RUSSIA. 



48-i 



.! installed Great Duke of Russia by the Tartar Khan in 

 , ' u/-,^ an( j continued to reign till Itf0'4. A victory 

 which he IKK! ^ lined over the Livonians and the Swedes 

 in 1240, on the banks of the river Neva, procured him 

 the honourable sirname of Nevskii. He is one of the 

 tutelary saints of the Russo-Greek church, and his 

 memory is held at this day in the greatest veneration. 

 After him followed a number of other princes, as Ya- 

 roslaT III. Vassilii I. Dmitrii II. Andrei III. Daniel, 

 Georgii, Dmitrii, Alexander II. &c. &c. whose times, 

 like the past, had been disturbed by internal commo- 

 tions, and trifling warfares. 



I* in I. In 1328, Iv&n Danilovitch, sirnamed Kalila, received 

 1328, the principalities of Vladimir and Moscow from the 

 Tartar Khan, and Moscow was then declared to be the 

 capita] of all Russia. This city had been founded in 

 1 147, but was greatly improved, especially the Kremle 

 by Ivan, who also established the dignity of metropoli- 

 tan, and founded the cathedrals of the Assumption, of 

 St. Michael, and of the Transfiguration in this city. 

 Ivin II. He was succeeded in 1353 by Ivdn II. whose reign 

 which had been very tranquil, terminated with his 

 death, by the plague, in 1358. An intrigue of ten 

 years followed, and was accompanied with its common 

 evils. About the year 1362 Dmitrii obtained the great 

 principality from Hildir, Khan of the Tartars. After 

 a reign of about two years he was deposed, and it was 

 given to the true heir Dmitrii Donskoi. 



Dmitrii Dmitrii Donskoi was son of Ivan II. His reign 



Domkoi. lasted twenty-six years with fame and glory. He is 

 not reckoned to have had great talents, but many vir- 

 tues, and to have been beloved of his subjects. He 

 became so powerful as to have received the homage of 

 almost all the Russian princes. Proud of the increase 

 of his own power, and despising the weakness of his 

 rival?, he refused to pay tribute to the Tartars. War 

 1380 was l ^ e consec l uence between him and JMamai, the 

 khan. A dreadful battle was fought on the Don, in 

 which Dmitrii, after various success, was ultimately 

 successful, and hence received the sirname D -nskoi. 

 He had the misfortune, however, to see Moscow taken 

 and burned by the Tartars under Tachtamish, in the 

 year 1382, when most of the inhabitants perished by 

 fire, water, or the sword, and the rest were made pri- 

 soners. He died in 1389, an( l was succeeded by his 

 Van,ilii II. son Vassilii (II.) During his reign the Tartars made 

 13HP. another incursion into Russia, under the famous Ti- 

 mur, or Tamerlane, who, after having subdued all the 

 neighbouring Tartar hordes, extended his conquests 

 to the Russian territories, took Moscow by assault, and 

 carried off immense plunder. During this sovereign's 

 reign Russia three times experienced the horrors of 

 the plague, and oftener than once was exposed to fa- 

 mine. Vassilii died in 1425, and was succeeded by 

 Vil illl. h' 8 son Vassilii III. sirnamed the Blind, who twice 

 142.5. lost his throne, was re-established upon it, and died 



after a reign of thirty-seven years. 



Ivan Vas- The latter end of the fifteenth century forms a splen- 

 lilieviich. did epoch in the history of Russia. From 14(J2 to 

 1505 reigned the famous prince Ivan Vassilievitch, 

 who, in a second marriage, espoused Sophia, daughter 

 of Thomas Paleologus. At her instigation he shook off 

 the Tartar yoke, attacked their territories, and made 

 himself master of Kazan, where he was solemnly 

 crowned. This last event took place about the year 

 1470, and led to a complete emancipation from the 

 tiominion of the Tartars. He extended his territories 

 immensely, and subjected Novgorod after a seven years 

 biege, and there obtained immense treasures. In his 



reign, the knowledge of gun-powder, and the art of 

 casting cannon were introduced into Russia by Aru- 

 totle of Bologna, who, along with other foreigners, was 

 employed to recoin the ltuw.ian money. Aristotle, 

 ..HIS, and others, at a vast expence, enclosed the 

 Ki miles of Moscow and Novgorod with thick walls, 

 for the sake of greater security. After a reign of forty- 

 three years, Ivan was murdered or died, in the 60th 

 year of his age. 



In the year 1505, his son Vassilii IV. sirnamed the 

 Courageous, ascended his father's throne. The Tar- 

 tars not only revolted, but wilh a mighty force entered 

 Russia, and carried their arms even to the gates of 

 .Moscow, and forced the sovereign to make present*, 

 and give a promise of renewed allegiance. Soon after- 

 wards, however, Vassilii recovered Kaz&n, as well as 

 Pskof, a town which possessed considerable commerce 

 and wealth. Under his reign all the principalities of 

 Russia were united, and they have ever oince remained 

 under the dominion of one sovereign. After a reign 

 of twenty-eight years Vassilii died, and was succeeded 

 by his son I vin ( IV.) Vassilievitch, who was afterwards Ivui IV. 

 sirnamed the Terrible, and by foreigners, the Tyrant. 

 As he was only three years old, the queen-moiher was 

 appointed regent during his minorily, an office for 

 which she did not possess the requisite talents. She 

 died in 1538, and afterwards when Ivan had attained 

 his seventeenth year, he assumed the reins of govern- 

 ment, secured the domestic tranquillity of his domi- 

 nions, made himself master of the kingdoms of Kazan 

 and Astrachan, and liberated for ever his country from 

 the thraldom of the Tartars. In the year 1750, the 

 inhabitants of Novgorod were suspected of having 

 formed a conspiracy for surrendering the city and the 

 surrounding territory into the hands of the king of 

 Poland, and they dearly felt the effects of IvaVs veji- 

 geance ; 25,000 of those who were implicated in the 

 plot, having suffered by the hands of the executioner. 

 With justice, therefore, this monarch was named the 

 Terrible or the Tyrant. He was at great pains, how- 

 ever, to adopt measures for the improvement and 

 civilization of his people, and his new code of laws 

 called the Soodcbnik, is well known even at this day. 

 He sent an embassy to the emperor of Germany, on 

 purpose to request him to permit a number of German 

 artists, mechanics, and literary characters to establish 

 themselves in Russia; but in consequence of measures 

 taken by the jealous inhabitants of Lubeck, few of them 

 reached Moscow. Ivan engaged in a war with Sweden, 

 for the possession of Finland, in which he reaped little 

 advantage. He invited some Englishmen to Moscow, 

 who, when on a voyage of discovery, had landed on 

 the shores of the White Sea, near the situation of Arch- 

 angel, and treated them in the kinde:t manner. In 

 consequence of this, and of his great esteem for the 

 English, a new commerce was established between 

 Russia and England. In the reign of Ivsin Siberia 

 was also conquered by the brave Yermak with his 

 band of plunderers, and afterwards presented to the 

 Txar, a title which, according to some accounts, h* 

 was the first to assume. But he also endured reverses. 

 In his time, Russia was invaded by the Tartars, and 

 even Moscow was plundered and completely burned, 

 and above 120,000 citizens, besides women and child- 

 ren and foreigners, were also burned or buried in the 

 ruins. The Livonians, Poles, and Swedes, having unit- 

 ed in a league against the Russitns, gained great ad- 

 vantages over them ; but peace afterwards ensued. Soon 

 after these events the tsar was defeated in an engage- 



