Sophia Paleolog is known as the second wife of the Moscow Tsar Ivan III, mother of Vasily III and grandmother of Ivan the Terrible. She was a representative of the Palaiologos dynasty and the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine. This kinship will later be used by Russian rulers, emphasizing their succession from the Byzantine kings and the idea of ​​"Moscow is the third Rome."

The family of the future queen

The Greek version of the name of Sophia Fominichna Paleolog is Zoya Paleologina. She was born around 1455 in the Palaiologos dynasty - the Byzantine emperors. Her family was quite noble for that time:

1. Father Thomas was the youngest son of the Byzantine emperor and despot (manager) of the province of Morea (the Peloponnese peninsula - an autonomous Greek entity within Byzantium) in 1428-1460. He was the legal heir of his older brother and could take the Byzantine throne.
2. Father's brother (Uncle Sophia) Constantine XI was the eldest son of the emperor and ruled Byzantium in 1449-1453. He died during the capture of Constantinople Turkish wars. His niece was then about 8 years old.
3. The mother was Ekaterina Tsakkaria - the daughter of the last king of Achaia.
4. Mother's father (Sophia's grandfather) was Centurione II Tsakkaria, who belonged to a well-known merchant family. The throne of Achaia passed to him from his father, who was appointed there by the Neapolitan king. In 1430 Thomas Palaiologos captured the principality of Achaia. Centurione was forced to conclude a peace treaty with the enemy, the terms of which forced his daughter Catherine to marry Thomas. After the death of the Centurione, his lands passed to Thomas.

Also, Princess Sophia had an older sister, who became the wife of a Serbian despot, and two older brothers: Andrei and Mikhail. The former became despot of the Morea after his father.

Childhood and youth

The fall of Byzantium seriously affected the fate of the future queen of Russia. The girl's uncle died in 1453 during the siege of Constantinople, after 7 years the enemies besieged and captured the Despotate of Morea. Thomas Palaiologos went to the island of Corfu, then to Rome, where he died. According to some reports, he converted to Catholicism shortly before his death. Mother Catherine died a few months before her husband.

Zoya and her brothers moved to Rome only in 1465. At the same time, she received the name Sophia. The upbringing of children was taken up by Cardinal Vissarion of Nicaea.

The money given out for the maintenance of children by the Pope was enough not only for food and clothing, but also for the maintenance of a small yard. In addition, it turned out to save modest amounts.

After the death of Thomas, the eldest, Andrei, inherited the crown. He sold it to European rulers and died poor. The second son, Michael, went to the service of the Sultan, received a pension and lived in Constantinople. According to some reports, he converted to Islam and served in the Navy.

They tried to marry Sophia three times:

1. In 1466, the candidacy of an 11-year-old girl was proposed to the Cypriot king, but he refused.
2. The following year, Pope Paul II offered the girl's hand to the Italian prince Caracciolo. The engagement took place, but there was no wedding.
3. The last proposal was also put forward by Pope Paul in 1469: this time the groom was prophesied by the Russian prince Ivan III, who in 1467 lost his wife.

The reasons that prompted the parties to agree are difficult to guess..

Most likely, Pope Paul II hoped to increase the influence of his church in Russia or wished for a rapprochement between Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Prince Ivan III, most likely, was attracted by the status of the bride - the niece of the last Byzantine emperor. It is possible that Cardinal Vissarion also participated in the case.

Wedding and moving to Moscow

Negotiations about the wedding lasted 3 years. In 1469, the Greek Yuri arrived in Moscow with a proposal to the prince to marry Sophia. At the same time, it was indicated that she was an Orthodox Christian, although in fact the girl belonged to the Catholic faith at that time. Ivan III conferred with his mother, the boyars and the metropolitan and made a positive decision.

In the same year, Ivan Fryazin (Gian Batista della Volpe, a native of Italy) was sent to Rome for matchmaking. The Pope received him well, but asked him to send the boyars for Sophia. As the chronicle of the city of Sofia says, a portrait of the bride was sent to the Russian groom, which pretty much surprised the court.

The appearance of Sophia Paleolog was pleasant, although she was full by Italian standards of beauty: short (160 cm), the girl had beautiful eyes, white skin and typical features of a Mediterranean woman. Later, the similarity of facial features of Sophia and Ivan the Terrible will become evidence of their relationship.

The second time Ivan Fryazin went in 1472 for 17-year-old Sophia. A few days after his arrival, the young betrothed in absentia took place in the Basilica of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. Less than a month later, the procession gathered back. Among the dowry of the bride were books that would later become the basis of the library of Ivan IV. The girl also brought some relics of saints, for whom precious reliquaries were created in Russia.

Zoya Paleolog arrived in Moscow on November 12, the wedding was played 10 days later in the Assumption Cathedral. According to the official princely chronicle, Metropolitan Philip married the spouses. According to unofficial sources, the wedding was performed by a local archpriest.

