Grand Duchess Sofia Paleologian of Moscow and her role in history. Sofia Paleolog: the woman who founded the Russian Empire

In the family of the Morean despot Thomas Palaiologos († 1465), brother of Emperor Constantine XI.

Orphaned at an early age, Sophia was raised with her brothers at the court of the Pope.

Advantageous marriage

« Was with her- says the chronicler, - and your lord(Legate Antony) not according to our custom, dressed all in red, wearing gloves, which he never takes off and blesses in them, and they carry in front of him a cast crucifix, mounted high on a pole; does not approach icons and does not cross himself; in the Trinity Cathedral he only venerated the Most Pure One, and then by order of the princess».

Having learned that the Latin cross was being carried ahead of the procession, Metropolitan Philip threatened the Grand Duke: “ If you allow the faithful Moscow to carry the cross before the Latin bishop, then he will enter through the same gate, and I, your father, will go out of the city differently».

According to legend, she brought with her a “bone throne” (now known as the “throne of Ivan the Terrible”) as a gift to her husband: its wooden frame was entirely covered with plates of ivory and walrus bone with scenes on biblical themes carved on them.

Sofia also brought with her several Orthodox icons, including, as is believed, a rare icon of the Mother of God “Blessed Heaven”.

Fight for the throne

On April 18 of the year, Sofia gave birth to her first daughter Anna (who died quickly), then another daughter (who also died so quickly that they did not have time to baptize her).

In the year Sofia's first son, Vasily, was born. Over the years of her 30-year marriage, Sophia gave birth to 5 sons and 4 daughters.

in the year the eldest son of Ivan III, Ivan the Young, suffered from aching legs (“kamchug”) and died at the age of 32. He was the last to leave his young son Dimitri (+ 1509) from his marriage to Helen, daughter of Stefan, the ruler of Moldova, and therefore now the question arose of who should inherit the great reign - his son or his grandson. The struggle for the throne began, the court was divided into two sides.

The princes and boyars supported Elena, the widow of Ivan the Young, and her son Dmitry; on the side of Sofia and her son Vasily there were only boyar children and clerks. They began to advise the young Prince Vasily to leave Moscow, seize the treasury in Vologda and Beloozero and destroy Demetrius. But the conspiracy was discovered in December of the year. In addition, enemies told the Grand Duke that Sofia wanted to poison his grandson in order to place her own son on the throne, that she was secretly visited by sorcerers preparing a poisonous potion, and that Vasily himself was participating in this conspiracy. Ivan III took the side of his grandson and arrested Vasily.

However, Sofia managed to achieve the fall of Elena Voloshanka, accusing her of adherence to the heresy of the Judaizers. Then the Grand Duke put his daughter-in-law and grandson into disgrace and named Vasily the legal heir to the throne.

Influence on politics and culture

Contemporaries noted that Ivan III, after marrying the niece of the Byzantine emperor, appeared as a formidable sovereign on the Moscow grand-ducal table. The Byzantine princess brought sovereign rights to her husband and, according to the Byzantine historian F.I. Uspensky, the right to the throne of Byzantium, which the boyars had to reckon with. Previously, Ivan III loved “meeting against himself,” that is, objections and disputes, but under Sophia he changed his treatment of the courtiers, began to behave inaccessibly, demanded special respect and easily fell into anger, every now and then inflicting disgrace. These misfortunes were also attributed to the harmful influence of Sophia Paleologus.

An attentive observer of Moscow life, Baron Herberstein, who came to Moscow twice as an ambassador of the German Emperor during the reign of Vasily III, having heard enough boyar talk, notes about Sophia in his notes that she was an unusually cunning woman who had great influence on the Grand Duke, who, at her suggestion, made much. Finally, the chroniclers confirm this, saying, for example, that according to the suggestions of Sophia, Ivan III finally broke with the Horde. As if she once said to her husband: “ I refused my hand to rich, strong princes and kings, for the sake of faith I married you, and now you want to make me and my children tributaries; Don't you have enough troops?»

