Russian Tsar Ivan III and Sofia. Sophia Paleolog: the path from the last Byzantine princess to the Grand Duchess of Moscow

Sophia Paleolog - Byzantine princess.

Sofia Paleolog-Byzantine princess.

Sofia Fominichna Paleolog, she is also Zoya Paleologin (c. 1455 - April 7, 1503), Grand Duchess of Moscow, second wife of Ivan III, mother of Vasily III, grandmother of Ivan IV the Terrible. Descended from the imperial dynasty of Palaiologos.

A family

Her father, Thomas Palaiologos, was the brother of the last emperor of Byzantium, Constantine XI, and despot of the Morea (Peloponnese).

Thomas Palaiologos, Sophia's father (Fresco by Pinturicchio, Piccolomini Library)

Emperor John VIII, Sophia's uncle (fresco by Benozzo Gozzoli, Magi Chapel)

Emperor Constantine XI, Sophia's uncle

Her maternal grandfather was Centurione II Zaccaria, the last Frankish prince of Achaia. Centurione came from a Genoese merchant family. His father was placed to rule Achaia by the Neapolitan king Charles III of Anjou. Centurione inherited power from his father and ruled in the principality until 1430, when the despot of the Morea, Thomas Palaiologos, launched a large-scale offensive against his possessions. This forced the prince to retreat to his hereditary castle in Messenia, where he died in 1432, two years after the peace treaty, according to which Thomas married his daughter Catherine. After his death, the territory of the principality became part of the despotate.

Zoya's elder sister Elena Paleologina Morejskaya (1431 - November 7, 1473) was the wife of the Serbian despot Lazar Brankovich from 1446, and after the capture of Serbia by Muslims in 1459, she fled to the Greek island of Lefkada, where she took the veil. Thomas also had two surviving sons, Andrei Palaiologos (1453–1502) and Manuel Palaiologos (1455–1512).

Italy

Decisive in the fate of Zoya was the fall of the Byzantine Empire. Emperor Constantine died in 1453 during the capture of Constantinople, 7 years later, in 1460, Morea was captured by the Turkish Sultan Mehmed II, Thomas went to the island of Corfu, then to Rome, where he soon died. Zoya and her brothers, 7-year-old Andrei and 5-year-old Manuel, moved to Rome 5 years after their father. There she received the name Sophia. Palaiologos settled at the court of Pope Sixtus IV (customer of the Sistine Chapel). In order to gain support, Thomas converted to Catholicism in the last year of his life.

Sixtus IV, Titian

After the death of Thomas on May 12, 1465 (his wife Catherine died a little earlier in the same year), the well-known Greek scientist, Cardinal Bessarion of Nicaea, a supporter of the union, took care of his children. His letter has been preserved, in which he gave instructions to the teacher of orphans. From this letter it follows that the pope will continue to release 3600 ecu per year for their maintenance (200 ecu per month: for children, their clothes, horses and servants; plus it was necessary to save for a rainy day, and spend 100 ecu on the maintenance of a modest yard , which included a doctor, a professor of Latin, a professor of Greek, a translator and 1-2 priests).

Vissarion of Nicaea

After the death of Thomas, the crown of the Palaiologos was de jure inherited by his son Andrei, who sold it to various European monarchs and died in poverty. The second son of Thomas Palaiologos, Manuel, during the reign of Bayezid II returned to Istanbul and surrendered to the mercy of the Sultan. According to some sources, he converted to Islam, started a family and served in the Turkish navy.

In 1466, the Venetian lordship offered the Cypriot king Jacques II de Lusignan the candidacy of Sophia as a bride, but he refused. According to Fr. Pirlinga, the brilliance of her name and the glory of her ancestors were a poor bulwark against the Ottoman ships cruising the waters of the Mediterranean. Around 1467, Pope Paul II, through Cardinal Vissarion, offered her hand to Prince Caracciolo, a noble Italian rich man. They were solemnly engaged, but the marriage did not take place.

Wedding

Ivan III was widowed in 1467 - his first wife Maria Borisovna, Princess of Tverskaya died, leaving him his only son, heir - Ivan the Young.

Sophia's marriage to Ivan III was proposed in 1469 by Pope Paul II, presumably in the hope of strengthening the influence of the Catholic Church in Russia or, perhaps, the rapprochement of the Catholic and Orthodox churches - to restore the Florentine connection of churches. Ivan III's motives were probably related to status, and the recently widowed monarch agreed to marry a Greek princess. The idea of marriage may have been born in the mind of Cardinal Vissarion.

The negotiations lasted three years. The Russian chronicle narrates: On February 11, 1469, the Greek Yuri arrived in Moscow from Cardinal Vissarion to the Grand Duke with a sheet in which Sophia, the daughter of the Amorite despot Thomas, an “Orthodox Christian” was offered to the Grand Duke as a bride (she was silent about her conversion to Catholicism). Ivan III consulted with his mother, Metropolitan Philip and the boyars, and made a positive decision.