Family life

The marriage of Ivan 3 and Sophia Paleolog was successful: 5 sons and 6 daughters were born. Only two older girls died in infancy. The eldest son of the queen, the heir Vasily Ivanovich, would later become known as the Moscow prince Vasily III. At that time, Ivan III already had an heir - Ivan Young, a son from his first marriage.

For the young wife, the prince built a mansion, which, however, burned down in 1493. In 1480, before the invasion of the Horde Khan Akhmat, Sofya and her children moved to Dmitrov, then to Beloozero. If Akhmat took Moscow, the queen had to flee further north. The family returned to Moscow in the winter of that year.

Two legends are connected with the name of Sophia Paleolog, the wife of the prince at that time:

1. The queen was present at the council of her husband with the boyars regarding the demand for tribute from the khan. Hearing the advice of many boyars to agree and pay, Sophia began to cry and persuaded her husband to put an end to the Tatar yoke.
2. The second legend is connected with the birth of the son of Vasily III: during the service in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Sergius of Radonezh appeared to Sophia, who predicted that she would give birth to a son.

But still, the princess was not loved at court, considered cunning and proud, even accused of witchcraft. Some boyars were convinced that Sophia had poisoned Ivan's heir and was involved in the imprisonment of many close associates.

Sophia Paleolog died in 1503 - two years before the death of her husband.

Inheritance issues

Two groups formed around Prince Ivan III: those who supported the eldest son from his first marriage and those who supported his young wife. At first, the first group won: in 1477, the elder Ivan the Young was appointed co-ruler of his father. After 6 years, he married (daughter-in-law and mother-in-law turned out to be enemies), in the same year the grandson of Ivan III Dmitry was born.

At first, the position of the heir to Ivan Ivanovich was quite strong, but everything changed in 1490, when he fell ill with gout. Sophia invited a doctor to Russia, who promised that he would quickly cure the heir. But the efforts of the doctor were in vain: in 1490 Ivan Ivanovich died. The doctor was executed, but rumors spread around Moscow that the heir had been poisoned.

In 1498, the coronation of the heir Dmitry Ivanovich took place, but already in 1502, the grandson fell into disgrace and, together with his mother, were arrested. The mother died in 1505, the grandson - in 1509. Vasily III Ivanovich became the heir.

The life of Sophia Paleolog can hardly be called eventful. At the age of 17, she became the second wife of the Russian Tsar Ivan III, gave birth to a huge number of children and took some part in the political life of the country. Otherwise, Sophia is better known as the wife of the tsar and grandmother of Ivan the Terrible, as the queen who invited foreign architects to Russia. Under her, the Kremlin cathedrals and new palaces were erected.

Her personality has always worried historians, and opinions about her varied up to the opposite: some considered her a witch, others idolized and called her a saint. A few years ago, director Alexei Andrianov also presented his interpretation of the phenomenon of the Grand Duchess in the serial film "Sofia", which was broadcast on the Russia 1 TV channel. What is true in it, and what - we understand.

The film novel "Sofia", which announced itself on wide screen, stands out against the background of other historical domestic paintings. It covers a distant era, which was not even taken to film before: the events in the film are dedicated to the beginning of the formation Russian statehood, in particular the marriage of the great Moscow prince Ivan III with the last heir to the Byzantine throne.

A little digression: Zoya (that's what the girl was named at birth) was offered as a wife to Ivan III at the age of 14. Pope Sixtus IV himself very much hoped for this marriage (he hoped to strengthen Catholicism in Russian lands through marriage). The negotiations lasted a total of 3 years and were eventually crowned with success: at the age of 17, Zoya was betrothed in absentia in the Vatican and sent along with her retinue on a trip to the Russian lands, which only after inspecting the territories ended with her arrival in the capital. The Pope's plan, by the way, finally fell apart when the newly-born Byzantine princess was baptized in a short time and received the name Sophia.

The film, of course, does not reflect all the historical twists and turns. In 10 hour series, the creators tried to contain, in their opinion, the most important of what happened in Rus' at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries. It was during this period, thanks to Ivan III, that Rus' finally freed itself from Tatar-Mongol yoke, the prince began to unite the territories, which eventually led to the formation of an integral strong state.

The fateful time in many respects became such thanks to Sophia Palaiologos. She, educated, culturally enlightened, did not become a mute addition for the prince, capable only of continuing the family and the princely family, as was established at that distant time. The Grand Duchess had her own opinion on everything and could always voice it, and her husband invariably put it highly. According to historians, it was probably Sofia who put Ivan III in the head with the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bunifying lands under single center. The princess saw in Rus' unprecedented power, believed in her great goal, and, according to the hypothesis of historians, it is to her that the famous phrase “Moscow is the third Rome” belongs.

