From the time of Girei, the boundaries of Russia were changed very sensibly. Olgerd had extended those boundaries into the steppes, and in Vitold’s day they touched the Euxine. Vitold had striven to guard southern lands from Mongol raids by strengthening old forts and building new ones. He had fortified Kaneff, and lower down on the Dnieper he had founded Kremnchug and Cherkasy. On the main crossing of the lower Dnieper he had fixed outposts. Near the seacoast he had built a strong place where Ochakoff flourished later, and had made a port near the site of the present Odessa. At the mouth of the Dniester, fronting Akkerman, he had erected a strong post, and higher up a second, known later as Bender; besides, there were other posts, in the steppe lands. But the Russo-Lithuanian state lost these boundaries in the time of the easy-going Kazimir, who was busied far more with quarreling Diets and the endless debates between Russians and Poles than with strengthening these boundaries. In his day the Black Sea was lost; Mengli Girei took possession of those forts built on the steppes and the sea. After that an immense empty space, known later on as the “Wild Fields,” lay between the settled Kief lands and the Horde at the Black Sea. These “Wild Fields” became the battle-ground between Kief colonists and Mongol cut-throats. Kazimir did an evil deed for his realms and for many men, when he set up Girei as a ruler. [[454]]
CHAPTER XIX
IVAN III SUBDUES NOVGOROD
On January 22, 1440, Ivan III, son of Vassili the Blind, was born. This future solidifier of Russia passed his youth in the turmoil and terror of civil dissension, during which his father was imprisoned and blinded. When restored to power the sightless sovereign hastened to secure the inheritance to Ivan, making him his associate, with the title of Grand Prince. By the accounts given us, Ivan, while still a stripling, took active part in his father’s principality. He campaigned more than once against Mongols, at first under veteran commanders. At the age of nineteen, he repelled a Horde invasion, and won a victory of importance. On coming to the throne in 1462, at the age of twenty-two, he had had much experience both in civil and military labors. His great mental gifts and exceptional will power were felt soon by all who had to deal with him. Ivan was cold, imperious and calculating. He acted always on the lines sharply drawn by the history of Moscow, hence the policy of Russia in his time presented three vital problems: to consolidate Russia under Moscow; to struggle with the Mongols till Russia should be free of the humiliating yoke; to settle relations with Lithuania and Poland.
In consolidating Russia, Ivan’s great achievement was the union of Novgorod, with all its immense lands, to Moscow. We have seen that Novgorod was declining, and that Vassili’s expedition in 1456 proved clearly that the end of the Commonwealth was imminent. Complaints that there was no justice, that the poor suffered from the rich; the hatred of the poor for those above them; factions; warring parties; want of zeal in those who governed; the decline of a warlike spirit; love of gain dominating all things; these taken together proclaimed the approaching downfall. But we must remember also that the ruling cause was still [[455]]the power of Moscow and the unavoidable and dominant necessity for Moscow to annex Novgorod.
Moscow had reached such strength that Novgorod unassisted could not meet her. Hence there rose a large party in Novgorod which sought an alliance with Moscow’s main enemy, Kazimir IV, “the Grand Prince of Lithuania and Russia and King of Poland.” Kazimir’s Novgorod partisans hoped to find in him a preponderant protector and ally. But the king was a Catholic, and that turned many men from him. Especially opposed were the Russian clergy, and among them Iona the archbishop, who enjoyed the love and respect of the people. Hence only after Iona’s death in 1470 did the Kazimir party set to work with decision and openly. Nothing shows the decay of the Novgorod Commonwealth as does the absence of capable men at that period of peril. In that most dangerous time a woman appeared, who, by energy, ability and devotion to the city, towered above all her contemporaries. This woman was Martha, the wife of Isaac Boretski, a former posadnik. Boretski had left much wealth to his widow and his sons, Dmitri and Feodor. The elder of these sons had been posadnik. Martha, thinking to save the independence of Novgorod, sought to throw the city into the arms of Kazimir, King of Poland, thus betraying the cause of Russia, and of Orthodoxy. At her house on the bank of the Volkof, partisans of an alliance with Kazimir met to feast and discuss means of struggling against the power of Moscow. As soon as Iona had favored the men of this party by dying, they summoned a man whom we have mentioned already, namely, a great-grandson of Olgerd, Michael, son of Alexander, and brother of Simeon, the Kief prince. Michael came with his personal following. At this time the Kazimir party had, as candidate for archbishop, Pimen, the key-keeper of the recent archbishop Iona. Pimen, having had charge of the treasury of the Sophia Cathedral, had taken church money in the time of Iona and had given it to Martha, for the purchase of partisans. Martha’s adherents, determined on breaking with Moscow, wished that Iona’s successor should be ordained, not by Philip, metropolitan of Moscow, but by Gregory of Kief, a pupil of Isidor, erstwhile metropolitan of Moscow, a man who was looked on as recreant by the Orthodox. Pimen was willing, but his partisans met failure, and could only make him one of three candidates. Not on Pimen did the choice [[456]]fall, but on Feofil. When dispute rose as to who should ordain him, the choice went to Moscow, and an envoy was sent to the Grand Prince to secure a safe-conduct for Feofil. Thus the Boretski party was defeated.
Meanwhile various disputes rose with Moscow. Novgorod men began openly to break the last treaty. Ivan was thinking of annexation to quell the unruly, and called on Pskoff to prepare to advance unless the Novgorod people would correct themselves. He received the Novgorod envoy with favor, and gave a safe-conduct to Feofil.
The Boretskis began now to kindle dissensions between the boyars and the people, to rouse men through bribery, drink and persuasion of all kinds. Especially useful was the report that Ivan was inciting Pskoff against Novgorod. The bells were sounded, and a mob gathered speedily: “We will not have the Grand Prince of Moscow,” cried the people, “We will have Kazimir!” The Moscow party, which was composed mainly of medium and well-to-do people, declared that it was impossible for Orthodox men to join a king who was a Catholic. From shouts the affair went to blows. The boyar youth and the mob stoned their opponents and frightened enough of them to secure a majority at the Assembly. Thus the Boretski party determined in assembly to recognize the Polish king as Prince of Novgorod, and they sent him an embassy at the head of which were two former posadniks, Dmitri Boretski, and Afanasi Astafievitch. This embassy concluded a treaty with Kazimir on almost the same basis as previous treaties with Moscow, adding only one article, namely: “The king’s representative must be an Orthodox Christian, and never a Catholic. He must not have more than fifty attendants in Novgorod.”
When Ivan of Moscow heard of this treaty, he acted with calculation and prudence. Before he undertook a campaign he sent envoys repeatedly to Novgorod. With them he sent letters, in which he said that Novgorod had formerly supported Saint Vladimir’s descendants, and never Lithuanian princes. He invited them to change their plans now, and promised them favor. At the same time the metropolitan Philip wrote epistles to the Novgorod people. He counseled them not to betray their religion, not to go over to the Latins. He pointed to the example of the Byzantine Empire, [[457]]which remained strong while it clung to its religion, but fell under Turks when it turned to the Latins. He wrote also to the clergy, boyars and merchants, beseeching them to stand firmly for the Orthodox faith, and restrain men from all evil courses.