As a princess, Sofia enjoyed the right to receive foreign embassies in Moscow. According to the legend, cited not only by Russian chronicles, but also by the English poet John Milton, in 1999 Sofia was able to outwit the Tatar khan by declaring that she had a sign from above about the construction of a temple to St. Nicholas on the spot in the Kremlin where the house of the khan's governors stood, who controlled the yasak collections. and the actions of the Kremlin. This story presents Sophia as a determined person (“ kicked them out of the Kremlin, demolished the house, although she did not build a temple"). Ivan III really refused to pay tribute and trampled on the Khan’s charter right at the Horde court in Zamoskvorechye; Rus' actually stopped paying tribute to the Horde.

Sophia managed to attract doctors, cultural figures and especially architects to Moscow. The creations of the latter could make Moscow equal in beauty and majesty to European capitals and support the prestige of the Moscow sovereign, as well as emphasize the continuity of Moscow not only with the Second, but also with the First Rome. Arriving architects Aristotle Fioravanti, Marco Ruffo, Aleviz Fryazin, Antonio and Petro Solari erected the Chamber of Facets in the Kremlin, the Assumption and Annunciation Cathedrals on the Kremlin Cathedral Square; construction completed

How the Byzantine princess deceived the Pope, and what she changed in the life of Russia...

Sophia Palaiologos was the daughter of the despot of Morea (now the Peloponnese peninsula) Thomas Palaiologos and the niece of the last emperor of the Byzantine Empire, Constantine XI.

At birth, Sofia was named Zoya. She was born two years after Constantinople was captured by the Ottomans in 1453 and the Byzantine Empire ceased to exist. Five years later, Morea was also captured. Zoe's family was forced to flee, finding refuge in Rome. To receive the support of the Pope, Thomas Palaiologos converted to Catholicism with his family. With a change of faith, Zoya became Sophia.

Cardinal Vissarion of Nicea, a supporter of union, that is, the unification of Catholics and Orthodox Christians under the authority of the Pope, was appointed the immediate guardian of Sophia Paleologus. Sofia's fate was supposed to be decided through a profitable marriage. In 1466, she was offered as a bride to the Cypriot king Jacques II de Lusignan, but he refused. In 1467, she was offered as a wife to Prince Caracciolo, a noble Italian rich man. The prince expressed his consent, after which the solemn betrothal took place.

Victor Muizhel. “Ambassador Ivan Frezin presents Ivan III with a portrait of his bride Sophia Paleolog”

Sofia's fate changed dramatically after it became known that the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III was widowed and was looking for a new wife. Vissarion of Nicea decided that if Sophia Paleologus became the wife of Ivan III, the Russian lands could be subordinated to the influence of the Pope.

On June 1, 1472, in the Basilica of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Rome, the betrothal of Ivan III and Sophia Paleologus took place in absentia. The deputy of the Grand Duke was the Russian ambassador Ivan Fryazin. The wife of the ruler of Florence, Lorenzo the Magnificent, Clarice Orsini, and Queen Katarina of Bosnia were present as guests.

Representatives of the Pope were silent about Sophia Paleologue's conversion to Catholicism during marriage negotiations. But they, too, were in for a surprise - immediately after crossing the Russian border, Sofia announced to Vissarion of Nicaea, who was accompanying her, that she was returning to Orthodoxy and would not perform Catholic rites. In fact, this was the end of the attempt to implement the union project in Russia.

The wedding of Ivan III and Sophia Paleologus in Russia took place on November 12, 1472. Their marriage lasted 30 years, Sofia gave birth to 12 children to her husband, but the first four were girls. Born in March 1479, the boy, named Vasily, later became the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily III.

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

At the end of the 15th century, a fierce struggle for the rights to succession to the throne unfolded in Moscow. The official heir was considered the son of Ivan III from his first marriage, Ivan the Young, who even had the status of co-ruler. However, with the birth of her son Vasily, Sophia Paleologus became involved in the struggle for his rights to the throne.

The Moscow elite split into two warring parties. Both fell into disgrace, but in the end, victory went to the supporters of Sofia Paleologus and her son.

Under Sofia Paleolog, the practice of inviting foreign specialists to Russia became widespread: architects, jewelers, coinmakers, gunsmiths, doctors. The architect Aristotle Fioravanti was invited from Italy to build the Assumption Cathedral. Other buildings on the Kremlin territory were also rebuilt. White stone was actively used at the construction site, which is why the expression “white stone Moscow”, which has survived for centuries, appeared.