The niece of the last emperor of Byzantium, Sophia also "gave" Moscow the coat of arms of her dynasty - that same double-headed eagle. It was inherited by the capital as an integral part of its dowry (along with the book library, which later became part of the legacy of the great library of Ivan the Terrible). Assumption and Annunciation Cathedrals - designed and created thanks to the Italian Alberti Fioravanti, whom Sofia personally invited to Moscow. In addition, the princess called from Western Europe artists and architects, so that they ennobled the capital: they built palaces, erected new temples. It was then that Moscow was adorned with the Kremlin towers, the Terem Palace and the Archangel Cathedral.

Of course, we cannot know what the marriage of Sophia and Ivan III really was, unfortunately, we can only guess about this (it is only known that, according to various hypotheses, they had 9 or 12 children). A serial film is primarily an artistic perception and understanding of their relationship; it is in its own way the author's interpretation of the fate of the princess. In the film novel, the love line is brought to the fore, and all other historical ups and downs seem to be an accompanying background. Of course, the creators do not promise absolute certainty, it was important for them to make a sensual picture that they would believe, the characters of which would sympathize with, and sincerely worry about their serial fate.

However, everything that concerns the details, the filmmakers have given tremendous importance. In this regard, it is possible and necessary to learn history on a film: historically accurate scenery was created especially for filming (the decoration of the princely palace, the secret offices of the Vatican, even the smallest household items of the era), costumes (of which more than 1000 were made and mostly by hand). For the filming of Sofia, consultants and experts were involved so that even the most fastidious and attentive viewer would not have questions about the picture.

In the film novel, Sofia is a beauty. Actress Maria Andreeva - the star of the popular Duhless - in her incomplete 30s on the screen (on the date of filming) really looks 17. But historians confirmed that in fact Paleologus was not a beauty. However, ideals change not only over centuries, even over decades, and therefore it is difficult for us to rant about this. But the fact that she was overweight (according to her contemporaries, even critically) cannot be omitted. However, the same historians confirm that Sophia was indeed a very smart and educated woman for her time. This was understood by her contemporaries, and some of them, either out of envy or because of their own ignorance, were sure that such a smart Paleolog could only become thanks to connections with dark forces and the devil himself (based on this ambiguous hypothesis, one federal TV channel even directed the film "The Witch of All Rus'").

Sophia Paleolog... How much has been said, written, invented, discovered about her... Not every, far from every person in history is clothed in such a long train of omissions, gossip, slander... And in parallel with them - delights, thanks, admiration. The personality of Sophia Palaiologos has not let archaeologists, historians, doctors, scientists, researchers, and just people who at least somehow tangentially encountered stories about her sleep peacefully for a long time. So who is she? Genius? Villainess? Witch? Holy? Benefactor of the Russian land or a fiend? Based on the information of her biography known to us, we will try to figure it out.

Start over. Sophia, or in infancy Zoya, was born in the family of Thomas Palaiologos, the despot of the Morea. He was the younger brother of the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, who died during the fall of Constantinople in the middle of the 15th century.

It is after this phrase that sometimes gibberish begins in people's thinking. Well, if the father is a despot, then who should be a daughter? And the hail of accusations begins. Meanwhile, if we show a little curiosity and look into the dictionary, which interprets words for us not always in monosyllables, then we can read something else about the word "despot".

It turns out that the most senior Byzantine nobles were called despots. And despotates are such divisions in the state, similar to modern provinces or states. So Sofia's father was a nobleman who led one of these pieces of the state - a despotate.

She was not the only child in the family - she had two more brothers: Manuel and Andrei. The family professed Orthodoxy, the mother of the children, Ekaterina Akhaiskaya, was a very church-going woman, which she taught her children.

But the years were very difficult. The Byzantine Empire was on the verge of collapse. And when Constantine XI died and the capital was captured by the Turkish Sultan Mehmed II, the Palaiologos family was forced to flee from the family nest. First they settled on the island of Corfu, and later moved to Rome.

In Rome, children were orphaned. First, the mother died, and then, six months later, Thomas Palaiologos also went to the Lord. The education of orphans was taken up by the Greek scientist, the Uniate Vissarion of Nicaea, who served as a cardinal under Pope Sixtus IV (yes, it was he who ordered the construction of the chapel, which now bears his name - the Sistine).

And of course, Zoya and her brothers were brought up in Catholicism. But at the same time, the children received a good education. They knew Latin and Greek, mathematics and astronomy, and were fluent in several languages.

The Pope of Rome showed such virtue not only out of compassion for the orphans. His thoughts were much more pragmatic. In order to restore the Florentine union of churches and to attach the Moscow state to the union, he decided to marry Sophia Palaiologos to the Russian prince Ivan III, who had recently been a widower.