Banner "Sermon of John the Baptist" from the Oratorio San Giovanni, Urbino. Italian experts believe that Vissarion and Sophia Palaiologos (3rd and 4th characters from the left) are depicted in the crowd of listeners. Gallery of the Province of the Marche, Urbino.

In 1469, Ivan Fryazin (Gian Battista della Volpe) was sent to the Roman court to woo Grand Duke Sophia. The Sofia chronicle testifies that a portrait of the bride was sent back to Russia with Ivan Fryazin, and such secular painting turned out to be an extreme surprise in Moscow - “... and bring the princess written on the icon.(This portrait has not been preserved, which is very regrettable, since it was probably painted by a painter in the papal service, the generation of Perugino, Melozzo da Forli and Pedro Berruguete). The Pope received the ambassador with great honour. He asked the Grand Duke to send the boyars for the bride. Fryazin went to Rome for the second time on January 16, 1472, and arrived there on May 23.

Viktor Muyzhel. "Ambassador Ivan Frezin presents Ivan III with a portrait of his bride Sophia Paleolog"

On June 1, 1472, an absentee betrothal took place in the Basilica of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. Ivan Fryazin was the deputy of the Grand Duke. The wife of the ruler of Florence, Lorenzo the Magnificent, Clarice Orsini and the Queen of Bosnia, Katharina, were also guests. The Pope, in addition to gifts, gave the bride a dowry of 6,000 ducats.

Clarici Medici

On June 24, 1472, a large convoy of Sophia Palaiologos, together with Fryazin, left Rome. The bride was accompanied by Cardinal Bessarion of Nicaea, who was supposed to realize the opportunities that were opening up for the Holy See. Legend has it that Sophia's dowry included books that would form the basis of the collection of the famous library of Ivan the Terrible.

Sophia's retinue: Yuri Trakhaniot, Dmitry Trakhaniot, Prince Konstantin, Dmitry (ambassador of her brothers), St. Cassian the Greek. And also - the papal legate Genoese Anthony Bonumbre, Bishop of Accia (his annals are erroneously called a cardinal). The nephew of diplomat Ivan Fryazin, architect Anton Fryazin, also arrived with her.

Fedor Bronnikov. "Meeting of Princess Sophia Paleolog by Pskov posadniks and boyars at the mouth of the Embakh on Lake Peipsi"

The itinerary of the journey was as follows: north from Italy through Germany, they arrived at the port of Lübeck on September 1. (I had to go around Poland, through which travelers usually went to Russia by land - at that moment she was in a state of conflict with Ivan III). The sea voyage across the Baltic took 11 days. The ship landed in Kolyvan (modern Tallinn), from where the motorcade in October 1472 proceeded through Yuryev (modern Tartu), Pskov and Veliky Novgorod. November 12, 1472 Sophia entered Moscow.

Sofia Paleolog enters Moscow. Miniature of the Front Chronicle

Even during the bride's journey through the Russian lands, it became obvious that the plans of the Vatican to make her a conductor of Catholicism failed, since Sophia immediately demonstrated a return to the faith of her ancestors. The papal legate Anthony Bonumbre was deprived of the opportunity to enter Moscow, carrying a Latin cross in front of him (see Korsun cross).

The wedding in Russia took place on November 12 (22), 1472 in the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow. They were married by Metropolitan Philip (according to the Sophia Time Book - Archpriest Hosea of Kolomna). According to some indications, Metropolitan Philip was against a marriage union with a Uniate woman. The official chronicle of the Grand Duke claims that it was the Metropolitan who married the Grand Duke, but the unofficial code (as part of the Sophia II and Lvov Annals) denies the participation of the Metropolitan in this ceremony: “The archpriest of Kolomna Osei was crowned, outside the local archpriest and confessor did not command ...”.

The wedding of Ivan III with Sophia Paleolog in 1472. Engraving of the 19th century.

Dowry

The Moscow Kremlin Museums have several items associated with her name. Among them are several precious reliquaries originating from the Annunciation Cathedral, whose setting was probably created already in Moscow. According to the inscriptions, it can be assumed that she brought the relics in them from Rome.

Korsun Cross

"Savior Not Made by Hands". Board - 15th century (?), painting - 19th century (?), salary - last quarter (17th century). Tsata and drobnitsa with the image of Basil the Great - 1853. MMK. According to legend, recorded in Ser. 19th century, the image was brought to Moscow from Rome by Sophia Paleolog.

Reliquary pectoral icon. Frame - Moscow, second half of the 15th century; cameo - Byzantium, XII-XIII centuries. (?)

Pectoral icon. Constantinople, X-XI centuries; frame - late XIII - early XIV century

Icon of Our Lady Hodegetria, 15th century

Married life

Sophia's family life, apparently, was successful, as evidenced by numerous offspring.

For her, special mansions and a courtyard were built in Moscow, but they soon burned down in 1493, and the treasury of the Grand Duchess also perished during the fire. Tatishchev conveys evidence that, thanks to the intervention of Sophia, the Tatar yoke was thrown off by Ivan III: when the demand of tribute by Khan Akhmat was discussed at the council of the Grand Duke, and many said that it was better to pacify the wicked with gifts than to shed blood, it was as if Sophia burst into tears and with reproaches she persuaded her husband to end the tributary relationship.

