The Empire of Russia: From the Remotest Periods to the Present Time

The grand prince, not deeming it decorous to appear too eager, and yet solicitous lest he might lose the prize, sent an embassador, with a numerous suite, to Rome, with a letter to the pope, and to report more particularly respecting the princess, not forgetting to bring him her portrait. This embassage was speedily followed by another, authorized to complete the arrangements. The embassadors were received with signal honors by Sextus IV., who had just succeeded Paul II., and at length it was solemnly announced, in a full conclave of cardinals, on the 22d of May, 1472, that the Russian prince wished to espouse Sophia. Some of the cardinals objected to the orthodoxy of Ivan III.; but the pope replied that it was by condescension and kindness alone that they could hope to open the eyes of one spiritually blind; a sentiment which it is to be regretted that the court of Rome and also all other communions have too often ignored.

On the 1st of June the princess was sacredly affianced in the church of St. Peter's to the prince of Moscow, the embassadors of Ivan III. assuring the pope of the zeal of their monarch for the happy reunion of the Greek and Latin churches. The pope conferred a very rich dowry upon Sophia, and sent his legate to accompany her to Russia, attended by a splendid suite of the most illustrious Romans. The affianced princess had a special court of her own, with its functionaries of every grade, and its established etiquette. A large number of Greeks followed her to Moscow, hoping to find in that distant capital a second country. Directions were given by the pope that, in every city through which she should pass, the princess should receive the honors due to her rank, and that, especially throughout Italy and Germany, she should be furnished with entertainment, relays of horses and guides, until she should arrive at the frontiers of Russia.

Sophia left Rome on the 24th of August, and after a rapid journey of six days, arrived, on the 1st of September, at Lubec, on the extreme southern shore of the Baltic. Here she remained ten days, and on the 10th of September embarked in a ship expressly and gorgeously equipped for her accommodation. A sail of eight hundred miles along the Baltic Sea, which occupied twenty days, conveyed the princess to Revel, near the mouth of the Gulf of Finland. Arriving at this city on the 30th of September, she remained there for rest, ten days, during which time she was regaled with the utmost magnificence by the authorities of the place. Couriers had been immediately dispatched, by the way of Novgorod, to Moscow, to inform the prince of her arrival. Her journey from Revel to lake Tchoude presented but a continued triumphal show. On the 11th of October she reached the shores of the lake. A flotilla of barges, decorated with garlands and pennants, here awaited her. A pleasant sail of two days conveyed her across the lake. Immediately upon landing at Pskov, she repaired, with all her retinue, to the church of Notre Dame, to give thanks to Heaven for the prosperity which had thus far attended her journey. From the church she was conducted to the palace of the prince of that province, where she received from the nobles many precious gifts.

After a five days' sojourn at Pskov, she left the city to continue her journey. Upon taking her departure, she aroused the enthusiasm of the citizens by the following words:

"I must hasten to present myself before your prince who is soon to be mine. I thank the magistrates, the nobles and the citizens generally for the reception which they have given me, and I promise never to neglect to plead the cause of Pskov at the court of Moscow."

At Novgorod she was again entertained with all the splendor which Russian opulence and art could display. The Russian winter had already commenced, and the princess entered Moscow, in a sledge, on the 12th of November. An innumerable crowd accompanied her. She was welcomed at the gates of the city by the metropolitan bishop, who conducted her to the church, where she received his benediction. She was then presented to the mother of the grand prince, who introduced her to her future spouse. Immediately the marriage ceremony was performed with the most imposing pomp of the Greek church.

This marriage contributed much in making Russia better known throughout Europe. In that age, far more than now, exalted birth was esteemed the greatest of earthly honors; and Sophia, the daughter of a long line of emperors, was followed by the eyes of every court in Europe to her distant destination. Moreover, many Greeks, of high aesthetic and intellectual culture, exiled from their country by the domination of the Turk, followed their princess to Russia. They, by their knowledge of the arts and sciences, rendered essential service to their adopted kingdom, which was just emerging from barbarism. They enriched the libraries by the books which they had rescued from the barbarism of the Turks, and contributed much to the eclat of the court of Moscow by the introduction of the pompous ceremonies of the Grecian court. Indeed, from this date Moscow was often called a second Constantinople. The capital was rapidly embellished with palaces and churches, constructed in the highest style of Grecian and Italian architecture. From Italy, also, mechanics were introduced, who established foundries for casting cannon, and mints for the coinage of money.

