Events outside Russia strengthened the supremacy of Moscow. At the Council of Florence (1439) Pope Eugene suggested the union of the eastern and western churches, and amongst the many representatives of the eastern church present Isidor, the metropolitan of Moscow, agreed to the proposal and signed the act of union. How Mark, Bishop of Ephesus, protested, and at last carried the Greeks with him in repudiating the union, is no part of this history. Isidor having accepted, introduced the Latin cross, made use of the name of the Pope in the services and so astonished the Russians that Vasili interfered. He reproached Isidor for his bad faith, and in dismay the prelate fled to Rome. In 1453 Mahomet II. entered Constantinople. There was no longer a Christian emperor of the east, and Moscow became the heir of Constantinople and the metropolis of orthodoxy. Ivan, the artist-monk of Constantinople, brought to Moscow such of the holy relics as he could save, and, what is more, by his own genius impressed upon the Muscovite priesthood a love of culture to which Moscow had hitherto been a stranger.
Ivan III., styled “The Uniter of Russia,” was twenty-two years of age when, in 1462, he succeeded his father Vasili, the Blind. He continued the policy of the princes of Moscow and early obtained a success against the Tartars of Kazan. In 1472 he married Sophia, a daughter of Thomas Paleologus, a brother of the last emperor of Byzantium, and this union, with a member of the race that had so long held sway over all orthodox Christianity, greatly influenced his policy. His wife, less patient than the Russians, found the Mongol yoke unbearable. “How long am I to be the slave of Tartars?” she would ask, and there is little doubt that it is to her urging that Ivan became aggressive. He was not personally courageous, preferring to remain in Moscow, and allow his people to fight on the frontiers of Russia; when forced into the field, his method was to avoid giving battle and wear out the enemy with delays, retreats, and puzzling, irritating marches and counter-marches.
In 1472 he conquered Perm; in 1475 he was successful against Novgorod the Great; in 1478 he openly rebelled against the Khan; in 1499 he pushed the confines of Russia to Petchora on the Arctic Sea. He was a puzzle to his enemies, gaining victories over Lithuanians, Livonians and Siberians, without leaving the Kremlin. Stephen of Moldavia said of him, “Ivan is a strange man; he stays quietly at home yet triumphs over his enemies, whilst I, although always on horseback, cannot defend my own country.”
Born a despot he was initiated into the mysteries of autocratic government by his wife. Cold, cruel and cunning, he brooked no opposition where he thought he could triumph; was an arrant coward whenever the issue was doubtful.
When he vanquished Novgorod, he brought the boyards to Moscow, and settled them there; three years later he tortured some, and put others to death. He was relentless in punishing rebellion, no matter what the rank of the offender. He whipped Prince Oukhtomski, and ordered the archimandrite of a monastery to be flogged; mutilated the counsellors of his son, cowed the boyards, burnt alive Poles who had conspired against him; pillaged the German traders of goods to the value of £40,000, and played the tyrant so thoroughly that even when he slept no boyard “durst open his mouth in whispers” for fear of disturbing his master’s slumber.
Towards the Great Horde he was both respectful and recalcitrant. He repulsed the invasions of adventurers into his territory; avoided the payment of tribute by sending costly presents regularly. But in 1478, when Khan Akhmet sent envoys with his image to receive tribute, Ivan openly rebelled; put all the messengers to death, save one; trampled the image of the Khan under foot, spat on the edict, and allowed this news to reach the Khan. When the enraged Tartars advanced towards Moscow, Ivan wished to remain in the city, but the inhabitants would have no shirking. “What! he has overtaxed us, refused to pay tribute to the Horde, and now that he has enraged the Khan, though he does not want to fight, he must—and shall.” Ivan journeyed about from one town to another, returning to Moscow on various pretexts. He wished to consult the clergy, the boyards, his mother, anybody. The answer was always the same, “March against the enemy!” Forced to go South, he wished to send his son back to Moscow, but the young Ivan disobeyed.
Archbishop Vassian urged Ivan to go to the front. “Is it part of mortals to fear death? We cannot escape destiny; a good shepherd will, at need, lay down his life for his flock.” But this prompting did not suffice. Vassian at last lost patience, wrote a bellicose letter to Ivan, recounting the deeds of his heroic ancestors, from Igor Sviatoslaf to Dmitri Donskoi. Ivan assured him that this letter “filled his heart with joy, himself with courage and strength”; but another fortnight passed, and Ivan had not advanced a step.
When at last the two armies came within sight of each other, the streams Oogra and Oka separated them. They insulted each other bravely across the water, but not daring to ford, waited until the river should be frozen. When this happened, Ivan at once gave orders for his forces to withdraw. Seeing the army in motion an inexplicable panic seized the Tartars, and they hastened away. Both armies were in flight, and no one pursuing. In such pitiful fashion did the Mongol supremacy terminate. For more than three centuries Moscow had acknowledged the rule of the Golden Horde, now a thoroughly demoralised rabble. The remnants in their flight south were opposed by the Nogay and Krim Tartars, and defeated. The Khan Akhmet was then put to death by his own men.
Ivan next sent his voievodes or “war-leaders” against Kazan; in 1487 they took it and made Alegam, its commander, a prisoner. In his boyhood Ivan had been imprisoned in Kazan by his Tartar enemies, and so now was able to turn the tables on them completely.
His next act exemplifies his statesmanship. Instead of annexing Kazan to Moscow he gave the crown to the nephew of his powerful ally, the Khan of the Krim Tartars. This Khan could not ask for the release of Alegam, because he was an enemy of his own nephew, the newly installed ruler of Kazan; but the leaders of the Khivan and Nogay Tartars, who were related to him, felt that Islam had been wronged, and despatched an envoy to Moscow praying for Alegam’s release. Ivan declined, but did so graciously, and gave no offence. He made the envoys presents, and sent to their leaders other presents, much foreign cloth and trinkets for their wives, whom he styled his sisters. Ivan did not treat directly with the envoys, making use of the western method of conducting negotiations through an officer of his court.