Painting by N. S. Shustov “Ivan III overthrows the Tatar yoke, tearing the image of the Khan and ordering the death of ambassadors”

Before the invasion of Akhmat in 1480, for the sake of safety, with the children, the court, the boyars and the princely treasury, Sofia was sent first to Dmitrov, and then to Beloozero; in the event that Akhmat crosses the Oka and takes Moscow, then she was told to run further north to the sea. This gave rise to Vissarion, the lord of Rostov, in his message to warn the Grand Duke against constant thoughts and excessive attachment to his wife and children. In one of the chronicles, it is noted that Ivan panicked: “horror found on n, and you want to run away from the shore, and his Grand Duchess Roman and the treasury with her were sent to Beloozero.”

Ovechkin N.V. Ivan III. 1988. Canvas. Oil

The family returned to Moscow only in winter. The Venetian ambassador Contarini says that in 1476 he introduced himself to the Grand Duchess Sophia, who received him politely and affectionately and convincingly asked her to bow to the brightest republic from her.

There is a legend connected with the birth of Sophia's son Vasily III, heir to the throne: as if during one of the pious trips to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, in Klementyevo, Grand Duchess Sophia Paleolog had a vision of St. Sergius of Radonezh, who “throw into the bowels of her youth of the young male sex”

"Vision of St. Sergius of Radonezh to the Grand Duchess of Moscow Sophia Paleolog. Lithography. Workshop of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. 1866

Over time, the second marriage of the Grand Duke became one of the sources of tension at court. Soon enough, two groups of court nobility formed, one of which supported the heir to the throne, Ivan Ivanovich the Young, and the second, the new Grand Duchess Sophia Paleolog. In 1476, the Venetian A. Contarini noted that the heir "is in disfavor with his father, because he does not behave well with Despina" (Sofya), but since 1477 Ivan Ivanovich has been mentioned as a co-ruler of his father.

Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich on a walk

Avilov Mikhail Ivanovich

In subsequent years, the grand ducal family increased significantly: Sophia gave birth to a total of nine children to the grand duke - five sons and four daughters.

Meanwhile, in January 1483, the heir to the throne, Ivan Ivanovich Molodoy, also married. His wife was the daughter of the sovereign of Moldavia, Stephen the Great, Elena Voloshanka, who immediately found herself with her mother-in-law "on knives". On October 10, 1483, their son Dmitry was born. After the annexation of Tver in 1485, Ivan Molodoy was appointed prince of Tver as his father; in one of the sources of this period, Ivan III and Ivan Molodoy are called "autocrats of the Russian land." Thus, during all the 1480s, the position of Ivan Ivanovich as the legitimate heir was quite strong.

Ivan and Elena's wedding

The position of the supporters of Sophia Palaiologos was less favorable. So, in particular, the Grand Duchess failed to get government posts for her relatives; her brother Andrey left Moscow with nothing, and her niece Maria, the wife of Prince Vasily Vereisky (the heir to the Vereisko-Belozersky principality), was forced to flee to Lithuania with her husband, which also affected Sophia's position. According to sources, Sophia, having arranged the marriage of her niece and Prince Vasily Vereisky, in 1483 gave her relative a precious piece of jewelry - a "sazhen" with pearls and stones, which had previously belonged to the first wife of Ivan III, Maria Borisovna. The Grand Duke, who wished to bestow a “sazhen” on Elena Voloshanka, upon discovering the loss of the jewelry, became angry and ordered a search to be launched. Vasily Vereisky did not wait for measures against himself and, having captured his wife, fled to Lithuania. One of the results of this story was the transition of the Vereysko-Belozersky principality to Ivan III according to the will of the appanage prince Mikhail Vereisky, Vasily's father. Only in 1493 Sophia procured Vasily the mercy of the Grand Duke: the disgrace was removed.

"The great prince granted his grandson a great reign"

By 1490, however, new circumstances came into play. The son of the Grand Duke, heir to the throne Ivan Ivanovich fell ill "kamchugo in the legs"(gout). Sophia ordered a doctor from Venice - "Mistro Leona" who presumptuously promised Ivan III to cure the heir to the throne; nevertheless, all the efforts of the doctor were fruitless, and on March 7, 1490, Ivan the Young died. The doctor was executed, and rumors spread around Moscow about the poisoning of the heir; a hundred years later, these rumors, already as indisputable facts, were recorded by Andrei Kurbsky. Modern historians regard the hypothesis of the poisoning of Ivan the Young as unverifiable due to a lack of sources.

Death of Grand Duke Ivan Ivanovich.

