Belsky family ( Gediminid ) The Belsky or Belski family ( ) was a princely family of Gediminid origin in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . It later deflected to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and played a key role during the regency of Ivan IV of Russia . The family started with Ivan Vladimirovich , son of Vladimir Olgerdovich and grandson of Algirdas , and ended with Ivan Dmitrievich Belsky in 1571 . The Belsky name was derived from their principal possession of Bely , Tver Oblast . First princes . Ivan Vladimirovich was first mentioned in written sources as a witness to the 1422 Treaty of Melno . After the death of Grand Duke Vytautas in 1430 , Ivan was involved in the ensuing power struggle . Initially he supported Švitrigaila and witnessed the anti - Polish Treaty of Christmemel with the Teutonic Knights . However , he changed sides and actively supported the 1432 coup against Švitrigaila in favor of Sigismund Kęstutaitis . He then changed sides again and fought against Sigismund in the decisive Battle of Pabaiskas in 1435 . Ivan was taken prisoner during the battle . Around 1444 , he was invited by the Novgorod Republic to govern their city . However , his reign lasted only about a year and his further fate is unknown . Ivan married Vasilisa Olshanska , sister of Queen of Poland Sophia of Halshany . They had three sons – Ivan ( married Princess Vorotynska ) , Simeon ( married to daughter of Yury Patrikeyevich and Maria Vasilievna ) , Feodor – and three daughters . The daughters were married to Bolesław II of Cieszyn , to Ivan Ostrogski , and to the voivode of Kiev Ivan Chodkiewicz . Of all three sons , only Feodor Ivanovich Belsky is known to have left issue . In 1481 , Feodor , Mikhailo Olelkovich , and Iwan Olshanski - Dubrovicki planned a coup against Grand Duke Casimir IV Jagiellon . Their plans were divulged ; Mikhailo and Iwan were executed while Feodor succeeded in escaping to the Grand Duchy of Moscow . His wife , Princess Kobrynska , who he had married but several months before the coup , was left in Lithuania . Feodor Belski lived at the Muscovite court until 1493 , when he was implicated in the so - called Lukomsky Conspiracy to murder Ivan III . He was banished to Galich , but a year later he was pardoned and regained royal favor . Ivan III personally demanded from Alexander of Lithuania to hand over Belsky ' s wife to him . Seeing no prospect of success , the Russian sovereign consulted the metropolitan and they declared Feodor ' s previous marriage null and void . Belsky then married Ivan ' s own niece , Anna of Ryazan , daughter of Vasily Tretnoy and Anna of Ryazan . At the wedding , Feodor was rewarded with extensive votchina s along the Volga River , which would remain with his family until the Oprichnina . In 1499 , he was involved in the politics of the Khanate of Kazan , hoping to install a khan backed by Moscow . He was last mentioned in the Russian chronicles in 1506 , and it seems likely that he died shortly thereafter . Feodor ' s three sons Dmitry , Ivan and Simeon , being Vasily III ' s cousins , took a key part in the events of his reign and the following regency . Feodor ' s elder brother , Simeon Ivanovich Belsky , left Lithuania for the Grand Duchy of Moscow in his brother ' s wake in 1500 , citing the persecution of Orthodox believers as his reason . His defection intensified anti - Lithuanian rhetoric in Russia , which proclaimed itself a defender of all Orthodox believers , and hastened the renewed Muscovite – Lithuanian War . The war ended in 1503 ; Lithuania suffered large territorial losses , which included not only to Bely but also Chernigov , Starodub , and Homel . Thus the Belsky family regained its patrimony . Kazan campaigns . Dmitry Feodorovich Belsky ( 1499 – 1551 ) was first recorded in 1519 , when he enthroned Shahgali as the khan of Kazan . Two years later , the Crimean khan had Shahgali replaced with his own brother , defeated Belsky ' s army on the banks of the Oka River and devastated the area between Moscow and Kolomna . While Belsky retreated to the stronghold of Serpukhov , his absence from the capital left the field free for mutual jealousies and accusations . Although the majority of boyars complained about Belsky ' s cowardness , the monarch spared both Belsky and his own brother and put the blame for defeat on Prince Vorotynsky . Dmitry ' s younger brother , Ivan Feodorovich Belsky , while still in his early 20s , led the 150 , 000 - strong Russian army against Kazan in 1524 . Belsky ' s huge army spent 20 days encamped at the island opposite Kazan , awaiting the arrival of Russian cavalry . Then the news came that part of cavalry had been defeated , and the vessels loaded with provisions had been captured by the Tatars . Although the army suffered from hunger , Belsky at once laid siege to the city and soon the Tatars sent their envoys proposing terms . Belsky