portrait of his mother, Grand Duchess Elena Glinskaya."

As the forensic expert of the Moscow Bureau of Forensic Medicine S.A. Nikitin and T.D. Panova write in the article “Anthropological reconstruction” (http://bio.1september.ru/article.php?ID=200301806), the creation in mid-20th century Russian school of anthropological reconstruction and the work of its founder M.M. Gerasimov performed a miracle. Today we can peer into the faces of Yaroslav the Wise, Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky and Timur, Tsar Ivan IV and his son Fedor. To date, historical figures have been reconstructed: the researcher of the Far North N.A. Begichev, Nestor the Chronicler, the first Russian doctor Agapit, the first abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Varlaam, Archimandrite Polycarp, Ilya Muromets, Sophia Paleolog and Elena Glinskaya (grandmother and mother of Ivan the Terrible, respectively), Evdokia Donskaya (wife of Dmitry Donskoy), Irina Godunova (wife of Fyodor Ioanovich). A facial reconstruction carried out in 1986 from the skull of a pilot who died in 1941 in the battles for Moscow made it possible to establish his name. Portraits of Vasily and Tatyana Pronchishchev, participants of the Great Northern Expedition, have been restored. Developed by the school of M.M. Gerasimov’s methods of anthropological reconstruction are successfully used in solving criminal crimes.

And research into the remains of the Greek princess Sophia Paleologus began in December 1994. She was buried in a massive white stone sarcophagus in the tomb of the Ascension Cathedral in the Kremlin next to the grave of Maria Borisovna, the first wife of Ivan III. “Sophia” is scratched on the lid of the sarcophagus with a sharp instrument.

Necropolis of the Ascension Monastery on the territory of the Kremlin, where in the 15th–17th centuries. Russian Greats and appanage princesses and queens were buried; after the destruction of the monastery in 1929, it was rescued by museum workers. Nowadays the ashes of high-ranking persons rest in the basement chamber of the Archangel Cathedral. Time is merciless, and not all burials have reached us in full, but the remains of Sophia Paleologus are well preserved (almost a complete skeleton with the exception of some small bones).

Modern osteologists can determine a lot by studying ancient burials - not only the gender, age and height of people, but also the diseases they suffered during their lives and injuries. After comparing the skull, spine, sacrum, pelvic bones and lower limbs, taking into account the approximate thickness of the missing soft tissues and interosseous cartilage, it was possible to reconstruct Sophia’s appearance. Based on the degree of healing of the sutures of the skull and wear of the teeth, the biological age of the Grand Duchess was determined to be 50–60 years, which corresponds to historical data. First, her sculptural portrait was sculpted from special soft plasticine, and then a plaster cast was made and tinted to resemble Carrara marble.

Looking into Sophia’s face, you are convinced: such a woman could really be an active participant in the events evidenced by written sources. Unfortunately, in modern historical literature there is no detailed biographical sketch dedicated to her fate.

Under the influence of Sophia Paleologue and her Greek-Italian entourage, Russian-Italian ties are intensifying. Grand Duke Ivan III invites qualified architects, doctors, jewelers, coiners and weapons manufacturers to Moscow. By decision of Ivan III, foreign architects were entrusted with the reconstruction of the Kremlin, and today we admire the monuments whose appearance in the capital is due to Aristotle Fiorovanti and Marco Ruffo, Aleviz Fryazin and Antonio Solari. Amazingly, many buildings from the late 15th – early 16th centuries. in the ancient center of Moscow have been preserved the same as they were during the life of Sophia Paleolog. These are the Kremlin temples (the Assumption and Annunciation Cathedrals, the Church of the Deposition of the Robe), the Chamber of Facets - the state hall of the Grand Duke's court, the walls and towers of the fortress itself.