The widowed prince liked the desire of the Pope to make the ancient Moscow family related to famous family Palaeologist. But he himself could not decide anything. Ivan III asked his mother for advice on what to do. The offer was tempting, but he was well aware that not only his personal fate was at stake, but also the fate of the state, whose ruler he would become. His father, the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily II, nicknamed the Dark One because of his blindness, appointed the 16-year-old son as his co-ruler. And at the time of the alleged matchmaking, Vasily II had already passed away.

The mother sent her son to Metropolitan Philip. He spoke out sharply against the planned marriage and did not give his highest blessing to the prince. As for Ivan III himself, he liked the idea of ​​marriage with a Byzantine princess. Indeed, in this way, Moscow became the heir of Byzantium - the “third Rome”, which inexpressibly strengthened the authority of the Grand Duke not only in his own country, but also in relations with neighboring states.

On reflection, he sent his ambassador to Rome, the Italian Jean-Baptiste della Volpe, who in Moscow was called much more simply: Ivan Fryazin. His personality is very interesting. He was not only the chief minter of coins at the court of Grand Duke Ivan III, but also the farmer of this very profitable business. But it's not about him now.

The wedding contract was concluded, and Sophia, along with several accompanying persons, left Rome for Russia.

She crossed all of Europe. In all the cities where she stayed, she was given a magnificent reception and was bombarded with souvenirs. The last stop before arriving in Moscow was the city of Novgorod. And then an unfortunate event happened.

In Sofia's wagon train there was a big catholic cross. The news of this reached Moscow and incredibly upset Metropolitan Philip, who did not give his blessing for this marriage anyway. Vladyka Philip delivered an ultimatum: if the cross is brought into Moscow, it will leave the city. The matter took a serious turn. The envoy of Ivan III acted in Russian simply: having met a convoy at the entrance to Moscow, he took and took away the cross from the representative of the Pope, who accompanied Sophia Palaiologos. Everything was resolved quickly and without much fuss.

Directly on the day of her arrival in Belokamennaya, namely on November 12, 1472, as evidenced by the annals of that time, her wedding with Ivan III took place. It took place in a temporary wooden church, placed near the Assumption Cathedral under construction, so as not to stop worship. Metropolitan Philip, still beside himself with rage, refused to hold the wedding ceremony. And this sacrament was performed by Archpriest Josiah of Kolomna, who was specially urgently invited to Moscow. Sophia Paleolog became the wife of Ivan III. But, to the great misfortune and disappointment of the Pope, things did not turn out the way he expected.

According to legend, she brought with her a “bone throne” as a gift to her husband: its wooden frame was all covered with ivory and walrus ivory plates with biblical themes carved on them. Sophia brought with her several Orthodox icons.

Sophia, whose goal was to incline Rus' to Catholicism, became Orthodox. Angry envoys of the union left Moscow with nothing. A number of historians are inclined to the version that Sophia secretly communicated with the Athonite elders, comprehending the basics of the Orthodox faith, which she liked more and more. There is evidence that several Gentiles wooed her, whom she refused solely because of a discrepancy in religious views.

“A visible sign of the continuity of Rus' from Byzantium is the double-headed eagle - the dynastic sign of the Palaiologos family”

Be that as it may, Paleolog became the Grand Russian Duchess Sophia Fominichnaya. And not just became it formally. She brought with her to Rus' a great baggage - the covenants and traditions of the Byzantine Empire, the so-called "symphony" of state and church power. And these were not just words. A visible sign of the continuity of Rus' from Byzantium is the double-headed eagle - the dynastic sign of the Palaiologos family. And this sign becomes the state emblem of Rus'. A little later, a horseman was added to it, striking a snake with a sword - St. George the Victorious, who used to be the coat of arms of Moscow.

The husband listened to the wise advice of his enlightened wife, although his boyars, who previously had undivided influence on the prince, did not like it.

And Sophia became not only her husband's assistant in state affairs, but also the mother of a huge family. She had 12 children, 9 of whom lived a long life. First, Elena was born, who died in early infancy. Fedosiya followed her, followed by Elena again. And finally - happiness! Heir! On the night of March 25-26, 1479, a boy was born, named after his grandfather Vasily. Sophia Palaiologos had a son, Vasily, the future Vasily III. For his mother, he always remained Gabriel - in honor of the Archangel Gabriel, to whom she tearfully prayed for the gift of an heir.

Fate also gave the spouses Yuri, Dmitry, Evdokia (who also died as a baby), Ivan (died as a child), Simeon, Andrei, again Evdokia and Boris.

Immediately after the birth of the heir, Sophia Paleologus ensured that he was declared the Grand Duke. By this action, she practically ousted the eldest son of Ivan III from a previous marriage - Ivan (Young), and after him - his son, that is, the grandson of Ivan III - Dmitry.

Naturally, this led to all sorts of rumors. But they didn't seem to care at all Grand Duchess. She was worried about something else.

