Sophia Palaiologos, who was also called Zoya Paleologne, was born in 1455 in the city of Mistra, Greece.
The future grandmother of Ivan the Terrible was born in the family of the despot of Morea named Thomas Paleologus at a not very prosperous time - in decadent times for Byzantium. When Constantinople fell to Turkey and was taken by Sultan Mehmed II, the girl's father Thomas Palaiologos and his family fled to Kofra.
Later in Rome, the family changed their faith to Catholicism, and when Sophia was 10 years old, her father died. Unfortunately for the girl, her mother, Ekaterina Akhaiskaya, had died a year earlier, which crippled her father.
The children of Palaiologos - Zoya, Manuel and Andrei, aged 10, 5 and 7 - settled in Rome under the tutelage of the Greek scientist Bessarion of Nicaea, who at that time served as a cardinal under the Pope. The Byzantine princess Sophia and her brother princes were raised in the Catholic tradition. With the permission of the pope, Bessarion of Nicaea paid for the servants of the Palaiologos, doctors, language professors, as well as a whole staff of foreign translators and clergy. The orphans received an excellent education.
As soon as Sophia grew up, the Venetian subjects began to look for her noble spouse.
Negotiations with the Russian prince lasted three years. Ivan the Third, having received the approval of his mother, churchmen and his boyars, decided to marry. By the way, during the negotiations about the transition of the princess to Catholicism that happened in Rome, the envoys from the Pope did not particularly spread. On the contrary, they reported slyly that the sovereign's bride is a true Orthodox Christian. Surprisingly, they could not even imagine that this is the true truth.
In June 1472, the newlyweds in Rome became engaged in absentia. Then, accompanied by Cardinal Vissarion, the Princess of Moscow left Rome for Moscow.
The Bologna chroniclers eloquently described Sophia Paleolog as an attractive girl in appearance. When she got married, she appeared to be about 24 years old.
The dowry of Palaiologos included not only jewelry, but also a large number of valuable books, among which were the treatises of Plato, Aristotle, and the unknown works of Homer. These books became the main attraction of the famous library of Ivan the Terrible, which later disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
In addition, Zoya was very purposeful. She threw every effort not to convert to another faith, betrothed to a Christian man. At the end of her route from Rome to Moscow, when there was no turning back, she announced to her guides that she would renounce Catholicism in marriage and accept Orthodoxy. So the desire of the Pope to spread Catholicism to Russia through the marriage of Ivan the Third and Palaiologos failed.
The influence of Sophia Paleolog on the married spouse was very great, it also became a great boon for Russia, because the wife was very educated and incredibly devoted to her new homeland.
So, it was she who prompted her husband to stop paying tribute to the Golden Horde that burdened them. Thanks to his wife, the Grand Duke decided to cast off the Tatar-Mongolian burden that had weighed on Russia for many centuries. At the same time, his advisers and princes insisted on paying dues, as usual, so as not to start a new bloodshed. In 1480, Ivan the Third announced his decision to the Tatar Khan Akhmat. Then there was a historical bloodless stand on the Ugra, and the Horde left Russia forever, never again demanding tribute from it.
In general, Sophia Palaiologos played a very important role in the further historical events of Russia. Her broad outlook and bold innovative decisions later allowed the country to make a noticeable breakthrough in the development of culture and architecture. Sofia Paleolog opened Moscow for Europeans. Now Greeks, Italians, learned minds and talented craftsmen rushed to Muscovy. For example, Ivan the Third was happy to take under the tutelage of Italian architects (such as Aristotle Fioravanti), who built many historical masterpieces of architecture in Moscow. At the behest of Sophia, a separate courtyard and luxurious mansions were built for her. They were lost in a fire in 1493 (together with the Palaiologos treasury).
Zoya's personal relationship with her husband Ivan the Third was also prosperous. They had 12 children. But some died in infancy or from disease. So, in their family, five sons and four daughters survived to adulthood.
But the life of a Byzantine princess in Moscow can hardly be called rosy. The local elite saw the great influence that the spouse had on her husband, and was very unhappy with this.
Sophia's relationship with the adopted son from the deceased first wife, Ivan Molody, did not work out either. The princess really wanted her first-born Vasily to become the heir. And there is a historical version that she was involved in the death of the heir, having prescribed him an Italian doctor with poisonous potions, allegedly to treat sudden onset gout (later he was executed for this).