accepted them and speedily returned to Moscow . Many boyars proceeded to accuse him of treason , but modern historians agree there was little he could achieve without provisions , being pressed to repel continuous attacks by Tatar and Udmurt cavalry . Matters then remained quiet until 1530 , when Ivan Belsky , still eager to revenge himself , returned with the Russian army to the walls of Kazan . On 10 July , the fortress was taken and the Tatars sued for peace , promising to accept any khan appointed from Moscow . Heyday and regency . During Vasily III ' s fatal illness , Dmitry Belsky remained at his deathbed until the final hour . He was present when Vasily signed a testament proclaiming Michael Glinski and himself tutors to young Ivan IV . After Grand Prince ' s death , a political struggle erupted between his widow Elena Glinskaya and his brother Yury of Dmitrov , with whom the Belskys were on friendly terms . Yuri was executed in 1534 on charges of treason , while Ivan Belsky was thrown into prison . Anticipating further repressions , the youngest of brothers , Simeon Feodorovich Belsky , escaped to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . He was warmly welcomed by Sigismund the Old , at once joining the king ' s hostilities against Russia . When the war turned unsuccessful , the Lithuanian generals put the blame on Belsky and other Russian defectors . On this event , Simeon Belsky fled to Constantinople . In 1537 , he appeared in the Crimea , with the purpose of escalating military tensions with Russia . Not only he failed in his designs , but was kidnapped by a ruler of the Nogai Horde , from whom he was later ransomed by the khan . In 1538 , the regent Elena Glinskaya died , probably poisoned by the Shuisky s . They at once liberated Ivan Belsky from his prison and restituted him to the Boyar Duma . Thenceforward the regency become a story of intrigues between the Belskys and the Shuiskys . In 1540 , Ivan Belsky was again thrown into prison , only to be released several months later , after the death of Vasily " Nemoy " Shuisky and on petition from Metropolitan Joasaphus . Belsky ' s power reached its peak in 1541 , when he was installed as Ivan IV ' s " prime advisor " ( первосоветник ) . Among his first enterprises was a letter to the Crimean khan asking him to bring Simeon Belsky to Moscow . The khan , persuaded by Simeon that Moscow stood completely unfortified and desiring to profit from the attendant disorder , advanced with his guards towards the Russian capital . His hope of putting Moscow to the sword proved ill - founded , however , and he retreated on espying the first contingent of the Russian soldiers and taking Simeon Belsky back with him . Simeon ' s subsequent fate in unknown . In the meantime , Ivan Shuisky boycotted the royal palace and the Boyar Duma until 3 January 1542 , when his soldiers broke into Belsky ' s house at night and took Ivan Belsky into custody . This time Belsky was immured in the distant Kirillov Monastery , where the Shuiskys had him strangled in May 1542 . Ivan left no children by his wife , Daniil Shchenya ' s granddaughter . Writing several decades later , Prince Kurbsky described Ivan Belsky as the boldest commander and the cleverest politician of Muscovy . The last Belskys . Dmitry Belsky managed to eschew repressions that befell his brothers , and he even increased his influence in the Boyar Duma . After the regency was abolished , Ivan IV at once resumed military operations against the Khanate of Kazan . In 1547 , Dmitry Belsky was commanded to reinstate Shahgali as the khan . Two years later , the tsar and Belsky led the Russian armies to take Kazan . They were forced to retreat , suffering heavy casualties . Belsky was again accused by fellow boyars of poor leadership , but he unexpectedly died on 13 January 1551 . By his wife , Ivan Chelyadnin ' s daughter , Dmitry had two daughters , Eudoxia and Anastasia . They were married to the boyars Mikhail Morozov and Vasily Zakharyin - Yuriev , respectively . Eudoxia , although renowned for her pious ways , was executed with her husband and children during the Oprichnina purges . Dmitry also had one son , Prince Ivan Dmitrievich Belsky . When the Oprichnina was instituted , the tsar had his two noblest boyars , Ivan Belsky and Fyodor Mstislavsky , appointed to run the lands of the state , or " zemshchina " . On 8 November 1555 the last Prince Belsky married Marfa , a posthumous daughter of Prince Vasily Shuisky - Nemoy by Anastasia of Kazan , herself a granddaughter of Ivan III and Sophia Paleologue . Ivan Belsky and Marfa Shuiskaya had five children but they all died in minority and were interred in the family sepulcher , Tikhon ' s Hermitage near Kaluga . In 1571 , when khan Devlet I Giray of Crimea assaulted Moscow and set the city on fire , Prince Belsky suffocated from smoke in his own mansion . With his death , the Belsky princely family became extinct .