Sophia Palaiologos insisted that her husband surround himself with splendor, wealth and etiquette at court. These were the traditions of the empire, and they had to be observed. From Western Europe, doctors, artists, architects, architects flooded Moscow ... They were ordered to decorate the capital!

Aristotle Fioravanti was invited from Milan, who was charged with the task of building the Kremlin chambers. The choice was not accidental. Signor Aristotle was known as an excellent specialist in underground passages, caches and labyrinths.

And before laying the walls of the Kremlin, he built real catacombs under them, in one of the casemates of which a real treasury was hidden - a library in which manuscripts from antiquity and folios saved during the fire of the famous Alexandria Library were stored. Remember, on the feast of the Presentation, we talked about Simeon the God-Receiver? Just his translation of the book of the prophet Isaiah into Greek was kept in this library.

In addition to the Kremlin chambers, the architect Fioravanti built the Assumption and Annunciation Cathedrals. Thanks to the skill of other architects, the Palace of Facets, the Kremlin towers, the Terem Palace, the Treasury Yard and Cathedral of the Archangel. Moscow every day became more and more beautiful, as if preparing to become royal.

But not only this cared for our heroine. Sophia Paleolog, having a great influence on her husband, who saw in her a reliable friend and wise adviser, convinced him to refuse to pay tribute to the Golden Horde. Ivan III finally threw off this long-term yoke. But the boyars were very afraid that the horde would go berserk after learning about the decision of the prince, and bloodshed would begin. But Ivan III was firm, enlisting the support of his wife.

Well. So far, we can say that Sophia Paleolog was a good genius both for her husband and for Mother Rus'. But we forgot about one person who did not think so at all. This man's name is Ivan. Ivan the Young, as he was called at court. And he was a son from the first marriage of Grand Duke Ivan III.

After Sophia's son Palaiologos was declared heir to the throne, the Russian nobility at court split. Two groups formed: one supported Ivan the Young, the other - Sophia.

From the very appearance at court, Ivan the Young did not have a relationship with Sophia, and she did not try to establish them, being engaged in other state and personal affairs. Ivan Molodoy was only three years younger than his stepmother, and like all teenagers, he was jealous of his father for his new lover. Soon, Ivan the Young also married the daughter of the sovereign of Moldavia, Stephen the Great, Elena Voloshanka. And at the time of the birth of his half-brother, he himself was already the father of his son Dmitry.

Ivan Molodoy, Dmitry ... Vasily's chances of taking the throne were very illusory. And this did not suit Sophia Paleolog. It didn't suit me at all. Two women - Sophia and Elena - became sworn enemies and simply burned with the desire to get rid of not only each other, but also the offspring of a competitor. Sophia Paleologus makes a mistake. But about this in order.

The Grand Duchess supported very warm friendly relations with his brother Andrew. His daughter Maria married in Moscow Prince Vasily Vereisky, who was the nephew of Ivan III. And once Sophia, without asking her husband, gave her niece a jewel that once belonged to the first wife of Ivan III.

And the Grand Duke, seeing his daughter-in-law's dislike for his wife, decided to appease her and give her this family jewel. This is where the big failure happened! The prince was beside himself with anger! He demanded that Vasily Vereisky immediately return the family heirloom to him. But he refused. Say, a gift, sorry! Moreover, its cost was very, very impressive.

Ivan III was simply furious and ordered to plant Prince Vasily Vereisky and his wife in a dungeon! The relatives had to hastily flee to Lithuania, where they escaped the wrath of the sovereign. But the prince was angry with his wife for this act for a long time.

By the end of the 15th century, the passions in the grand ducal family subsided. At least the appearance of a cold world remained. Suddenly a new misfortune struck: Ivan Molodoy fell ill with an ache in his legs, he was practically paralyzed. The best doctors from Europe were hastily sent to him. But they couldn't help him. Soon Ivan Young died.

Doctors, as usual, were executed ... But in the circle of the boyars, the rumor began to emerge more and more clearly that Sophia Paleolog had a hand in the death of the heir. Say, she poisoned her rival Vasily. A rumor reached Ivan III that some dashing women with a potion came to Sophia. He was furious, and did not want to see his wife, and ordered his son Vasily to be kept in custody. The women who came to Sophia were drowned in the river, many were thrown into prison. But Sophia Paleolog did not stop at this.

After all, Ivan the Young left an heir, known as Dmitry Ivanovich Vnuk. Grandson of Ivan III. And on February 4, 1498, at the end of the 15th century, he was officially proclaimed heir to the throne.

But you have a bad idea of ​​​​the personality of Sophia Paleolog if you think that she has reconciled. Quite the opposite.