On February 4, 1498, the coronation of Prince Dmitry took place in the Assumption Cathedral. Sophia and her son Vasily were not invited. However, on April 11, 1502, the dynastic struggle came to its logical conclusion. According to the chronicle, Ivan III “placed disgrace on the grandson of his Grand Duke Dmitry and on his mother, the Grand Duchess Elena, and from that day on he did not order them to be remembered in litanies and litias, nor called the Grand Duke, and plant them for bailiffs.” A few days later, Vasily Ivanovich was granted a great reign; soon Dmitry the grandson and his mother Elena Voloshanka were transferred from house arrest to imprisonment. Thus, the struggle within the grand-ducal family ended in the victory of Prince Vasily; he became the co-ruler of his father and the rightful heir to a huge power. The fall of Dmitry the grandson and his mother also predetermined the fate of the Moscow-Novgorod reform movement in the Orthodox Church: the Church Council of 1503 finally defeated it; many prominent and progressive figures of this movement were executed. As for the fate of those who lost the dynastic struggle, it was sad: on January 18, 1505, Elena Stefanovna died in captivity, and in 1509 Dmitry himself died “in need, in prison”. “Some believe that he died from hunger and cold, others that he suffocated from smoke”- Herberstein reported about his death

"Veil of Elena Voloshanka". Workshop of Elena Stefanovna Voloshanka (?) depicting the 1498 ceremony. Sophia is probably depicted in the lower left corner in a yellow cloak with a round patch on her shoulder - a tablion, a sign of royal dignity.

Death

She was buried in a massive white stone sarcophagus in the tomb of the Ascension Cathedral in the Kremlin next to the grave of Maria Borisovna, the first wife of Ivan III. On the lid of the sarcophagus, the word "Sophia" was scratched with a sharp instrument.

This cathedral was destroyed in 1929, and the remains of Sophia, as well as other women of the reigning house, were transferred to the underground chamber of the southern extension of the Archangel Cathedral.

Death and burial of the Grand Duchess

Personality

The attitude of contemporaries

The Byzantine princess was not popular, she was considered smart, but proud, cunning and treacherous. Hostility towards her was expressed even in the annals: for example, regarding her return from Beloozero, the chronicler notes: “Grand Duchess Sophia ... ran from the Tatars to Beloozero, and no one drove; and in which countries she went, the more so Tatars - from boyar serfs, from Christian bloodsuckers. Repay them, O Lord, according to their deeds and according to the wickedness of their undertakings.

The disgraced duma man of Vasily III, Bersen Beklemishev, in a conversation with Maxim Grek, spoke of her like this: “Our Russian land lived in silence and in peace. As the mother of the Grand Duke Sophia came here with your Greeks, so our land got mixed up and great disturbances came to us, just like you had in Tsar-grad under your kings. Maxim objected: “Lord, the Grand Duchess Sophia on both sides was of a great family: on her father, the royal family, and on her mother, the Grand Duke of the Italian side.” Bersen replied: “Whatever it may be; Yes, it has come to our disorder. This disorganization, according to Bersen, was reflected in the fact that since that time “the great prince changed the old customs”, “now our Sovereign, having locked himself in thirds by the bed, does all sorts of things.”

Prince Andrei Kurbsky is especially strict with Sophia. He is convinced that “The devil instilled evil morals into the good Russian princes, especially by their evil wives and sorcerers, like in Israel the kings, more than whom they were raped from foreigners”; accuses Sophia of poisoning John the Young, of the death of Elena, of imprisoning Dmitry, Prince Andrei Uglitsky and other persons, contemptuously calls her a Greek woman, Greek "sorceress".

In the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, a silk veil is kept, sewn by the hands of Sophia in 1498; her name is embroidered on the veil, and she calls herself not the Grand Duchess of Moscow, but "royal tsar's city". Apparently, she highly valued her former title, if she remembers it even after 26 years

Shroud from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra

Appearance

When in 1472 Clarice Orsini and the court poet of her husband Luigi Pulci witnessed an absentee marriage that took place in the Vatican, the poisonous wit Pulci, in order to amuse Lorenzo the Magnificent, who remained in Florence, sent him a report on this event and the appearance of the bride:

“We entered a room where a painted doll sat in an armchair on a high platform. She had two huge Turkish pearls on her chest, a double chin, thick cheeks, her whole face shone with fat, her eyes were wide open like bowls, and around her eyes there were such ridges of fat and meat, like high dams on the Po. The legs are far from thin either, and so are all other parts of the body - I have never seen such a funny and disgusting person as this fair cracker. All day long she chatted incessantly through an interpreter - this time it was her brother, the same thick-legged cudgel. Your wife, as if bewitched, saw in this monster in a woman's guise a beauty, and the interpreter's speech clearly gave her pleasure. One of our companions even admired the painted lips of this doll and considered that she spits amazingly gracefully. All day, until evening, she chatted in Greek, but we were not allowed to eat or drink in Greek, Latin, or Italian. However, she somehow managed to explain to Donna Clarice that she was wearing a narrow and ugly dress, although this dress was of rich silk and cut from at least six pieces of fabric, so that they could cover the dome of Santa Maria Rotunda. Since then, every night I dream of mountains of butter, fat, lard, rags and other similar muck.

According to the review of the Bolognese chroniclers, who described the passage of her procession through the city, she was short in stature, had very beautiful eyes and amazing whiteness of her skin. In appearance they gave her 24 years.

