The Mongols in Russia

by Jeremiah Curtin

The Horde was so divided, that no one knew whom to obey. In Sarai, east of the Volga, was Murad, and west, on the Don side, was Abdul. Moscow preferred Murad because he held Sarai, the old capital. But as this Khan gave no troops, the Suzdal prince would neither obey nor abandon Vladimir. The Moscow boyars then put Dmitri on horseback, and also his brother and cousin, both young boys, and set out with great forces to expel the son of Constantine, who fled from Vladimir to Suzdal. His brother, Andrei, now reproached him a second time: “Have I not told thee never to trust Mongols? Why not listen to me? Thou seest that it is easy to lose what is thine while striving to take what belongs to another.” And he advised friendship with Moscow, “that Christianity might not perish.” For in Moscow men began now to see the first hope of liberation from the Mongol. The two brothers divided their inheritance. Andrei took Nizni; to Dmitri fell Suzdal.

Dmitri of Moscow entered Vladimir and took his seat on the throne there. That done, he returned to Moscow. So Kalitá’s [[348]]grandson made certain the purpose of his grandfather. He made that inheritance of his family secure, and began the great work, the real mission of Russia.

It was given to the Russian people as a task from the first to stand unbroken between Europe and Asia, to stand apart and independent of both. From the time that the name Rus first appeared the country had its own individuality, and was self-determining. From of old two warring principles attacked her, one from the West, the other from the East. This gave the great problem to Russian history. Russia was to give way neither to Europe, nor Asia; she was to fathom and understand both of them, but be subject to neither. This, too, was the position of the whole Slav race, a position which tortured and tore it, till some parts were conquered and absorbed by strange nations, so that on the west they were turned into Germans, Magyars and Italians, while on the south they were turned into Mussulman.

This old and difficult problem had to be met in all its weight and its terrible bitterness by the Moscow principality. To meet it, struggle with it, and solve it successfully required an enormous waste of force, a continuous and endless persistence. If Moscow had not grown sufficiently strong at the right time there would have been no Russia at present. For on the one side there would not have been strength enough to emerge from Mongol slavery, while on the other side, if there had not been the moral and physical power to face Western Europe, Russia would have been absorbed, would have taken another form, would have been an element in the strength of her enemy. On the east, Moscow was forced to defend herself, weapons in hand, or yield to the Mongol forever. She had either to rise up in desperate war, or be voiceless and obedient. On the west, a still more dangerous power was threatening, a power which might be permanent and inexorable.

This was the position of the Moscow principality when Dmitri, grandson of Kalitá, began rule in Moscow. Though the struggle on the east and the west was contemporary, the great battle was first begun with the Mongol.

Abdul, the Khan on the right bank of the Volga, became jealous upon learning that Dmitri had received his patent from Murad, and immediately sent a patent from himself with a gracious embassy, though no one had asked him to do so. The Moscow [[349]]boyars met these men courteously, and gave them good presents at parting. But when Murad of Sarai heard that a patent had gone from Abdul to Dmitri, he was greatly enraged against Moscow, and, to spite Abdul, he made Dmitri of Suzdal Grand Prince a second time.

There was in Sarai at this juncture one of the reduced Bailozero princes; with this prince, and very likely other adherents of the Suzdal prince, a Mongol embassy numbering thirty persons arrived in Suzdal to declare the Khan’s will. They had no warriors with them, still Dmitri of Suzdal was delighted with the Khan’s favor, and again took his seat in Vladimir.

Moscow could not forgive this. Dmitri of Moscow marched with a great force, and not only hunted Dmitri out of Vladimir and Suzdal with shame, but ravaged Suzdal. The Suzdal prince, thus humiliated, had recourse to Andrei, who was ruling quietly in Nizni, and had often warned his foolish brother against rivalry with Moscow. Owing to Andrei’s intercession, the Moscow prince left Dmitri in Suzdal, but reduced him to thorough subjection, and deprived some of his allies of dominion.

In 1363, when Moscow took final possession of Bailozero and Galiten beyond the Volga, the Starodub prince lost his possessions; his province was added to Moscow. The Grand Prince then extended his rule over the entire Rostoff region; some of the princes were left, but left as assistants of Moscow. Dmitri of Suzdal became now a firm ally of the Grand Prince. Thus the very first year of Dmitri’s reign was successful. It was distinguished by the strengthening of his primacy, and by considerable accretions. The two succeeding years were made calamitous for Moscow and all Russia by a second appearance of the “black death.” A multitude of people died, and among them were many princes. In Novgorod died Prince Andrei, so friendly to Moscow, and his brother, Dmitri of Suzdal, became by inheritance prince in Nizni, but Olgerd’s son-in-law, Boris, the youngest son of Constantine, seized Nizni before Dmitri, and would not yield. Dmitri turned then to Moscow, and the Grand Prince assisted him. At this time the Suzdal prince showed obedience to Moscow willingly. His eldest son, Vassili, who afterward lost all his possessions, and is known in history as Kirdyapa, was at the Sarai Horde just then, and secured a patent for his father, but his father refused it, and [[350]]informed the Grand Prince that he preferred his friendship to the favor of the Mongols.

At the Horde, meanwhile, Boris, the younger brother, obtained the Nizni patent. In view of this complication, an unusual decision was taken in Moscow. As on a time the metropolitan, Peter, had forbidden the Terrible-Eyed Dmitri to lead his warriors against Nizni, where the prince should be subordinate to Yuri of Moscow, so now, in the dispute about Nizni, the metropolitan was active a second time.