Sophia had a hand in the removal from the throne of his wife Elena Voloshanka and their son Dmitry. First, Ivan the Third sent Sophia herself into disgrace for inviting witches to her place to create poison for Elena and Dmitry. He forbade his wife to appear in the palace. However, later Ivan the Third ordered to send the grandson of Dmitry, already proclaimed heir to the throne, and his mother to prison for court intrigues, successfully and in a favorable light revealed by his wife Sophia. The grandson was officially deprived of the grand ducal dignity, and the son Vasily was declared the heir to the throne.
So, the Princess of Moscow became the mother of the heir to the Russian throne, Vasily III, and the grandmother of the famous Tsar Ivan the Terrible. There is evidence that the famous grandson had many similarities in both appearance and character with his domineering grandmother from Byzantium.
As they said then, “from old age” - at the age of 48, Sophia Paleolog died on April 7, 1503. The woman was buried in a sarcophagus in the Ascension Cathedral. She was buried next to Ivan's first wife.
By coincidence, in 1929, the Bolsheviks demolished the cathedral, but the Palaiologini sarcophagus survived and was moved to the Archangel Cathedral.
Ivan the Third took the death of the princess hard. At the age of 60, this greatly crippled his health, moreover, recently he and his wife were in constant suspicion and quarrels. However, he continued to appreciate Sophia's mind and her love for Russia. Feeling the approach of his end, he made a will, appointing their common son Vasily as the heir to power.
Sofia Paleolog went from the last Byzantine princess to the Grand Duchess of Moscow. Thanks to her intelligence and cunning, she could influence the policy of Ivan III, won in palace intrigues. Sophia also managed to put her son Vasily III on the throne.
Following the Byzantine model, Ivan III developed a complex judicial system. At the same time, for the first time, the Grand Duke began to call himself "Tsar and Autocrat of All Russia." It is believed that the image of the double-headed eagle, which later appeared on the coat of arms of Muscovy, Sophia Paleolog brought with her.
The marriage of Ivan III and Sophia Paleologus turned out to be successful politically and culturally. were able to leave a mark not only in the history of their country, but also become beloved queens in a foreign land.
Sophia Palaiologos (? -1503), wife (since 1472) of Grand Duke Ivan III, niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos. Arrived in Moscow on November 12, 1472; on the same day, her wedding with Ivan III took place in the Assumption Cathedral. Marriage with Sophia Paleolog helped to strengthen the prestige of the Russian state in international relations and the authority of the grand duke's power within the country. For Sophia Paleolog in Moscow, special mansions and a courtyard were built. Under Sophia Palaiologos, the grand-ducal court was distinguished by its special splendor. Architects were invited from Italy to Moscow to decorate the palace and the capital. The walls and towers of the Kremlin, the Cathedral of the Assumption and the Annunciation, the Palace of Facets, and the Terem Palace were erected. Sophia Paleolog brought a rich library to Moscow. The dynastic marriage of Ivan III with Sophia Palaiologos owes its appearance to the ceremony of crowning the kingdom. The arrival of Sophia Palaiologos is associated with the appearance of an ivory throne in the dynastic regalia, on the back of which was placed the image of a unicorn, which became one of the most common emblems of Russian state power. Around 1490, an image of a crowned double-headed eagle first appeared on the main portal of the Faceted Chamber. The Byzantine concept of the sacredness of imperial power directly influenced the introduction by Ivan III of "theology" ("God's grace") in the title and in the preamble of state letters.
But the abundance of your Majesty's malice is such that it destroys not only friends, but, together with your guardsmen, the entire Russian holy land, the robber of houses and the murderer of sons! May God save you from this and may the Lord, the king of the ages, not allow it to be! After all, even then everything is going like a knife-edge, because if not sons, then you have killed your half-blooded and close-born brothers, overflowing the measure of bloodsuckers - your father and your mother and grandfather. After all, your father and mother - everyone knows how many they killed. In the same way, your grandfather, with your Greek grandmother, having renounced and forgotten love and kinship, killed his wonderful son Ivan, courageous and glorified in heroic enterprises, born from his first wife, St. Mary, Princess of Tver, and also his divinely crowned grandson born from him Tsar Demetrius, together with his mother, Saint Helen, - the first with a deadly poison, and the second with years of imprisonment in prison, and then by strangulation. But he was not satisfied with this!