In December 1994, studies of the remains of the princess began in Moscow. They are well preserved (almost complete skeleton except for some small bones). Criminalist Sergei Nikitin, who restored her appearance using the Gerasimov method, points out: “After comparing the skull, spine, sacrum, pelvic bones and lower limbs, taking into account the approximate thickness of the missing soft tissues and interosseous cartilage, it was possible to find out that Sophia was short, about 160 cm, full, with strong-willed features. According to the degree of overgrowth of the sutures of the skull and wear of the teeth, the biological age of the Grand Duchess was determined at 50-60 years, which corresponds to historical data. At first, her sculptural portrait was molded from special soft plasticine, and then a plaster casting was made and tinted to look like Carrara marble.

Great-great-granddaughter, Princess Maria Staritskaya. According to scientists, her face shows a great resemblance to Sophia

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofia_Paleolog

In the middle of the 15th century, when Constantinople fell under the onslaught of the Turks, the 17-year-old Byzantine princess Sophia left Rome to transfer the spirit of the old empire to a new, still emerging state.

With her fabulous life and adventure-filled journey, from the dimly lit passageways of the papal church to the snowy Russian steppes, from the secret mission behind her betrothal to a Moscow prince, to the mysterious and still undiscovered collection of books she brought with her from Constantinople, - we were introduced by the journalist and writer Yorgos Leonardos, the author of the book "Sophia Palaiologos - from Byzantium to Russia", as well as many other historical novels.

In a conversation with an Athens-Macedonian Agency correspondent about the filming of a Russian film about the life of Sophia Palaiologos, Mr. Leonardos stressed that she was a versatile person, a practical and ambitious woman. The niece of the last Palaiologos inspired her husband, Prince Ivan III of Moscow, to create a strong state, earning the respect of Stalin almost five centuries after her death.

Russian researchers highly appreciate the contribution that Sophia left in the political and cultural history of medieval Russia.

Yorgos Leonardos describes Sophia's personality as follows: “Sophia was the niece of the last emperor of Byzantium, Constantine XI, and the daughter of Thomas Palaiologos. She was baptized in Mistra, giving the Christian name Zoya. In 1460, when the Peloponnese was captured by the Turks, the princess, along with her parents, brothers and sister, went to the island of Corfu. With the participation of Vissarion of Nicaea, who had already become a Catholic cardinal in Rome by that time, Zoya moved to Rome with her father, brothers and sister. After the premature death of her parents, Vissarion took over custody of three children who converted to the Catholic faith. However, Sophia's life changed when Paul II took the papacy, who wanted her to enter into a political marriage. The princess was betrothed to Prince Ivan III of Moscow, hoping that Orthodox Russia would convert to Catholicism. Sophia, who came from the Byzantine imperial family, was sent by Paul to Moscow as the heiress of Constantinople. Her first stop after Rome was the city of Pskov, where the Russian people enthusiastically accepted the young girl.

The author of the book considers visiting one of the Pskov churches a key moment in Sophia’s life: “She was impressed, and although the papal legate was next to her, following her every step, she returned to Orthodoxy, defying the will of the pope. On November 12, 1472, Zoya became the second wife of the Moscow prince Ivan III under the Byzantine name Sophia.

From this moment, according to Leonardos, her brilliant path begins: “Under the influence of a deep religious feeling, Sophia convinced Ivan to throw off the burden of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, because at that time Russia paid tribute to the Horde. Indeed, Ivan liberated his state and united various independent principalities under his rule.

Sophia's contribution to the development of the state is great, because, as the author explains, "she started the Byzantine order at the Russian court and helped create the Russian state."

“Since Sophia was the only heiress of Byzantium, Ivan believed that he had inherited the right to the imperial throne. He adopted the yellow color of the Palaiologos and the Byzantine emblem - a double-headed eagle, which lasted until the 1917 revolution and was returned after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and also called Moscow the Third Rome. Since the sons of the Byzantine emperors took the name of Caesar, Ivan took this title for himself, which in Russian began to sound like "tsar". Ivan also elevated the Archbishopric of Moscow to a patriarchy, making it clear that the first patriarchy was not Constantinople captured by the Turks, but Moscow.”

According to Yorgos Leonardos, “Sofia was the first to create in Russia on the model of Constantinople a secret service, a prototype of the tsarist secret police and the Soviet KGB. This contribution of hers is recognized by the Russian authorities today. So, the former head of the Federal Security Service of Russia, Alexei Patrushev, on the Day of Military Counterintelligence on December 19, 2007, said that the country honors Sophia Palaiologos, as she defended Russia from internal and external enemies.

Also, Moscow “owes her a change in its appearance, since Sofia brought here Italian and Byzantine architects who built mainly stone buildings, for example, the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin, as well as the Kremlin walls that still exist. Also, according to the Byzantine model, secret passages were dug under the territory of the entire Kremlin.

