CHAPTER XVII

SIEGE OF MOSCOW

Mamai fled from Kulikovo and assembled a fresh and numerous army to

take revenge on Dmitri for his triumph. But suddenly a new enemy rose

up against him: Tohtamish, made Khan only recently by Tamerlane,

declared himself heir of Batu, and set out from the Yaik River to take

possession of his inheritance. Mamai marched forth to meet him, and on

that renowned field near the Kalka, the field where Mystislav the

Gallant had been vanquished, the Mongols met now to slaughter one

another. Tohtamish triumphed. Mamai’s perfidious murzars fell at the

feet of the conqueror, and swore to serve him faithfully all their

lives. Mamai fled to Kaffa, the present Theodosia, taking with him rich

treasures. “He went with much gold, silver, jewels and pearls, and was

slain by the Genoese deceitfully.” They seized all his property, secure

in the knowledge that the death of Mamai would please the new Khan

greatly. The position of the Genoese was precarious in those days, and

they strove always to please in every way possible the Mongol Khan who

was in power.

Master now of the Golden Horde, Tohtamish sent envoys to Moscow and all

other places, stating that he had conquered Mamai, their common enemy,

and had taken possession of Sarai. The unexpected and uninvited guests

were received nowhere with pleasure; still they were entertained with

honor and dismissed with presents and politeness; but those things were

not what the new Khan was seeking. He wished to see the Russians just

such slaves as they had been under Batu and Uzbek.

In 1381, Tohtamish sent an envoy, Ak Hodja, with a suite of seven

hundred, to Dmitri to demand that all princes should visit him

immediately. But when he reached Nizni, the envoy dared not go farther.

The Grand Prince had sent a message saying that he could not answer for

the safety of Ak Hodja or that of his suite, should they continue their

journey to Moscow. Ak Hodja then sent attendants to consult with

Dmitri, but even those, when they saw the resentment of Russians, did

not venture to enter the capital. Indignation against messengers

bringing insolent demands from men who had fled from the battle-field

of Kulikovo was pardonable on the part of the victors, but in the lofty

answer of Dmitri was heard a note which had never been heard from him

earlier, and this note was not to the profit of Russia.

After the victory at Kulikovo, Dmitri was so confident that he did not

think it necessary to assemble new forces, and be ready for battle.

Trusting too much in Mongol weakness, he turned his attention to home

questions. Feeling the need of a metropolitan, it was decided to summon

Cyprian, who had been expelled from Moscow. An embassy was sent to him,

and on May 23, 1381, he returned, and was received in the city with

great solemnity. On that same day was announced the coming of Pimen,

ordained at Tsargrad in place of Mityai. But, as already stated, upon

his arrival at Kolomna, he was arrested and sent off to Chuhloma. Thus

the Grand Prince passed the year occupied in home affairs, till news

came on a sudden that, in the land of the Bulgars, the Mongols had

arrested Russian merchants, had seized their boats, and in those boats

they were now sending warriors toward Moscow.

When Dmitri insulted and threatened Tohtamish’s envoy, serious work

began at once at the Horde. A daring campaign was planned and

preparations were made in strict secrecy. Tohtamish wished to surprise

Moscow and capture it. Every man who could give news to the capital was

seized and held securely; strong pickets were stationed at all points.

Even reports could not go to Dmitri. At last, however, in spite of

every precaution, news reached Moscow, but too late to be of service.

Dmitri learned of the terrible power of his enemy only when many

Russian princes had already joined Tohtamish.

In this absence of union among princes lay the peril of Moscow. The

great need was to root out this remnant of a system of semi-independent

princes, a system no longer endurable, and unite the whole country.

Moscow had done much in that direction, already. The victory on the Don

was proof of what Russia could do when princes were united. But the

more Dmitri gained, the less did other princes find in union their

personal profit, and profit was all that most of them cared for at that

time. They had helped to strengthen Moscow, but they had no wish to

raise the Moscow prince higher.

Dmitri of Nizni, when he heard of the Tohtamish movement, sent his two

sons very promptly to the Horde with gifts, but the Khan was already on

the road. By rushing after him quickly, they came up to Tohtamish in

Ryazan. Oleg, whose treachery in Mamai’s day had been forgiven by the

Grand Prince, now betrayed Moscow a second time. He went out to meet

the Khan, gave him many presents, offered to guide him in person, and

advised as to how to take the capital.

Surprised now for the first time, Dmitri was discouraged. It was too

late to find troops. At first he thought to entrench himself near

Kolomna, but, on summoning his voevodas and available warriors, he

discovered the astonishing weakness of his army, and, after consulting

with his cousin, decided that with such troops he could do nothing

effective. Some advised sending gifts, and begging for mercy; others

said that the Khan was raging, that the only way was to stand sieges in

cities, and wait till men could be assembled from all points. The Grand

Prince decided to visit Yaroslavl, Rostoff, Kostroma, and find men

there. Vladimir was to hurry to Volok and get warriors in those parts.

Meanwhile the Khan’s troops were rapidly approaching. In his army were

Dmitri’s brothers-in-law; Oleg of Ryazan was there also.

In Kostroma the Grand Prince enrolled perhaps ten thousand men. From

Novgorod no word had come thus far. The Tver prince, instead of helping

Dmitri, sent his son to the Khan with gifts and homage. Many warriors

in Dmitri’s regiments deserted; whole companies went home of their own

accord. There was a general paralysis. In Moscow, deserted by the army

and left without a leader, there was anarchy. All who were able hurried

out of the city, and then appeared vagrants and persons who in ordinary

times were not visible anywhere. The mob rang the bells and summoned

the inhabitants to die in defense of their city. The Grand Princess and

her children left Moscow, as did the metropolitan Cyprian. The people

wished to keep the metropolitan with them, but, leaving all things and

every one, he escaped unobserved and unattended, and fled to the Tver

prince. The mob was like a sea in a tempest; there was no hope of

rescue from any side.

All at once Prince Ostei appeared in the capital with a small group of

warriors. The crowd did not know well who this prince was, or whence he

came. Some declared him a son of Oleg; but in every case they were

delighted, for it was clear that he knew well the art of war. There was

more order after his coming. A great number of people assembled from

the environs, and Ostei, before shutting the gates of the Kremlin,

admitted all who would enter. The main defenders, however, were a

rabble, the lowest of the city, and a few merchants, abbots, priests,

monks and deacons, men of all ages, and women, some even with infants.

August 15, 1382, the smoke and the light of distant burning announced

the approach of Tohtamish and his forces. On August 22 he was near the

city and sent his advance-guard to strike at the Kremlin. The Mongols

examined the ramparts, rode around the walls, estimated the depth of

the moats, and looked at points whence attack might be possible.

Approaching the gates, they shouted: “Is the Grand Prince in Moscow?”

They received no answer, and toward evening they vanished. Next morning

the Khan came himself and laid siege to the Kremlin.

The nondescript mob in the city robbed, drank, and rioted. Prince

Ostei, who was defending the fortress, was unable to repress the

disorder; he was fighting on the walls and greatly occupied. He met all

assaults with success, and wherever the enemy tried to carry a position

he drove them back effectively. The Mongols had no wall-breaking

engines. For three days Tohtamish was baffled at every point. The

fourth morning the besieged were astounded,—it was silent and quiet in

the camp of the enemy. Soon a party of richly dressed warriors rode

toward the Kremlin, princes of the Horde, with a suite in large

numbers. In front of all were the brothers-in-law of the Grand Prince,

Simeon and Vassili, sons of Dmitri of Nizni. The suite made signs that

they came for peace, and were allowed to ride up to the defenses. “The

Khan wishes to show his people grace,” said they. “He has come not

against you, who are guilty of nothing. Our sovereign has not come to

strike you, but Dmitri. He is not angry with you,—ye are worthy of

favor. He only asks you to come out with small gifts and show honor; he

desires nothing further.” The same words were repeated by Dmitri’s two

brothers-in-law, whom the Khan had sent also to parley. These Nizni

princes declared that Tohtamish had sworn to harm no one, and to take

nothing save that which was given him with honor. Simeon seized the

cross from his neck and kissed it to prove his sincerity.

Prince Ostei and all who had wisdom believed not, but many, even of

those who seemed wise, were pleased at this way of ending the struggle.

The mob, from being warlike, called for peace, and opposed Prince

Ostei, the commander. “He alone,” said they, “keeps up this struggle;

we must stop it.” The prince turned to the best of the people with

these words: “Wait only a little; the Grand Prince and his cousin are

coming with reinforcements. The Khan has only a small army; ye must not

believe those two princes from Nizni. Above all put no trust in the

words of Tohtamish; his promises are worthless.” But the mob would not

listen. From the walls they made the Horde princes take oath to harm no

one. The Nizni princes swore in the same sense a second time. The

clergy went out then with images and crosses. Prince Ostei, with the

best of the citizens, followed. Next came a great crowd of people with

gifts, and with homage. When the procession drew near the enemy’s camp,

sabres flashed up on all sides. The Mongols snatched the holy images

and crosses from the clergy, threw them on the ground and trampled

them; then they cut down priests and people. The whole square in front

of the Kremlin was soon streaming with blood. Next they rushed through

the gates like a torrent, and slew all inside the Kremlin. There was no

place of refuge. Those who fled to churches were slaughtered there. All

were slain without distinction. Everything of value was taken from the

churches, and not one book escaped destruction. All the wealth

collected during long years of labor was lost in that one day of

terror, August 26, 1382.