The prominent object in the mind of Ivan III. was the consolidation of all the ancient principalities into one great empire, being firmly resolved to justify the title which he had assumed, of Sovereign of all the Russias. He wished to give new vigor to the monarchical power, to abolish the ancient system of almost independent appanages which was leading to incessant wars, and to wrest from the princes those prerogatives which limited the authority of the sovereign. This was a formidable undertaking, requiring great sagacity and firmness, but it would doubtless be promotive of the welfare of Russia to be under the sway of one general sovereign, rather than to be exposed to the despotism of a hundred petty and quarrelsome princes. Ivan III. was anxious to accomplish this result without violating any treaty, without committing any arbitrary or violent act which could rouse opposition.

That he might triumph over the princes, it was necessary for him to secure the affections of the people. The palace was consequently rendered easy of access to them all. Appointed days were consecrated to justice, and, from morning until evening, the grand prince listened to any complaints from his subjects. The old magistrates had generally forfeited all claim to esteem. Regarding only their own interests, they trafficked in offices, favored their relatives, persecuted their enemies and surrounded themselves with crowds of parasites who stifled, in the courts of justice, all the complaints of the oppressed. Novgorod was first brought into entire subjection to the crown; then Pskov.

While affairs were moving thus prosperously in Russia, the horde upon the Volga was also recovering its energies; and a new khan, Akhmet, war-loving and inflated by the success which his sword had already achieved, resolved to bring Russia again into subjection. He accordingly, in the year 1480, sent an embassy, bearing an image of the khan as their credentials, to Moscow, to demand the tribute which of old had been paid to the Tartars. Ivan III. was in no mood to receive the insult patiently. He admitted the embassage into the audience chamber of his palace. His nobles, in imposing array, were gathered around prepared for a scene such as was not unusual in those barbaric times. As soon as the embassadors entered and were presented, the image of the khan was dashed to the floor by the order of Ivan, and trampled under feet; and all the Mogol embassadors, with the exception of one, were slain.

"Go," said Ivan sternly to him, "go to your master and tell him what you have seen; tell him that if he has the insolence again to trouble my repose, I will treat him as I have served his image and his embassadors."

This emphatic declaration of war was followed on both sides by the mustering of armies. The horde was soon in motion, passing from the Volga to the Don in numbers which were represented to be as the sands of the sea. They rapidly and resistlessly ascended the valley of this river, marking their path by a swath of ruin many miles in width. The grand prince took the command of the Russian army in person, and rendezvoused his troops at Kalouga, thence stationing them along the northern banks of the Oka, to dispute the passage of that stream. All Russia was in a state of feverish excitement. One decisive battle would settle the question, whether the invaders were to be driven in bloody rout out of the empire, or, whether the whole kingdom was to be surrendered to devastation by savages as fierce and merciless as wolves.

About the middle of October the two armies met upon the opposite banks of the Oka, with only the waters of that narrow stream to separate them. Cannon and muskets were then just coming into use, but they were rude and feeble instruments compared with the power of such weapons at the present day. Swords, arrows, javelins, clubs, axes, battering-rams and catapults, and the tramplings of horse were the engines of destruction which man then wielded most potently against his fellow-man. The quarrel was a very simple one. Some hundreds of thousands of Mogols had marched to the heart of Russia, leaving behind them a path of flame and blood nearly a thousand miles in length, that they might compel the Russians to pay them tribute. Some hundred thousand Russians had met them there, to resist even to death their insolent and oppressive demand.

The Tartars were far superior in numbers to the Russians, but Ivan had made such a skillful disposition of his troops that Akhmet could not cross the stream. For nearly a week the two armies fought from the opposite banks, throwing at each other bullets, balls, stones, arrows and javelins. A few were wounded and some slain in this impotent warfare.