“Since 1472, the history of the modern – tsarist – state begins in Russia. At that time, due to the climate, they did not engage in agriculture here, but only hunted. Sophia convinced the subjects of Ivan III to cultivate the fields and thus laid the foundation for the formation of agriculture in the country.

Sophia’s personality was also respected under the Soviet regime: according to Leonardos, “when the Ascension Monastery was destroyed in the Kremlin, in which the remains of the queen were stored, not only were they not disposed of, but by Stalin’s decree they were placed in a tomb, which was then transferred to Arkhangelsk the cathedral".

Yorgos Leonardos said that Sophia brought 60 carts from Constantinople with books and rare treasures that were kept in the underground treasuries of the Kremlin and have not been found so far.

“There are written sources,” says Mr. Leonardos, “indicating the existence of these books, which the West tried to buy from her grandson, Ivan the Terrible, to which he, of course, did not agree. Books continue to be searched to this day.

Sophia Palaiologos died on April 7, 1503 at the age of 48. Her husband, Ivan III, became the first ruler in the history of Russia, who was named the Great for his deeds, committed with the support of Sophia. Their grandson, Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, continued to strengthen the state and went down in history as one of the most influential rulers of Russia.

“Sofia transferred the spirit of Byzantium to the Russian Empire, which had just begun to emerge. It was she who built the state in Russia, giving it Byzantine features, and on the whole enriched the structure of the country and its society. Even today in Russia there are surnames that go back to Byzantine names, as a rule, they end in -ov, ”said Yorgos Leonardos.

As for the images of Sophia, Leonardos emphasized that “her portraits have not been preserved, but even under communism, with the help of special technologies, scientists recreated the appearance of the queen from her remains. This is how the bust appeared, which is placed near the entrance to the Historical Museum next to the Kremlin.”

“The legacy of Sophia Paleolog is Russia itself…” Yorgos Leonardos summed up.

The material was prepared by the editors of the site

Assumption Cathedral has always been the most important cathedral of the Russian state. It occupies a special place in the historical past of Russia. For many centuries this church was the state and religious center. Here, weddings to the principality of the great princes and oaths of vassal loyalty to the specific princes took place, here they crowned kings, and then emperors ...

They say that every city founded in antiquity or in the Middle Ages has its own secret name. According to legend, only a few people could know him. The city's secret name contained its DNA. Having learned the "password" of the city, the enemy could easily take possession of it.

According to the ancient urban planning tradition, at the beginning the secret name of the city was born, then there was a corresponding place, the “heart of the city”, which symbolized the World Tree. Moreover, it is not necessary that the navel of the city should be located in the "geometric" center of the future city.

The city is almost like Koshchei’s: “... his death is at the end of a needle, that needle is in an egg, that egg is in a duck, that duck is in a hare, that hare is in a chest, and the chest stands on a tall oak, and that Koschei tree, like its own eye, protects ".

Interestingly, ancient and medieval city planners always left hints. Love for puzzles distinguished many professional guilds. Some Freemasons are worth something.

Before the profanation of heraldry in the Enlightenment, the role of these rebuses was performed by the coats of arms of cities. But this is in Europe. In Russia, until the 17th century, there was no tradition at all to encrypt the essence of the city, its secret name, in the coat of arms or some other symbol.

State seal of Grand Duke John III of 1497

For example, George the Victorious migrated to the coat of arms of Moscow from the seals of the great Moscow princes, and even earlier - from the seals of the Tver principality. It had nothing to do with the city. In Russia, the starting point for the construction of the city was the temple. It was the axis of any settlement.

In Moscow, this function was performed by the Assumption Cathedral for centuries. In turn, according to the Byzantine tradition, the temple was to be built on the relics of the saint. At the same time, the relics were usually placed under the altar (sometimes also on one side of the altar or at the entrance to the temple).

It was the relics that represented the “heart of the city”. The name of the saint, apparently, was the very "secret name". In other words, if St. Basil's Cathedral was the "founding stone" of Moscow, then the "secret name" of the city would be "Vasilyev" or "Vasilyev-grad".

However, we do not know whose relics lie at the base of the Assumption Cathedral. There is not a single mention of this in the annals. Probably the saint's name was kept secret.

At the end of the 12th century, a wooden church stood on the site of the current Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin. A hundred years later, the Moscow prince Daniil Alexandrovich built the first Assumption Cathedral on this site. However, for unknown reasons, after 25 years, Ivan Kalita builds a new cathedral on this site.

It is interesting that the temple was built on the model of St. George's Cathedral in Yuryev-Polsky. It's not entirely clear why? St. George's Cathedral can hardly be called a masterpiece of ancient Russian architecture. So there was something else?

Reconstruction of the original view of St. George's Cathedral in Yuryev-Polsky

The model temple in Yuryev-Polsky was built in 1234 by Prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich on the site on the foundation of the white stone church of St. George, which was built in 1152 when the city was founded by Yuri Dolgoruky. Apparently, some increased attention was paid to this place. And the construction of the same temple in Moscow, perhaps, was supposed to emphasize some kind of continuity.