Sofia Fominichna Paleologina, aka Zoya Paleologina - Grand Duchess of Moscow, second wife of Ivan III, mother of Vasily III, grandmother of Ivan the Terrible. She came from the Byzantine imperial dynasty of the Palaiologos...

The Trinity-Sergius Monastery houses a silk shroud sewn by the hands of Sophia in 1498; her name is embroidered on the shroud, and she calls herself not the Grand Duchess of Moscow, but “the princess of Tsaregorod.” At her suggestion, Russian rulers began, first unofficially and then officially, to call themselves tsars.

In 1514, in an agreement with the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, Sophia's son Vasily III was named Emperor of the Rus for the first time in the history of Rus'. This letter is then used by Peter I as proof of his rights to coronation as emperor.

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

Zoe Paleologue was born around 1440-1449. She was the daughter of Thomas Palaiologos, who was the brother of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine. The fate of the entire family after the death of the ruler turned out to be unenviable. Thomas Palaiologos fled to Corfu and then to Rome. After some time, the children followed him. The paleologists were patronized by Pope Paul II himself. The girl had to convert to Catholicism and change her name from Zoe to Sophia. She received an education appropriate to her status, without basking in luxury, but without poverty either.

Sophia became a pawn in the political game of the Pope. At first he wanted to give her as a wife to King James II of Cyprus, 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 Paleologue was offered to him as his wife. The Pope kept silent about the fact that she was a Catholic, thereby wanting to expand the influence of the Vatican in Rus'. Negotiations for marriage continued for three years. Ivan III was seduced by the opportunity to have such an eminent person as his wife.

The betrothal in absentia took place on June 1, 1472, after which Sophia Paleologus went to Muscovy. Everywhere she was given all kinds of honors and celebrations were held. At the head of her cortege was a man who carried a Catholic cross. Having learned about 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 versts 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 not liked. Despite this, Sophia had a huge influence on her husband. The chronicles describe in detail how Paleologue persuaded Ivan III to free himself from the Mongol yoke.

Following the Byzantine model, Ivan III developed a complex judicial system. It was then for the first time that the Grand Duke began to call himself “the Tsar and Autocrat of All Rus'.” It is believed that the image of the double-headed eagle, which subsequently appeared on the coat of arms of Muscovy, was brought by Sophia Paleologus with her.

Sophia Paleolog and Ivan III had eleven children (five sons and six daughters). From his first marriage, the tsar had a son, Ivan the Young, the first contender for the throne. But he fell ill with gout and died. Another “obstacle” for Sophia’s children on the path to the throne was Ivan the Young’s son Dmitry. But he and his mother fell out of favor with the king and died in captivity. Some historians suggest that Paleologus 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 Paleologue turned out to be successful politically and culturally. were able to leave a mark not only in the history of their country, but also to become beloved queens in a foreign land.

Most historians agree that the grandmother, Grand Duchess Sophia (Zoya) Paleologus of Moscow played a huge role in the formation of the Muscovite kingdom. Many consider her the author of the concept “Moscow is the third Rome”. And together with Zoya Paleologina, a double-headed eagle appeared. At first it was the family coat of arms of her dynasty, and then migrated to the coat of arms of all the tsars and Russian emperors.

Childhood and youth

Zoe Paleologue was born (presumably) in 1455 in Mystras. The daughter of the despot of Morea, Thomas Palaiologos, was born at a tragic and turning point - the time of the fall of the Byzantine Empire.

After the capture of Constantinople by the Turkish Sultan Mehmed II and the death of Emperor Constantine, Thomas Palaiologos, along with his wife Catherine of Achaia and their children, fled to Corfu. From there he moved to Rome, where he was forced to convert to Catholicism. In May 1465, Thomas died. His death occurred shortly after the death of his wife in the same year. The children, Zoya and her brothers, 5-year-old Manuel and 7-year-old Andrei, moved to Rome after the death of their parents.