May 29, 1453 the legendary Constantinople, besieged by the Turkish army, fell. The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, died in battle defending Constantinople. His younger brother Thomas Palaiologos, ruler of the small appanage state of Morea on the Peloponnese, fled with his family to Corfu and then to Rome. After all, Byzantium, hoping to receive military assistance from Europe in the fight against the Turks, signed the Union of Florence in 1439 on the unification of the Churches, and now its rulers could seek refuge from the papal throne. Thomas Palaiologos was able to take out the greatest shrines of the Christian world, including the head of the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called. In gratitude for this, he received a house in Rome and a good boarding house from the papacy.
In 1465, Thomas died, leaving three children - the sons of Andrei and Manuel and the youngest daughter Zoya. The exact date of her birth is unknown. It is believed that she was born in 1443 or 1449 in her father's possessions in the Peloponnese, where she received her primary education. The education of the royal orphans was taken over by the Vatican, entrusting them to Cardinal Bessarion of Nicaea. A Greek by birth, a former archbishop of Nicaea, he was an ardent supporter of the signing of the Union of Florence, after which he became a cardinal in Rome. He raised Zoya Palaiologos in European Catholic traditions and especially taught that she humbly follow the principles of Catholicism in everything, calling her "the beloved daughter of the Roman Church." Only in this case, he inspired the pupil, fate will give you everything. However, it turned out quite the opposite.
In February 1469, the ambassador of Cardinal Vissarion arrived in Moscow with a letter to the Grand Duke, in which he was invited to marry legally with the daughter of the Despot of Morea. In the letter, among other things, it was mentioned that Sophia (the name Zoya was diplomatically replaced with the Orthodox Sophia) had already refused two crowned suitors who were wooing her - the French king and the Duke of Mediolan, not wanting to marry the Catholic ruler.
According to the ideas of that time, Sophia was already considered an elderly woman, but she was very attractive, with amazingly beautiful, expressive eyes and delicate matte skin, which in Russia was considered a sign of excellent health. And most importantly, she was distinguished by a sharp mind and an article worthy of a Byzantine princess.
The Moscow sovereign accepted the offer. He sent his ambassador, the Italian Gian Battista della Volpe (he was nicknamed Ivan Fryazin in Moscow) to Rome to woo. The messenger returned a few months later, in November, bringing with him a portrait of the bride. This portrait, which seems to have begun the era of Sophia Paleolog in Moscow, is considered the first secular image in Russia. At least, they were so amazed by him that the chronicler called the portrait an “icon”, not finding another word: “And bring the princess on the icon.”
However, the matchmaking dragged on, because Metropolitan Philip of Moscow objected for a long time to the marriage of the sovereign with a Uniate woman, moreover, a pupil of the papal throne, fearing the spread of Catholic influence in Russia. Only in January 1472, having received the consent of the hierarch, Ivan III sent an embassy to Rome for the bride. Already on June 1, at the insistence of Cardinal Vissarion, a symbolic betrothal took place in Rome - the engagement of Princess Sophia and the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan, who was represented by the Russian ambassador Ivan Fryazin. In the same June, Sophia set off with an honorary retinue and the papal legate Anthony, who soon had to see firsthand the vain hopes placed by Rome on this marriage. According to Catholic tradition, a Latin cross was carried in front of the procession, which led to great confusion and excitement among the inhabitants of Russia. Upon learning of this, Metropolitan Philip threatened the Grand Duke: “If you allow in blessed Moscow to carry the cross in front of the Latin bishop, then he will enter the single gate, and I, your father, will go out of the city differently.” Ivan III immediately sent a boyar to meet the procession with an order to remove the cross from the sleigh, and the legate had to obey with great displeasure. The princess herself behaved as befits the future ruler of Russia. Having entered the Pskov land, she first of all visited an Orthodox church, where she kissed the icons. The legate had to obey here too: follow her to the church, and there bow to the holy icons and venerate the image of the Mother of God by order of the despina (from the Greek despot- "ruler"). And then Sophia promised the admiring Pskovites her protection before the Grand Duke.
