Vasili III of Russia

## Vasili III

**Vasili III Ivanovich** (Russian: Василий III Иванович, 25 March 1479 – 3 December 1533) was the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1505 to 1533. He is sometimes mockingly referred to as **Vasili the Adequate** due to his rule taking place between those of Ivan the Great and his son Ivan the Terrible, as well as the relative uneventfulness of his reign.

## Early life

Vasili was born on March 25, 1479 was the son of Ivan III and Sophia Paleologue and was baptized with the name of Gavriil (Гавриил).

He had three brothers: Yuri (1480), Simeone (1487) and Andrei (1490); and five sisters: Elena (1474-1474), Feodosiya (1475-1476), another Elena (1476), another Feodosiya (1485) and Eudoxia (1492).

At the age of 8 he became Grand Duke, still too young to become fully Grand Duke he was assisted by princes such as Metropolitan Varlaam and his mother Sophia Paleologue as regent until the age of 13 in 1510 when following in the footsteps of his beloved father he conquered Pskov starting a war.

## Foreing affairs

Vasili III continued the policies of his father Ivan III at the beginning of his reign and spent most of his reign consolidating Ivan's conquests. Vasili anesse one of the last surviving autonomous provinces in 1510 Pskov.

With the conquest of Pskov a disagreement arose between the principality of Moscow and the Grand Duke of Lithuania. Grand Duke Ivan II declared war on Vasili (Ivan's intent was mainly the conquest of Moscow, using the excuse of killing his sister, Irina who was married to the governor of Pscok). Vasili sent messengers to slow the outbreak of a war between the two. Ivan refused the peace treaties and for the purpose in 1510 Ivan attacked Smolensk, setting fire to the fortress and declaring it his territory.

Vasili took advantage of Ivan's settlement in Smolensk to encircle the territory and weaken Ivan's position, blocking the borders and thus removing the supply sent from Lithuania. Taking advantage of Ivan's difficult position to capture the great eastern fortress of Lithuania and take back Smolensk, (the siege started in 1512, ended in 1514), mainly through the help of the Lithuanian rebel, Prince Aleksander Morozova who supplied him with artillery and engineers and the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed III, who sent his son Şehzade Bayezid along with a cure. The loss of Smolensk was a major wound inflicted by Russia on Lithuania during the Lithuanian wars of conquest.

In 1517 Vasili received an emissary from the neighboring Iranian Safavid Empire, sent by Shah Ismail I whose ambitions were to build an Iranian-Russian alliance against the common enemy, Ivan nicknamed the Slav who was starting to compromise the Safavid economy by blocking trade . Vasili accepted and Ivan attacked Smolensk and conquered it in 1519. To take revenge on the Ottoman Empire which had become Sultan, Şehzade Bayezid went on a raid with more than 2000 mercenaries joined by Russian traitors and the Lithuanian army. Bayezid asked Vasili for help, Vasili got out and formed a barrier against Ivan and his army. The barrier failed to stop Ivan's advance and in May 1519 Ivan attacked Istanbul and set it on fire, the Old Palace was partially destroyed causing the death of many concubines.

Vasili and Bayezid were equally successful against Ivan, mainly thanks to the help of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor who, afraid of a possible threat from Ivan to Hungary and Bohemia, defeated Ivan in Istanbul along with Vasili and Bayezid II.

After winning against Ivan, Bayezid asked for the hand of Vasili's daughter, Roxana for her son Bayezid as a thank you for helping him against Ivan. Ivan withdrew and the wars subsided.

Vasili continued with his father's conquests: he conquered Volokolamsk in 1523, the principalities of Ryazan in 1525 and Novgorod-Seversky in 1526.

Towards the end of his reign he established Russian influence on the Volga. In 1531–32 he placed the pretender Cangali khan on the throne of the Kazan Khanate.

Vasili was the first Grand Duke of Moscow to adopt the title of tsar.

## Domestic affairs

As for domestic politics, Vasili III enjoyed the support of the Church in his struggle with the feudal opposition. In 1511, Metropolitan Varlaam was banished for refusing to participate in Vasili's fight against Ivan the Slav. Diplomat and statesman Ivan Bersen-Beklemishev was executed in 1515 for criticizing Vasili's policies. Maximus the Greek (publicist), Vassian Patrikeyev (statesman) and others were condemned for the same reason in 1515 and 1519.

During the reign of Vasili III, the land ownership of the nobility increased, while the authorities actively sought to limit immunities and privileges of the boyars and the nobility.

## Family life

In 1526, when he was 47, Vasili had been married to Solomonia Saburova for over 20 years with no son having been produced.
Vasili loved his daughter Roxana more than anything else but was forced to leave Solomonia, whom he no longer loved.

Aware of her husband's disappointment, Solomonia tried to make up for it by consulting sorcerers and going on pilgrimage. When this proved unsuccessful, Vasili consulted the boyars, announcing that he did not trust his two brothers to manage the affairs of Russia and thus locked them up to prevent any dynastic crisis.

The boyars suggested that he take a new wife and, despite great opposition from the clergy, he divorced his wife and married Princess Elena Morozova, daughter of a Serbian princess and niece of her friend Aleksander Morozova. Not many of the boyars approved of her choice, as Elena was of Catholic upbringing. Vasili was so impressed that he defied Russian social norms and cut his beard to look younger.

After three days of marriage feast, the spouses consummated their marriage, although initially it seemed that Elena was as sterile as Solomonia. The Russian population began to suspect that this was a sign of God's disapproval of marriage. However, to the great joy of Vasili and the people, the new tsaritsa gave birth to a son, who would succeed him as Ivan IV. Three years later, a second son was born, Yuri.

According to one story, Solomonia Saburova also gave birth to a son, George in the convent where she was locked up, a few months after the controversial divorce.

## Death

While hunting on horseback near Volokolamsk, Vasili felt severe pain in his right hip, the result of an abscess. He was transported to the village of Kolp, where he was seen by two German doctors who were unable to stop the infection with conventional remedies. Believing he was short of time, Vasili asked to be returned to Moscow, where he was kept in St. Joseph's Cathedral along the way. By November 25, 1533 Vasili reached Moscow and asked to be appointed monk before dying. Taking the name of Varlaam, Vasili died at midnight on December 3, 1533.