The education of orphans was undertaken by the Greek scientist, Uniate Vissarion of Nicea, who served as a cardinal under Pope Sixtus IV (it was he who commissioned the famous Sistine Chapel). In Rome, the Greek princess Zoe Palaiologos and her brothers were raised in the Catholic faith. The cardinal took care of the maintenance of the children and their education.

It is known that Vissarion of Nicea, with the permission of the pope, paid for the modest court of the young Palaiologos, which included servants, a doctor, two professors of Latin and Greek, translators and priests. Sofia Paleolog received a fairly solid education for those times.

Grand Duchess of Moscow

When Sophia came of age, the Venetian Signoria became concerned about her marriage. The king of Cyprus, Jacques II de Lusignan, was first offered to take the noble girl as his wife. But he refused this marriage, fearing a conflict with the Ottoman Empire. A year later, in 1467, Cardinal Vissarion, at the request of Pope Paul II, offered the hand of a noble Byzantine beauty to the prince and Italian nobleman Caracciolo. A solemn engagement took place, but for unknown reasons the marriage was called off.

There is a version that Sophia secretly communicated with the Athonite elders and adhered to the Orthodox faith. She herself made an effort to avoid marrying a non-Christian, upsetting all the marriages offered to her.

In the turning point for the life of Sophia Paleologus in 1467, the wife of the Grand Duke of Moscow, Maria Borisovna, died. This marriage produced an only son. Pope Paul II, counting on the spread of Catholicism to Moscow, invited the widowed sovereign of All Rus' to take his ward as his wife.

After 3 years of negotiations, Ivan III, having asked for advice from his mother, Metropolitan Philip and the boyars, decided to get married. It is noteworthy that the negotiators from the pope prudently kept silent about Sophia Paleologue’s conversion to Catholicism. Moreover, they reported that the proposed wife of Paleologina is an Orthodox Christian. They didn't even realize that it was so.

In June 1472, in the Basilica of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Rome, the betrothal in absentia of Ivan III and Sophia Paleologus took place. After this, the bride's convoy left Rome for Moscow. The same Cardinal Vissarion accompanied the bride.

Bolognese chroniclers described Sophia as a rather attractive person. She looked 24 years old, had snow-white skin and incredibly beautiful and expressive eyes. Her height was no higher than 160 cm. The future wife of the Russian sovereign had a dense physique.

There is a version that in Sophia Paleolog’s dowry, in addition to clothes and jewelry, there were many valuable books, which later formed the basis of the mysteriously disappeared library of Ivan the Terrible. Among them were treatises and unknown poems.

Meeting of Princess Sophia Paleolog on Lake Peipsi

At the end of a long route that ran through Germany and Poland, the Roman escorts of Sophia Palaeologus realized that their desire to spread (or at least bring closer) Catholicism to Orthodoxy through the marriage of Ivan III to Palaeologus had been defeated. Zoya, as soon as she left Rome, demonstrated her firm intention to return to the faith of her ancestors - Christianity. The wedding took place in Moscow on November 12, 1472. The ceremony took place in the Assumption Cathedral.

The main achievement of Sophia Paleolog, which turned into a huge benefit for Russia, is considered to be her influence on her husband’s decision to refuse to pay tribute to the Golden Horde. Thanks to his wife, Ivan the Third finally dared to throw off the centuries-old Tatar-Mongol yoke, although the local princes and elite offered to continue paying the quitrent in order to avoid bloodshed.

Personal life

Apparently, Sophia Paleologue’s personal life with Grand Duke Ivan III was successful. This marriage produced a significant number of offspring - 5 sons and 4 daughters. But it’s difficult to call the existence of the new Grand Duchess Sophia in Moscow cloudless. The boyars saw the enormous influence that the wife had on her husband. Many people didn't like it.

Vasily III, son of Sophia Paleologus

Rumor has it that the princess had a bad relationship with the heir born in the previous marriage of Ivan III, Ivan the Young. Moreover, there is a version that Sophia was involved in the poisoning of Ivan the Young and the further removal from power of his wife Elena Voloshanka and son Dmitry.

Be that as it may, Sophia Paleologus had a huge influence on the entire subsequent history of Rus', on its culture and architecture. She was the mother of the heir to the throne and the grandmother of Ivan the Terrible. According to some reports, the grandson bore considerable resemblance to his wise Byzantine grandmother.

