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Canadian Slavonic Papers
Revue Canadienne des Slavistes
Volume 8, 1966 - Issue 1
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The Muscovite Dynastic Crisis of 1497–1502

John V. A. Fine Jr.
Pages 198-215 | Published online: 05 May 2015

  • Kurbskii, A., Istoriia o Velikom Kniaze Moskovskom in Russkata istoricheskaia biblioteka, vol. 31, columns 271–2.
  • Polnoe sobrante Russkikh letopisei (PSRL) XII, p. 222; XXVII, p. 289; XXVIII, pp. 154–55, 320. Ioasafovskaia Letopi'’ (IL), Moscow, 1957, p. 128. The word zel'e, “potions,” frequently has the connotation of “poisons.”
  • SPSRL, XII, p. 222; XXVIII, pp. 154, 320.
  • Ja., Lure, “Iz istorii Russkogo letopisaniia kontsa XV v.,” Trudu Otdela Drevnerusskoi Literatury, XI, 1955, pp. 180–81; A. Zimin, Russkie letopisi i khronografy kontsa XV-XVI vv., Moscow, 1960, p. 10.
  • PSRL, VIII, p. 213.
  • PSRL, VI, p. 232; XX, p. 347; XXIV, p. 201; XXVIII, pp. 150, 315.
  • J. Fennell, Ivan the Great of Moscow (London, 1961), p. 334.
  • PSRL, VI, p. 43; XXVIII, p. 330, IL, p. 134.
  • PSRL, VI, p. 279; XII, p. 263.
  • PSRL, XXII, p. 513.
  • L. Cherepnin, Russkie feodal'nye arkhivy XIV-XV vekov, II (Moscow, 1951), pp. 289–303. K. Bazilevich, Vneshnaia politika russkogo tsentralizovannogo gosudarstva vtoraia polovina XV veka (Moscow, 1952), pp. 358–376. S. Veselovskii, “Vladimir Gusev-sostavitel’ sudebnika 1497 g.” Istoricheskie zapiski, V (1939), pp. 31–47.
  • N. Kazakova, and La. Lur'e, Antifeodal'nye erettcheskie dvizheniia na Rusi XIV nachala XVI veka (Moscow-Leningrad, 1955), p. 436.
  • Fennell, op. cit., p. 337.
  • Bazilevich, op. cit., pp. 365–67.
  • For discussion of these negotiations, see Fennell, op. cit., pp. 145–55; see Sbornik imperatorskago Russkago istoricheskago obshchestva (SRIO), XXXV, pp. 89–159 for documentation.
  • PSRL, IV, p. 162; XII, p. 235; XXIV, pp. 211, 238–39.
  • SRIO, XXXV, p. 233.
  • RIO, XXXV, pp. 231–234.
  • PSRL, VIII, pp. 233–234.
  • On the dowry, PSRL, XXIV, pp. 202–03; on her mediation for the return of Maria and her husband from Lithuania, SRIO, XXXV, pp. 211–12.
  • G. Vemadsky, Russia at the Dawn of the Modem Age (New Haven, 1959), p. 83.
  • Supplementum ad Historica Russiae Monumenta (St. Petersburg, 1848), p. 312.
  • PSRL, XII, p. 234.
  • Fennell, op. cit., p. 346, n. 1. 25 SRIO, XXXV, p. 164.
  • Before December, 1497, we find Mikhail Kliapik Eropkin going to Kazimir, January, 1488 (SRIO, XXXV, pp. 6–12), March, 1489 (Ibid., pp. 21–33), May, 1490 (Ibid., pp. 41–46), and to Alexander in March, 1494 (Ibid., pp. 138–144), and in May, 1496 (Ibid., pp. 219–225). For his participation in the peace negotiations with Lithuania in 1503 (Ibid., pp. 413–39 and PSRL, VIII, p. 243).
  • Veselovskii, op. cit., p. 38.
  • June, 1490 (SRIO, XXXV, pp. 46–51); May, 1495 (Ibid., pp. 188–96).
  • SRIO, XXXV, p. 185.
  • Veselovskii, op. cit., p. 42.32 PSRL, IV, p. 162.
  • SRIO, XXXV, pp. 231–34.
  • Cherepnin, op. cit., II, p. 301.
  • PSRL, VIII, pp. 236–37; XII, p. 249; XXVIII, p. 332; IL, p. 138.
  • Ia. Lur'e, “Kratkii letopisets Pogodinskogo sobraniia,” Arkheograficheskii Ezhegodnik (1962), p. 443. (henceforth, “Pogodinskii”). The prince Dmitrii referred to here is Ivan III's son, Dmitrii, and should not be confused with Ivan Molodoi's son.
  • Pskovskie letopisi, I (Moscow-Leningrad, 1941), pp. 83–84 (PL).