The Russians were, however, very faint-hearted. It was evident that, should the Tartars effect the passage of the river, the Russians, already demoralized by fear, would be speedily overpowered. The grand prince himself was so apprehensive as to the result, that he sent one of his nobles with rich presents to the khan and proposed terms of peace. Akhmet rejected the presents, and sent back the haughty reply:

"I have come thus far to take vengeance upon Ivan; to punish him for neglecting for nine years to appear before me with tribute and in homage. Let him come penitently into my presence and kiss my stirrup, and then perhaps, if my lords intercede for him, I may forgive him."

As soon as it was heard in Moscow that the grand prince was manifesting such timidity, the clergy sent to him a letter urging the vigorous defense of their country and of their religion. The letter was written by Vassian, the archbishop of Moscow, and was signed, on behalf of the clergy, by several of the higher ecclesiastics. We have not space to introduce the whole of this noble epistle, which is worthy of being held in perpetual remembrance. The following extracts will show its spirit. It was in the form of a letter from the archbishop to the king; to which letter others of the clergy gave their assent:

"It is our duty to announce the truth to kings, and that which I have already spoken in the ear of your majesty I now write, to inspire you with new courage and energy. When, influenced by the prayers and the councils of your bishop, you left Moscow for the army, with the firm intention of attacking the enemy of the Christians, we prostrated ourselves day and night before God, pleading with him to grant the victory to our armies. Nevertheless, we learn that at the approach of Akhmet, of that ferocious warrior who has already caused thousands of Christians to perish, and who menaces your throne and your country, you tremble before him—you implore peace of him, and send to him embassadors, while that impious warrior breathes only vengeance and despises your prayer.

"Ah, grand prince, to what counselors have you lent your ear? What men, unworthy of the name of Christian, have given you such advice? Will you throw away your arms and shamefully take to flight? But reflect from what a height of grandeur your majesty will descend; to what a depth of humiliation you will fall! Are you willing, oh prince, to surrender Russia to fire and blood, your churches to pillage, your subjects to the sword of the enemy? What heart is so insensible as not to be overwhelmed by the thought even of such a calamity?

"No; we will trust in the all-powerful God! No; you will not abandon us! You will blush at the name of a fugitive, of being the betrayer of your country. Lay aside all fear. Redouble your confidence in God. Then one shall chase a thousand, and two shall put ten thousand to flight. There is no God like ours. Do you say that the oath, taken by your ancestors, binds you not to raise your arms against the khan? But we, your metropolitan bishop, and all the other bishops, representatives of Jesus Christ, absolve you from that oath, extorted by force; we all give you our benediction, and conjure you to march against Akhmet, who is but a brigand and an enemy of God.

"God is a Father full of tenderness for his children. He knows when to punish and when to pardon. And if formerly he submerged Pharaoh to save the children of Israel, he will, in the same manner, save you and your people, if you purify your heart by penitence, for you are a man and a sinner. The penitence of a monarch is his sacred obligation to obey the laws of justice, to cherish his people, to renounce every act of violence, and grant pardon even to the guilty. It is thus that God will elevate you among us, as formerly he elevated Moses, Joshua and the other liberators of Israel, that Russia, a new Israel, may be delivered by you from the impious Akhmet, that other Pharaoh.

"I pray you, grand prince, do not censure me for my feeble words, for it is written, 'Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser.'5 So may it be. Receive our benediction, you and your children, all the nobles and chieftains, and all your brave warriors, children of Jesus Christ. Amen."

This letter, instead of giving the king offense, inspired him with new zeal and courage. He immediately abandoned all idea of peace. A fortnight had now passed in comparative inaction, the Russians and Tartars menacing each other from opposite sides of the stream. The cold month of November had now come, and a thin coating of ice began to spread over the surface of the stream. It was evident that Akhmet was only waiting for the river to be frozen over, and that, in a few days, he would be able to cross at any point. The grand prince, seeing that the decisive battle could not much longer be deferred, ordered his troops, in the night, to make a change of position, that he might occupy the plains of Borosk as a field more favorable for his troops. But the Russian soldiers, still agitated by the fears which their sovereign had not been able to conceal, regarded this order as the signal for retreat. The panic spread from rank to rank, and, favored by the obscurity of the night, soon the whole host, in the wildest confusion, were in rapid flight. No efforts of the officers could arrest the dismay. Before the morning, the Russian camp was entirely deserted, and the fugitives were rushing, like an inundation, up the valley of the Moskwa toward the imperial city.