The Assumption Cathedral in Moscow stood for less than 150 years, and then Ivan III suddenly decided to rebuild it. The formal reason is the dilapidation of the structure. Although one and a half hundred years for a stone temple is not God knows how long.

The temple was dismantled, and in its place in 1472 the construction of a new cathedral began. However, on May 20, 1474, an earthquake occurred in Moscow. The unfinished cathedral was seriously damaged, and Ivan decides to dismantle the remains and start building a new temple.

Architects from Pskov are invited for construction, but for mysterious reasons, they categorically refuse to build. Then Ivan III, at the insistence of his second wife Sophia Palaiologos, sends emissaries to Italy, who were supposed to bring the Italian architect and engineer Aristotle Fioravanti to the capital. By the way, in his homeland he was called the “new Archimedes”.

It looks absolutely fantastic, because for the first time in the history of Russia, a Catholic architect is invited to build an Orthodox church, the main church of the Moscow State! From the point of view of the then tradition - a heretic.

Why an Italian was invited, who had never seen a single Orthodox church, remains a mystery. Maybe because not a single Russian architect wanted to deal with this project.

The construction of the temple under the leadership of Aristotle Fioravanti began in 1475 and ended in 1479. It is interesting that the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir was chosen as a model.

Historians explain that Ivan III wanted to show the continuity of the Muscovite state from the former "capital city" of Vladimir. But this again does not look very convincing, since in the second half of the 15th century, the former authority of Vladimir could hardly have had any image value.

Perhaps this was due to the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, which in 1395 was transported from the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir to the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow, built by Ivan Kalita. However, history has not preserved direct indications of this.

One of the hypotheses why Russian architects did not get down to business, and an Italian architect was invited, is connected with the personality of the second wife of John III, the Byzantine Sophia Palaiologos.

Sofia Paleolog enters Moscow. Miniature of the Front Chronicle.

As you know, Pope Paul II actively promoted the Greek princess as a wife to Ivan III. In 1465 her father, Thomas Palaiologos, brought her with his other children to Rome. The family settled at the court of Pope Sixtus IV. A few days after their arrival, Thomas died, having converted to Catholicism before his death.

History has left us no information that Sophia converted to the "Latin faith", but it is unlikely that the Palaiologos could remain Orthodox while living at the court of the Pope. In other words, Ivan III, most likely, wooed a Catholic. Moreover, not a single chronicle reports that Sophia converted to Orthodoxy before the wedding.

The wedding took place in November 1472. In theory, it was supposed to take place in the Assumption Cathedral. However, shortly before this, the temple was dismantled to the foundation in order to begin new construction. This looks very strange, because about a year before that, it was known about the upcoming wedding.

It is also surprising that the wedding took place in a specially built wooden church near the Assumption Cathedral, which was demolished immediately after the ceremony. Why no other Kremlin cathedral was chosen remains a mystery.

Let's get back to the refusal of Pskov architects to restore the destroyed Assumption Cathedral. One of the Moscow chronicles says that the Pskovites allegedly did not take up the work because of its complexity. However, it is hard to believe that Russian architects could refuse Ivan III, a rather harsh man, on such an occasion.

The reason for the categorical refusal should have been very weighty. It was probably related to some heresy. A heresy that only a Catholic could bear - Fioravanti. What could it be?

Moscow Kremlin under Ivan III

The Assumption Cathedral, built by an Italian architect, does not have any "seditious" deviations from the Russian tradition of architecture. The only thing that could cause a categorical refusal is the holy relics.

Perhaps the relics of a non-Orthodox saint could become a "mortgage" relic. As you know, Sophia brought many relics as a dowry, including Orthodox icons and a library. But, probably, we do not know about all the relics. It is no coincidence that Pope Paul II lobbied for this marriage so much.

If during the reconstruction of the temple there was a change of relics, then, according to the Russian tradition of urban planning, the “secret name” and, most importantly, the fate of the city changed. People who understand history well and subtly know that it was with Ivan III that the change in the rhythm of Russia began. Then still Russia.

Alexey Pleshanov

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Sophia Paleolog and Ivan III the Third: love story, interesting biography facts. The recently released series "Sofia" touched upon the subject of the personality of Prince Ivan the Great and his wife Sophia Paleolog, previously not covered on the wide screen. Zoya Paleolog came from a noble Byzantine family. After the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, she fled with her brothers to Rome, where she found the patronage of the Roman throne. She converted to Catholicism, but remained faithful to Orthodoxy.

Sophia Paleolog and Ivan III the Third: love story, interesting biography facts. At this time, Ivan the Third was widowed in Moscow. The prince's wife died, leaving a young heir, Ivan Ivanovich. The ambassadors of the Pope went to Muscovy to propose the candidacy of Zoya Palaiologos to the sovereign. The marriage took place only three years later. At the time of marriage, Sophia, who adopted a new name and Orthodoxy in Russia, was 17 years old. The husband was 15 years older than his wife. But, despite such a young age, Sophia already knew how to show her character and completely broke off relations with the Catholic Church, which disappointed the Pope, who was striving to gain influence in Russia.