Tohtamish feasted among the ruins of Moscow, and sent men in every

direction, to Vladimir, Pereyaslavl and other places, for plunder. The

division which went to Volok was met by Vladimir the Brave, who

defeated it thoroughly, killing, it was said, six thousand Mongols.

When the remnant of those Mongols returned, Tohtamish recalled his

plundering parties, and withdrew to Sarai with immense booty, and a

great crowd of captives. On the way he burned Kolomna, and plundered

Oleg’s lands unmercifully. But through an envoy he sent thanks to

Dmitri of Nizni for sending his sons as assistants.

Moscow was filled with decaying corpses; people of every age and

condition were lying there dead, and every building was either burned

to the earth, or in ruins. Twenty-four thousand people were buried by

Dmitri when he came back to his capital.

The princes of Ryazan, Tver, and Nizni gained nothing by their

disloyalty to the Grand Prince. Oleg of Ryazan suffered heavily when

the Khan was retiring from Moscow, and Dmitri, who had forgiven Oleg’s

perfidy in Mamai’s day, now made him pay dearly for aiding the men who

burned the capital.

As reward to the Nizni prince, Tohtamish gave the grand patent and

returned to him his son Simeon; but he gave him no help to win

Vladimir, and retained Vassili, the second son, as hostage.

When Michael of Tver and his son went to the Horde with rich gifts, the

Khan’s intimates promised every aid, but time passed while Michael

spent much and gained nothing save promises. The metropolitan, Cyprian,

favored Michael, and would not return to Moscow, though two boyars were

sent to conduct him; as a result of this disobedience he was banished a

second time in favor of Pimen.

Upon Dmitri’s return to Moscow, he called back the people who had fled

to other places to save themselves and rebuilt the city with energy. He

was at a loss as to how to treat Mamai’s successor, when Tohtamish

himself settled the problem. The Khan, seeing that Dmitri was not

prepared to visit Sarai, or send boyars with his homage, despatched a

gracious embassy to Moscow, while the city was still in ruins. Men knew

at the capital that Tohtamish had sent the Nizni prince a patent to the

Grand Principality. It was known also that Michael of Tver had tried,

through much gold and silver, to get the same patent, with the addition

of Novgorod, but Karatch, the Khan’s envoy, declared to Dmitri that

Tohtamish would not displace him; he had satisfied his anger, and the

past was forgotten. They gave good presents to the envoy who had come

with this information, and conducted him homeward with honor.

In 1383 the Grand Prince, no matter how grievous it might be, had to

show the Khan honor by sending his heir, Vassili, a boy of twelve years

of age, to give homage. Important boyars went with him. Michael of Tver

was then at the Horde, negotiating for the patent. He had more wealth

than the Moscow prince, but Dmitri’s boyars referred to previous

charters, especially that of Chanibek, who had confirmed the Moscow

primacy forever, and then they showed the original document. Tohtamish,

who rested his own claims on regular descent, and wished to honor his

ancestor in order to strengthen his own power with the past of the

Golden Horde, gave Dmitri the charter.

Michael of Tver, greatly grieved and disappointed, left the Horde,

complaining specially against that Mongol prince, who had promised him

success beyond peradventure. “I know my possessions,” said Tohtamish,

while dismissing him. “All the Russian princes are living on land which

belongs to me. Let each live on that which falls to him by usage. If he

serves me with truth, I will reward him. Dmitri offended me, I punished

him; he serves me now truthfully, hence I reward him. Do thou go to

Tver, and serve there as is proper; thee also will I reward in time.”

The Khan dismissed Michael, but kept Michael’s son as a hostage.

The evil rule of the new Khan was distinguished for uncertainty:

Tamerlane had given the throne to him, but once in power, Tohtamish,

wishing to be independent, dared to measure forces with that great

conqueror. He raised his hand against his protector and invaded

Samarkand, Tamerlane’s capital; next he attacked Persian regions and

found there a terrible answer. He received blow after blow, one more

deadly than the other, from the great Mongol, who had conquered a large

part of Asia. At last the final blow struck him. These campaigns, with

the dread of his master and the preparations to ward off invasions,

drew away Tohtamish, whose absences from Sarai were protracted and

frequent. At times it seemed as if Mongol power in Russia had ended,

and then Dmitri’s authority appeared in its vigor. But that was in the

last period of Tohtamish’s reign.

Subjection to Tohtamish was at first very grievous; it recalled the

worst days of Uzbek’s reign. Vassili, the heir of the Grand Prince,

sent to the Horde to render homage, was detained most ungraciously for

more than two years. Again Russian princes went to get patents, and

complain one against another.

In 1383 the Nizni prince died, and no matter how Simeon and Vassili

strove for their father’s inheritance, the Khan, not wishing to offend

Boris, their uncle, gave Nizni to him, and to them he left Suzdal; but

one of the brothers, Vassili, he kept at the Horde as a hostage. A

quarrel rose now between the uncle and his nephews, and the nephews

turned to Dmitri of Moscow to help them. Since Nizni had been

considered as connected with Moscow, Dmitri might not wish his

brothers-in-law to win Nizni, as they had not scrupled to help

Tohtamish; still it would be easier to get Nizni from them than from

their uncle. Therefore, in 1387, the Grand Prince assisted them to

Nizni. Boris, who had suffered much in struggling with Moscow, said

then to his nephews: “My dear children, I weep now because of you;

later on you will weep because of another,” hinting thus at future

absorption of Nizni by Moscow. The brothers got Nizni at the price of

subjection to Moscow, which after that held Nizni as its own land

forever. Thus, after a period, Dmitri again paid small respect to the

Mongols.

In 1385, Oleg of Ryazan prepared to avenge on Dmitri the blow which the

latter had dealt him because of aid given the Horde in their conflict

with Moscow. He seized Kolomna, and, following this seizure, a bloody

war broke out between the two princes. Vladimir the Brave led the army

of Moscow. The Ryazan prince suffered heavily, but so did Dmitri. One

battle especially was noted for stubbornness; many of the best men on

both sides were slain. Dmitri offered peace, but Oleg was haughty; no

matter what offers were made, he was insolent. The Grand Prince, who

had grieved much under Mongol subjection, was crushed by the endless

strife among princes, so he sent to the Troitski monastery, and begged

holy Sergai to visit Oleg on a mission.

Sergai was revered throughout Russia and famed, as the chronicler tells

us, for gifts from the Holy Spirit. He so discoursed with Oleg that he

changed all his venom to kindness, and made final peace between the two

princes. After that there was no war either between Oleg and Dmitri, or

between their descendants. This same year, 1385, Dmitri had a son

christened Peter, and Sergai was his godfather.

The following year Feodor, son of Oleg, married Sophia, a daughter of

the Grand Prince. Dmitri’s next act was to bring Novgorod to reason.

Counting on the weakness of Moscow after the war with Oleg, Novgorod

neglected all obligations, and it was only after an attack on the city,

in which many princes assisted, that Dmitri maintained his position.

Novgorod then paid its dues and signed a new treaty.

After his son had been absent nearly three years at Sarai, Dmitri

obtained the Khan’s consent to his return. Freed at last from

detention, the young prince hurried off with great gladness. Before

returning to Moscow, however, he passed a year in Romania and Western

Russia. He went then to Lutsk on a visit to Vitold, in whose daughter,

Sophia, he saw a young woman who charmed him. Vitold’s mother, the

priestess Biruta, was famous for beauty, and had enchanted Keistut,

Vitold’s father. Biruta’s beauty may have been reflected in her

granddaughter. Anna, Vitold’s wife, who had saved him from prison and

death, might also have added her quota of comeliness. Sophia, in every

case, was a beautiful girl. Dmitri sent boyars to accompany Vassili on

his journey home, and charged them to bring Vitold to friendship. In

this they succeeded, and Vassili left Lutsk as the betrothed of Sophia.

The meeting of this youth with his father after four years of absence

was joyous. That was the time, as Dmitri had decided, to declare him

his heir, the coming Grand Prince.

Among Dmitri’s many troubles the one which weighed him down always was

that of succession. By raising their principality to be the central

land of all Russia, the sons and grandsons of Kalitá had placed Moscow

on a height unexampled, hence they looked on inheritance very

differently from others. Dmitri wished to fix primogeniture in his

line. The tendency to this came through favoring causes. Simeon the

Proud, Kalitá’s son and successor, was obeyed by Ivan and Andrei, his

younger brothers, as if he had been their own father. Simeon died

without heirs; almost at the same time died Andrei, so when Ivan

reigned in Moscow, after Simeon, he had no brothers. At Ivan’s death he

was succeeded by his one son, Dmitri, whose brother, Ivan, had died

early, hence there was only one descendant of Kalitá contemporary with

Dmitri, his cousin Vladimir, Andrei’s orphan. Vladimir, afterward

surnamed the Brave, was Dmitri’s lifelong trusty comrade. They were

“one man,” as people said who knew them. Dmitri became Grand Prince at

twelve, but his cousin was younger. The pillars of the Moscow

principality, the guardians of Dmitri and Vladimir, fixed in a treaty

the position of each prince to the other. This treaty declared that

Andrei’s father bound himself to serve his elder brother without

disobedience, to serve his principality with faith and fear. Vladimir

received only the possessions which had belonged to Andrei, his father,

while to Dmitri went all the rest, that is, what had belonged to his

father, Ivan, and to Simeon, his uncle. He reserved also the right in

certain cases to execute Vladimir’s boyars.