At that time, the Judaizing heresy began to spread in Rus'. She was brought to Rus' by some Kiev Jewish scientist named Skhariya. He began to alter Christianity in a Jewish manner, denied the Holy Trinity, put the Old Testament more important than the New, rejected the veneration of icons and relics of saints ... In general, in modern terms, he gathered the same sectarians like him, who broke away from holy Orthodoxy. Elena Voloshanka and Prince Dmitry somehow joined this sect.

It was a great trump card in the hands of Sophia Palaiologos. Immediately, sectarianism was reported to Ivan III. And Elena and Dmitry fell into disgrace. Sophia and Vasily again took their former position. From that time on, the sovereign began, according to the chroniclers, "not to take care of his grandson", and declared his son Vasily the Grand Duke of Novgorod and Pskov. Sophia achieved what was ordered to keep Dmitry and Elena in custody, not to commemorate them at litanies in the church and not to call Dmitry the Grand Duke.

Sophia Paleolog, who actually won the royal throne for her son, did not live to see this day. She died in 1503. Elena Voloshanka also died in prison.

Thanks to the method of plastic reconstruction from the skull, at the end of 1994, a sculptural portrait of Grand Duchess Sophia Paleolog was restored. She was short - about 160 cm, full, with volitional traits face and had a mustache that did not spoil her in the least.

Ivan III, already feeling weak in health, prepared a will. Basil is listed as heir to the throne.

Meanwhile, it was time for Vasily to get married. An attempt to marry him to the daughter of the Danish king failed; then, on the advice of a courtier, a Greek, Ivan Vasilyevich followed the example of the Byzantine emperors. It was ordered to the court to gather the most beautiful girls, daughters of the boyars and boyar children, for the bride. They collected fifteen hundred of them. Vasily chose Solomonia, the daughter of the nobleman Saburov.

Ivan Vasilyevich, after the death of his wife, lost heart, became seriously ill. Apparently, Grand Duchess Sophia gave him the necessary energy to build a new power, her mind helped in state affairs, her sensitivity warned of dangers, her all-conquering love gave him strength and courage. Leaving all his affairs, he went on a trip to the monasteries, but failed to atone for sins. He was stricken with paralysis. On October 27, 1505, he passed away to the Lord, having outlived his beloved wife by only two years.

Vasily III, having ascended the throne, first of all tightened the conditions of detention of his nephew, Dmitry Vnuk. He was shackled and placed in a small stuffy cell. In 1509 he died.

Basil and Solomon had no children. On the advice of those close to him, he married Elena Glinskaya. On August 25, 1530, Elena Glinskaya gave birth to the heir Vasily III, who was named John at baptism. Then there was a rumor that when he was born, a terrible thunder swept across the Russian land, lightning flashed and the earth trembled ...

Ivan the Terrible was born, as modern scientists say, outwardly very similar to his grandmother - Sophia Paleolog. Ivan the Terrible is a maniac, a sadist, a libertine, a despot, an alcoholic, the first Russian tsar and the last in the Rurik dynasty. Ivan the Terrible, who accepted the schema on his deathbed and was buried in a cassock and a doll. But that's a completely different story.

And Sophia Paleolog was buried in a massive white stone sarcophagus in the tomb of the Ascension Cathedral in the Kremlin. Next to her rested the body of the first wife of Ivan III - Maria Borisovna. This cathedral was destroyed in 1929 by the new government. But the remains of the women of the royal house survived. They now rest in the underground chamber of the Archangel Cathedral.

Such was the life of Sophia Paleolog. Virtue and villainy, genius and meanness, the decoration of Moscow and the destruction of competitors - everything was in her difficult, but very bright biography.

Who she is - the embodiment of evil and intrigue or the creator of the new Muscovy - you decide, reader. In any case, her name is inscribed in the annals of history, and part of her family coat of arms - the double-headed eagle - we see today on Russian heraldry.

One thing is certain - she made a huge contribution to the history of the Moscow principality. May he rest in peace! The mere fact that she did not allow Moscow to become a Catholic state is priceless for us Orthodox!

The main photo is the meeting of Princess Sophia Paleolog by Pskov posadniks and boyars at the mouth of the Embakh on Lake Peipus. Bronnikov F.A.

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Sophia Palaiologos (? -1503), wife (since 1472) of Grand Duke Ivan III, niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos. Arrived in Moscow on November 12, 1472; on the same day, her wedding with Ivan III took place in the Assumption Cathedral. Marriage with Sophia Paleolog helped to strengthen the prestige of the Russian state in international relations and the authority of the grand-ducal power within the country. For Sophia Paleolog in Moscow, special mansions and a courtyard were built. Under Sophia Palaiologos, the grand-ducal court was distinguished by its special splendor. Architects were invited from Italy to Moscow to decorate the palace and the capital. The walls and towers of the Kremlin, the Cathedral of the Assumption and the Annunciation, the Palace of Facets, and the Terem Palace were erected. Sophia Paleolog brought a rich library to Moscow. The dynastic marriage of Ivan III with Sophia Palaiologos owes its appearance to the ceremony of crowning the kingdom. The arrival of Sophia Palaiologos is associated with the appearance of an ivory throne in the dynastic regalia, on the back of which was placed the image of a unicorn, which became one of the most common emblems of Russian state power. Around 1490, an image of a crowned double-headed eagle first appeared on the main portal of the Faceted Chamber. The Byzantine concept of the sacredness of imperial power directly influenced the introduction by Ivan III of "theology" ("God's grace") in the title and in the preamble of state letters.