Ivan III did not intend to fight for the "inheritance" with the Turks, much less to accept the Union of Florence. And Sophia was not at all going to Catholicize Russia. On the contrary, she showed herself to be an active Orthodox. Some historians believe that she did not care what faith she professed. Others suggest that Sophia, apparently raised in her childhood by the elders of Athos, opponents of the Union of Florence, was deeply Orthodox at heart. She skillfully hid her faith from the powerful Roman "patrons" who did not help her homeland, betraying her to the Gentiles for ruin and death. One way or another, this marriage only strengthened Muscovy, contributing to its conversion into the great Third Rome.
Early in the morning of November 12, 1472, Sophia Paleolog arrived in Moscow, where everything was ready for the wedding celebration, timed to coincide with the name day of the Grand Duke - the day of memory of St. John Chrysostom. On the same day in the Kremlin, in a temporary wooden church, set up near the Assumption Cathedral under construction, so as not to stop worship, the sovereign married her. The Byzantine princess saw her husband for the first time then. The Grand Duke was young - only 32 years old, handsome, tall and stately. Especially remarkable were his eyes, "terrible eyes": when he was angry, women fainted from his terrible look. And before he was distinguished by a tough character, and now, having become related to the Byzantine monarchs, he has turned into a formidable and powerful sovereign. This was a considerable merit of his young wife.
The wedding in a wooden church made a strong impression on Sophia Paleolog. The Byzantine princess, brought up in Europe, was different from Russian women in many ways. Sophia brought with her her ideas about the court and the power of power, and many Moscow orders were not to her liking. She did not like that her sovereign husband remained a tributary of the Tatar Khan, that the boyar entourage behaved too freely with their sovereign. That the Russian capital, built entirely of wood, stands with patched fortifications and dilapidated stone churches. That even the sovereign's mansions in the Kremlin are wooden, and that Russian women look at the world from the little window of the lighthouse. Sophia Paleolog not only made changes at court. Some Moscow monuments owe their appearance to her.
She brought a generous dowry to Russia. After the wedding, Ivan III adopted the Byzantine double-headed eagle as a coat of arms - a symbol of royal power, placing it on his seal. The two heads of the eagle face West and East, Europe and Asia, symbolizing their unity, as well as the unity (“symphony”) of spiritual and secular power. Actually, Sophia's dowry was the legendary "liberia" - a library allegedly brought on 70 carts (better known as the "library of Ivan the Terrible"). It included Greek parchments, Latin chronographs, ancient Eastern manuscripts, among which were the poems of Homer unknown to us, the works of Aristotle and Plato, and even the surviving books from the famous library of Alexandria. Seeing wooden Moscow, burned after a fire in 1470, Sophia was frightened for the fate of the treasure and for the first time hid the books in the basement of the stone church of the Nativity of the Virgin on Senya - the house church of the Moscow Grand Duchesses, built by order of St. Evdokia, the widow. And, according to the Moscow custom, she put her own treasury for preservation in the underground of the Kremlin Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist - the very first church in Moscow, which stood until 1847.
According to legend, she brought with her a “bone throne” as a gift to her husband: its wooden frame was all covered with ivory and walrus ivory plates with biblical themes carved on them. This throne is known to us as the throne of Ivan the Terrible: the tsar is depicted on it by the sculptor M. Antokolsky. In 1896, the throne was installed in the Assumption Cathedral for the coronation of Nicholas II. But the sovereign ordered to place it for Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (according to other sources - for his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna), and he himself wished to be crowned on the throne of the first Romanov. And now the throne of Ivan the Terrible is the oldest in the Kremlin collection.
Sophia brought with her several Orthodox icons, including, as is supposed, a rare icon of the Mother of God “Blessed Sky”… And even after the wedding of Ivan III, an image of the Byzantine emperor Michael III, the ancestor of the Palaiologos dynasty, with which the Moscow ones became related, appeared in the Archangel Cathedral. rulers. Thus, the continuity of Moscow to the Byzantine Empire was affirmed, and the Moscow sovereigns appeared as the heirs of the Byzantine emperors.
According to one version, they were hereditary dealers in the old book - Ancient Words, according to another - Ancient Ones, who are related to the imperial dynasties of Komnenos and Angels. The ancient Egyptians revered the Thracians as the oldest people on earth, so the Ancient Ones could have a reference to the First Man.