About ten years later, when Dmitri was going to the Horde to reconcile

the Khan with Moscow, he made a will in favor of his own son, Vassili,

born a few months earlier. A new treaty was made then with Vladimir,

who, to expressions of obedience to Dmitri, added: “I am not to seek

the Grand Principality against thee, or against thy children.” This is

a short line placed unobtrusively in a long list of settlements and

properties; but this line, almost unnoticeable among hundreds of names

of villages and places which formed the greater part of the document,

is remarkable, especially through the addition “or against thy

children.” It is clear that the inheritance of the Moscow throne from

father to eldest son, not being in accord with ancient usage, was not

yet firmly established. Toward the end of Dmitri’s reign, this became

the greatest of all the cares which weighed on him. Living, as it were,

in one family with his cousin, a friend faithful and devoted, his only

near relative, peerless for magnanimity, a man who had “a golden

heart,” as Dmitri himself declared with much emphasis, it was all the

more difficult to touch upon this very delicate question. It was

possible at first to avoid it, and for years say no word on the

subject, but at last came the hour when it was necessary to decide the

great question: Who shall inherit the throne on the death of Dmitri? If

Vassili were heir, the new form of state, begun since Kalitá’s day,

would triumph. If Dmitri’s cousin, Vladimir, were heir, the ancient

order would win, to the ruin of all that Moscow had accomplished during

five decades of dreadful effort.

Again the question might be considered as not very urgent, not

demanding immediate decision, for Dmitri was not yet forty years old,

and was strong to all seeming; but in fact he was feeble. He had no

external wound, but he had never recovered completely from the internal

injuries received on the field of Kulikovo. Moreover, as his son was

about to marry, the question rose naturally: Was Vladimir, the cousin,

to yield seniority to Vassili?

Would Prince Vladimir, who had been so magnanimous as to yield to

Dmitri, yield now and make Dmitri’s son his senior?

Beyond doubt the trouble was more with Vladimir’s boyars than with

Vladimir. Only boyars of reduced princes yielded, and went to serve

strong ones. The boyars of Vladimir of Moscow, whose rights were

undoubted according to the ancient rule of the country, could not be

yielding in this case. They defended their honor and profit together

with ancient legality in defending Vladimir; they were far more

insistent than he was. Consequently, the year of 1388 was beclouded by

a quarrel between the Moscow princes. Dmitri seized certain of

Vladimir’s boyars, and sent them to places where they were “kept under

guard very firmly.” The honor of the boyars who defended his position

so faithfully was of course dear to Vladimir, and he had to take part

with them; hence rose a quarrel which grieved all the people.

But at the beginning of 1389 the quarrel ended, and the friendship of

the princes was greater than ever. They made a new treaty and kissed

the cross to observe it. By this treaty Vladimir recognized the Grand

Prince to be his elder brother as before, and to be his father, and for

himself and his children renounced every claim to the headship of

Moscow; yielding seniority to Dmitri’s heirs, and to all their sons

with them; recognizing Vassili, son of Dmitri, as his eldest brother,

the second son, Yuri, a brother of his age, and the younger sons as

younger brothers, adding, besides, that he would not seek the throne as

against any of them. The Grand Prince, on his part, called Vladimir not

only his younger brother, as before, but his son. With such a solemn

declaration was the question decided, a question which for a short time

had disturbed the long harmony of the family.

All glorified the magnanimity of Kalitá’s youngest grandson, who had

done so much for Moscow by helping to establish the first principle of

inheritance from father to eldest son.

Two months had not passed after making the treaty, when Dmitri was a

living man no longer. Dmitri won glory at Kulikovo, and raised Moscow

in popular esteem to a height unattainable by other principalities.

Dmitri, by careful insistence and management in winning from Vladimir

his renunciation of rights, and Vladimir, by yielding, established

single rule in Russia, which, without these two men, might never have

been established.

Vassili’s first act on succeeding his father was to send two noted

boyars, Poleff and Belevut, with attendants, for his bride, Vitold’s

daughter, Sophia. Her father had taken refuge at that time in Prussia,

and was preparing for war with his cousin, Yagello, who had killed

Keistut, Vitold’s father. Vitold was seeking aid among the Knights of

the Cross against his cousin. It was pleasant for him, at that crisis

in his career, to receive envoys from the Grand Prince of Moscow.

Sophia journeyed by sea to Livonia, and thence through Pskoff and

Novgorod to Moscow.

Two years after his marriage, Vassili visited the Horde, and then, by

agreement with Tohtamish, united to Moscow the Nizni principality as

well as Gorodets, Tarus, and Murom. There was trouble with Novgorod,

which caused bloodshed, but all was arranged before 1395, when the

second of the world-shaking Mongols came to punish Tohtamish for his

perfidy, and to give the entire Kipchak realm to the “ruinous wind of

destruction,” Tamerlane’s own words.

No Khan after Tohtamish was able to restore power and unity to Kipchak.

Batu and Uzbek being the first and second, Tohtamish was the third

powerful ruler of Kipchak. The exalted estimate which the man made of

himself caused the mortal struggle with Tamerlane, to whom Tohtamish

owed his dominion.

A direct descendant of Jinghis, Tohtamish could not brook the lofty

lordship of Tamerlane, who was not descended from Jinghis, though he

and that mighty ruler had a common great-grandfather. Tohtamish

affected to see in Tamerlane a second Mamai upstart, and in 1392 set

out to destroy him as he had destroyed Mamai. The motive for action was

found in the taking by Tamerlane of places east of the Caspian, but

mainly Urgendj, a city on the Oxus famed for its marvelous defense, the

same city which had occasioned the quarrel between Jinghis and his

eldest son, Juchi, a quarrel which was never ended.

Tohtamish began by attacking regions bordering on Kipchak, regions

belonging to Tamerlane. Tamerlane moved promptly from his capital and

wintered near Tashkent, where he assembled an immense army. During that

year he moved northward toward the Tobola River, and, turning to the

west, reached the Yaik River May 29. He crossed at a place of which

Tohtamish was not thinking and, continuing the march, found the Khan at

some point near the Volga. Tohtamish had also assembled great forces.

In his army were Bulgars of the Kama, mountaineers of the Caucasus,

Bashkirs and Russians.

Though it was June the weather was severe, and snow fell for several

days in succession. At last, on the eighteenth, the sun broke through

the clouds and the weather cleared. Before battle Tamerlane, having

arranged his warriors in seven divisions ready for attack, prayed to

God, prostrating himself three times. Then the army deployed to the

cry, “Allah akbar!” (God is great), and with the shout “Surun!”

(charge), the battle began. It was prolonged and stubborn beyond

example, but the art of Jinghis, notably improved by Tamerlane, also

the great skill and luck of the latter, and the quarrels and treachery

of commanders of the other side, gained the day and brought success to

Tamerlane. Tohtamish fled across the Volga, while his scattered hordes

were hunted by the victor and few of his warriors escaped. Tamerlane

camped on the battle-field and gave thanks to God for the victory.

The Golden Horde, though it survived this terrible defeat, never

regained its former strength. Tamerlane plundered the country and went

home, taking legions of captives, with cattle, and treasures of all

kinds. But the end was not yet. Tohtamish returned to his capital and

ruled there. He brought the whole Horde back to order. Three years

passed. Tamerlane had fixed his camp on the southern side of the

Caucasus, on the banks of the Cyrus, and there he learned that

Tohtamish was preparing for a new and more serious encounter. Tamerlane

thereupon sent a letter to Tohtamish in which he asked if he had

forgotten his last terrible defeat. He reminded him how he, Tamerlane,

always treated those kindly who treated him kindly, while he pursued

with vengeance those who were his enemies. He reminded him also of his

own great success, which made him indifferent whether he was at peace

or at war with the Khan of the Golden Horde. Then, marching forward

promptly to find Tohtamish, Tamerlane passed through the Gates of

Derbend to the northern side of the mountains, where, to begin the

campaign worthily, he exterminated the Kaitaks, subjects of Tohtamish,

and then advancing, met his rival near the Terek.

The position of Tohtamish was strong, and protected by wagons arranged

in the form of a barricade, but on Tamerlane’s approach he abandoned it

and retired. Tamerlane now crossed the Terek, and the armies faced each

other on the fourteenth of April; on the twenty-second the conflict

began.

