Ivan I. (Russia)

Ivan I. Kalita - 17th century portrait

Ivan I. Danilowitsch ( Russian : Иван I Данилович), also Kalita ( Russian : Калита), (* 1288 in Moscow ; † 1341 ibid) was Prince of Moscow since 1325. His nickname Kalita means purse , money bag or the thrifty . After the transfer of the metropolitan seat to Moscow in 1326 and through the victory over his rival Alexander von Tver , he was appointed Grand Duke of Vladimir in 1328 and Uzbek Khan made him the first Grand Duke of Moscow, which, however, was under the rule of the Golden Horde .

Life

Origin and advancement to Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow

Ivan Kalita was the youngest son and the sixth child of the Moscow prince Daniel Alexandrowitsch (1261-1303) and his wife Maria. He was also a younger brother of Yuri III. (1303-1325). He ruled initially as Grand Duke in Vladimir , Prince of Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow , before he was slain in 1325 in front of Uzbek Khan by his opponent Dimitri von Tver. After Dimitris' execution in 1326, his brother Alexander Mikhailovich became the new Grand Duke. But the population of Tver rose on the Assumption of Mary in 1327 because of gross arbitrary acts against the suzerainty of the khan, which resulted in a bloody suppression of the uprising led by Ivan Kalita. A Mongol prince was also killed in the bloodbath and Alexander fled to the Lithuanian- influenced city of Pskov .

Uzbek Khan decided the following: In 1328 he deposed Alexander as Grand Duke, whereupon Ivan of Moscow marched against Tver with a Tatar army of 50,000 men and conquered the city. The Tatars then devastated the Principality of Tver , but the army was driven out that same year. This forced the Tatars to accept their defeat.

As early as 1326, the Metropolitan of Kiev and all of Russia , Peter , had moved his seat from Vladimir to Moscow, because the Prince of Tver rejected him as a candidate appointed by the Patriarch in Constantinople . Moscow supported him and so the Orthodox Church under Peter and his successor Theognostus also backed the principality, even if the latter was a zealous vassal of the Islamic Tatars. On the other hand, the transfer of the metropolitan seat meant the final recognition of Moscow's supremacy over all of Russia .

Taking into account the new metropolitan seat in Moscow, the victory over the Principality of Tver and loyalty to the Tatars, Uzbek Khan elevated the Moscow Principality to the Grand Duchy of Moscow in 1328 . The grand duke was initially exercised jointly by Ivan and Alexander Wassiljewitsch von Suzdal . In 1331 the Khan designated Ivan as the sole Grand Duke of Vladimir Moscow.

Ivan Kalita as Grand Duke of Vladimir Moscow

Ivan Kalita was a reliable tax collector from the Mongols. Unlike in previous decades, the Mongols in the early 14th century relied on Russian princes and no longer on tax collectors from their own people. The Grand Duke of Vladimir Moscow was given a key position in this system and thus a position of power. Ivan guaranteed the Mongols a relative calm in the Rus and thus established the rise of Moscow with regard to the Golden Horde. At the same time he began the policy of collecting Russian soil , which was also pursued by many future grand dukes and tsars. Since he managed much of the taxes and tributes collected throughout Russia in his own pocket, his power increased steadily. Due to the continuously growing wealth, Moscow was able to enlarge its territory by buying land (villages and principalities), but also by establishing marriage relationships, which created rights and influences through family ties. He also led several campaigns against the rich trading and Hanseatic city of Novgorod and plundered it at least four times, but did not manage to incorporate it into the Grand Duchy. Another important factor was the support of the Orthodox Church.

However, since the Khan was against an unification of Russia under a really powerful Grand Duke, he deprived Ivan Kalita of part of the areas connected to the Moscow Grand Duchy, which became the Grand Duchy of Nizhny Novgorod around the middle of the 14th century .

The new Grand Duke made four trips to Sarai . In 1337 Alexander and his son Fyodor tried with Lithuanian help to regain the dignity of the Grand Duke. In negotiations with the Mongols, however, they fell victim to an intrigue, in which Ivan probably had a hand in the game, and were executed in 1338.

Ivan Kalita was also active in architecture. In 1326 he laid the foundation stone in the Kremlin for the first stone church in Moscow, the predecessor of today's Cathedral of the Assumption , which was connected with the relocation of the head of the Russian church. In 1329 he initiated the construction of the Moscow Kremlin , and shortly thereafter the construction of new wooden fortifications.

The Testament of Ivan I. is the oldest surviving testament of ancient Russian princes. In him he appointed his eldest son Simeon Ivanovich as his successor.

The strategy of Grand Duke Ivan Kalita turned out to be correct: the Moscow Grand Duchy did not suffer from the destructive Tatar invasions for forty years and experienced an economic boom. Moscow was able to gather strength and in 1380 under Dmitri Donskoy , a grandson of Ivan I, it defeated the Tatars on the Kulikovo Field , where the Horde suffered the first serious defeat by the Russian armies.

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Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Manfred Alexander, Günther Stökl : The struggle for the Grand Duchy between Moscow and Tver from Russian history - From the beginnings to the present, The Moscow state: The rise of Moscow. 2009, ISBN 978-3-520-24407-9 , p. 135.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Gudrun Ziegler: Moscow's rise from Das Gold der Tsars, introduction: How it all began , p. 19. Copyright © 2001. ISBN 3-453-17988-9 .
3. ↑ ^{a b} Manfred Alexander & Günther Stökl: The Struggle for the Grand Duchy between Moscow and Tver from Russian History - From the Beginnings to the Present, The Moscow State: The Rise of Moscow , p. 138. Copyright © 2009. ISBN 978-3- 520-24407-9 .
4. ↑ Manfred Alexander & Günther Stökl: The Struggle for the Grand Duchy between Moscow and Tver from Russian History - From the Beginnings to the Present, The Moscow State: The Rise of Moscow , p. 137. Copyright © 2009. ISBN 978-3-520- 24407-9 .

predecessor	Office	successor
Yuri I. Daniilowitsch	Prince of Moscow 1325-1328	-
Alexander Mikhailovich	Grand Duke of Vladimir-Suzdal 1328	-
-	Grand Duke of Vladimir Moscow 1328–1341	Simeon Ivanovich