The strength and independence of Sofia Paleologus were especially clearly manifested in the last decade of the Grand Duchess’s life, when in the 80s. XV century In a dynastic dispute at the court of the Moscow sovereign, two groups of feudal nobility emerged. The leader of one was the heir to the throne, Prince Ivan the Young, the son of Ivan III from his first marriage. The second was formed surrounded by “Greeks”. Around Elena Voloshanka, the wife of Ivan the Young, a powerful and influential group of “Judaizers” formed, which almost pulled Ivan III to their side. Only the fall of Dmitry (the grandson of Ivan III from his first marriage) and his mother Elena (in 1502 they were sent to prison, where they died) put an end to this protracted conflict.

A sculptural portrait-reconstruction resurrects the appearance of Sophia in last years life. And today there is an amazing opportunity to compare the appearance of Sophia Paleolog and her grandson, Tsar Ivan IV Vasilyevich, whose sculptural portrait was recreated by M.M. Gerasimov back in the mid-1960s. It is clearly visible: the oval of the face, forehead and nose, eyes and chin of Ivan IV are almost the same as those of his grandmother. Studying the skull of the formidable king, M.M. Gerasimov identified significant features of the Mediterranean type in it and unambiguously connected this with the origin of Sophia Paleolog.

In the arsenal of the Russian school of anthropological reconstruction there are different methods: plastic, graphic, computer and combined. But the main thing in them is the search and proof of patterns in the shape, size and position of one or another detail of the face. When recreating a portrait, various techniques are used. These are also the developments of M.M. Gerasimov on the construction of eyelids, lips, wings of the nose and the technique of G.V. Lebedinskaya, concerning the reproduction of the profile drawing of the nose. The technique of modeling the general cover of soft tissues using calibrated thick ridges makes it possible to reproduce the cover more accurately and noticeably faster.

Based on the method developed by Sergei Nikitin for comparing the appearance of facial details and the underlying part of the skull, specialists from the Forensic Expert Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation created a combined graphical method. The pattern of the position of the upper limit of hair growth has been established, certain connection placement of the auricle with the degree of severity of the “supramastoid crest”. In recent years, a method has been developed to determine the position of the eyeballs. Signs have been identified that allow us to determine the presence and severity of epicanthus (Mongoloid fold of the upper eyelid).

Armed with advanced techniques, Sergei Alekseevich Nikitin and Tatyana Dmitrievna Panova identified a number of nuances in the fate of Grand Duchess Elena Glinskaya and the great-granddaughter of Sofia Paleolog - Maria Staritskaya.

Ivan the Terrible's mother, Elena Glinskaya, was born around 1510. She died in 1538. She is the daughter of Vasily Glinsky, who along with his brothers fled from Lithuania to Russia after a failed uprising in his homeland. In 1526, Elena became the wife of Grand Duke Vasily III. His tender letters to her have been preserved. In 1533-1538, Elena was regent for her young son, the future Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible. During her reign, the walls and towers of Kitai-Gorod were built in Moscow, a monetary reform was carried out (“Great Prince Ivan Vasilyevich of All Rus' and his mother Grand Duchess Elena ordered the old money to be remade into a new coinage, for the fact that there were a lot of cut-off money in the old money and mix..."), concluded a truce with Lithuania.
Under Glinskaya, two of her husband’s brothers, Andrei and Yuri, contenders for the grand ducal throne, died in prison. So the Grand Duchess tried to protect the rights of her son Ivan. The Ambassador of the Holy Roman Empire, Sigmund Herberstein, wrote about Glinskaya: “After the death of the sovereign, Mikhail (the princess’s uncle) repeatedly reproached his widow for her dissolute life; For this, she brought charges of treason against him, and the unfortunate man died in custody. A little later, the cruel woman herself died from poison, and her lover, nicknamed Sheepskin, was, as they say, torn to pieces and cut into pieces.” Evidence of the poisoning of Elena Glinskaya was confirmed only at the end of the 20th century, when historians studied her remains.