KURBSKY TO GROZNY ABOUT HIS GRANDMA

But the abundance of your Majesty's malice is such that it destroys not only friends, but, together with your guardsmen, the entire Russian holy land, the robber of houses and the murderer of sons! May God save you from this and may the Lord, the king of the ages, not allow it to be! After all, even then everything is going like a knife-edge, because if not sons, then you have killed your half-blooded and close-born brothers, overflowing the measure of bloodsuckers - your father and your mother and grandfather. After all, your father and mother - everyone knows how many they killed. In the same way, your grandfather, with your Greek grandmother, having renounced and forgotten love and kinship, killed his wonderful son Ivan, courageous and glorified in heroic enterprises, born from his first wife, St. Mary, Princess of Tver, and also his divinely crowned grandson born from him Tsar Demetrius, together with his mother, Saint Helen, - the first with a deadly poison, and the second with years of imprisonment in prison, and then by strangulation. But he was not satisfied with this!

MARRIAGE OF IVAN III AND SOFIA PALEOLOG

May 29, 1453 the legendary Constantinople, besieged by the Turkish army, fell. The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, died in battle defending Constantinople. His younger brother Thomas Palaiologos, ruler of the small appanage state of Morea on the Peloponnese, fled with his family to Corfu and then to Rome. After all, Byzantium, hoping to receive military assistance from Europe in the fight against the Turks, signed the Union of Florence in 1439 on the unification of the Churches, and now its rulers could seek refuge from the papal throne. Thomas Palaiologos was able to take out the greatest shrines of the Christian world, including the head of the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called. In gratitude for this, he received a house in Rome and a good boarding house from the papacy.

In 1465, Thomas died, leaving three children - the sons of Andrei and Manuel and youngest daughter Zoya. The exact date of her birth is unknown. It is believed that she was born in 1443 or 1449 in her father's possessions in the Peloponnese, where she received her primary education. The education of the royal orphans was taken over by the Vatican, entrusting them to Cardinal Bessarion of Nicaea. A Greek by birth, a former archbishop of Nicaea, he was an ardent supporter of the signing of the Union of Florence, after which he became a cardinal in Rome. He raised Zoya Palaiologos in European Catholic traditions and especially taught that she humbly follow the principles of Catholicism in everything, calling her "the beloved daughter of the Roman Church." Only in this case, he inspired the pupil, fate will give you everything. However, it turned out quite the opposite.

In February 1469, the ambassador of Cardinal Vissarion arrived in Moscow with a letter to the Grand Duke, in which he was invited to marry legally with the daughter of the Despot of Morea. Among other things, the letter mentioned that Sophia (the name Zoya was diplomatically replaced with the Orthodox Sophia) had already refused two crowned suitors who were wooing her - the French king and the Duke of Mediolan, not wanting to marry a Catholic ruler.

According to the ideas of that time, Sophia was already considered an elderly woman, but she was very attractive, with amazingly beautiful, expressive eyes and delicate matte skin, which in Rus' was considered a sign of excellent health. And most importantly, she was distinguished by a sharp mind and an article worthy of a Byzantine princess.

The Moscow sovereign accepted the offer. He sent his ambassador, the Italian Gian Battista della Volpe (he was nicknamed Ivan Fryazin in Moscow) to Rome to woo. The messenger returned a few months later, in November, bringing with him a portrait of the bride. This portrait, which seems to have begun the era of Sophia Paleolog in Moscow, is considered the first secular image in Rus'. At least, they were so amazed by him that the chronicler called the portrait an “icon”, not finding another word: “And bring the princess on the icon.”