Sofia's biography
1449, born in Mistra, near Sparta (like Helen of Troy), from the despot of the Morea (Peloponnese) - Thomas Palaiologos, brother of the childless emperor Constantine XI to whom she was a niece. Birth name - Zoya
1453, fall of Constantinople, Emperor Constantine XI killed. George of Trebizond "the history of the World has come to an end", the Byzantine historian Duka "We have reached the end of time, we saw a terrible, monstrous thunderstorm that broke out over our heads." Zoya is four years old, the birth of her brother Andrei
1455, birth of Manuel, brother of Zoya
1460, Morea is captured by the Turks and Zoya, together with her father Thomas, the titular emperor of Byzantium, moves to Corfu (Kerkyra). Thomas sends his envoy, George Ralis, to the Pope. In the main temple of Kirkyra, at the relics of St. Spyridon, the girl Zoya prays for the revival of Byzantium. And today, the clergy of the temple often change Spiridon's shoes, which miraculously wear out, as Spiridon visits all those in need and prays for the Byzantine miracle. During the plague, the Palaiologos family moves to the mountain village of Chlomos
November 1460, Thomas leaves for Rome, he carries the head of the Apostle Andrew and his cross to the Pope. The head of the apostle is placed in St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican
1462, death of mother in Corfu, arrival of Thomas in Rome. Zoya's mother is buried in Corfu in the monastery of the Holy Apostles Jason and Sosipater
1464, Thomas, together with Pope Pius II, blesses the Venetian war galleys against the Turks. The campaign was unsuccessful, but brought to Rimini the remains of the Byzantine philosopher Plethon, following the example of whose academy the Florentine Academy of Ficino was created
1465 Thomas summons his sons to Rome and dies in the arms of Cardinal Bessarion. The body of Thomas was buried in the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica; during the rebuilding of the cathedral in the 16th century, the tomb of Thomas was lost. Arrival of Zoe with brothers in Ancona. Andrey Paleolog becomes the heir of Byzantium
1466, the king of Cyprus - Jacques refused marriage to Zoya II de Lusignan
1467, betrothed to Prince Caracciolo, but the marriage did not take place
1469 Ivan Fryazin (Jean Baptiste del Volpe) goes to Rome to woo Zoya for Ivan III
1470, return of Ivan Fryazin to Moscow with a painting of Zoya
June 1, 1472 Sophia's betrothal in absentia to Ivan III and departure to Moscow. According to the testimony of the Bolognese, Sophia was then around 24h years, according to our version 23. Sofia moved along the route Rome - Viterbo - Siena - Florence - Bologna - Nuremberg - Lübeck - Tallinn (11 days on the ship) - Derp (Tartu) - Pskov - Veliky Novgorod - Moscow
November 12, 1472, the wedding of Sophia with Ivan III in the Kremlin, in a temporary church on the site of the Assumption Cathedral. The girl returns to Orthodoxy and from now on she is Sofia. Only Moscow sources refer to her by this name.
1474, birth of daughter Anna. Died in infancy
1479, birth of Basil III
Autumn 1480, flight of Sophia, with children, treasury and archives, from the Mongol horde to Beloozero. Sophia is responsible for the safety of money, books, documents, shrines.
March 7, 1490, John's heir III , one of the leaders of the Western Party, Ivan Young - died. Prince Andrey Kurbsky named the poisoning of the prince by the Greeks (Eurasians) of Sophia Paleologus as the cause of death. False slander.
1492 (7000), the expected end of the world according to the Byzantine calendar
1497, the conspiracy of Vladimir Gusev is revealed. Allegedly, the Greek party wanted to kill Dmitry Ivanovich, the son of Ivan the Young. Basil III and Sofia fall into disgrace. False slander.
1500, resignation of Fyodor Kuritsyn, head of intelligence and leader of the Westerners, who intrigued against Sofia
1502, disgrace of Dmitry Ivanovich and his mother Elena Voloshanka. The victory of the Eurasians over the Slavophiles and Westernizers. Basil III - co-ruler of father
April 7, 1503, death of Sophia Palaiologos. 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 Grand Duchesses and Empresses were transferred to the basement chamber of the Archangel Cathedral in the Kremlin, where they remain today. This circumstance, as well as the good preservation of the skeleton of Sophia Paleolog, allowed specialists to recreate her appearance.