“The idea of the project that will be discussed,” recalls Tatyana Panova, “arose several years ago, when I participated in the examination of human remains discovered in the basement of an old Moscow house. In the 1990s, such finds quickly became surrounded by rumors about alleged executions by employees NKVD in Stalin's times. But the burials turned out to be part of a destroyed cemetery of the 17th-18th centuries. The investigator was glad to close the case, and Sergei Nikitin from the Bureau who worked with me forensic medical examination suddenly discovered that he and the historian-archaeologist had a common object for research - the remains historical figures. Thus, in 1994, work began in the necropolis of Russian grand duchesses and queens of the 15th - early 18th centuries, which has been preserved since the 1930s in an underground chamber next to the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin."

And so the reconstruction of Elena Glinskaya’s appearance highlighted her Baltic type. The Glinsky brothers - Mikhail, Ivan and Vasily - moved to Moscow at the beginning of the 16th century after a failed conspiracy by the Lithuanian nobility. In 1526, Vasily’s daughter Elena, who, according to the standards of that time, had already spent too much time as a wench, became the wife of Grand Duke Vasily III Ivanovich. She died suddenly at 27-28 years of age. The princess's face had soft features. She was quite tall for women of that time - about 165 cm and harmoniously built. Anthropologist Denis Pezhemsky discovered a very rare anomaly in her skeleton: six lumbar vertebrae instead of five.

One of Ivan the Terrible’s contemporaries noted the redness of his hair. Now it is clear whose color the tsar inherited: the remains of Elena Glinskaya’s hair, red as red copper, were preserved in the burial. It was the hair that helped to find out the cause of the young woman’s unexpected death. This is extremely important information, because Elena’s early death undoubtedly influenced subsequent events in Russian history, and the formation of the character of her orphaned son Ivan, the future formidable king.

As is known, cleansing the human body of harmful substances occurs through the liver-kidney system, but many toxins accumulate and remain for a long time in the hair. Therefore, in cases where soft organs are not available for examination, experts perform a spectral analysis of the hair. The remains of Elena Glinskaya were analyzed by criminologist Tamara Makarenko, candidate of biological sciences. The results were stunning. In the objects of study, the expert found concentrations of mercury salts that were a thousand times higher than the norm. The body could not accumulate such quantities gradually, which means that Elena immediately received a huge dose of poison, which caused acute poisoning and became the cause of her quick death.

Later, Makarenko repeated the analysis, which convinced her: there was no mistake, the picture of poisoning turned out to be so vivid. The young princess was exterminated using mercury salts, or sublimate, one of the most common mineral poisons of that era.

So, more than 400 years later, we managed to find out the cause of the death of the Grand Duchess. And thereby confirm the rumors about Glinskaya’s poisoning, given in the notes of some foreigners who visited Moscow in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Nine-year-old Maria Staritskaya was also poisoned in October 1569, along with her father Vladimir Andreevich Staritsky, cousin Ivan IV Vasilyevich, on the way to Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, at the very height of the Oprichnina, when potential contenders for the Moscow throne were destroyed. The Mediterranean (“Greek”) type, clearly visible in the appearance of Sophia Paleologus and her grandson Ivan the Terrible, also distinguishes her great-granddaughter. A hump-shaped nose, full lips, a courageous face. And a tendency to bone diseases. Thus, Sergei Nikitin discovered signs of frontal hyperostosis (overgrowth of the frontal bone) on the skull of Sofia Paleolog, which is associated with the production of excess male hormones. And great-granddaughter Maria was diagnosed with rickets.

As a result, the image of the past became close and tangible. Half a millennium - but it seems like yesterday.

A Greek princess who had a significant impact on our country. From this time on, in fact, the establishment of an independent monarchical Russian state began.

Sofia Paleolog was born in the 40s of the 15th century, at birth had the name Zoya and was the heiress of an ancient Greek family that ruled Byzantium from the 13th to the 15th centuries. The Palaiologos family then moved to Rome.