This second battle showed that Tohtamish had not greatly overestimated

his own power, that he was almost the equal of his opponent. The main

body of Tamerlane’s army was commanded by his son, Muhammed Sultan,

while he himself commanded twenty-seven companies of picked warriors

who formed a reserve. Tamerlane’s left wing was thrown into disorder

and his center forced back. When the son-in-law of Tohtamish advanced

upon his right wing, Tamerlane charged upon him at the head of his

twenty-seven companies and drove him back. But his men, following too

far, were in turn driven back and their ranks broken. Tamerlane would

have been captured but for the aid of Nur ud din, who came to his

rescue with fifty warriors. The battle was furious, but at last a quick

rally in front and a rear attack on the Kipchaks saved the day, though

very narrowly. The Kipchak troops gave way and Tohtamish fled. On that

field strewn with corpses, Tamerlane knelt down and thanked Heaven for

his triumph. Then to Nur ud din, who had rescued him, he presented a

magnificent horse, a robe of gold brocade, a jeweled girdle, and a

large sum of money.

Tamerlane’s victory brought no rest to the enemy, however. This time he

hunted Tohtamish far toward the north, and ravaged all places, sending

strong forces east as far as the Volga, and west to the banks of the

Dnieper. He reached Ryazan’s southern borders and destroyed Eletsk,

with its prince and people. Then the “Iron Limper,” as Russians called

Tamerlane, moved northward, destroying all within reach of his army.

Vassili of Moscow hurriedly assembled his forces, and, entrusting the

capital to his father’s cousin, Vladimir, led his own men to the Oká to

confront the invader. He now wrote to the metropolitan to bring from

Vladimir to Moscow that image of the Mother of God, which Andrei

Bogolyubski had borne with him from Vyshgorod to the northern country.

With great honor and reverence the image was brought. A procession of

ecclesiastics and boyars met it on the Kutchkovo Field outside Moscow,

and it was placed in the Assumption Cathedral, where the people prayed

before it, repeating “Mother of God, save Russia!” To the influence of

this image was ascribed the retreat of Tamerlane’s army, which took

place August 26, at the hour when the holy image was met by the people.

We may suppose that the approach of autumn, and the poverty of the

country, ruined so often by Mongols, were not without influence in

saving the capital.

Tamerlane, on his march, destroyed the rich city of Azoff, a

meeting-place for Venetians and Genoese, near the mouth of the Don.

Afterward he moved southward, attacking mountain tribes of the Caucasus

as he passed them, till an uprising among Mongols at Astrakhan recalled

him. Though the season was winter, and the snow was deep on the

country, he marched very swiftly on Astrakhan, stormed the city and

destroyed it. He robbed and ruined Sarai, and then, advancing by the

way of Derbend and Azerbaidjan, returned to Samarkand, his own capital.

These blows were so crushing and dreadful that the Golden Horde never

recovered. Many Russians thought that the end of Mongol rule was before

them. But the end was not yet, as was evident soon after. The first to

experience this bitter truth was Vitold, who had won against Yagello

and was now the haughty ruler of Lithuania and Western Russia.

Tamerlane gave the Golden Horde to a son of Urus Khan, the former rival

of Tohtamish, but Edigai, who had been one of Tamerlane’s generals,

assumed Mamai’s rôle,—the creation of Khans and ruling through them. He

set up now Timur Kutlui instead of the man whom Tamerlane had

appointed.

Meanwhile Tohtamish, who had ruled the Golden Horde for twenty years,

had taken refuge with Vitold. Through Tohtamish, Tamerlane’s fallen

rival, Vitold planned to control the Golden Horde, and in that way win

Moscow. The first step was to capture Sarai for his protege. Envoys

came at this juncture from Kutlui with the message: “Surrender

Tohtamish, my enemy! Tohtamish, once a great prince, but now a vile

deserter. Such is the fickleness of fortune.” Vitold refused, adding:

“I myself will march on Kutlui.” Hearing of this resolution, Yedviga,

Queen of Poland, warned Vitold, stating that through her power of

prophecy she foresaw that great misfortune would overtake him. But he

would not heed her warning.

The expedition undertaken by Vitold was made a holy struggle. Boniface

IX, through a bull to the clergy of Lithuania and Poland, ordained a

crusade against the infidel and gave indulgence to all who took part in

it. Vitold assembled a very strong army. With him were at least fifty

princes of Lithuania and Southern Russia. A number of Polish magnates

joined also. Tohtamish went with a considerable contingent of Mongols.

Even the German Order sent perhaps five hundred iron-clad warriors.

In July, 1399, Vitold set out on his expedition. The fame of Kulikovo

roused him, it is said, beyond other considerations, and he hoped to

eclipse Dmitri’s fame by greater achievements. He crossed the Dnieper

near Kief and vanished in the steppes. Passing the Horol and the Sula,

he halted at Varskla. On the opposite bank appeared the Mongols led by

Kutlui, who, seeing that his enemy was superior in numbers, began to

negotiate. To win time was his object, for he was waiting for Edigai

with a second Mongol army.

“Why art thou marching on me when I have not touched thy possessions?”

asked he of Vitold. “The Lord has given me dominion over all. Pay me

tribute and be my son,” replied Vitold. The Khan promised tribute, but

did not like to put Vitold’s name and seal on his coinage; he asked

three days to think over that question. Thus he seemed to yield the

main point, though in reality he did not. Meanwhile he gave Vitold many

presents, and continually sent him questions, through envoys. When the

time had passed, Edigai arrived with his army, and begged that Vitold

come out to the opposite bank for an interview. “Valiant prince,” said

Edigai, “if Timur Kutlui wishes to be thy son, since he is younger than

thou, in thy turn be my son, since I am older than thou. Therefore pay

me tribute, and put my seal on thy money.”

Enraged by deceit and ridicule, Vitold commanded the army to leave its

camp, cross the river, and give battle at once. The prudent Spytko of

Melshtin tried to warn the Grand Prince, and advised peace in view of

Mongol preponderance, but his advice only roused wrath. A certain

Polish knight named Stchukovski said, with scorn: “If thou art sorry to

part with thy wealth and thy young wife, do not frighten those who are

ready to die on the field of battle.” “To-day I shall die with honor,

but thou wilt flee as a coward,” retorted Spytko. His words proved to

be true, for death met him soon, and Stchukovski was among the first of

the fugitives.

The battle began after midday on August 5, 1399. The Mongols raised

such a dust that no one could see them. Thus did they hide their

movements. They closely surrounded Vitold’s army, and even seized the

horses from many before they could mount. Artillery, then of recent

invention, could not be used in that battle with profit.

Notwithstanding these disadvantages, Vitold was able to force back and

confuse Edigai’s army. But Kutlui rushed to the Lithuanian rear with a

great force of cavalry, crushed all before him and triumphed. Tohtamish

was the first to flee, after him followed Vitold with his boyars, and

Sigismund, his brother.

The defeat was thorough and irreparable. Many princes were slain or

taken captive. Among the dead were Yagello’s two brothers, Andrei and

Dmitri, who had fought at Kulikovo. Seventy princes and boyars of

distinction were left on that battle-field. The whole camp, its

provisions, and all the cannon fell into the hands of the enemy. Kutlui

followed the fugitives, and ravaged the country as far as Lutsk. From

there he turned back to the steppe with as much wealth as he had means

of carrying, and driving as many captives as his men could manage.

Kutlui died soon after this expedition, and Edigai put Kutlui’s

brother, Shadibek, on the throne at Sarai. Seven years later Tohtamish

died in Siberia, slain, it is said, by the hand of Edigai, his dire

enemy.

Vitold’s defeat on the Vorskla was important for Eastern Europe. The

weakening of Lithuania, even for a time, was a godsend to Moscow. Not

without satisfaction might the people there look on this struggle

between the two deadly enemies of Russia. Tamerlane’s war with

Tohtamish and Vitold’s great conflict with Kutlui were vastly

important, and useful to Moscow and Russia. Many Smolensk people, weary

of Vitold, wished to recall their native prince, Yuri, son of

Sviatoslav, who was living in Ryazan with Oleg, his wife’s father, and

in 1400 Yuri turned to his father-in-law with these words: “My Smolensk

friends have sent men saying that many desire me. Wilt thou give aid

now to win my inheritance?” Oleg consented, and in 1401 he appeared at

Smolensk with an army, and declared to the people: “If ye refuse Yuri,

I will not stop till I capture Smolensk, and destroy it.” A schism rose

quickly. Some were for Vitold, and others were against him. Yuri’s

party was the stronger, and in August the Smolensk gates were opened to

him. This prince then gave rein to his passion, and marked his return

by killing Vitold’s chief partisans.

In the war which came later between Lithuania on one side and Smolensk

with Ryazan on the other, Vitold’s attempt to get possession of

Smolensk was a failure. Oleg now thought to regain from Lithuania

certain seizures, and sent his son, Rodoslav, to win the Bryansk

principality, but Vitold despatched an army under Simeon, son of

Olgerd, his skilful cousin, and Rodoslav met an overwhelming defeat.

Captured and put in prison, he lay there until ransomed, three years

later. This reverse killed Oleg, then an old man. Yuri’s position

changed straightway. Though Vitold laid siege to Smolensk without

taking it, and was forced to withdraw, he resolved to subdue the place.

In time many boyars, indignant at the cruelty of Yuri, grew friendly to

Vitold.

