The great and severe gatherer of the Russian lands Ivan III of Russia

January 22, 2020 marks the 580th anniversary of the birth of the Grand Moscow Prince Ivan III Vasilyevich. The Presidential Library’s collections spotlight a large number of electronic copies of historical documents and studies relating to the era of the autocracy, as well as the importance of his personality for the formation and development of the Russian state.

There is not much information about the prince... S. M. Solovyov in the publication “History of Russia from Ancient Times” writes that “he was a tall, thin, handsome man; he had the nickname Humpbacked, according to some chronicles, that must be concluded that he was stooped with high growth”.

Nikolai Karamzin in the History of the Russian State, available on the Presidential Library’s portal, notes: “He was first given the name of Grozny in Russia, but in a laudable sense: formidable for enemies and obstinate insurgents, <...> he undoubtedly had a natural cruelty in temper moderated in him by the power of reason. <...> They write that timid women fainted from the angry fiery gaze of Ivan; that the petitioners were afraid to go to the throne; that the nobles trembled and didn’t dare to whisper words at the feasts in the palace, nor move off when the Tsar, tired of noisy conversation, dozed for hours at dinner: everyone sat in deep silence, waiting for a new order to amuse him and have fun".   

Ivan Vasilyevich became Grand Prince on March 28, 1462 at the age of 22. S. M. Solovyov reports in his work “History of Russia from Ancient Times”: “A happy descendant of a number of smart, hardworking ancestors, Ivan III ascended the Moscow throne, when the work of gathering North-Eastern Russia could be considered already completed; the old building was completely shaken in its foundations, and the last, already light blow was needed to finish it”.

In the Middle Ages, the Russian lands were divided between many rulers, princes, who independently ruled their principalities or destinies. One of the princes was recognized as the eldest over others, he was called the Grand Prince and lived in the main city, which was Vladimir-on-Klyazma at that time. O. Lind in his work “Ivan III” describes the historical situation in this way: “The consciousness of the unity of the motherland and community of interests was greatly obscured by the princes due to the fragmentation of the Russian land into many separate principalities, sometimes very small and poor”.  

In 1902, V. O. Klyuchevsky in lectures on Russian History wrote that Ivan III “continued the old work of the territorial gathering of Russia, but not in the old way”. Now the petty rulers themselves came to the Grand Duke to bow. In 1463, the princes of Yaroslavl came with honor, in 1472 – Perm ones did. In 1474, the Rostov princes sold their lands to Moscow, and from 1485 to 1490s Tver finally joined, then Vyatka, and then a number of princes came under the control of Moscow.

But perhaps the most important event occurred in 1470, when Novgorod was conquered. The book Russian Grand Princes and Tsars from Ivan III to Alexander II features how Ivan III used his force with an unshakable hand and made Novgorod submit to the will of Moscow. Thus during the reign of Ivan III, the Principality of Moscow almost doubled. It is noteworthy that even from the time of Dmitry Donskoy, the Great Russian nationality was part of the Moscow Principality, but it was in the era of Ivan III that it forms a state around itself, i.e., the collection of lands becomes a national matter. “Moscow is a common guard post, from where they follow interests and dangers that are equally close to a Muscovite, and to Tveritch, to any Russian”, - writes V. O. Klyuchevsky in Russian History. Due to territorial changes, the nature of foreign policy relations is changing: now the principalities that were no longer at war (or concluded a peace agreement, but sovereign) were “related” to each other, but the huge (more than two tens of thousands of square kilometers) nation-state had external relations with foreign powers.   

Nikolai Karamzin emphasizes that since the beginning of the reign of Ivan III “our history has accepted the dignity of a truly state, spotlighting not the senseless fights of the princely, but the deeds of the Tsardom, gaining independence and greatness. Oversight disappears with our citizenship; a great Power has been formed, as if new for Europe and Asia, which, seeing it with surprise, offer it a famous place in their political system”.

The era of Ivan III provided a final demarcation with the Horde (in fact, by that time representing as many as three warring Hordes), and the Turkish capture of Constantinople in 1453. The people did not accept a union with the Latins, and the Russian Orthodox tsar turned out to be the only defender of the right faith - the "catholic tsar" (according to I. N. Zhdanov). Elder Zosima after the assembly in 1490 compared Ivan III with Constantine the Great, and called Moscow “the new Jerusalem”. It will take quite a while, and Elder Philotheus will directly and loudly declare Moscow the Third Rome.

An important stage during the reign of Ivan III belonged to the judicial reform and the adoption in 1497 of the Code of Law - a national code of laws. This document is available on the Presidential Library’s portal, which provides a digital copy of the rare edition of 1878 The laws of Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich and the Code of Laws of the Tsar and Grand Prince Ivan Vasilyevich with additional decrees.

Vasily Klyuchevsky noted that the personality of Ivan III was similar to another Russian monarch, who was also called the Great - Peter I. Both of them made a significant contribution to the development and strengthening of the Russian state.