Contemporaries noted the princess's oriental beauty, sharp mind, curiosity, and high level of education and culture. They tried to marry Sophia to King James 2 of Cyprus, and then to the Italian prince Caracciolo. Both marriages did not take place; there were rumors that Sophia allegedly refused the suitors because she did not want to give up her faith.

In 1469, Pope Paul 2 recommended Sophia as a wife to the widowed Grand Duke of Moscow. The Catholic Church hoped that this union would have an impact on Rus'.

But the wedding did not happen soon. The prince was in no hurry and decided to consult with the boyars and his mother Maria Tverskaya. Only then did he send his envoy to Rome, the Italian Gian Batista della Volpe, who in Rus' was simply called Ivan Fryazin.

He is instructed on behalf of the king to negotiate and see the bride. The Italian returned back, not alone, but with a portrait of the bride. Three years later, Volpe left for the future princess. In the summer, Zoya and her large retinue set off on a journey to a northern, unknown country. In many cities through which the niece of the Greek emperor passed, the future princess of Rus' aroused great curiosity.

The townspeople noted her appearance, her wonderful white skin and huge black, very beautiful eyes. The princess is dressed in a purple dress, topped with a brocade mantle lined with sables. On Zoya’s head, priceless stones and pearls sparkled in her hair; on her shoulder, a large clasp decorated with a large precious stone struck the eye with its beauty against the background of a luxurious outfit.

After the matchmaking, Ivan 3 was given a skillfully made portrait of the bride as a gift. There was a version that the Greek woman practiced magic and thereby bewitched the portrait. One way or another, the wedding of Ivan 3 and Sophia took place in November 1472 when Sophia arrived in Moscow.

The hopes of the Catholic Church for Sophia Paleolog didn't come true. Upon entering Moscow, the pope's representative was denied the solemn carrying of the Catholic cross, and subsequently his position at the Russian court did not play any role. The Byzantine princess returned to Orthodox faith and became an ardent opponent of Catholicism.

In the marriage of Sophia and Ivan 3 there were 12 children. The first two daughters died in infancy. There is a legend that the birth of a son was predicted by Saint Sophia. During the pilgrimage of the Moscow princess to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the monk appeared to her and lifted up a male child. Indeed, Sophia soon gave birth to a boy, who later became the heir to the throne and the first recognized Russian Tsar - Vasily 3.

With the birth of a new contender for the throne, intrigue began at court, and a struggle for power ensued between Sophia and the son of Ivan 3 from his first marriage, Ivan the Young. The young prince already had his own heir - little Dmitry, but he was in poor health. But soon Ivan the Young fell ill with gout and died, the doctor who treated him was executed and rumors spread that the prince had been poisoned.

His son, Dimitri, the grandson of Ivan 3, was crowned Grand Duke and was considered the heir to the throne. However, during the course of Sophia’s intrigues, Ivan III’s grandfather soon fell into disgrace, was imprisoned and soon died, and the right of inheritance passed to Sophia’s son, Vasily.

As a Moscow princess, Sophia showed great initiative in her husband's state affairs. At her insistence, Ivan 3 in 1480 refused to pay tribute to the Tatar Khan Akhmat, tore up the letter and ordered the Horde ambassadors to be expelled.

The consequences were not long in coming - Khan Akhmat gathered all his soldiers and moved towards Moscow. His troops settled on the Ugra River and began to prepare for an attack. The gentle banks of the river did not provide the necessary advantage in battle; time passed and the troops remained in place, waiting for the onset of cold weather to cross the river on the ice. At the same time, unrest and uprisings began in the Golden Horde, perhaps this was the reason why the khan turned around his tumens and left Rus'.

Sophia Paleolog transferred her legacy of the Byzantine Empire to Rus'. Along with the dowry, the princess brought rare icons, a large library with the works of Aristotle and Plato, the works of Homer, and as a gift her husband received an ivory royal throne with carved biblical scenes. All this later passed on to their grandson -

Thanks to her ambitions and great influence on her husband, she introduced Moscow to the European order. Under her, etiquette was established in the princely court; the princess was allowed to have her own half of the palace and independently receive ambassadors. The best architects and painters of that time were summoned from Europe to Moscow.