But God did not desert Russia in this decisive hour. He appears to have heard and answered the prayers which had so incessantly ascended. In the Russian annals, their preservation is wholly attributed to the interposition of that God whose aid the bishops, the clergy and Christian men and women in hundreds of churches had so earnestly implored. The Tartars, seeing, in the earliest dawn of the morning, the banks of the river entirely abandoned by the Russians, imagined that the flight was but a ruse of war, that ambuscades were prepared for them, and, remembering previous scenes of exterminating slaughter, they, also, were seized with a panic, and commenced a retreat. This movement itself increased the alarm. Terror spread rapidly. In an hour, the whole Tartar host, abandoning their tents and their baggage, were in tumultuous flight.

As the sun rose, an unprecedented spectacle was presented. Two immense armies were flying from each other in indescribable confusion and dismay, each actually frightened out of its wits, and no one pursuing either. The Russians did not stop for a long breath until they attained the walls of Moscow. Akhmet, having reached the head waters of the Don, retreated rapidly down that stream, wreaking such vengeance as he could by the way, but not venturing to stop until he had reached his strongholds upon the banks of the Volga. Thus, singularly, providentially, terminated this last serious invasion of Russia by the Tartars. A Russian annalist, in attributing the glory of this well-authenticated event all to God, writes: "Shall men, vain and feeble, celebrate the terror of their arms? No! it is not to the might of earth's warriors, it is not to human wisdom that Russia owes her safety, but only to the goodness of God."

Ivan III., in the cathedrals of Moscow, offered long continued praises to God for this victory, obtained without the effusion of blood. An annual festival was established in honor of this great event. Akhmet, with his troops disorganized and scattered, had hardly reached the Volga, ere he was attacked by a rival khan, who drove him some five hundred miles south to the shore of the Sea of Azof. Here his rival overtook him, killed him with his own hand, took his wives and his daughters captives, seized all his riches, and then, seeking friendly relations with Russia, sent word to Moscow that the great enemy of the grand prince was in his grave.

Thus terminated for ever the sway of the Tartars over the Russians. For two hundred years, Russia had been held by the khans in slavery. Though the horde long continued to exist as a band of lawless and uncivilized men, often engaged in predatory excursions, no further attempts were made to exact either tribute or homage.

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CHAPTER XI

THE REIGN OF VASSILI

From 1480 to 1533

Alliance With Hungary.—A Traveler From Germany.—Treaty Between Russia and Germany.—Embassage To Turkey.—Court Etiquette.—Death of the Princess Sophia.—Death of Ivan.—Advancement of Knowledge.—Succession of Vassili.—Attack Upon the Horde.—Rout of the Russians.—The Grand Prince Takes the Title of Emperor.—Turkish Envoy To Moscow.—Efforts To Arm Europe Against the Turks.—Death of the Emperor Maximilian, and Accession of Charles V. To the Empire of Germany.—Death of Vassili.

The retreat of the Tartars did not redound much to the glory of Ivan. The citizens of Moscow, in the midst of their rejoicings, were far from being satisfied with their sovereign. They thought that he had not exhibited that courage which characterizes grand souls, and that he had been signally wanting in that devotion which leads one to sacrifice himself for the good of his country. They lavished, however, their praises upon the clergy, especially upon the Archbishop Vassian, whose letter to the grand prince was read and re-read throughout the kingdom with the greatest enthusiasm. This noble prelate, whose Christian heroism had saved his country, soon after fell sick and died, deplored by all Russia.

Hungary was at this time governed by Matthias, son of the renowned Hunniades,6 a prince equally renowned for his valor and his genius. Matthias, threatened by Poland, sent embassadors to Russia to seek alliance with Ivan III. Eagerly Russia accepted the proposition, and entered into friendly connections with Hungary, which kingdom was then, in civilization, quite in advance of the northern empire.