Yuri had no aid now from any power, and the city was divided. He went

to Moscow and begged Prince Vassili to defend him, as he promised

obedience to Moscow. Vassili did not refuse the request, but he made no

immediate promise, for he had no wish to raise arms against Vitold.

Meanwhile Vitold, during Yuri’s absence, appeared at Smolensk, and in

the summer of 1404 boyars surrendered the city. Vitold also was

terribly cruel, slaying, and driving out of Smolensk all his powerful

opponents, but as an adroit politician, he attracted many people by

privileges, and turned them from Yuri, who now went to Novgorod, where

they welcomed him, and gave him several towns to manage.

It was clear that Vitold had recovered from the Vorskla disaster, and

was aiming to seize Pskoff and Novgorod. In 1405 he attacked Pskoff,

took Koloje, slew many people, and captured large numbers. Novgorod, as

usual, was either late with assistance, or refused to coöperate. Pskoff

men turned then to Moscow, and Vassili, understanding at last the great

peril which threatened him from Vitold, broke peace with his

father-in-law, and sent men to war on Lithuania. In the course of three

years, 1406, 1407, and 1408, war between these two princes had an

annual renewal. Three times did Vassili and Vitold march against each

other with large forces, but each time they stopped before decisive

battle, and withdrew after a truce was made. It is evident that this

halting was caused in part by their mutual relations, in part by the

caution of each man in view of the other.

Their last meeting took place September, 1408, on the Ugra, which

served as a boundary between them. After they had been encamped face to

face on opposite banks of the river for several days, they made a peace

by which the boundaries of their lands remained as they were at that

time. Later on, Vitold made no serious move against Pskoff or even

Novgorod. By this war, therefore, Moscow restrained Vitold in Eastern

and Northern Russia. The war had other results also. Many noted

Lithuanians and Russians, from one and another cause, were dissatisfied

with Vitold, and went to join Moscow. Especially numerous were the men

from near southern districts of Chernigoff. Among them appeared in 1408

the brother of the Polish king, Prince Svidrigello, son of Olgerd.

Laying claim as he did to Lithuania, he had no wish to be subordinate

to Vitold. Vassili was willing to welcome such an exile, and gave

Svidrigello a number of towns to support him. Such liberality to a

stranger displeased Russian boyars, and later on they were raging when

Svidrigello, instead of defending Moscow against Edigai, fled meanly

with his numerous attendants, plundering the people as he traveled.

Strange was the fate of Yuri, the last Smolensk prince. He did not

remain long in Novgorod, and when the break came between Vassili and

Vitold he appeared in Moscow a second time, with Prince Simeon of

Vyazma. Vassili gave Yuri Torjok to support him. Now his unrestrained

temper brought the man to a crime of foul aspect. He flamed up with

passion for the wife of Prince Simeon. Meeting with strong resistance

on her part, he strove to use violence, and when she defended herself

with a keen weapon, he killed her. On that same day he killed her

husband also. No matter how rude was the period, or how much liberty

princes sometimes allowed themselves, such disregard of human and

Christian rules roused indignation and rage in all men. Either expelled

by Vassili, or rushing away from Torjok of his own will, Yuri fled to

the Horde, but finding no refuge there, or in any place, he wandered

some months, sick and weighed down in spirit, till he hid himself at

last with an abbot named Peter, in whose monastery his life ended

shortly afterward.

Disorder and murder in the Horde encouraged the Grand Prince of Moscow

to think of complete independence. He honored the Mongols with moderate

gifts, and, under pretext of national poverty, almost ceased from

paying tribute. He did not visit the Horde in the time of Kutlui, or

during Shadibek’s reign, which continued for eight years. In his slow

struggle with Vitold he had received from the Khan some small forces,

that was all. When Shadibek was dethroned, and Kutlui’s son, Bulat Bey,

was instated, Vassili not only did not visit this new Khan; he even

showed favor to some of his enemies, two of Tohtamish’s sons, of course

with the wish to keep up civil war and disorder among the Mongols.

This clear and well-defined policy was connected with a change of

advisers in Moscow. Former boyars, the counselors and comrades of

Dmitri, had either died, or lost influence. Vassili was surrounded by

younger assistants, men formed by impressions, and filled with the fame

of the battle of Kulikovo. They were ashamed to be subservient to the

Mongols; they despised Mongol influence. At the head of this party was

Vassili’s great favorite, Ivan, son of Feodor Koshka.

The Golden Horde Khans had no thought at this time of yielding their

hold upon Russia. They were at all times domineering, and in this they

were encouraged by the princes of Tver, Ryazan and Suzdal, who

continued to visit Sarai to obtain patents. Edigai had helped Vassili

against Vitold; he had even roused enmity between the two princes to

weaken them when peace was finally made, and now he resolved to show

that Moscow was really subject to the Horde. But both Russians and

Mongols remembered Kulikovo, and knew that war between Moscow and the

Horde would be most serious, hence at Sarai they resolved on a stealthy

and treacherous policy.

Edigai knew well that Moscow, keeping in mind the perfidy of Tohtamish,

had in Sarai well-paid agents, who would give information immediately

should any evident move be made toward invasion. He knew also that

hostility between Vassili and Vitold was still active, hence he sent an

envoy to Moscow, declaring that Bulat, the Khan, was making ready to

punish Vitold for the harm done to Moscow. He asked only that Vassili

should send a brother to Sarai, or a boyar of distinction, with

expressions of homage, to the Khan. Vassili, yielding to this demand,

sent a boyar named Yuri, who met Edigai marching rapidly on Moscow. The

boyar was seized and held strict captive, and no word of the

approaching army reached Vassili.

This happened late in the autumn of 1408. The Mongols were nearing

Moscow, when the Grand Prince learned what was happening. As it was too

late to make a stand against the invader, Vassili took his princess and

children to the North, beyond the Volga, for safety. The defense of the

capital he left to Vladimir, his father’s cousin, and to Andrei and

Peter, his brothers. To make the siege difficult, all houses outside

the walls were burned. December 1, the Mongol army was visible. Edigai,

seeing the success of his stratagem, robbed, burned, and plundered on

every side. Pereyaslavl, Rostoff, Dmitroff, Nizni and Gorodets were

taken. Mongols raced over Russia, like wolves during winter, and seized

all that they could reach, including people, whom they drove, leashed

like dogs, to their camping grounds. Panic terror was again master in

Russia. Thirty thousand Mongols were sent to hunt down the Grand

Prince, but they could not discover him.

Meanwhile the old hero of Kulikovo, Dmitri’s cousin, Vladimir, defended

Moscow. The walls were strong and well mounted with new and old

weapons. There were plenty of defenders; hunger alone could reduce the

capital. Edigai now sent to the Tver prince, Ivan, son of that Michael

who had fought so long against Moscow, and commanded him to come with

troops, cannon, and wall-breaking instruments. But this Tver prince

would not serve the enemy of Russia; he set out with an army, not over

numerous, and marched very slowly. He reached Klin, fell ill, as he

asserted, and returned home, being unable to go farther. Edigai

summoned Moscow to surrender, declaring that he was ready to stay

before the walls through the winter, or till the city received him. But

all at once from Bulat, the Khan, came a courier imploring Edigai’s

immediate presence. Bulat had barely avoided dethronement from a rival.

It was evident that few warriors had been left in Sarai, no force

sufficient to defend the place. Meanwhile the Mongols learned that

Vassili was marching from Kostroma with a large army.

At this juncture Edigai had the wit to win something. He announced that

for three thousand rubles he would raise the siege, and leave Moscow.

No one knew the situation, hence the money was delivered, and Edigai

hurried home to save Bulat from dethronement. An immense train of

captives and much booty followed after him. This raid had caused great

loss to Russia. From the Don to Bailozero, and Galitch beyond the

Volga, the country had been ravaged.

Edigai now sent a letter to Vassili, in which he recounted that

prince’s many sins against his sovereign: the Khan’s envoys had been

insulted, as well as his merchants. The prince had not visited the

Horde or sent his relatives or boyars. “In other days thou hadst men

well inclined to us. Listen not to youths, and thou wilt not be ruined

through haughtiness. When attacked by princes of Lithuania, or Russia,

thou art quick to ask aid of us, and give no rest till we send it. Thou

sayest that thy lands are exhausted, that thou canst get no tribute.

This is false. We have learned that from two ploughs thou receivest one

ruble; what dost thou do with that money? Live in the old way,

uninjured and faithful.”

But even after receiving this message Vassili was unwilling to give

tribute to the Mongols; and he was right in view of the turmoil and

trouble in Sarai. Only when Edigai had been hunted from the Horde and

the son of Tohtamish, Jelal ed din, the ally of Vitold, and the

protector of the Suzdal princes then fighting with Vassili, had taken

his place, did the Moscow prince decide at last on a visit to the

Mongols, taking with him rich gifts, and words of obedience. But during

his stay at Sarai Jelal ed din was dethroned, and murdered by Kerim

Berda, his own brother, who straightway declared himself an enemy of

Vitold, and friendly to Vassili.

Perhaps the new Khan was of those who had found asylum in Moscow, when

wandering and powerless. Still the formal relations of the principality

to the Horde were those of a tributary. Some time later Kerim Berda was

dethroned by a brother, and the dance of disorder continued.