Sophia Paleolog and Ivan III the Third: love story, interesting biography facts. In Moscow, the Latin woman was received very hostilely, the royal court was against this marriage, but the prince did not heed their persuasion. Historians describe Sophia as a very attractive woman, the king liked her as soon as he saw her portrait, brought by ambassadors. Contemporaries describe Ivan as a handsome man, but the prince had one weakness inherent in many rulers in Russia. Ivan the Third liked to drink and often fell asleep right during the feast, the boyars at that moment calmed down and waited for the prince-father to wake up.

Sophia Paleolog and Ivan III the Third: love story, interesting biography facts. Relations between the spouses were always very close, which did not please the boyars, who saw Sofia as a great threat. At court, they said that the prince rules the country "from the bedchamber", hinting at the omnipresence of his wife. The sovereign often consulted with his wife, and her advice benefited the state. Only Sophia supported, and somewhere she directed, Ivan's decision to stop paying tribute to the Horde. Sophia contributed to the spread of education among the nobles, the library of the princess could be compared with the collection of books of European rulers. She supervised the construction of the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, at her request, foreign architects came to Moscow.

Sophia Paleolog and Ivan III the Third: love story, interesting biography facts. But the personality of the princess evoked conflicting emotions among contemporaries, opponents often called her a witch, for her passion for drugs and herbs. And many were sure that it was she who contributed to the departure of the eldest son of Ivan the Third, the direct heir to the throne, who was allegedly poisoned by the doctor who was invited by Sofia. And after his death, she got rid of his son and daughter-in-law, the Moldavian princess Elena Voloshanka. After that, her son Vasily the Third, the father of Ivan the Terrible, ascended the throne. How true this could be, one can only guess, in the Middle Ages this method of fighting for the throne was very common. The historical results of Ivan the Third were colossal. The prince managed to collect and increase the Russian lands, having tripled the area of the state. According to the significance of his deeds, historians often compare Ivan the Third with Peter. His wife Sophia also played a significant role in this.

Sofia Paleolog went from the last Byzantine princess to the Grand Duchess of Moscow. Thanks to her intelligence and cunning, she could influence the policy of Ivan III, won in palace intrigues. Sophia also managed to put her son Vasily III on the throne.

Zoya Palaiologos was born around 1440-1449. She was the daughter of Thomas Palaiologos, brother of the last Byzantine Emperor Constantine. The fate of the whole family after the death of the ruler was unenviable. Thomas Palaiologos fled to Corfu and then to Rome. After a while, the children followed him. Paleologists were patronized by Pope Paul II himself. The girl had to convert to Catholicism and change her name from Zoya to Sophia. She received an education appropriate to her status, not bathed in luxury, but not in poverty either.

Sophia became a pawn in the political game of the Pope. At first he wanted to give her as a wife to the king of Cyprus, James II, but he refused. The next contender for the girl's hand was Prince Caracciolo, but he did not live to see the wedding. When the wife of Prince Ivan III died in 1467, Sophia Paleolog was offered to him as his wife. The Pope did not mention that she was a Catholic, thereby wishing to expand the influence of the Vatican in Russia. Negotiations for marriage continued for three years. Ivan III was seduced by the opportunity to marry such an eminent person.

The betrothal in absentia took place on June 1, 1472, after which Sophia Paleolog went to Muscovy. Everywhere she was given all sorts of honors and organized holidays. At the head of her motorcade was a man who carried a Catholic cross. Upon learning of this, Metropolitan Philip threatened to leave Moscow if the cross was brought into the city. Ivan III ordered to take away the Catholic symbol 15 miles from Moscow. Dad's plans failed, and Sophia returned to her faith again. The wedding took place on November 12, 1472 in the Assumption Cathedral.

At court, the newly-made Byzantine wife of the Grand Duke was disliked. Despite this, Sophia had a huge influence on her husband. The chronicles describe in detail how Palaiologos persuaded Ivan III to free himself from the Mongol yoke.

Following the Byzantine model, Ivan III developed a complex judicial system. At the same time, for the first time, the Grand Duke began to call himself "Tsar and Autocrat of All Russia." It is believed that the image of the double-headed eagle, which later appeared on the coat of arms of Muscovy, Sophia Paleolog brought with her.

Sofia Paleolog and Ivan III had eleven children (five sons and six daughters). From his first marriage, the tsar had a son, Ivan Molodoy, the first contender for the throne. But he fell ill with gout and died. Another "obstacle" for the children of Sophia on the way to the throne was the son of Ivan the Young Dmitry. But he and his mother fell out of favor with the king and died in captivity. Some historians suggest that Palaiologos was involved in the deaths of the direct heirs, but there is no direct evidence. Ivan III's successor was Sophia's son Vasily III.

The Byzantine princess and princess of Muscovy died on April 7, 1503. She was buried in a stone sarcophagus in the Ascension Monastery.

The marriage of Ivan III and Sophia Paleologus turned out to be successful politically and culturally. were able to leave a mark not only in the history of their country, but also become beloved queens in a foreign land.