In the year 1486, an illustrious cavalier, named Nicholas Poppel, visited Russia, taking a letter of introduction to the grand prince from Frederic III., Emperor of Germany. He had no particular mission, and was led only by motives of curiosity. "I have seen," said the traveler, "all the Christian countries and all the kings, and I wished, also, to see Russia and the grand prince."

The lords at Moscow had no faith in these words, and were persuaded that he was a spy sent by their enemy, the King of Poland. Though they watched him narrowly, he was not incommoded, and left the kingdom after having satisfied his desire to see all that was remarkable. His report to the German emperor was such that, two years after, he returned, in the quality of an embassador from Frederic III., with a letter to Ivan III., dated Ulm, December 26th, 1488. The nobles now received Poppel with great cordiality. He said to them:

"After having left Russia, I went to find the emperor and the princes of Germany at Nuremburg. I spent a long time giving them information respecting your country and the grand prince. I corrected the false impression, conceived by them, that Ivan III. was but the vassal of Casimir, King of Poland. 'That is impossible,' I said to them. 'The monarch of Moscow is much more powerful and much richer than the King of Poland. His estates are immense, his people numerous, his wisdom extraordinary.' All the court listened to me with astonishment, and especially the emperor himself, who often invited me to dine, and passed hours with me conversing upon Russia. At length, the emperor, desiring to enter into an alliance with the grand prince, has sent me to the court of your majesty as his embassador."

He then solicited, in the name of Frederic III., the hand of Ivan's daughter, Helen, for the nephew of the emperor, Albert, margrave of Baden. The proposition for the marriage of the daughter of the grand prince with a mere margrave was coldly received. Ivan, however, sent an embassador to Germany with the following instructions:

"Should the emperor ask if the grand prince will consent to the marriage of his daughter with the margrave of Baden, reply that such an alliance is not worthy of the grandeur of the Russian monarch, brother of the ancient emperors of Greece, who, in establishing themselves at Constantinople, ceded the city of Rome to the popes. Leave the emperor, however, to see that there is some hope of success should he desire one of our princesses for his son, the King Maximilian."

The Russian embassador was received in Germany with the most flattering attentions, even being conducted to a seat upon the throne by the side of the emperor. It is said that Maximilian, who was then a widower, wished to marry Helen, the daughter of the grand prince, but he wished, very naturally, first to see her through the eyes of his embassador, and to ascertain the amount of her dowry. To this request a polite refusal was returned.

"How could one suppose," writes the Russian historian Karamsin, "that an illustrious monarch and a princess, his daughter, could consent to the affront of submitting the princess to the judgment of a foreign minister, who might declare her unworthy of his master?"

The pride of the Russian court was touched, and the emperor's embassador was informed, in very plain language, that the grand prince was not at all disposed to make a matter of merchandise of his daughter—that, after her marriage, the grand prince would present her with a dowry such as he should deem proportionate to the rank of the united pair, and that, above all, should she marry Maximilian, she should not change her religion, but should always have residing with her chaplains of the Greek church. Thus terminated the question of the marriage. A treaty, however, of alliance was formed between the two nations which was signed at Moscow, August 16th, 1490. In this treaty, Ivan III. subscribes himself, "by the grace of God, monarch of all the Russias, prince of Vladimir, Moscow, Novgorod, Pskof, Yougra, Viatha, Perme and Bulgaria." We thus see what portion of the country was then deemed subject to his sway.

Ivan III., continually occupied in extending, consolidating and developing the resources of his vast empire, could not but look with jealousy upon the encroachments of the Turks, who had already overrun all Greece, who had taken a large part of Hungary, and who were surging up the Danube in wave after wave of terrible invasion. Still, sound judgment taught him that the hour had not yet come for him to interpose; that it was his present policy to devote all his energies to the increase of Russian wealth and power. It was a matter of the first importance that Russia should enjoy the privileges of commerce with those cities of Greece now occupied by the Turks, to which Russia had access through the Dnieper and the Don, and partially through the vast floods of the Volga. But the Russian merchants were incessantly annoyed by the oppression of the lawless Turks. The following letter from Ivan III. to the Sultan Bajazet II., gives one a very clear idea of the relations existing between the two countries at that time. It is dated Moscow, August 31st, 1492.