One among many results of Vitold’s defeat at the Vorskla was to

strengthen the bonds between Lithuania and Poland. Weakened by that

defeat, Vitold had to lower his haughtiness, and seek aid from Yagello

against powerful neighbors, that is, Northeastern Russia, the Golden

Horde, and the German Order. In January, 1401, the two cousins met at

Vilna, and bound themselves to give mutual aid whenever needed. After

this meeting the princes and boyars of Lithuania and Western Russia

agreed to aid the Polish king. If Vitold died while Yagello was living,

Yagello was to be chosen as their Grand Prince. If Yagello died before

Vitold, the Poles were to choose no king without Vitold’s concurrence.

Thus was accomplished, though not very strictly, the union of Lithuania

with Poland, promised by Yagello at his crowning. Vitold acknowledged

himself to be only lifelong vicegerent. There was no mention of a

tribute, which had been demanded once by the late Queen Yedviga, who

affirmed that Lithuania and Russia were hers as a marriage gift from

Yagello. Owing to this union, Vitold now recovered completely from that

Vorskla disaster.

Those two cousins, Yagello and Vitold, were remarkable men. Yagello

gave away what he had for a show and a glitter. Vitold was willing to

give that which he must give for help to win, what for him was the one

prize, dominion; and when he had this dominion he snatched back that

which he had given to those who had helped him. Poland aided Vitold in

everything, with the intent of taking from him when the time came all

that he might win from others through Polish assistance, while he

wished to keep all that he gained, no matter how he acquired it. Vitold

renewed his incursive advance upon Eastern and Northern Russia, but the

first weighty blow was reserved for that active and dangerous neighbor,

that unsparing foe of Lithuania and Poland, the Teutonic Order.

The apparent cause for this collision was Jmud, which Vitold, when

preparing to struggle with Yagello so as to bring him to his side, had

given to the Knights of the Cross in return for their aid, and which

had remained pagan after Lithuania itself had been Catholicized through

Yagello by contract. The Germans introduced Christianity with fire and

sword into Jmud, entering that region by two sides, Livonia and Russia.

The people met their attackers with reprisals and uprisings, with

resistance of all kinds, and begged their prince, Vitold, to help them.

He meanwhile, through policy, avoided a break with the Order, and

sometimes even helped that same Order to crush his own people. But he

was waiting to choose the right moment to take back his inheritance.

At this juncture there rose a dispute between the Order and Yagello,

touching lands called Neumarch, or New March, which belonged to

Sigismund of Hungary. Later on Neumarch was mortgaged to the Order by

Sigismund, that Emperor famous for the evil of his friendship, and the

virtue of his enmity, renowned also for the burning of John Huss after

he had given him a safe-conduct, one of the most infamous acts recorded

in the history of any country. This land touched on Poland. Its

boundaries were disputed, and caused a Polish grievance. The Poles had

another and greater grievance: The Order had taken from them Pomerania

on the Baltic. There was hatred on both sides.

The Order felt confident of victory, and beyond any doubt would have

won it had Poland been alone in the conflict. From 1393 till 1407

Konrad von Jungingen, the Grand Master, a man who was pious and

peace-loving, repressed all hostile movements. But the Order grew weary

of peace, and when Konrad died his cousin, Ulrich, who was as warlike

as Konrad had been peace-loving, was chosen Grand Master and war was

inevitable. There were many causes for conflict, but the overshadowing

and great one was race ambition. The Order felt confident of victory,

and chose its moment for battle.

July 15, 1410, the forces of the Order engaged those led by Vitold and

Yagello at Tannenberg, and there the Order met a merciless defeat, from

which it never rose as a military body. But, though utterly vanquished,

the Order was able, with endurance and management, to save Eastern

Prussia to the Germans, and in Königsberg, the capital of that Prussia,

was crowned the first Prussian king, whose descendant is now the

Emperor of Germany.

Poland, before the crowning of Yagello, had been on the verge of

destruction from the Order, which counted the Poles as sure victims,

and included with them the Lithuanians. By the union of Polish,

Lithuanian, and Russian forces, German plans were baffled, and Poland,

after the victory at Tannenberg, rose high in European estimation. But

Yagello, through indecision, and because of Vitold’s plans, failed much

in settling with the Order. Instead of rushing straightway from the

field of victory to Marienberg, the stronghold of the Order, the Polish

king appeared there only on the tenth day.

Meanwhile, Heinrich von Plauen, Komtur of the Order, had led home the

remnant of the knightly army, and brought in provisions. He defended

Marienberg valiantly. The siege dragged on; disease struck the armies

of Yagello and Vitold. Help was marching to the Order from Germany and

Livonia. Sigismund, just chosen Emperor, threatened war openly. Vitold

abandoned the siege and left Marienberg, influenced, it was said, by

cunning hints that by helping Poland over much he would harm his own

power and position. He was followed by Prince Yanush of Mazovia, and

Zemovit, his brother.

At last Yagello raised the siege and marched away from the stronghold.

Many Prussian towns which had surrendered at first to Yagello returned

now to the Order. War lasted till the following year, and ended with

the treaty of Torun (Thorn), by which the Order retained almost all it

had held previous to the battle. Jmud went, however, to Vitold, and the

land of Dabryn to Yagello, but the gains were not great if compared

with what they might have been.

Close relations between Vitold’s lands and those of the Polish Crown

continued because of common danger from the Germans. The Order

recovered considerably under its new Master. It could fall back for

support upon Germany, where Sigismund befriended it. The greatest loss

for the Order was Jmud, which divided Livonia from Prussia, and thus

hindered contact between the two parts of the Order. Jmud prevented the

union of Germanized lands on the Baltic. But a greater gain to the

Poles was the act of Horodlo.

In October, 1413, Yagello, with Polish magnates, and Vitold, with

Lithuanian and Russian boyars, met at the Russian town, Horodlo. At

that meeting an agreement was made touching the lands under Vitold, and

the land ruled by Yagello. The agreement of 1401 concerning succession

was repeated. Diets which touched both political divisions were

assembled at Lublin or Parchov. To effect a more intimate union,

Russo-Lithuanian boyars received the same rights as Polish nobles. They

were associated with Polish families in heraldry. Thus the voevoda of

Vilna, Monivid, was associated with the Polish shield belonging to

Leliva. A Lithuanian prince or boyar received a shield which belonged

to a Polish stock. In addition, the rights of nobles in Poland, already

exceptional, were extended to nobles in Lithuania and Russia, but these

nobles were to be Catholic in every case. A number of great offices of

the Polish kind were created. None but Catholics, however, could hold

them. Thus Polish predominance in the upper circles of Russia was

established directly. All heathen parts of Lithuania had been

Catholicized by Yagello, but in Russia both princes and people were

Orthodox. Some Lithuanian princes were Catholic, and some were

Orthodox. But no man could enjoy those new rights, or hold a high

office, without becoming a Catholic.

Thus the significance of the Grand Prince of Lithuania and Russia, and

the Orthodox Church was diminished, for no prince or noble could hold

an office created at Horodlo, or enjoy the rights of a noble of the

Commonwealth, without being Catholic. In other words, two social

systems and two kinds of government were confronted at Horodlo,—the

Russo-Lithuanian on one side, and the Polish on the other. Vitold’s aim

in church matters was to rend the church union of Russia, to separate

the western provinces of Moscow. He wished that the metropolitan of all

Russia should be resident in Kief, where he himself was master, and

have jurisdiction in Moscow. In case that could not be effected, he

wanted that Western Russia should have its own metropolitan. Hence

during the fourteenth century, more than once there were two

metropolitans, one in Moscow, another in Kief, and sometimes a third in

Galitch. We have seen that Cyprian, at first metropolitan in the West,

outlived his Moscow opponents Mityai and Pimen, and united the whole

Church in Russia. Though he, like his predecessors, lived in Moscow,

still he preserved the friendship of Vitold and Yagello. He often

visited the West and remained for long periods; he consulted Yagello

and Vitold, and generally upheld the church unity of Russia, excepting

Galitch, over which he had also some influence. The last years of his

life were passed mainly near Moscow, where he translated several books,

and wrote others. He died September 16, 1406.

At that time there was actual collision between Vassili and Vitold; the

latter, determined to have a metropolitan in the lands under him,

proposed Theodosia. The Patriarch failed to accept this suggestion, and

in 1408 appointed Foti, a Greek born in the Morea, as Cyprian’s

successor. Vitold was very angry, and, in view of Western displeasure

with Foti, decided to have a second metropolitan. His choice fell on

Gregori Samblak, who was, as some declared, a nephew of Cyprian.

The Patriarch refused to confirm this division of Russia into two

parts. Not getting his consent, Vitold assembled a Synod in 1416, and,

through kindness and threats, secured the installation of Samblak. But

Samblak, being a zealous defender of Orthodox interests, remained only

three years in office. In 1419 he left Western Russia, and church unity

was reëstablished.