However, the matchmaking dragged on, because Metropolitan Philip of Moscow objected for a long time to the marriage of the sovereign with a Uniate woman, moreover, a pupil of the papal throne, fearing the spread of Catholic influence in Rus'. Only in January 1472, having received the consent of the hierarch, Ivan III sent an embassy to Rome for the bride. Already on June 1, at the insistence of Cardinal Vissarion, a symbolic betrothal took place in Rome - the engagement of Princess Sophia and the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan, who was represented by the Russian ambassador Ivan Fryazin. In the same June, Sophia set off with an honorary retinue and the papal legate Anthony, who soon had to see firsthand the vain hopes placed by Rome on this marriage. According to Catholic tradition, a Latin cross was carried in front of the procession, which led to great confusion and excitement among the inhabitants of Russia. Upon learning of this, Metropolitan Philip threatened the Grand Duke: “If you allow in blessed Moscow to carry the cross in front of the Latin bishop, then he will enter the single gate, and I, your father, will go out of the city differently.” Ivan III immediately sent a boyar to meet the procession with an order to remove the cross from the sleigh, and the legate had to obey with great displeasure. The princess herself behaved as befits the future ruler of Rus'. Having entered the Pskov land, she first of all visited an Orthodox church, where she kissed the icons. The legate had to obey here too: follow her to the church, and there bow to the holy icons and venerate the image of the Mother of God by order of the despina (from the Greek despot- "ruler"). And then Sophia promised the admiring Pskovites her protection before the Grand Duke.

Ivan III did not intend to fight for the "inheritance" with the Turks, much less to accept the Union of Florence. And Sophia was not at all going to Catholicize Rus'. On the contrary, she showed herself to be an active Orthodox. Some historians believe that she did not care what faith she professed. Others suggest that Sophia, apparently raised in her childhood by the elders of Athos, opponents of the Union of Florence, was deeply Orthodox at heart. She skillfully hid her faith from the powerful Roman "patrons" who did not help her homeland, betraying her to the Gentiles for ruin and death. One way or another, this marriage only strengthened Muscovy, contributing to its conversion into the great Third Rome.

Early in the morning of November 12, 1472, Sophia Paleolog arrived in Moscow, where everything was ready for the wedding celebration, timed to coincide with the name day of the Grand Duke - the day of memory of St. John Chrysostom. On the same day in the Kremlin, in a temporary wooden church, set up near the Assumption Cathedral under construction, so as not to stop worship, the sovereign married her. The Byzantine princess saw her husband for the first time then. The Grand Duke was young - only 32 years old, handsome, tall and stately. Especially remarkable were his eyes, "terrible eyes": when he was angry, women fainted from his terrible look. And before he was distinguished by a tough character, and now, having become related to the Byzantine monarchs, he has turned into a formidable and powerful sovereign. This was a considerable merit of his young wife.

The wedding in a wooden church made a strong impression on Sophia Paleolog. The Byzantine princess, brought up in Europe, was different from Russian women in many ways. Sophia brought with her her ideas about the court and the power of power, and many Moscow orders were not to her liking. She did not like that her sovereign husband remained a tributary of the Tatar Khan, that the boyar entourage behaved too freely with their sovereign. That the Russian capital, built entirely of wood, stands with patched fortifications and dilapidated stone churches. That even the sovereign's mansions in the Kremlin are wooden, and that Russian women look at the world from the little window of the lighthouse. Sophia Paleolog not only made changes at court. Some Moscow monuments owe their appearance to her.

She brought a generous dowry to Rus'. After the wedding, Ivan III adopted the Byzantine double-headed eagle as a coat of arms - a symbol of royal power, placing it on his seal. The two heads of the eagle face West and East, Europe and Asia, symbolizing their unity, as well as the unity (“symphony”) of spiritual and secular power. Actually, Sophia's dowry was the legendary "liberia" - a library allegedly brought on 70 carts (better known as the "library of Ivan the Terrible"). It included Greek parchments, Latin chronographs, ancient Eastern manuscripts, among which were the poems of Homer unknown to us, the works of Aristotle and Plato, and even the surviving books from the famous library of Alexandria. Seeing wooden Moscow, burned after a fire in 1470, Sophia was frightened for the fate of the treasure and for the first time hid the books in the basement of the stone church of the Nativity of the Virgin on Senya - the house church of the Moscow Grand Duchesses, built by order of St. Evdokia, the widow. And, according to the Moscow custom, she put her own treasury for preservation in the underground of the Kremlin Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist - the very first church in Moscow, which stood until 1847.

According to legend, she brought with her a “bone throne” as a gift to her husband: its wooden frame was all covered with ivory and walrus ivory plates with biblical themes carved on them. This throne is known to us as the throne of Ivan the Terrible: the tsar is depicted on it by the sculptor M. Antokolsky. In 1896, the throne was installed in the Assumption Cathedral for the coronation of Nicholas II. But the sovereign ordered to place it for Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (according to other sources - for his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna), and he himself wished to be crowned on the throne of the first Romanov. And now the throne of Ivan the Terrible is the oldest in the Kremlin collection.

Sophia brought with her several Orthodox icons, including, as they say, a rare icon Mother of God“Blessed Sky”… And even after the wedding of Ivan III, an image of the Byzantine Emperor Michael III, the ancestor of the Palaiologos dynasty, with which the Moscow rulers became related, appeared in the Archangel Cathedral. Thus, the continuity of Moscow to the Byzantine Empire was affirmed, and the Moscow sovereigns appeared as the heirs of the Byzantine emperors.