Vasilii ii Vasilevich Temnyi

Born 1415; died 1462. Grand prince of Moscow from 1425. Son of Vasilii I Dmitrievich.

There was a protracted internecine feudal war during the period of princely rule of Vasilii II. His enemies belonged to a reactionary coalition of appanage princes headed by his uncle, the Galician prince Iurii Dmitrievich, and his uncle’s sons Vasilii Iur’evich (Kosoi) and Dmitrii Shemiaka. During the course of the war—which was complicated by a simultaneous struggle against Kazan and the grand duchy of Lithuania—the throne of the grand principality of Moscow passed several times to the Galician princes, who were supported by Novgorod and, temporarily, Tver’. Vasilii II was blinded in 1446 by Dmitrii Shemiaka (hence the nickname Temnyi, which means “the Dark”); however, he was ultimately victorious at the beginning of the 1450’s. He abolished virtually all of the small appanages within the principality of Moscow and strengthened the authority of the grand prince. The dependence on Moscow of the Suzdal’-Nizhe Novgorod principality, Novgorod the Great, Pskov, and Viatka was increased as a result of a number of campaigns between 1441 and 1460. On Vasilii’s order, the Russian bishop lona was elected metropolitan (1448); this signified the proclamation of the independence of the Russian church from the patriarch of Constantinople and strengthened the international position of Rus’.