174 THE GROWTH OF R USSIA 



on a prett}' elevation whicli overlooked the River Moskva. The spot 

 pleased his eye. He built there a church and village. Both long 

 remained in almost forgotten obscurity. But the later chroniclers 

 embellish that foundation with as many romantic legends as the 

 Roman writers throw around the building of Rome. The church has 

 since become the Kremlin, une(iualed and gorgeous combination of 

 monastery, cathedral, palace, fortress, and imperial mausoleum. The 

 village, taking its name from the river, grew into the metropolis and 

 capital which the Russian peasants with mingled veneration and truth 

 call the " Holy Mother Moscow." 



It would be a congenial task to trace how Avaves of resistance to the 

 Mongols, of conquest over hostile and rival towns, and of widening 

 political influence radiated from this center. It was shown, as M. 

 Rambaud elo(|uently says, that "the Slavic soul had been confined, 

 not depraved or enslaved, by the Tartar terror, and was oidy biding 

 its time." Shrewdness, suppleness, and heroism were reasonably com- 

 bined in the princes of Moscow. Dimitri of Moscow, b}'^ a victor}'^ 

 over the Mongols upon the Don, proved that the dreaded foreign 

 oppressors were not invincible. Though the Mongol yoke was shortly 

 riveted again, none the less the eyes of the people grew accustomed to 

 looking upon Moscow as their future deliverer. At last it was from 

 Moscow that their deliverance proceeded. On the lips of foreigners 

 Muscovy and Aluscovite became the term to denote the entire country 

 and its inhabitants. Even today an Ottoman Turk always speaks of 

 a Russian as a Moscov. 



Meanwhile Constantin()i)le and the Byzantine Empire had fallen 

 before the mace of Sultan Mohammed II, the conqueror. The heiress 

 to the shattered empire was the Princess Sophia. When, in 1472, she 

 wedded Ivan III, Grand Duke of Moscow, she brought to him as her 

 imperial dowry her claim to tlie BA'zantine throne. Her husband 

 assumed the title of Czar and adopted as his coat of arms the double- 

 headed eagle of Constantinople. Wherever the Russian escutcheon 

 is now dis])layed, enwrapped in the ermine and surmounted !)}'• the 

 jeweled crown, it is a reminder not only of that historic marriage, but 

 of the definite hope and as{)iration of the czars. 



In 1598 the Czar Feodor died, and with him the royal house of 

 Russia became extinct. The heir to the throne, the boy Dimitri, 

 had five years before preceded him to the tomb. A crowd of im- 

 postors ai'ose, each claiming to be the dead prince. Each i)retender 

 drew after him a host of armed partisans, and Russia was given over 