1594, Ivan Volk, brother of Fyodor Kuritsyn, was executed
1892, the first book about Sophia Paleolog (Pavel Pirling 1840 - 1922)
1929, the transfer of the remains of Sophia Paleolog to the Archangel Cathedral
1994 , the study of the remains of Sophia Palaiologos began. Her age was determined at 50-60 years old, and her appearance was restored, Sergey Nikitin (1950 -) worked on it."The idea of the project, which will be discussed, - recalls the head of the Kremlin's archaeological department, Tatyana Panova, - arose several years ago when I participated in the examination of human remains found in the basement of an old Moscow house. In the 1990s, such finds were quickly overgrown with rumors about executions allegedly taking place here by the NKVD in Stalin's time. But the burials turned out to be part of the destroyed cemetery of the 17th-18th centuries. The investigator was glad to close the case, and Sergei Nikitin, who worked with me from the Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination, suddenly discovered that he and the archaeologist had a common object for research - the remains of historical figures. So, in 1994, work began in the necropolis of Russian Grand Duchesses and Empresses 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.".“I was lucky,” continues Tatyana Panova, “to see the stages of recreating the appearance of Sophia, not yet knowing all the circumstances of her difficult fate. As the facial features of this woman appeared, it became clear how much life situations and illness hardened the character of the Grand Duchess. and it could not be - 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 legitimate heir, Ivan the Young, at the age of 32 from gout is still in doubt in her 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 that was captured on one of the icons of the 16th century - a unique case (the icon can be seen in the exposition of the State Historical Museum), but also a tough character Greek blood also affected Ivan IV the Terrible - he is very similar to his royal grandmother of the Mediterranean type faces. This is clearly seen when you look at the sculptural portrait of his mother, Grand Duchess Elena Glinskaya."
2005, a book by Tatyana Panova (1949 -), who participated in the work with the remains of Despina, about Sophia Paleolog
Environment
I. Family
Father - Thomas Palaiologos
Mother - Ekaterina Tsakkariya Akhaiskaya
Sister - Elena Paleolog
Brother - Andrei Paleolog
Brother - Manuel Paleolog
Husband - Ivan III
Daughter - Anna (1474) died in infancy
Daughter - Elena (1475) died in infancy
Daughter - Theodosius (1475 - ?)
Daughter - Elena Ivanovna (1476 - 1513)
A son - Vasily III (1479 - 1533)
Son - Yuri Ivanovich (1480 - 1536)
Son - Dmitry Zhilka (1481 - 1521)
Daughter - Evdokia (1483 - 1513)
Daughter - Elena (1484) died in infancy
Daughter - Theodosia (1485 - 1501)
Son - Simeon Ivanovich (1487 - 1518)
Son - Andrei Staritsky (1490 - 1537)
II. Greeks who arrived in Russia
Sophia was accompanied by at least 50 Greeks from different families
paleologists
trachaniots
George (Yuri)
Dmitry
Ralises (Ralevs, Larevs)
Dmitry Grek
Manuel
Laskaris (Laskerivs)
Fedor
Lazaris (Lazarevs)
Constantine, Prince Theodoro (Mangups). Saint Cassian from the Uchem Hermitage
Kerbushi (Kashkins)
carpubus
Atalik
Armamet
Cicero (Chicherina)
Athanasius Cicero
Manuil (Manuilov)
Angels (Angels)
III. Philhellenes (Grecophiles, friends of the Greeks, Eurasians)
IV. Westerners
Fyodor Kuritsyn (- 1504) head of intelligence
Elena Voloshanka (- 1505) wife of Ivan the Young
Ivan the Young (1458 - 1490) son Ivan III
Dmitry (1483 - 1509) grandson Ivan III
Semyon Ryapolovsky, governor
Ivan Volk (- 1504) Kuritsyn's brother
Ivan Patrikeyev (1419 - 1499) palace
V. Slavophiles
VI. Metropolitans of Moscow and All Russia
Gerontius (1473 - 1489)
Zosima (1490 - 1495)
Simon (1495 - 1511)
Results of activities
1. The crown and titles of the Byzantine Empire traded by Andrei Palaiologos (brother of Sophia), as well as Orthodox relics in the hands of Manuel Palaiologos, the second son of Thomas, turned out to be of little significance. The library of Sophia, around which the Greek party rallied, on the contrary, allowed the fragile woman to outplay the Westerners and Slavophiles, put Vasily III on the throne and launch Russia along the Eurasian path. Moscow - Third Rome.