Meanwhile Edigai, expelled from the capital of the Golden Horde, chose

the Crimea as a new field of action. In 1416 he fell again upon Kief,

which he plundered, robbing churches and monasteries. His was the first

Crimean raid against Russia. Men said that the Knights of the Cross had

some share in this raid. The Order struggled twelve years with Vitold

after that terrible defeat at Tannenberg, and made peace only in 1422,

at Lake Malno.

About 1420 the land ruled by Vitold stretched from the Baltic to the

Euxine, and from the Western Būg to the Oká River, while his influence

went far beyond those limits. Vassili, Grand Prince of Moscow, when

dying, committed his young son and heir to Vitold’s protection, and

after Vassili’s death the princes of Tver and Ryazan were at least

morally dependent on Vitold. Pskoff and Novgorod felt his hand over

them, and purchased peace with money. The Crimea Mongols, and those

near the Black Sea showed fear and respect before this strong, crafty

ruler.

But do what he might, he was controlled by Poland. His alliance with

Yagello made him and his cousin the first powers in Europe, but no

matter what Vitold accomplished, the whole profit of his action went

surely to Poland.

Yagello was not weighty as a ruler. The master mind of the Polish

Commonwealth of that day was Olesnitski, Archbishop of Cracow, and

Chancellor. In 1410 this man had been in the king’s suite at

Tannenberg, and had saved the life of Yagello, whom the Germans came

very near killing. From Tannenberg began Olesnitski’s great influence.

A man of high gifts, he was unbending in all that gave profit to his

religion and his country. Vitold was baffled in everything which was

not in favor of Polish interests as Olesnitski understood them.

Vitold, like his predecessors, accustomed to govern as he wished in his

own state, could not avoid looking with disquiet at the growing power

of Poland in Lithuania and Russia, and the continual decrease of the

royal authority in Poland. The nobility and clergy were absorbing all

the power in the country; the king was becoming a cipher. This was

owing in part to the weakness of Yagello, who gave away the immense

lands and wealth at his disposal without any return from them. In the

union the Poles saw their one opportunity. They looked on Russia and

Lithuania as fields in which to win vast wealth and influence. At this

point Vitold strove earnestly to stop the advance of Poland, by

becoming himself independent. The best means to this end, as he

thought, was to make Lithuania and Russia a kingdom.

So in 1429 he arranged a meeting of sovereigns at Lutsk. King Yagello

was there, with a great suite, and numerous prelates. Vassili of

Moscow, son and heir of the Grand Prince, was present, as were the

Ryazan and Tver princes. Among other rulers were the Khan of the

Crimea, the Teutonic Grand Master, the papal legate, and an ambassador

from Byzantium. The Emperor Sigismund forced the whole company to wait

sixteen days for him. Fifteen thousand people were invited; they filled

Lutsk, and all places near that city.

The leading questions were opened by Sigismund, and related to

Moldavia; the Hussite wars; the union of the Eastern and Western

Churches; a crusade against the Turks by all Christians. The great

question, however, was the crown of Lithuania and Russia for Vitold.

Yagello made no opposition, but would not act unless aided by the

magnates of Poland. When the question was raised for discussion,

Olesnitski made a fiery speech in opposition. The magnates were roused

to the utmost, and, stopping every Polish discussion, they left Lutsk

in a body. Yagello left also, without taking leave, even of Vitold.

Sigismund followed soon after, agreeing, however, with Vitold on a new

meeting at which the crown would be given him most surely. The other

guests withdrew now, but all were invited to Vitold’s coronation in

Vilna.

The Lutsk meeting lasted seven weeks, and caused an immense outlay of

money. Every day one hundred barrels of mead were drunk, besides

Muscat, Malvasia and wines of various other sorts. One hundred beeves,

as many sheep and wild boars, nine wild bulls, and fourteen elks were

consumed daily, besides all kinds of game known in those regions.

Opposition only roused Vitold, and he determined to conquer by removing

every obstacle. He set about winning Polish partisans; but he could not

influence Olesnitski, or bend him in any way. The Pope, Martin V, who

took the side of the Poles, would not consent to the crowning, and

advised them to abandon the project. Yagello offered to abdicate in

favor of Vitold, but the latter refused to be caught in that manner.

Olesnitski would not listen to the statement that the kingly dignity of

Vitold would not affect the desired union of the countries. Vitold’s

main support was Sigismund, who wished above all things to weaken

Poland. He was supported also by the Northern Russian nobles, who

strenuously opposed union with the Poles. The existence of this

Orthodox party, schismatic, according to Catholic understanding,

induced the Pope to take the Polish side firmly.

In September, 1430, the assembly met at Vilna. It was nearly the same

as at Lutsk, with about the same numbers, and of equal brilliancy.

Yagello, Olesnitski, and the Polish magnates were present. Those Poles

who had been won over by Vitold did not oppose him, but Olesnitski was

as unbending as ever. Nevertheless all preparations were made for the

crowning. The assembly was only waiting for the embassy from Sigismund,

which was bringing the crown and the regalia. But the embassy came not.

Sigismund had sent a confidant with letters to Vilna and the ceremonial

of the crowning. This man was captured on the high-road to Vilna, by

the Poles, who seized all his papers and cut the crown in two. They

placed armed guards at every point, and stopped Sigismund’s embassy.

Unable to advance, the embassy halted at Brandenbury, and waited for

orders. The Vilna assembly, after long waiting, dissolved by degrees,

and departed.

Grievous disappointment destroyed Vitold’s health; a carbuncle appeared

between his shoulders. Leaving Vilna for Troki, he grew faint on the

way, and dropped to the ground from his saddle. He died two weeks

later, October 27, 1430, in his eighty-first year.

After Gedimin and Olgerd, Vitold was the third and last of those

princes who united Lithuania and Western Russia. No matter how Vitold

toiled to reach the goal of his ambition, the result of his toil went

to Poland. While working against union with that country, and building

a state to oppose it, he was really preparing for that union, since the

Polish kingdom was the only power served by his activity. In founding a

state east of Poland, Vitold dispossessed the Russian princes west of

Moscow, and by doing this cleared a great field for the Polish

Commonwealth. He had not power sufficient to build a new, independent,

political structure. He made agreements with Poland intending to break

them, as he had broken those which he made with the Germans. But Vitold

passed away without building his kingdom, and his agreements remained

clearly written on paper. The Poles clung to those documents, and

exhibited them as title-deeds to dominion, the Magna Charta of their

Commonwealth.

One inheritance, however, was left to their ruin: the deposed and

reduced princes of Western Russia, and the boyars who formed somewhat

later that body of magnates which took to itself the political power of

the Commonwealth, and reduced the crown to a plaything. And since there

was no central force in the Commonwealth, that Commonwealth went to

pieces. The struggle which for centuries had raged among Russian

princes was repeated in Poland on a far broader scale, and with more

destructive intensity.

We must now go back to events which took place in Russia during the

last six years of Vitold’s life. Though the Mongol yoke weighed yet on

Russia, and liberation seemed still at a distance, the weight of the

yoke was not what it had been, even in the reign of Dmitri. In general,

people began to look on the Mongols as neighbors whom they might, with

gifts and flattery, keep in peace, and make endurable. They were no

longer masters in the old sense. Their power had reached its greatest

height and was declining. Wars and disturbances were unceasing among

the various Horde fragments, hence a Moscow prince might favor one

fragment in opposition to others, and thus in time bring it over to his

side.

In 1424 the Grand Prince, Vassili, fell ill, and his illness continued

half a year, till death came to him. In days preceding his illness, he

had turned his main effort to securing the inheritance to his eldest

son, also Vassili by name. He took every measure of prudence, and

expressed so much confidence in Vitold, his father-in-law, that he made

him chief guardian of this young Vassili. Vitold then took an oath to

see that his grandson inherited the throne of his father. Of course the

brothers of the Grand Prince knew of this oath. But Vassili did not

think that active steps would be taken against his son by that son’s

uncles. In his illness he turned to his brothers, Andrei and Yuri, and

begged them not to oppose the will by which he had made his son Grand

Prince. In commending Vassili to Vitold, one of the most powerful

sovereigns of Europe, he must have intended to threaten his brothers.

Vassili was the only son of the Grand Prince; the other sons born to

him had died earlier, so this was a favorable condition for inheritance

by the eldest from his father. But the Grand Prince himself had

brothers: Yuri, Andrei, Peter, and Constantine. The eldest would not

recognize his nephew as senior. In his will, therefore, Vassili gave

the guardianship of his heir to Vitold, and to his own brothers,

Andrei, Peter and Constantine, taking no note of Yuri.

Vassili was only ten years of age when his father died. The

metropolitan invited Yuri, then in Zvenigorod, to be present in Moscow

at the installation of his nephew. But Yuri hastened off to his own

land beyond the Volga to prepare for hostile action. Vassili’s mother,

his uncles, and some boyars sent the metropolitan to bring Yuri to

peaceful methods. Yuri would not listen and, angered by his refusal,

the metropolitan left Galitch without blessing that city. Straightway

the plague appeared in Galitch, as the chronicler informs us. The

prince hurried after the prelate, and with difficulty brought him back

to give his blessing. Yuri now sent two envoys to Moscow with this

message: “I will not seek the principality with violence. Let the Khan

say who shall have it.”

But no one visited Sarai, and quiet reigned in Russia for a season.