The wooden capital of Sophia clearly lacked the former majesty of Byzantium. Buildings were erected that became the best jewelry Moscow: Assumption, Annunciation, Archangel Cathedrals. Also built: the Faceted Chamber for receiving ambassadors and guests, the State Courtyard, the Embankment Stone Chamber, and the towers of the Moscow Kremlin.

Throughout her entire life, Sophia considered herself a Tsaregorod princess; it was her idea to make a third Rome out of Moscow. After the marriage, Ivan 3 introduced into his coat of arms and printers the symbol of the Palaiologan family - the double-headed eagle. In addition, Rus' began to be called Russia, thanks to the Byzantine tradition.

Despite her apparent merits, the people and boyars treated Sophia with hostility, calling her “Greek” and “sorceress”. Many feared her influence on Ivan 3, since the prince began to have a tough disposition and demand complete obedience from his subjects.

Nevertheless, it was thanks to Sophia Paleologue that a rapprochement between Russia and the West took place, the architecture of the capital changed, private ties with Europe were established, and foreign policy was strengthened.

The campaign of Ivan 3 against independent Novgorod ended in its complete liquidation. The fate of the Novgorod Republic also predetermined its fate. The Moscow army entered the territory of the Tver land. Now Tver has “kissed the cross” by swearing allegiance to Ivan 3, and the Tver prince is forced to flee to Lithuania.

The successful unification of Russian lands created the conditions for liberation from Horde dependence, which happened in 1480.

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Sofya Fominichna Paleolog, aka Zoya Paleologina (born approximately 1455 - death April 7, 1503) - Grand Duchess of Moscow. Wife of Ivan III, mother of Vasily III, grandmother of Ivan IV the Terrible. Origin: Byzantine imperial dynasty of the Palaiologos. Her father, Thomas Palaiologos, was the brother of the last emperor of Byzantium, Constantine XI, and despot of the Morea. Sophia's maternal grandfather is Centurion II Zaccaria, the last Frankish prince of Achaia.

Advantageous marriage

According to legend, Sophia brought with her a “bone throne” (now known as the “throne of Ivan the Terrible”) as a gift to her husband: its wooden frame was covered with plates of ivory and walrus bone with biblical themes carved on them.

Sophia also brought several Orthodox icons, including a supposedly rare icon Mother of God"Blessed Heaven"

The meaning of the marriage of Ivan and Sophia

The marriage of the Grand Duke to the Greek princess had important consequences. There had been cases before that Russian princes married Greek princesses, but these marriages did not have the same significance as the marriage of Ivan and Sophia. Byzantium was now enslaved by the Turks. The Byzantine emperor was previously considered the main defender of all Eastern Christianity; now the Moscow sovereign became such a defender; with the hand of Sophia, he seemed to inherit the rights of the Palaiologos, even adopting the coat of arms of the Eastern Roman Empire - the double-headed eagle; on the seals that were attached to the letters, they began to depict a double-headed eagle on one side, and on the other, the former Moscow coat of arms, St. George the Victorious, slaying the dragon.

The Byzantine order began to have a stronger and stronger effect in Moscow. Although the last Byzantine emperors were not powerful at all, they held themselves very highly in the eyes of everyone around them. Access to them was very difficult; many different court ranks filled the magnificent palace. The splendor of palace customs, luxurious royal clothing, shining with gold and precious stones, the unusually rich decoration of the royal palace - all this greatly elevated the sovereign’s personality in the eyes of the people. Everything bowed before him as before an earthly deity.

