IVAN I

This article appears in Volume V15, Page 88 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: INV-JED

IVAN I ., called Kalita, or Money-Bag (d. 1341), grand duke of Vladimir, was the first sobiratel, or " gatherer "of the scattered Russian lands, thereby laying the foundations of the future autocracy as a national institution. This he contrived to do by adopting a policy of complete subserviency to the khan of the Golden

Horde

HORDE

, who, in return for a liberal and punctual tribute, permitted him to aggrandize himself at the expense of the lesser
grand dukes. Moscow and Tver were the first to fall. The latter 4

Novgorod

NOVGOROD
NOVGOROD (formerly known as V elikiy-Novgorod,
Great
- GREAT
Novgorod)

altogether; but though he frequently violated its Ivan received from the hand of the khan, after devastating it ancient privileges in

minor

matters, the attitude of the republic with a host of 50,000

Tatars

TATARS (the common form Tartars is less correct)

(1327). When Alexander of Tver was so wary that his looked-for opportunity did not come till fled to the powerful city of Pskov, Ivan, not strong enough to i 1479. In that year the ambassadors of

Novgorod

NOVGOROD
NOVGOROD (formerly known as V elikiy-Novgorod,
Great
- GREAT
Novgorod)

played into attack Pskov, procured the banishment of Alexander by the aid his hands by addressing him in public

audience

AUDIENCE (from Lat. audire, to hear)

as " Gosudar " of the metropolitan, Theognost, who threatened Pskov with an (sovereign) instead of " Gospodin " (" Sir ") as heretofore. Ivan interdict. In 1330 Ivan eatended his influence over Rostov at once seized upon this as a recognition of his sovereignty, by the drastic methods of blackmail and hanging. But Great and when the Novgorodians repudiated their ambassadors, he Novgorod was too strong for him, and twice he threatened that marched against them. Deserted by Casimir IV., and surrounded republic in vain. In 1340 Ivan assisted the khan to ravage the on every side by the Muscovite armies, which included a Tatar domains of Prince Ivan of Smolensk, who had refused to pay the contingent, the republic recognized Ivan as autocrat, and customary tribute to the

Horde

HORDE

. Ivan's own domains, at any
rate during his reign, remained free from Tatar incursions, and prospered correspondingly, thus attracting immigrants and their wealth from the other surrounding principalities. Ivan was a most careful, not to say niggardly economist, keeping an exact account of every

village

VILLAGE

or piece of

plate

PLATE

that his money-bags acquired, whence his nickname. The most important event of his reign was the transference of the metropolitan see from Vladimir to Moscow, which gave Muscovy the pre-eminence over all the other Russian states, and made the metropolitan the ecclesiastical police-superintendent of the grand duke. The Metropolitan Peter built the first stone cathedral of Moscow,
he emerged victorious. Finally, Ivan's new

rule

RULE

of government, formally set forth in his last will to the effect that the domains of all his kinsfolk, after their deaths, should pass directly to the

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