2. John III divided the state into the Palace, the Treasury and the Church. On the side of the Palace were Westernizers and Kuritsyn intelligence, on the side of the Church - Slavophiles and counterintelligence. Sophia, her Byzantines (Eurasians), managed to create around the Treasury (Libraries, archives ..) a group of keepers of the State Secret and subjugate opposites, grabbing them like the Double-Headed Eagle, two birds with one stone, on the coat of arms of the Paleologs.
Books about Sophia Paleolog
1892, Pirling P. Russia and the East. Royal marriage, Ivan III and Sophia Paleolog
1998, Sofia Paleolog. Women of Russia (miniature edition)
2003, Irina Chizhova. Sofia Paleolog
2004, Arsenyeva E.A. Necklace of Discord. Sophia Paleolog and Grand Duke Ivan III
2005 , Panova T.D. Grand Duchess Sophia Paleolog
2008, Leonardos Georgis. Sophia Palaiologos, from Byzantium to Russia
2014, Gordeeva L.I. Sofia Paleolog. Chronicle of life
2016 , Matasova T.A. Sofia Paleolog. ZhZL 1791
2016, Pavlishcheva N. Sofia Paleolog. The first film novel about the first Russian queen
2017 , Sorotokina N.M. Sofia Paleolog. Crown of Omnipotence
2017, Pirling P. Sofia. Ivan III and Sophia Paleolog. Wisdom and Faithfulness (1892 book reprint)
Cinema
2016, series "Sofia" (main role - Maria Andreeva)
Sophia Fominichna Paleolog, she is 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 - the Byzantine imperial dynasty of the Palaiologos. Her father, Thomas Palaiologos, was the brother of the last emperor of Byzantium, Constantine XI, and despot of Morea. Sophia's maternal grandfather was Centurione II Zaccaria, the last Frankish prince of Achaia.
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 ivory with biblical scenes carved on them.
Sophia also brought several Orthodox icons, including, presumably, a rare icon of the Mother of God “Blessed Heaven”.
The marriage of the Grand Duke with the Greek princess had important consequences. There were cases before that Russian princes married Greek princesses, but these marriages were not as important as the marriage of Ivan and Sophia. Byzantium was now enslaved by the Turks. The Byzantine emperor used to be considered the main protector of all Eastern Christianity; now the Moscow sovereign became such a protector; with the hand of Sophia, he, as it were, inherited the rights of the Palaiologos, even assimilates the coat of arms of the Eastern Roman Empire - the double-headed eagle; on the seals that were hung on the letters, they began to depict a double-headed eagle on one side, and on the other, the former Moscow coat of arms, 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 at all powerful, 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 clothes, shining with gold and precious stones, the unusually rich decoration of the royal palace - all this in the eyes of the people greatly exalted the person of the sovereign. Everyone bowed before him, as before an earthly deity.
It was not the same in Moscow. The Grand Duke was already a powerful sovereign, but he lived a little wider and richer than the boyars. They treated him respectfully, but simply: some of them were from specific princes and, like the Grand Duke, also had their origin from. The unpretentious 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 saw 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 liked many Byzantine court orders very much.
And so, little by little, new customs began to appear in Moscow: Ivan Vasilievich began to behave majestically, in relations with foreigners he was titled "king", he began to receive ambassadors with magnificent solemnity, he established the rite of kissing the royal hand as a sign of special mercy. Then came the court ranks (jaselnichiy, equerry, bedding). The Grand Duke began to favor in the boyars for merit. In addition to the son of the boyar, at this time another lower rank appears - the roundabout.
The boyars, who were previously advisers, duma princes, with whom the sovereign, according to custom, conferred on every important matter, as with comrades, now turned into his humble servants. The grace of the sovereign can exalt them, anger can destroy them.
At the end of his reign, Ivan III became a real autocrat. These changes were not to the liking of many boyars, but no one dared to express this: the Grand Duke was very severe and punished severely.
Since the arrival of Sophia Palaiologos in Moscow, relations have been established with the West, especially with Italy.