  • In January, 1499 (PSRL, VIII, p. 236; XII, pp. 448–49), we find a description of the arrest and execution of Prince Semon Riapolovskii and the arrests of the Princes Patrikeev. the Stepennaia Kniga states “after the arrest of the boiars, Ivan began neglecting Dmitrii” (PSRL, XXI, p. 572). This entry led to the belief that the two events were related. This argument can be answered by pointing to the fact that the Stepennaia Kniga is a very unreliable source (see P. Vasenko, ‘Kniga Stepennaia tsarskogo rodosloviia’ i eia znachenie v drevnerusskoi istoricheskoi pis mennosti (St. Petersburg, 1904), pp. 243–4. In addition, one can see that the statement this source gives is simply one of sequence, and a causal relationship between the two events is only implied. Bazilevich (op. cit., pp. 371–75) and Fennell (op. cit., p. 351) both agree that the fall of these boiars was in no way connected with the dynastic quarrel. the Ustiug Chronicle reporting the boiar'’ arrest says “the Great Prince ordered their seizure for treason (izmena).” (Ustiuzhskii letopisnyi svod (UL) (Moscow, 1950), p. 100. Bazilevich and Vernadsky (op. cit., p. 127) try to show that their treason lay in working for peaceful relations between Lithuania and Moscow. The view that Muscovite boiars desired peace with Lithuania is frequently advanced, but no one has ever advanced any real evidence to prove it. All we can say is that these boiars were arrested for “treason.” What form of treason it was and to whom they betrayed what, must remain a mystery. A theory was long held, with its basis in the entry in the Stepennaia Kniga, that these boiars supported Dmitrii. This theory was first seriously questioned by Bazilevich and thoroughly disposed of by Fennell (pp. 350–51). Fennell then suggests that if they supported anyone they would have supported Vasilii. This theory of Fennell is quite possible, though not conclusive.
  • Fennell, J., “The Dynastic Crisis 1497–1502,” Slavonic and East European Review, XXXIX, 92 (1960), p. 7.
  • PL, I, p. 85.
  • “Drevneishaia Razriadnaia Kniga” in Chteniia v obshchestve istorii i drevnostei Rossiiskikh pri Moskovskom universitete, no. 1 (1902), p. 28.
  • Lur'e, “Pogodinskii.”, p. 443.
  • PSRL, VI, p. 48; VIII, p. 242; XXVI, p. 295.
  • Lur'e, “Pogodinskii.” p. 443.
  • UL, p. 101.
  • PSRL, VI, 46; VIII, pp. 239–40; XXVI, pp. 293–94; IL, p. 141.
  • PSRL, XXVI, p. 293; XXVIII, p. 334. IL, p. 140.
  • SRIO, XXXV, pp. 310, 324.
  • It is sometimes assumed that the relative positions of Vasilii and Dmitrii can be better understood from the use of their titles; in fact, the titles may have little significance. There is an interesting inscription (dated by Vasilii, 1 May, 1498 (7006)) in an edition of the Gospels which he presented to the Church of Nicholas the Miracle Worker. Here he signed himself “Great Prince Vasilii Ivanovich of All Russia.” This presentation was made three months after Dmitrii's coronation. We have no further evidence to suggest so early a return to favor for Vasilii. Thus we must assume that Vasilii, still disgraced, simply used the title here with no authorization. For the text of this inscription, see Akty sotsial'noekonomicheskoi istorii severo-vostochnoi Rusi kontsa XIV—nachala XVI v., III (Moscow, 1964), pp. 78–79.
  • Sigismund von Herberstein, Notes upon Russia, trans. R. Major (London: Halduyt Society, 1851), I, p. 21.
  • PSRL, XXVI, p. 295.
  • Herberstein, op. cit., I, p. 22.

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