After the defection of Tver to Lithuania, khan Muhammad Ozbeg of the Blue Horde was forced to rely on Ivan as his preeminent Russian vassal. Ivan was the Mongol's leading tax collector and made himself and Moscow very wealthy by maintaining his loyalty to the Horde (hence, the nickname Kalita, or moneybag). He used this wealth to give loans to neighbouring Russian principalities. These cities gradually fell deeper and deeper into debt, a condition that would allow Ivan's successors to annex them. Ivan's greatest success, however, was convincing the Khan in Saray that his son should succeed him as Grand Prince of Vladimir, from then on the important position always belonged to the ruling house of Moscow.
His younger brother, Ivan I (IvanKalita; 1328–41), was not only granted the title of grand duke (1328) but was given the right to collect Tatar tributes from neighboring principalities.
Moreover, during Ivan's reign Moscow became the seat of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The adjacent areas were subdued or acquired, and Moscow's importance continued to increase, particularly under Ivan I's grandson, Dmitri Donskoi (1359–89), who was probably the first to bear the title grand duke of Moscow.
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