An attentive observer of Moscow life, Baron Herberstein, who twice came to Moscow as the ambassador of the German emperor under Ivanov's successor, after hearing a lot of boyar talk, notices about Sophia in his notes that she was an unusually cunning woman, who had a great influence on the Grand Duke, who, at her suggestion, did a lot . Even the determination of Ivan III to throw off the Tatar yoke was attributed to her influence. In boyar tales and judgments about the princess, it is not easy to separate observation from suspicion or exaggeration, guided by hostility.
Moscow of that time was very unattractive. Wooden small buildings, placed at random, 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 catastrophe of 1474, when the Assumption Cathedral, built by Pskov craftsmen, collapsed. Rumors immediately spread among the people that the trouble had befallen because of the “Greek”, 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 masters in Europe. Their creations could make Moscow equal in beauty and majesty to European capitals and maintain the prestige of the Moscow sovereign, as well as emphasize the continuity of Moscow not only to the Second, but also to the First Rome.
One of the best Italian builders of that time, Aristotle Fioravanti, agreed to go to Moscow for 10 rubles of salary per month (decent money at that time). In 4 years, he built a temple magnificent for that time - the Assumption Cathedral, consecrated in 1479. This building has survived to this day in the Moscow Kremlin.
Then other stone churches began to be built: 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 former dilapidated church. The sovereign planned to build a stone chamber for solemn 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 surrounded again by a stone wall and decorated with beautiful gates and towers. For himself, the Grand Duke ordered to build a new stone palace. Following the Grand Duke, the metropolitan also began to build brick chambers for himself. The three boyars also built stone houses for themselves in the Kremlin. Thus, Moscow began to gradually build up with stone buildings; but these buildings for a long time and after that were not part of the custom.
Ivan III and Sophia Paleolog
1474, April 18 - Sophia gave birth to the first (quickly deceased) daughter Anna, then another daughter (who also died so quickly that they did not have time to christen her). Disappointments in family life were compensated by activity in public affairs. The Grand Duke consulted with her in making state decisions (in 1474 he bought out half of the Rostov principality, entered into a friendly alliance with the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray).
Sophia Paleolog took an active part in diplomatic receptions (the Venetian envoy Cantarini noted that the reception she organized was "very majestic and affectionate"). According to a 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, declaring that she had a sign from above about the construction of a church to St. and the actions of the Kremlin. This legend presents Sophia as a resolute nature (“she put them out of the Kremlin, demolished the house, although the temple was not built”).
1478 - Russia actually stopped paying tribute to the Horde; 2 years left before the complete overthrow of the yoke.
In 1480, again on the “advice” of his wife, Ivan Vasilievich left with the militia to the Ugra River (near Kaluga), where the army of the Tatar Khan Akhmat was stationed. "Standing on the Ugra" did not end with a 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 duke's 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 George the Victorious was combined with the 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”, the Russian Church is the successor of the Greek one. Under the influence of Sophia, the ceremonial of the Grand Duke's court acquired hitherto unseen splendor, similar to the Byzantine-Roman.
Sophia began a stubborn struggle to justify the right to the Moscow throne for her son Vasily. When she was eight years old, she even tried to organize a conspiracy against her husband (1497), but he was uncovered, and Sophia herself was condemned on suspicion of magic and connection with the “sorceress woman” (1498) and, together with Tsarevich Vasily, was subjected to disgrace.
But fate was merciful to her (during the years of her 30-year marriage, Sophia gave birth to 5 sons and 4 daughters). The death of the eldest son of Ivan III, Ivan the Young, forced Sophia's husband to change his anger to mercy and return the exiles to Moscow.
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 Grand Duchesses and Empresses were transported to the basement chamber of the Archangel Cathedral in the Kremlin, where they remain today.
This circumstance, as well as the good preservation of the skeleton of Sophia Paleolog, made it possible for experts to recreate her appearance. The work was carried out at the Moscow Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination. Apparently, there is no need to describe in detail the recovery process. We only note that the portrait was reproduced using all scientific methods.
A study of the remains of Sophia Paleolog showed that she was short - about 160 cm. The skull and each bone were carefully studied, and as a result it was found 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 became clear once again that nothing happens by chance in nature. We are talking about the amazing similarity of 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.