Yuri’s yielding was caused not so much by the metropolitan, as by fear

of Vitold, who had declared that he would permit no man to offend his

grandson. Meanwhile the plague spread through Russia and brought

devastation to Moscow, Tver, and Novgorod. “Suddenly and without

warning the victim would feel a sharp pain in the chest, or between the

shoulders as though struck with a dagger; blood would flow from the

mouth, intense fever would be followed by intense cold; the entrails

were as though consumed by fire; tumors appeared under the arms, on the

neck or hips. Death was inevitable and swift, but terrible.” The

scourge continued for more than two years, and caused the death of many

members of the ruling house, among others four sons of Vladimir the

Brave, as well as Andrei and Peter, two uncles of Vassili.

Vitold died, as we remember, in 1430, and Svidrigello, son of Olgerd,

reigned in his stead. Svidrigello was a friend of Vassili’s uncle,

Yuri, and Yuri laid claim at once to the Grand Principality. The

following year, after various councils and discussions, Vassili set out

for the Horde; then Yuri went also to get the Khan’s judgment.

The rule of the Horde over Russia had weakened greatly, but it was

strengthened anew by this quarrel. Both sides had friends at Sarai.

Mindulat, an official who had looked after tribute in Moscow, was

Vassili’s chief ally among the Mongols. On Yuri’s side was the Murza

Tiginya, who took Yuri to the Crimea, boasting that he would make him

Grand Prince in Russia. Among boyars attending Vassili, the first place

was held by Ivan Vsevolojski, a man who had served Vassili’s father and

grandfather. This shrewd boyar took advantage of Tiginya’s absence, and

his boasting. “Tiginya says,” declared Ivan to the Mongols, “that the

Khan yields to him in all things, that every Mongol magnate is his

servant. If this be true, Yuri will succeed, for to him Tiginya has

promised the Grand Principality.” Made indignant by these biting

speeches, which were repeated to him, the Khan, Ulu Mohammed, promised

to put Tiginya to death if he even tried to help Yuri. Then he began to

show favor to Vassili. Of course gifts played a very large part in the

question.

When Tiginya returned in the spring of 1432, and heard of the Khan’s

threats, he dared not assist Yuri. The Khan appointed a day to decide

the question. The Horde magnates and both princes were present. Vassili

rested his claim on inheritance from his father and grandfather; Yuri

on ancient custom, as proven by chronicles, and on the will of his

father Dmitri. Then Vsevolojski stepped forth and began speaking: “O

free Tsar, my sovereign,” said he, “grant a word to me, the servant of

Vassili of Moscow, who seeks the Grand Principality by thy gift and

patent. Prince Yuri seeks the same through the dead letter of ancient

custom, and not, O free Sovereign, by thy document, through which our

recent sovereign gave the Grand Principality to his son now reigning in

Moscow by thy will, as thou, our lord, knowest.”

This speech pleased the Khan, who, well disposed toward Vassili,

adjudged him the patent, and proposed that he mount a horse which Yuri

was to lead by the bridle. But Vassili had no wish to humiliate his

uncle.

As there was a war between Ulu Mohammed and Kutchuk Mohammed, the Khan,

fearing the treason of the murza Tiginya, granted at his request an

enlargement of Yuri’s domain by giving him Dmitroff, which had belonged

to Peter, his brother, but afterward Vassili took this town.

A Horde envoy, named Mansur, returned with Vassili to Moscow, and

enthroned him, that is, was present at the ceremony which took place in

the Assumption Cathedral. This is the first account of the coronation

of a Grand Prince in Moscow.

By confirming direct heirship from father to eldest son, the Khan aided

greatly in assuring single rule in Moscow, and prepared for the

downfall of Mongol supremacy. But a consistent policy at the Horde was

at that time impossible, for each Khan had to fight for his office. A

new uprising occurred soon, and this gave Yuri, the uncle, a chance to

win the Grand Principality, without reference to the previous Khan’s

decision.

Yuri’s chief inciter in this struggle was that same Vsevolojski, who

had previously secured triumph to Vassili. This boyar had not toiled

without reason. He had received Vassili’s promise to marry his

daughter; such a thing being usual in those days. Princes often married

daughters of boyars, and gave their own daughters in marriage to

boyars. Vsevolojski was of the Smolensk princely house, and his eldest

daughter had married a son of Vladimir the Brave. But Vassili’s mother

was opposed to this marriage, and brought about his betrothal to Maria,

the granddaughter of Vladimir. Vsevolojski was mortally offended, and

passed over, or to use the phrase of the period, “went away to take

service” with Yuri, and rouse him to seek the headship of Russia.

While Yuri was preparing to move on his nephew, there was a collision

in Moscow, which hastened and embittered the beginning of action.

Yuri’s sons, Vassili Kosói and Dmitri Shemyaká, were at a wedding in

the palace of the Grand Prince. Vassili Kosói was wearing a girdle of

gold set with jewels. All at once an old Moscow boyar noted the girdle,

and told its whole history to Sophia, the mother of the Grand Prince.

The girdle had been received by Dmitri of the Don from the Suzdal

prince as a gift with his daughter Yevdokia, but at the time of the

wedding Velyaminoff, commander of Moscow, put in the place of this

girdle another of less value, and gave this, the real one, to Nikolai,

his own son, who was married to another daughter of that same Dmitri,

the Suzdal prince. This Nikolai, who later on fell at Kulikovo, gave

the girdle as a gift to his daughter when she married Vsevolojski, and

Vsevolojski gave it with his daughter to Prince Andrei, son of

Vladimir. After Andrei’s death, his daughter was betrothed to Vassili

Kosói, who received this same precious girdle with his bride.

On learning these details Sophia commanded to strip the famed girdle

from Kosói. It is difficult to credit the chronicler that she would

insult a guest so rudely, remembering the length of time since the

first substitution had taken place. It is likely that there were other

reasons of enmity, and the girdle, if the story is true, was only a

pretext. In every case Kosói and his brother left the feast, burning

with anger and fully determined to make Vassili and his mother pay

dearly for the insult.

The Grand Prince, attacked unexpectedly by Yuri, could not collect

warriors in sufficient number; he was defeated in battle, and captured.

Yuri took Moscow, but in favor of the captive now appeared Yuri’s famed

boyar and counselor, Morozoff, who was either bribed by friends of

Vassili, or provoked by the triumph of Vsevolojski. He persuaded Yuri

to give Vassili the town of Kolomna, as a portion, but barely had

Vassili arrived there, when Moscow boyars and nobles rallied round him,

and refused to serve Yuri. Thus became evident the devotion of men to

that mode of inheritance which secured the possession of rights, lands

and property in permanence. Princes from smaller places, on coming to

Moscow, brought with them attendants and boyars, who drove out the old

servitors. This new turn enraged Yuri’s sons greatly, so they slew

Morozoff with their own hands, and escaped from Moscow. Then Yuri,

being almost abandoned, retired straightway to Galitch, and Vassili

came back to Moscow.

By a new treaty between Yuri and his nephew, Yuri recognized the

seniority of the nephew. Vsevolojski, the old boyar, paid dearly for

his treason. He was seized and blinded at command of Vassili, and his

lands were confiscated. As Kosói and Shemyaká had not joined in the

treaty, and had continued their warfare, Yuri himself broke that same

treaty soon after it was made. With his sons he drove out Vassili, and

in 1434 took the throne a second time, but that same year he died.

Kosói, his eldest son, tried to succeed him, but Kosói’s brothers,

Dmitri Shemyaká and Dmitri Krasni, refused to accept him as Grand

Prince, preferring their cousin, Vassili. Kosói, however, did not

abandon his claim, and continued the struggle.

In this conflict a great part was taken by the warlike and riotous

people of Vyatka, a Novgorod colony bordering on Galitch. The princes

of Galitch had completed their regiments with the wild Vyatka warriors,

and these added immensely to the fierceness of the struggle. After

ruinous attacks on northern districts Kosói met the Grand Prince at

Sokrotin, in Rostoff regions. But there he saw the superiority of his

enemy and, seeking advantage by perfidy, concluded a truce till the

following morning. Vassili, relying on this truce, sent his men for

provisions. Kosói then attacked him, but Vassili did not lose his head;

he sent messengers quickly to all sides to collect his forces. He

seized a trumpet himself, and sounded it. His men rushed in, and won a

complete victory. Kosói was taken prisoner, and led to Moscow (1436).

Kosói’s Vyatka warriors committed a desperate deed: The Grand Prince’s

lieutenant in Pereyaslavl, Prince Bryuhati, was encamped near the

junction of the Kotorosl and the Volga. Some tens of those Vyatka men

sailed up in the night, and at daybreak, in a fog, crept to Bryuhati’s

tent, seized him with his princess, and rushed to the boats with them.

An alarm was raised quickly, but the robbers flourished axes over the

prisoners, stopped pursuit, and reached the other bank of the river.

From there they bargained, and got four hundred rubles as ransom. Then,

keeping both captives and money, they hurried off to Vyatka. For such

perfidy Kosói suffered heavily. Vassili had his eyes put out. This

cruelty called for a similar deed in retaliation, which later on was

committed.