It was not the same in Moscow. The Grand Duke was already a powerful sovereign, and lived a little wider and richer than the boyars. They treated him respectfully, but simply: some of them were from appanage princes and, like the Grand Duke, traced their origins back to. The simple life of the tsar and the simple treatment of the boyars could not please Sophia, who knew about the royal greatness of the Byzantine autocrats and had seen the court life of the popes in Rome. From his wife and especially from the people who came with her, Ivan III could hear a lot about the court life of the Byzantine kings. He, who wanted to be a real autocrat, must have really liked many of the Byzantine court practices.

And little by little, new customs began to appear in Moscow: Ivan Vasilyevich began to behave majestically, in relations with foreigners he was titled “tsar,” he began to receive ambassadors with magnificent solemnity, and established the ritual of kissing the royal hand as a sign of special favor. Then the court ranks appeared (nurser, stablemaster, bedkeeper). The Grand Duke began to reward the boyars for their merits. In addition to the boyar's son, at this time another lower rank appears - the okolnichy.

The boyars, who had previously been advisers, Duma princes, with whom the sovereign, according to custom, consulted on every important matter, as with comrades, now turned into his obedient servants. The mercy of the sovereign can exalt them, anger can destroy them.

At the end of his reign, Ivan III became a real autocrat. Many boyars did not like these changes, but no one dared to express this: the Grand Duke was very harsh and punished cruelly.

Innovations. Sophia's influence

Since the arrival of Sofia Paleologus in Moscow, relations have begun with the West, especially with Italy.

An attentive observer of Moscow life, Baron Herberstein, who came to Moscow twice as the ambassador of the German Emperor under Ivan's successor, having listened to enough boyar talk, notes about Sophia in his notes that she was an unusually cunning woman who had great influence on the Grand Duke, who, at her suggestion, did a lot . Even Ivan III’s determination to throw off the Tatar yoke was attributed to her influence. In the boyars' tales and judgments about the princess, it is not easy to separate observation from suspicion or exaggeration guided by ill will.

Moscow at that time was very unsightly. Small wooden buildings, placed haphazardly, crooked, unpaved streets, dirty squares - all this made Moscow look like a large village, or, rather, a collection of many village estates.

After the wedding, Ivan Vasilyevich himself felt the need to rebuild the Kremlin into a powerful and impregnable citadel. It all started with the disaster of 1474, when the Assumption Cathedral, built by Pskov craftsmen, collapsed. Rumors immediately spread among the people that the trouble had happened because of the “Greek woman”, who had previously been in “Latinism”. While the reasons for the collapse were being clarified, Sophia advised her husband to invite architects from Italy, who were then the best craftsmen in Europe. Their creations could make Moscow equal in beauty and majesty to European capitals and support the prestige of the Moscow sovereign, as well as emphasize the continuity of Moscow not only with the Second, but also with the First Rome.

One of the best Italian builders of that time, Aristotle Fioravanti, agreed to go to Moscow for a salary of 10 rubles per month (a decent amount of money at that time). In 4 years he built a temple that was magnificent at that time - the Assumption Cathedral, consecrated in 1479. This building is still preserved in the Moscow Kremlin.

Then they began to build other stone churches: in 1489, the Annunciation Cathedral was erected, which had the significance of the tsar’s house church, and shortly before the death of Ivan III, the Archangel Cathedral was built again instead of the previous dilapidated church. The sovereign decided to build a stone chamber for ceremonial meetings and receptions of foreign ambassadors.

This building, built by Italian architects, known as the Chamber of Facets, has survived to this day. The Kremlin was again surrounded by a stone wall and decorated with beautiful gates and towers. The Grand Duke ordered the construction of a new stone palace for himself. Following the Grand Duke, the Metropolitan began to build brick chambers for himself. Three boyars also built themselves stone houses in the Kremlin. Thus, Moscow began to gradually be built with stone buildings; but these buildings did not become a custom for a long time after that.