Death

Sophia Paleologue, Grand Duchess of Moscow, died on April 7, 1503. The husband, Ivan III, survived his wife by only 2 years.

Destruction of the grave of Sophia Paleolog in 1929

Sophia was buried next to the previous wife of Ivan III in the sarcophagus of the tomb of the Ascension Cathedral. The cathedral was destroyed in 1929. But the remains of the women of the royal house were preserved - they were transferred to the underground chamber of the Archangel Cathedral.

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

With her fairytale life and adventurous journey - from the dimly lit passages of the papal church to the snowy Russian steppes, from the secret mission behind her betrothal to the Moscow prince, to the mysterious and still unfound collection of books she brought with her from Constantinople,” we were introduced to by journalist and writer Yorgos Leonardos, author of the book “Sophia Palaiologos - from Byzantium to Rus',” as well as many other historical novels.

In a conversation with a correspondent of the Athens-Macedonian Agency about the filming of a Russian film about the life of Sophia Palaiologos, Mr. Leonardos emphasized that she was a versatile person, a practical and ambitious woman. The niece of the last Palaeologus 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 Rus'.

Giorgos Leonardos describes Sophia's personality this way: “Sophia was the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, and the daughter of Thomas Palaiologos. She was baptized in Mystras, giving her 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 Kerkyra. With the participation of Vissarion of Nicaea, who by that time had already become a Catholic cardinal in Rome, Zoya and her father, brothers and sister moved to Rome. After the premature death of her parents, Vissarion took custody of three children who converted to the Catholic faith. However, Sophia's life changed when Paul II took the papal throne, who wanted her to enter into a political marriage. The princess was wooed to Moscow Prince Ivan III, hoping that Orthodox Rus' 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 young girl was enthusiastically received by the Russian people.”

© Sputnik/Valentin Cheredintsev

The author of the book considers a visit to one of the Pskov churches to be a key moment in Sophia’s life: “She was impressed, and although the papal legate was next to her at the time, watching her every step, she returned to Orthodoxy, neglecting the will of the pope. On November 12, 1472, Zoya became the second wife of 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 Rus' was paying tribute to the Horde. And indeed, Ivan liberated his state and united various independent principalities under his rule.”

© Sputnik/Balabanov

Sophia’s contribution to the development of the state is great, since, as the author explains, “she introduced Byzantine order at the Russian court and helped create the Russian state.”

“Since Sophia was the only heir 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 coat of arms - the double-headed eagle, which existed until the revolution of 1917 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 Moscow Archbishopric to a Patriarchate, making it clear that the first Patriarchate was not Constantinople captured by the Turks, but Moscow.”

© Sputnik/Alexey Filippov

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

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

© Sputnik/Sergey Pyatakov

“The history of the modern - tsarist - state begins in Rus' in 1472. At that time, due to the climate, they did not farm here, but only hunted. Sofia convinced the subjects of Ivan III to cultivate the fields and thus marked the beginning of the formation of agriculture in the country.”

Sofia’s personality was treated with respect even under Soviet rule: according to Leonardos, “when the Ascension Monastery, in which the remains of the queen were kept, was destroyed in the Kremlin, they were not only not disposed of, but by decree of Stalin they were placed in a tomb, which was then transferred to Arkhangelsk Cathedral".

Yorgos Leonardos said that Sofia brought from Constantinople 60 carts with books and rare treasures that were kept in the underground treasuries of the Kremlin and have not been found to this day.

“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, which, of course, he did not agree to. 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 Russian history to be called the Great for his actions carried out 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.

© Sputnik/Vladimir Fedorenko

“Sofia transferred the spirit of Byzantium to the Russian Empire that was just beginning to emerge. It was she who built the state in Rus', giving it Byzantine features, and generally 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,” noted Yorgos Leonardos.

Regarding the images of Sophia, Leonardos emphasized that “no portraits of her have survived, 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 located near the entrance to the Historical Museum next to the Kremlin.”

“The legacy of Sofia Paleologus is Russia itself...” summed up Yorgos Leonardos.

The material was prepared by the site editors