Birth of children. State affairs

Ivan III and Sophia Paleolog

1474, April 18 - Sophia gave birth to her first daughter Anna (who died quickly), then another daughter (who also died so quickly that they did not have time to baptize her). Disappointments in family life were compensated by activity in government affairs. The Grand Duke consulted with her in making government decisions (in 1474 he bought half of the Rostov principality and entered into a friendly alliance with the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey).

Sofia Paleologue took an active part in diplomatic receptions (Venetian envoy Cantarini noted that the reception she organized was “very stately and affectionate”). According to the legend cited not only by Russian chronicles, but also by the English poet John Milton, in 1477 Sophia was able to outwit the Tatar khan by declaring that she had a sign from above about the construction of a temple to St. Nicholas on the spot in the Kremlin where the house of the khan’s governors stood, who controlled the yasak collections. and the actions of the Kremlin. This legend represents Sophia as a decisive person (“she kicked them out of the Kremlin, demolished the house, although she did not build a temple”).

1478 - Rus' actually stopped paying tribute to the Horde; There are 2 years left until the complete overthrow of the yoke.

In 1480, again on the “advice” of his wife, Ivan Vasilyevich went with the militia to the Ugra River (near Kaluga), where the army of the Tatar Khan Akhmat was stationed. The “stand on the Ugra” did not end with the battle. The onset of frost and lack of food forced the khan and his army to leave. These events put an end to the Horde yoke.

The main obstacle to strengthening the grand-ducal power collapsed and, relying on his dynastic connection with “Orthodox Rome” (Constantinople) through his wife Sophia, the sovereign proclaimed himself the successor to the sovereign rights of the Byzantine emperors. The Moscow coat of arms with St. George the Victorious was combined with a double-headed eagle - the ancient coat of arms of Byzantium. This emphasized that Moscow is the heir of the Byzantine Empire, Ivan III is “the king of all Orthodoxy,” and the Russian Church is the successor of the Greek Church. Under the influence of Sophia, the ceremony of the Grand Duke's court acquired unprecedented pomp, similar to the Byzantine-Roman one.

Rights to the Moscow throne

Sophia began a stubborn struggle to justify the right to the Moscow throne for her son Vasily. When he was eight years old, she even tried to organize a conspiracy against her husband (1497), but it was discovered, and Sophia herself was condemned on suspicion of magic and connection with a “witch woman” (1498) and, together with Tsarevich Vasily, was subjected to disgraced.

But fate was merciful to her (over the years of her 30-year marriage, Sophia gave birth to 5 sons and 4 daughters). The death of Ivan III's eldest son, Ivan the Young, forced Sophia's husband to change his anger to mercy and return those exiled to Moscow.

Death of Sophia Paleolog

Sophia died on April 7, 1503. She was buried in the grand-ducal tomb of the Ascension Convent in the Kremlin. The buildings of this monastery were dismantled in 1929, and the sarcophagi with the remains of the great duchesses and queens were transported to the basement chamber of the Archangel Cathedral in the Kremlin, where they remain today.

After death

This circumstance, as well as the good preservation of Sophia Paleologue’s skeleton, made it possible for experts to recreate her appearance. The work was carried out at the Moscow Bureau of Forensic Medicine. Apparently, there is no need to describe the recovery process in detail. We only note that the portrait was reproduced using all scientific techniques.

A study of the remains of Sophia Paleolog showed that she was short - about 160 cm. The skull and every bone were carefully studied, and as a result it was established that the death of the Grand Duchess occurred at the age of 55-60 years. As a result of studies of the remains, it was established that Sophia was a plump woman, with strong-willed facial features and had a mustache that did not spoil her at all.

When the appearance of this woman appeared before the researchers, it once again became clear that nothing happens by chance in nature. We are talking about the amazing similarity between Sophia Paleolog and her grandson, Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, whose true appearance is well known to us from the work of the famous Soviet anthropologist M.M. Gerasimov. The scientist, working on the portrait of Ivan Vasilyevich, noted the features of the Mediterranean type in his appearance, linking this precisely with the influence of the blood of his grandmother, Sophia Paleolog.

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